My Fiancee Wants to Learn How to Shoot

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Originally Posted by JohnnyEgo

Only problem with starting with a .22 is that there is no way to go down if she doesn't care for it. With adults who haven't shot before, I like to start with a 6" .357 loaded with .38 wadcutter. Very mild recoil, and sets a reasonable expectation of every other caliber to come. Once she has gotten over the initial sound and fury, you can go to the .22 to practice fundamentals.

Only other piece of advice I have is to take a mutual friend or someone else with you, and let them offer advice and correction. Your only function should be to offer encouragement and support. Otherwise, couples tend to bring too much baggage into instruction, which is both dangerous and counter productive.

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Even an air pistol is good for getting over the initial willies. My wife's ex was a cop, and thought it would be funny to teach her to shoot with a .44 Mag. It's taken me 10 years to get her to unlearn the bad habits that taught her. Now I have her convinced to take a CCW course, but I will not be in the room when she takes her class. [Help]. She's much more accepting of instruction when the teacher is anyone but me. [LOL]

lots of great info! All I can say is to have fun and be safe!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JohnnyEgo

Only problem with starting with a .22 is that there is no way to go down if she doesn't care for it. With adults who haven't shot before, I like to start with a 6" .357 loaded with .38 wadcutter. Very mild recoil, and sets a reasonable expectation of every other caliber to come. Once she has gotten over the initial sound and fury, you can go to the .22 to practice fundamentals.

Only other piece of advice I have is to take a mutual friend or someone else with you, and let them offer advice and correction. Your only function should be to offer encouragement and support. Otherwise, couples tend to bring too much baggage into instruction, which is both dangerous and counter productive.

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Just offering advice from First hand knowlege from my own wife and other women students that I have taught.

Second the .38 with wadcutters. Revolvers are good to learn on too as there is no racking of the slide etc., just load, point, shoot.
However, I have started female shooters with .22 before and depending on the personality involved may be a good way to go. Once they get over the recoil and the report of the weapon most women make excellent shooters, but in the beginning if they are really scared by excessive recoil/report then they can easily lose interest or get frustrated quickly.
My quick rules for teaching an adult new female shooter are-

low recoil
low report- longer the barrel the better, lower power target ammo is better
simpler the operation the better- working slides and decockers and etc. overwhelms a new shooter and while they may not complain it does not make anything easier.
stay away from liteweight carry guns intitally. It might seem counter-intuitive but a 1911 steel frame pistol loaded with .45ACP target rounds has a manageable recoil because its a heavy ass pistol. The same round in a Glock or similar polymer compact pistol with a 3" barrel will not be a pleasant gun to learn on.A medium frame revolver with a 6" barrel shooting .38 wadcutters is the same thing, easily managed and easy to come to grips with.
If starting with a .22 make sure you have another gun available loaded with medium power ammo for them to step up to.
An indoor range is better. Crowded is not a bad thing. It really can help to see that there are so many other shooters out there and it really helps remove a lot of the stigma associated with guns and shooting.

My own wife has gone to the range with me, and previously she did not "get" my gun hobby much at all. When she saw other shooters out having a good time, smiling, out with thier whole families including sons and daughters, it all made a lot more sense to her and really removed a lot of the "guns are evil and only for the authorities" mentality she had. Incidentally she shot my .22 SIg Mosquito and moved right up to the Beratta PX4 Storm in .45, and she has handled but not fired my AR's and understands how they function and how to use them correctly.

Humans have the ability to sense real threats.

I am guessing that she senses this individual is a real threat based on her wanting firearms training. Ask her " what does your gut tell you is this guy a threat?"
If she replies in the affirmative i would take it very seriously but thats just me.

Have somone else train her. You might want to get her able to shoot but get her trained by a profesional ASAP. She must be trained emotionally to respond appropriatly as well as learning how to shoot.

http://www.rmcat.com/node/4

I recomend this training. The springs is not that far away. If you cant wait ask them for a associated school in NM. Until she is trained she is at risk.

I prefer that my woman doesn't shoot. For one, it tends to cut into "guy time" if she tags along.


For another thing, it's just safer. [Coffee]

http://www.newschannel5.com/story/18...ranklin-county

http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/new...-tells-witness

http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?se...cal&id=8753802

http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/state/c...f-an-argument-

The original spelling of woman in Old English was "woeman"...[ROFL1]

Make sure the sights on all your guns shoot high and to the right. That way if she ever gets mad enough you can go low and left.

Have fun. I hope everything works out and you have a new shooting companion.

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Originally Posted by SAnd

Make sure the sights on all your guns shoot high and to the right. That way if she ever gets mad enough you can go low and left.

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Better high than low[Tooth]