Took my basic gun safety class yesterday. Was impressed with the course, both classroom and range work went quickly, but covered a lot of ground. Not too much ground, but enough to make it interesting and not boring, yet not overloading you with information.
I shot a Glock 17, and at first, my shots were terrible. I was anticipating the recoil, and was not smooth at all on the trigger. We did exercises of 1 shot, 2 shots, 3, 4, and then 5 consecutive shots before going back to the retracted ready position. We were about 5 yards out on the 5 shots, and my hits were all within about a dinner plate size, but many were still outside the targets we were using. By the time we finished this exercise, I was fatigued, anxious, and just everything was off. I needed a break, which we took, thankfully.
Came back and moved to a silhouette target, and things improved. I was shooting just about an inch low and to the left using the Glock. I had a tough time with the sights for the entire course. I never found that nice balance to get those sights to work properly. We started shooting 3 consecutive shots each turn, and from 3, 5, 7, and 10 yards. Most of my shots were in the A zone on the target. A few that I pulled low, but they were all in a vertical line, not pulling left or right.
Next we did the same 3 shots, at those distances, but with a timer. After the first 3 yard attempt where I only got off 2 shots, I relaxed a ton. My shots were better, but consistently low and left by about an inch. (A friend told me that's a Glock issue, due to pull weight. I prefer to blame me, because I'm new and had zero experience shooting before yesterday. My biggest complaint was trying to get my focus on the sight quickly.)
For the test, we did the same as the drill, and we did 4 attempts at it. Runs 1 and 2, I got all shots in the A zone, which means I passed the class and can take the next course, if I decide to move on. The other two tests I put two bullets in the C zone one next to the line, just to the left a bit, and one down low, I jerked that shot and knew it when I did it.
Now I need to decide what I want to do with this new knowledge. Continue by getting a gun and practicing, or just call it good and know that I can walk up to any gun and not make it go off on accident? If I continue to shoot, do I want to do it more recreationally, or do I continue and look at more courses to refine skills and stay safe?
A great class overall, and very happy I took it. Thanks to all for the words of encouragement and gun recommendations.