Pistol Plinking Targets

I just got home from spending a very cold day out at the Sir Walter Gun Club for a very good cause. I volunteered for an NRA Women on Target event that gives new female shooters an opportunity to shoot various firearms with coaching to keep them safe and help them be more successful shooters.

I worked the pistol plinking section. We loaded up 7 or 8 rounds in an M&P 9mm semi-automatic pistol and coached the ladies through shooting the targets pictured above. The steel targets fall down when given a solid hit. If you hit them, but don’t drop them, they still give off a satisfying “ping”.

We covered stance, grip, aim, and trigger control. In our section we took 6 ladies through at a time then gave them all a second chance to shoot again.

We had all ages and every women we coached knocked down at least one of the steel targets.

The couple I was working with were also kind enough to let me take a turn and I managed to knock down all 6 targets pretty quickly. Just having an instructor certification doesn’t make you a good shooter, but in this case I didn’t embarrass myself.

I also made a new contact that may open up an opportunity to teach some more NRA.

The biggest lesson I learned today: bring extra layers. I have an emergency bag in the trunk of my car and I ended up digging out an extra layer and a pair of gloves that made me much more comfortable during a long cold day.