My daughter (she's 23, lives in West Palm Beach) has been home for a few days, so I took her to the indoor gun range today. Been wanting to get her to the range since before she first left for college about 4.5 years ago, but when she's home she always has friends to see, shopping to do, etc. or I have to work or a hundred other reasons. So today her boyfriend had already headed back to West Palm for work, she wasn't planning to meet friends until tonight, and she had the afternoon free. We had lunch together and then I decided it was a good time to get her some range time. She was up for it, so we went back home, I took out the pistols and ammo and did about an hour of safety and familiarization. Taught her to load the mags, some basic terminology, differences between revolvers and semi-autos, etc.
She shot my Hellcat .380, Taurus M65 .357, and the Hi-Point .45ACP. She did very well for her first time, remembering the safety instructions and other directions. She had a little trouble operating the slides on the pistols, but had no problem with the revolver, other than the muzzle flash surprising her a bit!
She liked the ghost ring sight I have on the .45, and hit the target in 9 ring and center with it pretty consistent at about 25 feet. The .357 has adjustable sights, and it was the first time I had shot it, so they were way off, shooting left a good bit. But it has a nice, smooth DA trigger at what felt like 8-9 lbs, and with single action it can't be more than 2 lbs. She shot them well, even though they were a bit large for her hands. She handled the little .380 fine as far as loading, aiming, squeezing the trigger, etc. but limp-wristed it a few times and got FTF. Her middle finger would wrap around the grip and be real close to the mag release button, and a couple of times the recoil caused her to hit it and have the mag fall out. She could work the slide with some effort, but it's a strong little bugger. Definitely not the pistol for her.
Now I need to find the right weapon for her, probably a revolver will be best for her first pistol. We checked out a few other .380s at the guns store that runs the range, like the Bersa Thunder, Walther PK380 and Ruger LCP (which is very similar to the Hellcat). But the Bersa and Ruger slides were just too hard for her to use, although the Bersa decocker was nice. The Walther didn't have a decocker, but had a very easy slide and is a very nice pistol, and I'd like to try one out. I believe a 2" barelled .38 might be a good choice. She liked the feel of the Ruger LCR and the Taurus M85 Ultra Lite, but might go for a more substantial weighted gun since she won't be concealed carrying it.
Next time she's home for a visit I'm going to try to get her to the rifle range for some new fun! Maybe I can get an AR or AK by then and see how she likes those.
How do you like the Hellcat?
How do you like the Hellcat?
It's ok. Got it for less than $200, put a few hundred rounds through it with no issues. Definitely no "heirloom" gun that my heirs would fight over, but it shoots Golden Sabers and FMJ well, goes bang when I pull the trigger. It kicks a bit and I can only really get 1 finger on the grip, but I can put 6 shots into a paper plate size circle in 2-3 seconds from 15-20 feet.
Glad to see you got some father daughter time at the range..my first pistol was a beretta 380 model 84 cheetah, a little big for a conceal gun, but very easy to operate, and has the decocker, i dont remember the slide being to stiff, not the best sights. How do you like that high point 45, as i know they are cheap, and i need a more powerful sidearm. i have looked at them, but ??? the reliability.
Glad to see you got some father daughter time at the range..my first pistol was a beretta 380 model 84 cheetah, a little big for a conceal gun, but very easy to operate, and has the decocker, i dont remember the slide being to stiff, not the best sights. How do you like that high point 45, as i know they are cheap, and i need a more powerful sidearm. i have looked at them, but ??? the reliability.
Hi-Point is definitely not a carry weapon, but would be a good truck gun or something to keep in the nightstand. Some guys like to keep them on their boat because they can double as an anchor! 😀 They have to have heavy slides because they use a blowback action instead of a recoil action. It is surprisingly accurate, the weight reduces recoil quite a bit, and they come with regular open sights installed and a ghost ring you can replace the back sight with.
I had put at least 500 rounds through it, and my son another 300-400, never any issues until it got knocked off the table at the gun range last year. It hit the concrete on the back of the slide, right where a hammer would be. There was no mag in it at the time, and it appeared to be fine. I removed the slide, did a quick inspection, put it back together and shot a full mag through it. When the slide locked back after the last round, I put a full mag in and released the slide lock. Slide didn't move. Tried everything short of beating on it with a sledge to get the slide to unlock, and it wouldn't budge. Since it has a lifetime warranty, I was going to send it in and have them fix it, but ended up sticking it in the closet and forgetting about it. I pulled it out a week or so later, and pulled the slide back a fraction of an inch, released and it slid forward no problem. Worked it back and forth, locked it in place, unlocked it, etc. and wouldn't stick again. Took it to the range again and shot one mag full and it locked back and released fine. Was still going to send it in, but was in no hurry. Decided to try it again yesterday. We shot about 40 rounds through it, then it locked up again. So I will send it back to Hi-Point for repair this week.
