Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
ABBAGAIL ROBINSON, 7, of Ironwood, fires a .50-caliber Hawken flintlock rifle as John Pera, a member of the Superior Range Shooter's Club, supervises during a Family Fun Shoot event on Friday. The shooting day was hosted by the club to teach safe shooting techniques.
IRONWOOD TOWNSHIP - Children and parents were invited out to the range for an annual Superior Range Family Fun Shoot event on Sunday afternoon.
Members of the Superior Range Shooter's Club hosted the event and taught families how to safely shoot the variety of weapons available.
John Pera, a Wakefield resident, has been active in the gun club for around 10 years and has held positions with its Board of Directors.
He said club members bring their own firearms and ammunition to these types of events, which allows family members to participate free of charge.
"We try to expose people to a safe environment and to introduce them to the shooting sports and competitions," he said. "The future really is with the kids, as far as the shooting sports."
Rocky Robinson, of Ironwood, brought his daughter Abbagail, 7, to the event.
"It's something to do as a family," he said. "Everyone here is very helpful and they give good hints and really explain how to do things. It's fun for the family."
Abbagail, who had never shot before, got to take aim and squeeze the triggers of a .50-caliber Hawken flintlock rifle.
She said shooting the rifle was "fun."
Some of the targets had playing cards attached, which kids were asked to aim for and allowed to take home as a souvenir, Pera said.
The family shooting day is typically held in the spring, but because of the weather, it was moved to August.
Pera said he hadn't been keeping track of numbers, but he'd been busy for about three hours straight, so he was pleased with the turnout.
"The kids are having a blast today," he added.
A single-shot .22 pistol and a .22-caliber Mare's leg/laig, which was essentially a child's size lever-action rifle, but considered a concealed weapon because of its barrel length, were also available to shoot.
One of the stranger weapons was a Medieval-era hand cannon, a small metal barrel mounted at the end of a wooden stick you held up to shoot. The cannon was loaded with powder, a little cannonball-round about .57 caliber-and a wick that was lighted to fire.
Some of the other weapons at the range included an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, an M1-Garand from World War II, a replica Civil War-era Henry rifle, and an 1870s Sharps rifle, which gun club members said was the "Buffalo gun of the wild west."
