[Thomas Garrett]

Yes guys, took the wife last night, At first she didn't want to go. first time, never shot a handgun in her life. Well, started by discussing with her about range safety. Started her off with my Buckmark .22 (7 yards), moved her up to a Officers Model Match 6" .22 revolver ( at 10 yards, taught her to shoot in SA). Next was the .38 Special (same model), She wanted MORE! :what:Well let her shoot my Ruger Security Six .357 Magnum 4". by then she was hitting black at 15 yards. I was shooting my .45's ( 25 yards), well, now she wanted to shoot my .45s, so, i let her, still tearing up the black at 15 yards (B-8's). so i had to do it, i rented a S&W .500 magnum 4", bought 2 rounds for her, she even hit paper with that. (scared the he** out of her though). In final, she was always against me buying pistols, now she wants her own.:) Great night, and great night afterwards:D Just wanted to share a good story

PS. Get your wives involved, it worked for me!

[MDG1976]

I plan on teaching the GF to shoot soon. she's never fired a gun before.

[twoclones]

i rented a S&W .500 magnum 4", bought 2 rounds for her, she even hit paper with that. (scared the he** out of her though).

Good for her. I would not have gone that far though. I shoot the 500 regularly and do not recommend it for anyone other than experienced shooters.

[Thomas Garrett]

Twoclones, She handled the .500 like a pro. After we had everything put up, we were out front at the counter, paying the bill, she was asking the range person if they would consider selling the S&W .500 magnum, She wants it for home protection. He is supposed to call me today on the price. Also, she's carrying one of the "spent" casings around in her pocket today, showing everybody at our office. I guess a S&W is in my future soon. lol

[TMM]

all i can say, is that you are a very lucky man... (with a very lucky wife, too!)

I'm quite suprised that she had no issue with recoil! we've got one more convert...

tmm

[Thomas Garrett]

I told her to shoot it 2 handed, combat style, and hold it tight. After the 1st shot, ( it kicked about 12" in the air), She said "Holy Sh**!, started laughing, sat it down on the bench, and punched me and my friend in the shoulders. Still laughing, Then said "I want to try that again" !

[crebralfix]

Always good to hear about success! Now she has to learn that guns should never be painted pink or other funky colors.

[jbkebert]

Be careful I used to shoot alot with my wife. She has pretty much given it up since we had kids. There for a long time my wife could outshoot me with my own guns:o My wife never got into handguns but with a 22-250 she was hell on hedgeballs and PD's

[PT1911]

I have had similar experiences.. "I dont want to shoot, they scare me... its gonna hurt" BOOM!!! "Wow that was great... I want to shoot another one!!!" works every time...

[Ed Ames]

I know several guys who lost 1911s doing that. They didn't seem to mind though....

[PhiloebeddoUSA]

Good for you....Now she's gonna want one of her own with a laser...and a Purse/holster to go with it.

[chris in va]

Wow, you did that perfectly. 22's, 38, 45. Nice job.

My friend recently commandeered my P11. Oh well.

Good for her. I would not have gone that far though. I shoot the 500 regularly and do not recommend it for anyone other than experienced shooters

Aw, everyone needs to try a 500 at some point. Guy at the range was letting people try his, and we offered to pay $3/rd to fire it. Both my lady friend and I tried it, glad we did.

[PT1911]

more than adequate compensation.. who needs oysters, strawberries, or chocolate... I buy guns instead. best Aphrodisiac there is...

[wep45]

Took wife to the Range last night

what kind of gun does she want for yourself??:)

when are you gonna buy it for her??:D

[Thomas Garrett]

Well, i have an arsenal. 8 hand guns, 3 revolvers, 5 auto's. we can compete, buckmarks, 45's, or my Beretta's, 2 of each. but if she is serious about the .500, i guess so be it. Or what ever she wants. Maybe a commander style .45, she shot both of mine last night (full-size), she really likes the .45's. She's got the itch now. I created a monster.


Here we go. She just returned from serving papers, Sat a "paid" membership card on my desk. Yep, she joined my club. Now, i guess it's not "boys" night out anymore.:banghead: I guess i just "shot" myself in the foot!

also i want to add we're both 50, our kids are grown up and on thier own. It's "Play time"!:D

[twoclones]

She wants it for home protection.

Bad idea.
Consider that the 500 hits with 5 times the power of a .357 and the videos on YouTube show it going through 5 x 1 gallon jugs of water.... For HD you'd have to worry about killing someone on the other side of a concrete block wall. Not to mention cleaning body parts off the ceiling...

My bad... It is 7 water jugs...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2xp1jxALuc

[Hungry Seagull]

Spouse enjoys range trips. She does not shoot much, but when she does, it counts. Now she wants to try my .45 next trip. I fear it might be rather BIG for her; a bit worried. We will see at 7 yards how she does on paper.

[lukepriebe]

My wife wants to learn on the next gun I buy.

[Thomas Garrett]

On the .500, we live on 2 acres, i still think i'm going to give her the Ruger Security-six, 357 mag. Stainless steel 4" barrel, she handled that pretty well last night, or like i stated prior, maybe even a Commander style .45. (i always wanted one).:evil:

[20nickels]

OP
I had the same experience when we went to our CCW class. She shot a revolver so well besting most of the men in the group that she got a S&W M66-1 in her stocking this last Christmas. I was truly suprised and pround at the same time.

[Big Bill]

TG - won't that S&W 500 bullet travel clean across the state of Florida? So, how well would it work for HD - really?

