The Corner Shot

My husband is an NRA Training Couselor, so he teaches instructor workshops to teach people who want to become an NRA Certified Instructor. It’s a two day class, and it includes range time. Since I’m a Range Safety Officer, he usually asks me if I can come and keep an eye on his students on the range. Last week he had a class, and I asked him if he wanted my help. He said sure, he then told me that one of his students is a Corner Shot instructor, I said I’ll definitely be there!
What is the Corner Shot? It is an amazing rifle developed in Israel that allows a shooter to be safely behind a barrier and engage your target without putting the shooter in the line of fire. I say rifle, but it’s not exactly a rifle. It’s really in a category of its own. It’s a device that holds a Glock 17 and a camera on the front and a small monitor near the rear. The front pivots left or right. Instead of looking down iron sights or optics, you look at the monitor, which is surprisingly accurate.
It was a once in a lifetime experience to shoot this firearm that is only used by military and law enforcement. It was very awkward at first, because when the Corner Shot is angled and you fire it, the recoil is not up and to the rear. It’s up and to the side, so it torques you a little bit. But it makes up for the strange recoil in the fact that you’re only technically shooting a 40 cal Glock pistol, so it has very little recoil. After firing a few rounds, it became very front heavy. The device itself is not that heavy, but then add the Glock 17 with a high-capacity magazine to the front, and that’s where most of the weight is. A traditional rifle is weighted so most of the weight in over your hands, so it’s balanced very well. The Corner Shot isn’t balanced well, mainly because it’s function over comfort. Which is fine, because if I was going into battle, I would definitely want this firearm so that I don’t have to be in the line of fire!

No Boys Allowed

So the Colorado Springs chapter of A Girl and A Gun women’s shooting league officially launched last night, and it was an incredible experience! I walked into the clubhouse at the Pikes Peak Gun club (a little late) and about 15 women had shown up for some sisterly shooting. I had never been in the presence of so many like-minded women. There were women of all experience levels, some who had never shot before, all the way up to one of our facilitators, who is a competitor, as is the creator of the club. We even had a few young ladies with us, too. So in the clubhouse, we listened to the creator of the league and the two facilitators of the Colorado Springs chapter talk about the history of A Girl and A Gun. The creator of the club had only started it about a year and a half ago, and she already has over 40 chapters all over the country! The cool thing is that our chapter was the first to launch outside of Texas.

So after our history lesson, we went though a quick safety briefing, then the ladies announced we were going to shoot steel. All of the experienced shooters started cheering, including myself. I’ve said it before, but I LOVE shooting steel! It is so satisfying; you know right away if you hit your target without waiting for a cease-fire and walking down to your targets. I was there mainly as a Range Safety Officer and an instructor, but I had to have my fun, too. The four of us roamed the firing line, watching the ladies shoot to make sure everyone was being safe, and offering tips. That’s one of the best parts of being with all these women instead of being on a line full of men. When I offer advice, the women take it! Some men look at me and don’t take me seriously, and therefore, don’t listen to me when I try to give advice. Don’t get me wrong, if I see a gross safety violation, man or woman, they don’t have any choice but to listen to me!

After most of the ladies had their fill of shooting, I got my turn and tossed some lead down range. I don’t know if it was all the good juju from being around all these women, but I was just ON. It was a constant ting, ting, ting as I shot the target. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy!

After everyone was done for the day, we went back to the clubhouse for cake. We all hung out for a little while, talking about our experiences, and just generally enjoying the camaraderie.

A Girl and A Gun will hold “Girls Night Out” every Wednesday at the Pikes Peak Gun club from 6-8pm. You don’t have to be a member, and you don’t have to have a gun to come out and have a good time. I’ll be there most Wednesdays working as RSO and instructor, so stop by and get some “group therapy!”

If you’d like to see some pictures from our first Girls Night Out, check out A Girl and A Gun’s facebook page.

Ladies Shooting League!

I have just discovered a ladies-only shooting league called A Girl and A Gun. It’s mainly in Texas, so I hadn’t heard of it sooner, but they are opening a chapter in Colorado Springs! I was so excited when I found out, because I just haven’t had a lot of opportunities to go shooting lately. unfortunately my world doesn’t revolve around shooting. I do have a regular (non-gun related) job that keeps me pretty busy. I have a wonderful family. I recently decided I’m going to go back to school. But through all that, I still have to make time for what I’m passionate about, and that will always be shooting.

I’m so excited to meet other women who share my passion! There’s just not a lot of us out there, and here in Colorado Springs, before A Girl and A Gun, there wasn’t any way for us to get together. But here’s the best part: not only am I going to be a member, but they’ve asked me to be an instructor! We’re still working out all the details, but I will be at the Pikes Peak Gun Club on June 5 for the chapter launch. It’s going to be a lot of fun, so if you’re in the area, come by between 6 and 8pm. Hope to see you there!

Rifle Instructor Workshop

So as you may already know, I’m an NRA Certified Pistol Instructor, and have been for about two years. I decided that I wanted to extend my credentials, and I figured my next step was rifle. Luckily, my husband happens to be an NRA Training Counselor, and he was teaching a Rifle Instructor Workshop this weekend. Now I know what you’re thinking, “Well he’s your husband, so of course he’ll just let you slide though the class and sign your certificate!” That’s not how my husband operates, and that’s definitely not how I operate. I put everything I had into this class, and I learned a lot.

What made our class even more fun was that there were only six of us, and we were all already pistol instructors. We traded off teaching each other the sections from the basic rifle class, so that we can teach our own NRA Basic Rifle class. I already knew two people in the class, so we were joking around, having a great time. The only time we weren’t having a great time was getting into the different shooting positions. On Saturday, we were “teaching” each other how to get into the positions, and on Sunday we were at the range actually shooting from the six different positions. A couple of the positions were VERY uncomfortable. The sitting position, as I’m demonstrating here, was the worst!

By the end of the first day, my back was killing me! But it was worth it, since I passed the class and will soon have my credentials to teach the NRA Basic Rifle class! Next step: SHOTGUN!