I was just out on the line with the BREN 805, having fun making TUB ring at 200 yards, getting rid of some odd old reloads. The 40 grain stuff needed to be steadied at the kneeling to reliably make the TUB dance...but three young people pulled up next to me, with a 1911, a shotgun with no sights and a 300 WinMag rifle. Two strapping young men and a little slip of a girl. They were using an old cardboard box with no target as a target when I offered them a printed target to tape to it. Through conversation I understood they are cadets with Core Civic, a private prison, who have to qualify tomorrow, and the young lady was having great difficulty with the big Old Slabsides. Well, well well, what is a fat old Correctional Lieutenant to do...
During a ceasefire I brought TUB back and before I got to the line I called to one of them, "Pace off 15 yards." He did and I set TUB up in front of them. They were kind of stunned until I introduced myself, and said, "If you are on a hospital transport, I want my guys to know you can shoot!"
Out came the FDE P-10C and a bag of reloads. The girl, Cadet Montgomery, fell in love with it as well as the guy whose name escapes me, the one with the 300 WinMag. Hits went up immediately. No skin off my nose, reloads are cheap right now and it's worth it. I gave some quick and dirty instruction on Use of Force Continuum and what the instructor would be looking for with both shotgun and pistol. Oddly enough, Core Civic is no using the Glock, but the PX4 Storm, so the P-10C wasn't the perfect fit I'd hoped for. Nevertheless, confidence went WAY up as TUB gave honest feedback AND I got Montgomery to raise the gun to the level of her head, instead of trying to crouch down to the sights. She had never fired a handgun in her life and asked how do you not be scared of it. I asked, how many controls does your car have? About 20 - and how many for a handgun? About 4. It's all training and getting used to it. She absorbed that like a sponge.
Rojas just moved here from California, so the sight of the BREN and the guys down the line shooting an AR gave him the bug eyes, as well as when I loaded the P-10C to 15 rounds for him. HUGE smiles.
I didn't get to do the handgun workout I was planning, and they went through 50+ rounds of my reloads, but I hope it was bread spread across the right waters. Not to mention, it was fun watching the young girl go from scared and nervous to having fun - THAT was worth the cost of admission.
