Why New Shooters Give Up

Shooting is similar to other skill-based hobbies -- such as golf, bowling, flying, and archery -- in that it is much harder to master than anyone admits.

Many guns sit unused after the initial enthusiasm wears off and there's no evidence of improvement.

The cycle is predictable:

1. Buy a new gun
2. Learn all about it
3. Finally get to the range
4. Set up target at 25 yards (like everyone else)
5. Scatter a few hits, send most bullets somewhere into the backstop
6. Leave, happy to have finally shot, a bit disappointed that the accuracy was so poor

"I'm bored with this...."

Repeat steps 4-6 until the novelty wears off and other interests take over.

"Good riddance to bad rubbish, I says..."

When asked "You ever going back to the range?" the response is usually, "Yeah, I need to get out there..."

The old-timers keep shooting, the new person drops off, and the shooting sports lose another enthusiast.

Why?

There are many reasons people drop a hobby, but I'll propose the a common reason is no sense of improvement.

After all, it's pretty easy to assess improvement target shooting -- you either get more holes inside the ring or you don't.

If you spend several hundred dollars on equipment, targets, range fees, and ammunition you expect to improve.

Sadly, the new shooter "practices" a few times yet sees very little improvement.

Wow...

Since the assumption is every American is a Natural Born Marksman the new shooter is embarrassed to shoot with others. He/she does not join a group or league, avoids busy range times, and refuses to ask for help as it is an admission of failure, or at least weakness ("Who would I ask? How should I ask?").

Isolation makes the sport even less attractive.

So the gun gets put away, the gear gathers dust, and we lose one more potential trained and armed civilian defender.

How to Fix the Problem

First, we have to stop claiming that "shooting is easy!"

While the fundamentals are certainly simple and readily learned, it takes a lifetime to master consistency, speed, and accuracy.

Shooting is a complex sequence of actions that all have to be accomplished well to get a good result.

If you've been shooting long enough you forget how hard it is to do all the required actions -- it's become instinctual.

But even the best shooters fight mood, stress, lack of focus, tiredness, distractions, that conspire to widen groups or cause a flyer.

So let's admit shooting well -- defined as "Shooting accurately at the maximum effective range of the firearm within a set time frame" -- is a skill to be mastered over time, and that the mastery of the skill is its own reward.

Tight groups at distance reflect the skill mastered, but are not the ultimate end. The value of any hobby is the camaraderie of like minded people, the challenges and new vistas it opens, and the sense of progress and accomplishment it provides.

If it was just about tight groups we could set up a gun in a vise and blast away at a target 5' away.

Second, let's allow people to move up gradually.

We all love new gear. When a new person starts asking about guns we're quick to help sell the latest and greatest.

But perhaps what he or she needs is a .22 auto pistol such as the Browning Buckmark or Ruger SR 22.

Sure, it's heavy, not concealable, doesn't sport a Picatinny rail, and shoots a puny rimfire round.

But the new shooter won't flinch at recoil, won't be subject to painfully loud noise, and won't burn $50 worth of ammo every trip to the range.

We should also reduce the tendency to blather about arcane trivia to prove how much we know. Sure, you just finished conducting ballistic gel test for all .357 SIG factory ammo available for sale in North America, but does the new guy really understand -- or even care?

Squelch the urge, simplify the vocabulary, avoid jargon, and let them feel smart about deciding to shoot a gun.

Here's a short post about "Training Guns" that expands on this point.

For more, check out "Which Gun? Part One" and Part Two

Third, we need to take a long term approach to shooting. It's a lifelong skill with a wide variety of applications. Often new people have very narrow or even warped views of what guns are and what they can do.

What I THINK I will be doing at the range....

Often disappointment sets in when the reality doesn't quite match the movie playing in the mind.

That's fine and normal.

Our job is to help the folks who want to get past that.

Some don't -- and we can't change that either.



Fourth (and finally), we need to be able to move form novelty to training and skills acquisition with the new shooter.

... what it ACTUALLY looks like.

Novelty wears off. Sure, it's fun to expose a new person to firearms and let them see how much "fun" it can be.

But this is a recruiting event, a movie trailer, a free sample at Costco.

IF they express interest in continuing, it's time to lay out a plan that demonstrates that the cotton candy phase is over.

If they decide, "You know what? I really don't want to invest more in this..."  That's fine.

You at least helped reduce the anti-gun phobia of one person.

But most adults (and even mature adolescents) will appreciate a mature, methodical approach and buy-in to the acquisition of a simple yet ever-challenging skill.


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In a subsequent post we'll explore how flight training can offer some important lessons to those interested or currently teaching new shooters.