The Boyo does Live Fire

Today was an historic day. My son fired his first shots from a proper firearm. I taught him the way the Marines taught me. He spent a LOT of time dry firing Opa, the Remington model 23 that was my grandfather's rifle.   Practicing sighting in, proper sight alignment, breathing, squeezing the trigger, etc. He got bored fast, much as I did at boot camp. But still he practiced. I had him memorize the steps for firing. Unlock and open bolt. insert round. close and lock bolt. Pull back firing pin. Sight in. Breathe. Aim small, miss small. Squeeze. Until he knew it by heart. We talked at great length about firearm safety. How to carry, don't aim at anything you don't want to kill, treat every firearm as loaded at all times. He knows to check the chamber when he is handed the weapon, even if he saw someone check it before they handed it to him. The kid knows the basics. 

Lest you think I'm forgetting about the Sweet Pea, rest assured that she has also been trained the same as the Boyo. She just hasn't fired live rounds yet.

Today we woke up to a light mist. We decided to go ahead and go on our planned squirrel hunt/practice weapon carry in spite of a little wet. I made a deal with my wife to only take one child at a time to get woods experience so I can give my full attention, and the Boyo won the coin toss.

We drove off to our public land and not surprisingly ran into lots of vehicles in lots of spots, probably the archery deer hunters. But we did spot a family of Trumpeter swans out on a lake, the first the Boyo has seen in the wild. He was very excited and broke out his binos to get a better look. There was a mom, dad and three big kids swimming around and going bottoms up to scrounge on the bottom. 

By the time we found a spot to go walking in the woods, the mist had turned into a full fledged rainstorm. No lightning though, so I left the go/no go up to the Boyo. He's not afraid of a little rain, plus he had my rain gear on, so it was a go.

I had him lead as we headed off into the woods, and he did a pretty good job of keeping track of where his barrel was pointing. After some serious uphill climbing and working on moving as quietly as possible through the brushy woods, we decided to set up on a finger between two nice little valleys and see how he did with sitting quietly. I knew this would be the hardest thing for him, as he has always been a very auditory guy. He likes singing when its too quiet. But he did a surprisingly good job of not moving too much, scanning, and keeping his normally resonant bass voice to a just audible level! 

The rain picked up a bit, and after about twenty minutes with nary a sight or sound of squirrels, I was soaked to the bone. The Boyo was staying warm in my rain gear, and I was still toasty enough in my layers, but we were on a short schedule anyway because we've got afternoon plans. I decided to call it a day and see if he wanted to shoot. Of course, he said yes.

As we walked down into the little valley, we rehashed rules and procedures. Since the ground was soaked, I taught him how to shoot offhand and brace against a tree. He did some dry firing like that and learned that bracing is better than just standing in the open for sighting in. Eventually I asked him if he was ready for a round.

"I don't know. Probably." was the response. So I told him to keep dry firing until he was sure that the answer was a solid yes. He got the point, and after another dry fire I asked him again. Solid yes this time.

So the time had come for my little baby boy to fire his first live round. They grow up so fast. I had him tell me the steps he was doing as he did them, and could hear the anticipation and nervousness in his voice. When he sighted in I told him to do the last few steps in his head to not throw off his aim. It took him about thirty seconds to actually pull the trigger, but when he finally did...

That's my boy! he fired 5 shots and hit the bottle with every one. His second shot didn't knock the bottle over, so he thought that he missed, but upon closer inspection, it had just zipped on through. by the fifth shot, He was doing it all without the narrative and - according to him - LOVING it. 

On the way home we talked alot about his thoughts and reactions to live fire shooting. He said that before the first shot he was a bit terrified because he had never done it. How loud would it be? What about the kick? What if he missed?  He didn't get why shooting was fun, and was on the fence about hunting at all. But he said that after the rifle went off and he watched the bottle tumble, everything fell into place. He "got" why shooting is fun. He didn't mind the sound or the kick. He even understands why a hunt might be exciting, although he's still on the fence about doing the shooting.

He kept the empty cartridge as a souvenir, and is anxiously awaiting his next time. He's even a bit jazzed about taking his hunter safety course.

As we were leaving the woods we heard the chitter of a squirrel up on the hill and considered, just for a moment, going after it. But our time was up, and we had a great adventure with great memories.

I'm glad my kiddos are learning about firearms, safe handling, proper procedures, because I don't ever want them to get into trouble around them. Knowledge is Power. I'm also proud of the Boyo for doing so well. Good Memories.