Took my wife shooting for her first time today

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warnerwh said:
Great job! Being left eye dominant and right handed with a handgun is actually easy. Also before she develops a bad habit you should teach her proper grip. Using cup and saucer for any period of time will only make it harder to adjust to proper grip. Kudos to you!
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What’s “cup and saucer?”
 
gila_dog1 said:
Looks like you both learned something. She learned the basics of handgun shooting and you learned that all those fancy autoloaders just aren't girl guns. I've been thru this same process with my wife and other ladies over the years. What I've found is that teaching them to shoot with a .22 revolver is the best first step. Also, let them shoot at something "reactive", like a coke can. Paper targets are boring, but when that can is jumping around or she sees the bullets hitting the dirt low, left, etc, she really pays attention to how she's aiming. Also, a flinch can be detected and fixed pretty easily by only putting 2 or 3 rounds in the gun. She can see immediately if she's flinching when the hammer falls on an empty chamber. When she's ready, let her shoot a nice K frame .38 revolver. More noise, a little bit of recoil, but it really smashes cans. Lots of fun and now she's shooting a serious gun. Once she's mastered that, then let her try a J frame .38. More recoil, harder to shoot accurately, but much easier to have with her and carry around. One thing I learned the hard way was NOT to recommend a Ruger SP101 for ladies. Those things have such strong springs in them that it's hard for ladies to cock the hammer for single action, and really hard to shoot double action. With a S&W K or J frame, and probably a Taurus imitation, this problem goes away. Good luck, and have fun!
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Thanks for the specific tips!
Sadly, my main revolver is an SP-101. However, I changed out the springs and polished up the action. It’s not as nice as a K-frame Smith, but a lot better than stock.

i do have a S&W 19 that is tuned up and just wonderful, but it has the sharp checkered square butt target grips. I need to find a nice Hogue for it, I think.

S&W 625 and Ruger Redhawk are just too big and heavy.
 
Smaug said:
i was hoping she’d like a .22 rifle, but they’re too heavy; she hasn’t got much upper body strength.
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I started my grandson when he was preteen on a Marlin 70PSS (Papoose).

It's a plastic stocked and very thin and light removable stainless barreled .22 that weighs next to nothing. He had no problem supporting it.

Edit: Just checked, it weighs 3 1/4 lbs.
 
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Smaug said:
Good idea. …but she can’t rack the slide reliably.
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Does the slide stays open after the last round is fired? If so just drop the magazine and load one in the magazine, then re- insert the magazine and release the slide. That’s how I do it on my CZ. I guess there are some models that don’t keep slide open after the last shot but I am a revolver guy and not that conversant with very many different bottom feeders! :)

Good on you for taking the time and patience to teach her. :thumbup:
 
The first thing I did with my then girl friend (later wife) was to go out and get her a decent .22 DA/SA revolver. Found a LNIB S&W Model 34 with a 4" barrel and bought a Hogue Monogrip for her (she felt that the factory grips were too small for her hand). She did pretty good for her first time out, though she doesn't think so.

When I taught my sister to shoot, she went from .22s (Beretta Model 70) to 9mm.(Star Model B) to .45ACP (Browning BDA) all in one night! She was that good first time out!
 
Smaug said:
Yeah, she’s right handed, left eye dominant. It’s going to be a hard pistol life for her.
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Only if she wants it to be. My daughter has the same problem. I told her she could learn to shoot left handed or right eyed. She chose right eyed and became a very good shot, pistol or rifle. It might have made it easier for her because she was only around 10 years old when I started her learning to shoot. A person can train themselves to do some things that are difficult when necessary. For example I am right handed and had rotator cuff surgery on my right shoulder rendering it useless for several weeks. I found an essential action almost impossible when I first stared which I won't go into but by the time my right hand was available for use again I was pretty proficient with the left.
 
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Smaug said:
She tried four guns:

- Ruger Mk. II Target
- Charles Daly Hi-Power (9 mm)
- Sig P365 (9 mm)
- Marlin 60

I gave her some instruction; it took her awhile to realize what I meant by “flinching” and “anticipating the recoil”.

When the HP was empty, I cocked it and asked her to dry fire it. She did, and I could see she was jerking it down severely. She didn’t get it. I showed her what she was doing, then showed her what it was supposed to look like. THEN she got it.

Immediately, she went from shooting every time down in the dirt or blasting the poor wooden target stand to getting all shots on an 8x8” Target paper at 7 yards.

She has a couple other things we need to think about:
- Her hands aren’t strong enough to hold onto the slide of a 9 mm with having her hands all over the ejection port too.
- Her arms aren’t strong enough to rack the slide properly. I tried showing her the technique of using the chest muscles to rack it, but she could get the hang of it.

With the Hi-Power, it was iffy. With the P365, there was No chance.

aside from an old Beretta Tomcat or something, she’s starting to look like s revolver girl. Per thing though: she’s right handed and left eye dominant. Tough break.

She’s looking forward to visiting every day.
View attachment 1093419 View attachment 1093420
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Some good info for the next time I take my wife... It's been a long time and this info has motivated me... Thanks.
 
Smaug said:
- Her hands aren’t strong enough to hold onto the slide of a 9 mm with having her hands all over the ejection port too.
- Her arms aren’t strong enough to rack the slide properly
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Do a search on the web and type "slide rack assist", you will have enough information to buy a device that will make it easy for her to rack the slide.
 
Smaug said:
right handed, left eye dominant. It’s going to be a hard pistol life for her.
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My wife is rh/le and she's fast and accurate with a CZ 75 because there are techniques for cross dominant shooters. Get a good trainer for her that understands cross dominant shooting techniques and she'll start to out shoot you.
 
ms6852 said:
Spent 21 years in the military, they never mentioned it then, also we were just given the 1911's and had to qualify with them in the standing, kneeling and prone, also from a foxhole. Thanks for taking the time to educate me.
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try it at the range with your 1911! you might like it. It’s really comfortable but follow ups are slow because of it being a essential a 1 hand grip
 
Mark_Mark said:
try it at the range with your 1911! you might like it. It’s really comfortable but follow ups are slow because of it being a essential a 1 hand grip
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Fortunately it is how I always practiced for the 35 years I carried a 1911, and I shot it also at a 100 yards quite successful.
 
Smaug said:
Yeah, she’s right handed, left eye dominant. It’s going to be a hard pistol life for her.
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Do a Google search with the name Antoaneta Kostadinova, nee Boneva. She's an Olympic class pistol shooter, and she is also right handed, left eye dominant, which hasn't hindered her career. Another left eye dominant pistol shooter who comes to mind is Roberto Di Donna. He won Olympic gold in Atlanta 1996.
BTW you might consider getting a nice pellet pistol, which you can shoot at home. With an air pistol one may practice the foundations of pistol shooting - hold, aim, trigger - without the distraction of recoil and loud noise. Also cheaper to shoot a lot than any centerfire gun or even a .22. A CO2-powered single/double action pellet revolver handles almost like a real firearm and is plenty accurate.
 
I'm left eyed and right handed, shoot right handed and it hasn't hindered me in 60 years. It's a very minor adjustment. I can shoot with my left eyed closed or both eyes open. My dad was the same way only he shot left handed and was what most shooters would consider a very good shot. I didn't learn about eye dominance until I was in my 20's and I'm working on 70 now.
 
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