If you spend part of the year in New England, as Debbie and I do, Lockstockanddaria.com is where to go to brush up on your firearms training. It’s easy to get rusty and out of tune. Gun safety can be off-putting if you don’t catch up periodically with professional instruction.
In October, we packed up our favored AR-7 Survival rifles for a session with master instructor Daria Bruno. Our daughter Becky had taken a shotgun course from her not long ago. One of our grandchildren had booked a fall lesson that she was unable to attend, so we went in her place to meet Daria.
Most gun folk in our part of New England know that Daria Bruno is the go-to professional, and Debbie and I were looking forward to meeting her and taking her course.
If you’re new to guns, your first trip to the gun range can be off-putting. It certainly was for us, and especially for Debbie, even though she was familiar with the old-time Harley Davidson shops before they gentrified.
The shooting crowd most certainly has little in common with your Sunday church group. And the noise in the place can be ear-splitting.
We checked in with Daria before going through the registration process. A cool lady, Daria put us at ease right from the start. Our AR-7s pack up in three pieces in a waterproof stock, so the first task was assembling the rifles. Easy. Once assembled, we loaded the magazines with 8 rounds of CCI .22LR hollow points. The mags hold 9 rounds, but when new, they can be stiff. No one wants to mangle a finger or thumb jamming in round #9.
On the range after tips from Daria, it was time to blast away. A COVID mask and electronic ear muffs weren’t at all comforting. Even with the muffs, the noise was so deafening that Debbie wasn’t sure she wanted to shoot, but Daria was agreeably firm and calming.
If you had told me I had missed the little target more often than not, I would not have been shocked. Much to our surprise, when Daria reeled in our targets, we each felt like we had shot Roy Rogers style.
After the “shoot-out,” we went back to Daria’s training room for some homework. All in all a most worthwhile experience with an extremely nice as well as competent instructor.
We look forward to returning.
Originally posted on December 16, 2020.
