Attention Beginners, 

These are some of ROMTES tips for those who started late in life, or for some, hopefully, good reason, were too busy and is now finally ready and has the time to spend some time at the shooting range.

We are not going to give you a shooting manual or some theoretical shooting instructions. No, since we value quality shooting and shooters for which we have fantastic targets we are just going to point out some important aspects to pay attention to when going to the shooting range as a novice shooter.

• Set a goal. Your goal for going to the range should be clear, simple, and achievable. It does not matter the type of goal you set. What is important is that a goal exist. Whether it is to improve your self-defenses, to better your home defense, practice for a sporting event, or for improving a specific skill, or just testing some new ideas of stuff.
• Get an instructor. If you are not an expert in what you want to achieve at the range, get an instructor. Don’t just rely on Google, manuals or booklets.

• Pay attention to your Safety — The 4 NRA firearm safeties are your most effective insurance policy to keep you safe. Repeat them, remember them, say them out load. Only then you are safe to shoot!
  • Pay attention, the shooting range may be full of guns held or handled by unskilled people. Do not be one of them and never act as such, the gun is not a toy.   
  • Watch and protect your guns, respect other shooters safety concerns. Never leave the out of your sight and do not touch another person’s gun. It is just bad etiquette.
  • Pay attention to toxic materials at the range. Personal hygiene is your first concern (washing face and hands …) as you are stepping out of your shooting session. We suggest that after an Indoor range activity you change your shirt and even shoes.
  • Remember at your shooting post, just in front of you, there are lots of un-burnt gunpowder. This is accumulated through several shooting sessions before yours. Making it an unsafe zone – Do not smoke there.      
• Outfit. Wear comfortable clothes. Make sure that you are protected from the sun (if outside). Wear ear and eye protection.
• Learn to not just shoot. It is important to not just learn how to shoot but also how to handle yourself at the range. Additionally, it is important to learn how to handle the gun, how to operate it, clean it, and how to handle potentially dangerous situation with the gun, like jams. Also learn about ballistics, this will help you understand what does on behind the flight trajectory of the rounds.
• Precision vs Speed — This is a very well debated topic. At Romtes we believe that accuracy come first! Speed is for much later. This is not about how fast you can shoot; it is all about fully controlled rapid hits or holes through your targets. Practicing shooting is relatively simple. Practice scoring and punching holes though your target is your challenge and focus. The Romtes SCT-Pro is the right target to use to support you in your mission to become a better shooter.
• Every round counts. It is a training concept and not a business plan or to cut down on your budget. Again, the Romtes SCT-Pro is ideal for this as you get online monitoring of your performance from the first round, at any distance and with any caliber.
• How much is to much for a beginner? At Romtes we suggest either a 100 rounds or 1 hour of active time!! These are easy numbers to follow and remember. For most beginners, we recommend for focus on performance and without a proper break after 100 rounds or and hours this will be compromised.
• Targets – Pay attention to the following, target size, distance from target, gun recoil and gun sights. Try different distances, alternate between different targets and distance, but do not go to long in the beginning. Always remember suggestion #1 above, that all this alternate should always serve your objective or goal.

• Type of Ammo and firearm – The major factor in building your confidence is steadily improving your performance. The 2 major factors that and impact on this is the recoil of the gun and the level of noise. Thus, start with a smaller caliber and then move up to the bigger calibers. Go from short to long distance not the other way around.
• Mistakes. Mistakes that can occur the will impact your performance at the range is trigger pull. For pistol or revolver shooting, a big challenge is trigger pull. Talk to your local instructor about how he/she can help you though this challenge. For rifle shooting one important thing people forget to do is zeroing their rifle. Romtes Target System helps you to do this quickly and efficiently.

Happy safe shooting 

Team ROMTES