Breda reminded me of this ...... Range story

Breda posts about bringing some new ladies into the fold....

(lets here a round of applause for Breda!)

Her post reminded me of something that happened this summer...

I love to shoot, and am usually alone when I do. Oh, others might be on the range but I have no one to go with, so..... alone.

Now, I am not a real friendly person. Just my nature. I'd rather bite now, and sniff later. But... on the range I get more sociable. That has led to more than a few occasions where I lay aside my plans and spent the hours helping out someone else. Usually a new shooter, or someone needing coaching.

Well.... this summer one of those happened that was a bit more memorable.

There was an older fellow, maybe 65 or so, on the long pistol range. He was shooting a .380 Bersa, clearly just bought. The plastic case was laid out, a few boxes of shells, an old pair of binoculars.... He was not having a real good time.
No holes in the paper, firing that small pistol from thirty yards.

I wandered over and introduced myself, and we started talking. It helped that I still had my fancy colt holstered on one side, magazines on the other. The pistol looks good and people ask about it.... He did too. It broke the ice well....

Anyway.... after a while.... as we talked about moving up to the seven yard line, getting a bigger target, how this lever thingy was a safety.... all the good points.....
he revealed a bit about himself.

He had always wanted to shoot, but his wife would never let him have a gun in the house. The catch in his voice made me ask, and the hunch was right. His wife had died that month.... and he had bought a gun.

I spent several hours with him, showing him safe handling, drawing him out, asking about his wife, getting him to talk. Sometimes, it's good to talk......
He loved his wife dearly... and his pain was clear. I had a very bad feeling about why he had originally bought that pistol. I also had the feeling he wasn't a man to do anything sloppy, and wanted to know how to work the pistol correctly.

We ended up under the trees, just talking, mostly about his wife. He unloaded a lot.. for speaking to a stranger. It was a hot day, and I was sweating it out, more ways than one. I told him I was at the range fairly often, usually alone, and would love to have someone to shoot with... and gave him my number. He didn't offer his.

I never did hear from him.... but maybe more importantly, I never heard about him in the paper either.... and I damn well looked.

I think I did some good that day. Hope I did.......