[BCRider]

Well, if the BG is stuck to the nose of it then it did the job then, didn't it. The only problem then is reparing the BG silouhette shaped hole in the wall where he exited.... :D

[Thomas Garrett]

Well, if she misses, hope she'll hit thier car. they would have to walk home.

[GJeffB]

I wrote this in another place, but it matches Thomas Garrett's experience closely:
This doesn't pertain to CC training, per se, so much as converting & training a new shooter. I've been a shooter for *many* years, but my wife has never been a gun person. Not anti, just uninitiated. For the longest time it had been "are you sure that's safe?" "can that thing go off?" and the like. Each comment was met with a gentle explanation of firearms in general, handguns in particular, safety issues and training, etc.
A few weeks ago, a nonchalant "I'm doing some shooting today, care to come along?" (about the 843rd time asking her) resulted in her accompanying me. Now, my carry wewapon, Taurus MilPro .45, isn't necessarily the ideal beginner's choice. But she was willing to try for a change. 3-5 yards resulted in more misses than hits. 2 hours later, after explanation of trigger control, sight picture, grip/stance and recoil management, she was on-target at 7 yards, and understood the complete manual of arms of the weapon. She actually shot more than I did!
A week or so later I got questions: "Do they make lighter guns?" "Do they make guns that recoil less?" "Do they make 'women's'guns?" That's when I knew I had her. Last week we went to the gun shop. We spent almost an hour with a very patient salesman, letting her handle and dry fire *many* models. She proclaimed the Charter Arms .38 felt best in her hand, and she was able to deal with the DA trigger. So I sprang the question: "Would you like to have that?" To my surprise, she agreed! We have another range session scheduled, and she spends a bit of time every night dry firing, reading the manual, and asking questions.
The point of all this? Slow, gentle, and steady is a good way to bring a non-shooter over to the bright side. She's confident that I have the knowledge to teach her, and the experience to keep us safe during training. FWIW, I've found that women seem to take training *much* better than men. Not sexist, just experience.
If you have a non-shooter (as opposed to an anti-shooter), consider taking your time with discussions, not pushing the issue, and take advantage of every curiosity opportunity.
HTH

-jb

[chuwee81]

well, with my wife i've broken her in with my 10/22 first (no kick) :). We have since bought a handgun for HD (i posted here a while back, she got robbed at gunpoint). BUT ever since we have it, she seems unenthusiastic about going to the range and shoot it. Maybe it's my luck, but once on our day off, the range was closed. The 2 times we're scheduled to go, she got a fever and a bad cough. What are the odds to that. So will have to wait until next week when we both have our same day off again (both of us are in the hospitality industry, both managers).

[30.06]

So....she wants to actually SHOOT a .500 S&W ?
Hope she has lots of spare cash .

Whatever happened to the days when a smart woman , wanted her own .38 ?

[Hungry Seagull]

Now smart woman wants to run a factory filled with workers making that .38 probably. :D

[Thomas Garrett]

Update, She is going to use the Ruger .357, 4" barrel Security-Six, Stainless, i/ve got for now, Got to change the grips though, Pachmyers i guess. She likes that one., and is pretty accurate. Also her next may be the RIA 4" .45. She likes my full size.:)

[ArchAngelCD]

My wife still won't go to the range with me but I did introduce all 3 of my son's girlfriends to shooting.

[sltintexas]

my wife has really made a 180 over the years with guns. She first gave me a lot of grief when I bought a gun. She became tolerant of it slowly. She became more "for it" when a registered sex offended moved in close by. Then we'd go on a trip where we'd travel at night and ask me to bring it. We'd sleep with the windows open at night and she'd ask me to keep it on the night stand. She started going to the range with me about a month ago. It has actually has been a lot of fun..something for us to do together.

anyway, she has really started to llike it and is going for her CCW class this weekend.

[Gambit88]

Ive been tryin to convince my girl to goto the range for 2 years and she wont. Last night I got her to say yet if I took her best girlfriend as well. Well her friend agreed and tuesdays are ladies night at my range(ladies shoot free!!) so I may finally win the fight.

[ArchAngelCD]

Gambit88,
If they never shot before start them out slowly. There's nothing like a .22 to start out new shooters, especially gun shy people that might be frightened by a loud centerfire with a snappy recoil the first time out.

Good luck and have fun...

[Thomas Garrett]

Gambit, way to go. If you can start them out like i did my wife. (original post). My other half has now been twice, and asking when? is the next time we're going! Got her hooked.:)

[Delford]

Gambit
"...so I may finally win the fight."

You may come out on top of this discussion but with your lady you'll never "win the fight." You just convinced her to do what she really wanted to do. :-)

[sohcgt2]

Just remember fellas, after she has her own gun you've got to be nice to her from that point on...or give up sleeping. LOL.

[Gambit88]

:D:D:DThats my plan guys. I dont have much yet as far as guns go. Just a 10/22, Mosin 91/30, a 12g 870 and a bp revolver thats still a work in progress. I was going to start her on the .22 as anything else just seemed cruel. I can wait a few trips before seeing the mosin knock her on her ass. The shotgun she could probably handle as I only have target loads right now. I bet shed be a good shot as shes pretty decent with my two bb guns.:)

[farmrboy]

I found it takes patience to get most ladies to give shooting a try. It's kind of like trying to get a pig to go thru a gate, you have to make the pig think it's his idea. But when I run out of patience and give up, she says "I need to learn how to shoot so I can protect myself." Yup, it was all her idea.