Shooting, A Dilemma, and Some Risk Taking

I went to the range today to do some shooting.  Yippeee!!!  My man, my son and meeeeeeeeee!!

Overall, I was pretty pleased.  I basically shot where I was aiming or pretty darn close to it and I felt like I had much more control of the gun.  The grip thing is really a big deal.

We were assigned to shoot in spot 12.  When we got to spot 12, the person who shot before us had left his target and casings.  Sweet!  Love presents. 

We did a little house keeping of the shells, but left his target up and just put our orange sticker targets over his.

So, your just gonna have to trust me that the shots outside of the orange circles are not mine.

 Me shooting at the orange targets.  I like double hearing protection inside.  The blue cord is from the little plugs inside my ears.

The shots inside the bottom orange circle are mine as are the ones just below and to the left.  Just below and to the left is a common place for my shots to go.


After taking turns with my husband and son, I decided to shoot with my "off" hand. For me that would be my right hand.

Right hand

From this distance.  I actually am not sure what the distance is between the lines, but I think the first line is 5 yards, the second line is 15, the third 20 and then maybe 40 or 50.

Again, right hand, shot a couple of magazines.  Inside the orange and the ones below are mine(not the ones above the target or to the left side).  It seems I am more accurate with my right hand.

I am left handed.  I write with my left hand.  I eat with my left hand and when I shoot, I am much more comfortable shooting with my left hand, but each time I shoot with my right hand I do better.

I can't decide if I should stay with what is comfortable, my left hand, and just train to be more accurate or try to get comfortable with my right hand, the one that is already more accurate.

Of course, the best plan would be to be equally as skilled with both hands and surely that is my long term goal, but what do I do now????

On a side note, I have always shot the same ammo out of my gun.  Winchester .40, 165 grain, full metal jacket.(for my newbie friends...Winchester is the brand, .40 is the caliber, basically the size, 165 is basically the weight, full metal jacket, in it's most simplistic description is usually a lead bullet encased.  Not necessarily fully encased. There is more to understanding bullets than one would think, but this is the very basic, A Girl and Her Gun explanation) 

Today, I branched out and shot something different. About a week or so ago I bought more ammo and the sweet kid who sold me the ammo suggested I try Remington .40, 180 grain, full metal jacket.  He made the suggestion because I could get 50 more bullets for just a few dollars more.

Not a surprise to anyone, I am sure, I was nervous to take him up on his helpful hint. At first, it was a risk I wasn't sure I could take. I love to stick with what works.  Especially, when I don't really know what I am doing, but in the interest of branching out and not being scared, I said ok, lets try that.

Also, because I hate to tell people no when they are trying to be nice. 

This might be a character flaw.

One time I was at a restaurant with my son and daughter-in -law and I ordered a lemon lime something or other.  Well, it was soda.  I don't like soda and this was one sweet drink.  When the waitress came back, I asked if I could have an unsweet tea.  She, very nicely said, I know this lemon lime thing is sweet, let me bring you something like it, only less sweet.  She was being nice, so I said sure.  I did not like it, but she was so, so nice, I made my son drink it and then I told her how nice she was for bringing it.  I also cut off the meat of the cantaloupe she brought me as a treat, left the rind on the plate and shoved the meat into a napkin into my purse.  It was not good.  In contrast to the drink, this fruit was not sweet at all.  She was trying so hard to bring me yummy things and I did not want to discourage her, therefore, I went to great lengths to hide the fact that it was not a pleasant dining experience for me. I may go a tad bit overboard in this area.

Anyhoo, this new ammo, shot without a lick of trouble.  A more experienced shooter would probably be able to tell the difference in their shooting between the 165 grain and the 180 grain, but I am not that skilled.  I was just pleased as punch that it did not jam up my gun(my husband had one jam in his) or explode it in my hand. 

Baby steps to growth, but growth nonetheless.