At The Range - Match With The Minions

This morning, to keep up the birthday weekend festivities I and the kids woke early and after a quick breakfast headed to the range for an USPSA match.

The kids, being not yet ready for a pistol match were my range minions with jobs as designated target pasters.  They were a lot happier with this task when it was clarified that a target paster did not stand downrange holding the target.  Once that was cleared up, they were a lot happier heading to the range.

So we got to the range and signed in for the match.  I got ready and fitted them with their own eye and ear protection I had brought.

Abby got the mirrored shades eye protection I had brought as it was too big for Leah, and Leah got an adjustable one.

So it was Abby that ended up rockin' the cool safety look:

The rule was simple - eye protection on at all times, ear protection whenever anyone was shooting, which was pretty much constantly, and to stay back of the line until the range was declared clear and I called them forward to help paste.

When we got to the first stage they got to come up and scope it out with the shooters and see what the course of fire was about and the cunning array of steel and paper targets.  I showed them the paper pasters and showed them how to cover the holes, but only after they were scored.

They did a great job throughout the match, conscientiously pasting and enthusiastically trying to get it done as quick as possible after the scorer recorded the targets. They got a break on one stage as all the targets were too high for them and it was a fast classifier with only a couple paper targets.  The rest of the time they were pasting, picking up brass, or dropping rounds into my magazines while I held down the Lula/UpLula after I shot a stage.

I had some good stages but it really showed that I had not done a match this season until now - I was certainly slow, but accurate and I clearly need to get to the range more.  I ran the Smith and Wesson M&P 9 and wonderfully, it had no malfunctions or problems and was a great shooting gun indeed at the match.  I'm quite happy with it.

Everyone commented on how well behaved and helpful they were, and they were justly rewarded afterwards when I took them to McDonalds for milkshakes.  With that kind of good attitudes, they're welcome back to the range anytime.

A great day indeed, and I'm now busy smoking dinner.