Helped teach a pal's Fiancee to shoot today

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Morne
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Helped teach a pal's Fiancee to shoot today

Post by Morne »

Just got back from the range a little while ago. A good friend of mine's Fiancee had never shot a gun before and wanted to. The three of us packed up the pistols and went to the range.

She is a very petite woman. Ring size of 3.5. :shock: Couldn't possibly weigh 100 pounds. My buddy isn't that much bigger so they make a fine looking couple. And hey - they're happy. :mrgreen:

He had gone over the basics of safety with her in the preceding week. Thus, she just needed to know how to hit the target. Grip, stance, sight picture - that sort of thing. Started her out on the .22 LR - no sweat at all. First few rounds were high but she adjusted within the first mag and was hitting COM at 25 feet easily. Burned up about 100 rounds of .22 LR before moving on to the centerfire stuff.

She tried shooting the 9mm out of my buddy's High-Point and immediately limp-wristed it. Still, her aim was just as good with the .22 LR. Again, after about a magazine she found her comfort zone and shot just fine. She had A LOT OF TROUBLE racking the slide. Showed her the "push-pull" 2-hand method and that helped a bunch.

Then we switched to my revolvers. She shot a 6" and 2.5" barrelled Taurus, both that roll seven and are stainless steel, mostly using .38 specials. She much preferred single-action, of course, but could make double-action work. Her accuracy and comfort level were quite high with these, as limp-wristing doesn't hurt a wheelgun. She did shoot one round of .357 Magnum (she put one in a cylinder load where the balance were .38's) and was shocked that it wasn't all horrible to handle even though it was L-O-U-D.

Strangely, she had MOUNTAINS of trouble using my wife's J-Frame S&W 642. I think she just liked having the option to cock the hammer.

At the end of it all she had fun and wants to go shooting again. Her skills, as of now, won't win any IDPA/USPSA/IPSC matches but she had 5 or more out of 7 rounds COM for each cylinder load she shot.

Add one more lady to the list. :D
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Maria
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Re: Helped teach a pal's Fiancee to shoot today

Post by Maria »

Good work adding one more to the ranks! If she's interested in learning more in the off-range time, steer her over to http://www.corneredcat.com/. It's loaded with good info by a woman, for women, about guns. I especially found her explanations very useful when learning to rack a slide.
"The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him."--G.K. Chesterton
BigV
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Re: Helped teach a pal's Fiancee to shoot today

Post by BigV »

Good job!
I have taught several women to shoot in the last couple of years (one being my wife) and I must say that they (in my opinion) are much easier to teach then the men I have taught. The one thing I noticed is that when you tell women something they seem to understand quicker. For example:
I first teach the 4 rules of gun safety with everyone I teach. It seems men have a hard time keeping their finger out of the trigger housing until they are ready to fire. Seems I need to constantly remind them during the range session. Women on the other hand seem to be very cognizant of their finger placement after each shot and very rarely put their finger in the trigger housing after being reminded once.
Women (again in my opinion) seem to be initially better shots than men.

What’s your experience?
BigV
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Re: Helped teach a pal's Fiancee to shoot today

Post by Beekeeper »

BigV wrote:Good job!
I have taught several women to shoot in the last couple of years (one being my wife) and I must say that they (in my opinion) are much easier to teach then the men I have taught. The one thing I noticed is that when you tell women something they seem to understand quicker. For example:
I first teach the 4 rules of gun safety with everyone I teach. It seems men have a hard time keeping their finger out of the trigger housing until they are ready to fire. Seems I need to constantly remind them during the range session. Women on the other hand seem to be very cognizant of their finger placement after each shot and very rarely put their finger in the trigger housing after being reminded once.
Women (again in my opinion) seem to be initially better shots than men.

What’s your experience?
Same here BigV. Men seem to have the attitude that they were born with a gun in their hands. Most women are easier to work with, though I'm used to working with women--I'm the only male of my shift of 10-12 people.
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charben
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Re: Helped teach a pal's Fiancee to shoot today

Post by charben »

Beekeeper wrote:Men seem to have the attitude that they were born with a gun in their hands.
Yep. That's been my experience as well. Women tend to come to my classes open to learning. Men come to my classes to get it over with! :) I often have to admonish men to get the finger off the trigger (as was previously mentioned).
Chris

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