[Gunmaster45]

I had my friend come over today and turned him into a shooter. Being one of those COD4-whores, he was interested in guns but never touched one before. First I taught him how to use a gun by loading a Mini-14 with funeral .223 blanks, so he could get basic handling down without hurting anything (although I showed him right away not to point the gun at anyone and fired a blank in the snow so he'd know they CAN be dangerous). After he got all that right, I let him shoot targets with a Marlin bolt action .22. He hit the flip target once, which he got all bragadocious about, so I took the gun and hit 3 to put him in his place. But I wanted to shoot my hand cannon, so I took out my 9.5" Ruger Super Redhawk fitted with a Nikon scope. He was skeptical on shooting it (it being a big gun, him being a nooby). I shot it and he thought it was badass. I let him take aim after teaching him pistol stance and control (I've seen enough first time shooters get whacked in the face by their magnums) and he fired a shot. It bucked pretty bad in his hand but he loved it. After putting seven shots through it, I got a shotgun for him. A Mossberg 500 Persuader. I taught him to push slightly when firing to control recoil (I fired it one handed a few times to give him confidence that the gun didn't kick too bad). He shot it and had fun. He kept a .223 blank shell, a 12 Gauge shotgun shell, and a .50 BMG shell (had it in a box, he liked it) home as reminders. Then he had me write the list naming the guns he shot.

He may be new but I got him hooked and he now understands why I like guns so much. He'll come back again soon without a doubt. A new shooter is born.