Home Safety - Guns, Locks, Emergency Plan - Part 2

So, the first thing we did before shooting was to clean the guns as some had never been shot and were new out of the box. There were little bits of Styrofoam in the chamber so cleaning was a good idea. We then went out of town to shoot. 

There is a shooting range but it was a bit too far for what we wanted to do so we just set up some bottles for the girls to shoot.

Make sure you have eye and ear protection. I bought tons of ear plugs on clearance and keep them with the guns, cleaning supplies etc. 

In yesterdays post, there is a picture of Princess number five holding her ears. She is allowing the ear plugs to expand in her ears. It was funny as we all ended up yelling at each other to communicate as the plugs worked so well. 
 
Eye protection is also important. The shells come flying out of the gun at an alarming rate and actually burnt Princess number 4's arm as it was so hot. So, we used glasses for that. 

One other safety issue that I hadn't thought of until it became an issue, was how Princess four held the gun. You can see in the top photo that her left thumb is on top of her other hand behind the gun. You can see in the next two photos that she reacted harsh when the gun's action sent the top back and it hit the top of her thumb and she pulled it back and down. 

It only took once for that to happen and we remembered each time to have them move their thumb down to the side of the gun. It was funny that they naturally kept putting it up behind the gun.
 
Both girls hit two of the three targets with their first three shots. They really liked the little 22 Beretta hand gun. 

It didn't have a big kick and recoil and they were quite accurate with it. I had them learn to load the clips and also how to load just one shot at a time. They were both able to do it all quite easily and both wanted to take turns shooting that again as we went through the other guns, they both decided that was their favorite. 

I had them shoot the 40mm Glock and they both hated that. You can see by the look on Princess five's face in the photo below that it scared her. I think the photo is funny but boy, those large bullets pack a wallop. You can see the dust cloud that it raised (see three photos down) and it was also a little harder to aim and hit targets as the action was a bit harder as when we pulled on the trigger, the gun came up a bit because it was so much harder to shoot. However, the bullets being so much larger would hit just about anything. 


We had friends with us and the comment was made that they wouldn't want the girls shooting at them as they were really accurate.

My friend had a 9mm which the girls shot but I was a bit disturbed when two of the shots ricocheted up into the hill. None of the other things we shot did that. It made me think I wouldn't like to shoot it at something as I may hit something behind.  

Princess number four went shotgun skeet shooting with friends in the past but since it was Princess number five's first time, you can see we put a blanket on her shoulder to keep the Remington Shotgun from giving her a bruise due to the kick.

The girls enjoyed it and I think it will become a fun thing for us to do together. I just need to find a good source for cheap ammo as much of what I bought is "The good stuff" as my friend called it. 

When I went to buy the guns, and told the store worker why I was buying them, he said, "Everyone speaks the language of a shotgun being cocked." I had to agree with him on that. He said if someone came into my home and heard me cocking a shotgun, they would most likely run as fast as they could to the first exit. 

So, that is why I purchased the shotgun. Also, he said with the buckshot, anyone can hit just about anything so I bought several types of buckshot and think we are in good shape where that goes. 

Let's just pray I never need to use any of them for anything other than practice shooting. 

One last warning. My cousin has lots of guns and took a friend shooting at a shooting range. She turned to talk with him and shot him through the femoral artery and if he hadn't put a belt around his leg and had a large man sit on him, he would have died. As it was, life flight and surgery barely save his leg.   

Take care with all guns and make sure no one is ever standing even or in front of you at any time and that if the gun is loaded and not being shot, you have the safety on. 

My sister-in-laws, friend shot himself through the elbow when unloading a gun to clean it as well and both of those shootings were by people who are used to being around guns. Just be careful whenever guns are around.