Task 3: Firing a pistol for the first time

When you aim a handheld gun, don’t pull the trigger. Squeeze it, softly.

Don’t use two hands, use one with your other hand on your hip.

Don’t aim for the target, aim slightly below it.

And lastly, don’t think about the fact that your holding a weapon that can easily kill or seriously hurt someone.

If you do, you will shake with illness.

That was what I learned when holding a Ruger for the first time on the weekend.

I aim a Ruger at the local pistol club

I didn’t know quite what to expect. I thought I would be nervous, as is my reactionto anything I try first. But it wasn’t the small, Ruger that scared me, it was the heavy revolver with the huge recoil someone was using before I took my turn to fire.

Me and my partner went to the pistol club in Wellington, it was his birthday and somehow I had stumbled across this place on the internet.

After arranging to give it a go we went down and were shown the ropes by Gabor, a club member for about 3 years.

Gabor looks like the type of person who could be a monk. He was tall, skinny, shaven head and kind face.

“I wasn’t interested in war or guns when I first started,” he told me in a gentle voice. But he now finds it almost blissful, like meditation.

His passion for shooting is evident in the knowledge he has about weapons.

“Not a lot of people know that the person who designed the Ruger was actually completely blind,” he says before our lesson on shooting begins.

It’s not easy to hold up a gun, even though a Ruger is one of the lightest guns. I’ve fired a rifle, but those have more stability with the long butt which you can wedge into your shoulder.

You might think that firing with two hands is best, but as Gabor points out, it can be more accurate to just use one – as this can be aligned better with your eye and give you a longer range.

Pulling the trigger is another no-no, as the quick movement of your finger can actually move the gun out of range of the target. A slow squeeze is best.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t avoid thinking about the fact I had a loaded weapon in my hand and was shaking profusely. Even loading in the bullets was hard.

However, I managed to get one on target….yes one. But I’m always terrible at things when I first start. Jitters I guess.

Advertisement