When I took my CCW class, I was in a tough spot in life. My not-so-nice ex-husband and I had recently separated and he had made some threats against me. Additionally, he left me with a lot of debt. I had a need for self-defense and no money to make that happen. I couldn’t even pay rent on my own. But GB helped me out by letting me borrow his Bersa Thunder .380 as a carry gun for me and Armed and Safe allowed me to take their CCW class for free through a scholarship for a female shooters made by an American soldier.
I knew Armed and Safe would help me with an addon just like they helped me to get my original permit, so after I left Safe Shot on Saturday disappointed that I couldn’t qualify there, I called Armed and Safe. Allan Main answered my call on his cell phone. He was out at the range setting up for a CCW class to qualify. He told me if I got my happy butt to the range before 1:45 p.m. that day, he’d qualify me right there. No range fee, no target fee, no fancy ammo. Just $5. Nice.
I had my range gear in the car with me as I was driving away from Safe Shot: eyes, ears and revolver. I stopped off at Sportsman’s Warehouse to pick up some ammo and then I floored it out to the Washoe County Regional Shooting Facility. Allan and Kelly Main of Armed and Safe had arranged for private use of a range to the left of the range I normally shoot at when I patronize this facility. It was a nice range; reminded me of the bay we used at the Sacramento Appleseed held at the Sacramento Valley Shooting Center.
Before exiting the car, I applied my eyes and ears, grabbed my gear and then bee-lined for the firing line. I checked in with an assistant of Kelly. I didn’t catch his name, and that’s a shame, because he was awesome. He bellied me up to the firing line, eyeballed my gun and told me a few things about it and revolvers in general. He revealed to me that he himself conceal carries a revolver. Good times.
Allan and Kelly both came over and checked out my new toy. I showed Kelly the laser (which I didn’t use to qualify; it’s not visible in daylight) and Allan showed me his sights on his revolver. The gentleman who was supervising me showed me his too: his front sight was painted with bright red nail polish. Nice!
On my revolver, the sights are black on black and set very close together both horizontally and vertically. This coupled with what I read online that my gun tended to shoot high and off to the side due to the insane trigger-pull on it inspiring people to drag wood or jerk the trigger meant I needed to be careful. So when the line was hot, I paid close attention to my trigger discipline. My first five shots were all high of my target, but they were grouped nicely, so I just had to work on my sight alignment and sight picture a little bit more. This was my first time shooting this gun, so I had to get used to it and I did. My next shots were right on.
Kelly surveyed my work and proclaimed me “qualified.” She filled out the paperwork and I signed it. Then, I gave her the quoted $5, plus a $5 tip for all of the help she and her two coworkers had provided. As we wrapped things up at the range, the rest of the class participants headed back to Scheels where their class was taking place and I went back home.
Grinning like an idiot.
Armed and Safe saved the day.
