Ladies Night... at the Gun Range

Hey everyone! I hope your week is going well! Its been a busy one here and I'm so glad its Thursday already!

If you follow me on Instagram, then you already know I went out on Tuesday with some new girlfriends to a local gun range for a ladies night. What an experience!
 

My husband and I have moved twice in the past two years so its been really hard to meet people and make friends. Luckily, Steve works with some folks our age and we were able to join a softball team here.

Last week, I asked the girls on our team if they'd be willing to go "shoot some guns" with me. I figured they'd think I was crazy, but they were just as excited as I was to try something different bad ass. Most lady dates involve chit chatting over dinner and wine, but that's not how we roll, at least not completely since we did have a pre-gun range drink to settle the nerves!

Background: Where I grew up, almost everyone hunts or has at least shot a gun in their lifetime. But not me. If you're like them, you'll probably be thinking I'm a total pansy for getting excited about shooting a .22 caliber gun!

Anyway, on to the ladies night. It's a one hour class taught by women for women, so we all felt comfortable and weren't intimidated... well, not by the instructor at least. Plus it was just the four of us in the class, so that was pre-tay, pre-tay, pre-tay good. (Larry David, anyone?)

For $30, we got a small group instruction and shot 50 rounds on a semi-automatic pistol and a revolver. We also got a free t-shirt, which as you can see has a really classy design. I realize it technically wasn't free, but humor me because I love free t-shirts.

After a short video, some explanation on gun safety, and a brief instruction on how to load your guns, we were off to the range. At this point, we put on our pink glasses and pink earphones and moseyed over to a station. This is when I just stood there like an idiot waiting for someone to walk me through using these killing machines, but no dice...

What? Sweet baby Jesus... you want me to load this and just shoot away? Don't we need a helmet or Kevlar in case the bullets somehow come out backwards? Is this thing going to kickback on me? Is the shell going to hit me in the face, causing me to freak the hell out and start shooting at the ceiling? I have a history of things ricocheting and coming back to hit me, see the end of this post. What if my new girlfriends decide they don't like me anymore and I don't have a bulletproof box to hide in?

So after all of these thoughts (and my life) flash through my head, I finally raise my hand and the nice lady comes over and helps me load the gun. Whew.

I went with the revolver first. SO much fun! I was shooting really well and making some clutch shots to the pink paper's chest, abdomen, and neck. Then I switched to the pistol, which went something like this: Make sure safety is on > Need help loading pistol > Make sure safety is on > Make sure finger is not on the trigger > Pull the top thingy backwards > Make sure safety is on > Take a deep breath > Take safety off > Take another deep breath > Bam >  Yelp when the shell pops at me > Bam Bam Bam > Decide that the pistol is too much and go back to the revolver.

One of my friends felt the same way, so we decided we'd be better cowboys than gangsters.

I don't know that I'll ever purchase a gun, though I've thought about it for protection. I would definitely go back to use some of the free range passes we got and to feel that brief adrenaline rush. Even if I don't, I'm glad to have checked that off my bucket list and tried something new and totally out of my comfort zone.

Have any of you shot a gun before? What have you done to get yourself out of your comfort zone?