Wife needs shooting technique help.

Oh man ... If I wasn't already sitting on a warning and an infraction I'd give some helpful advice.

My wife had back surgery, so shooting from an isosceles stance is difficult for her. Problem is with a weaver stance she can't hit diddly squat if the diddly were pasted to the broad side of a barn and she was standing IN the barn (her words). She's a royal terror with a rifle though, could castrate a chipmunk at 100 yards with our ... excuse me.. HER 22-250. (It used to be mine until she claimed it.)

Thinking about duracoating a PS90 pink for her for Christmas so she has a "handy rifle".

It may be a good time to check around for a good female instructor.
This sounds like a good reason to seek profesional help from someone who has seen similar issues with other students of their own gender.
PS It may also save you from a fair ammount of greif.
T

How about one handed?

T Bran said:

It may be a good time to check around for a good female instructor.
This sounds like a good reason to seek profesional help from someone who has seen similar issues with other students of their own gender.
PS It may also save you from a fair ammount of greif.
T

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What he said. Sometimes it can be like teaching your wife to drive. it is best left to a professional. Additionally a woman instructor will see the problems right away and has likely had students with similar stature, she will know what works best. If your wife is uncomfortable with a stance the odds are good she will never develop good shooting skills in that stance. What she needs is a good professional female instructor.

Ron

+1 on the advice to get some professional help, preferably a lady instructor.

What I have personally noticed at the range is that many women tend to lean back when shooting. This tends to raise certain female features whereas if they lean forward with their shoulders in front of their hips as is recommended, then certain female features tend to move lower and out of the way of the arms. Just a suggestion.

For what you describe to be occurring, it is likely that she is over extending her arms...it is likely that she is locking them out when she shouldn't be. All she need to do is relax her arms and flex her elbows for clearance around her bosom

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I was thinking that as well.

From helping out part time at a local Rent A Gun range on Lady's Nights I saw more than my share of both girls and guys that had never even held a handgun before. Almost universally the ladys tended to assume a posture of hips forward and shoulders WAAAAAYYYYY back as if the handgun weighed about 20 pounds and needed to be held that way to counter balance the "massive mass" of the gun. On top of this they locked their elbows and turned them INWARDs to the point that they looked like their arms were able to bend the wrong way. Some were so able to do this that it looked almost unnatural and freaky. If your wife is doing some or all of this same stuff then that is likely part of the problem.

I suspect that 9mm hit the nail on the head. Get her to slightly break her elbows and PIVOT THEM OUT!

There's a bucket load of great videos on You Tube about semi auto posture technique. Locate a few and get her to watch them. Then practice with an empty gun.

I'd also suggest that instead of you critiqueing her posture that you simply video or snap pictures of her from the side, quarter and behind and then show her the results and let her compare them to the You Tube videos.

If she can't see and correct the differences then it's likely time for one of the handgun schools instead of you trying to correct her.

If she complains that the correct posture is somewhat uncomfortable then simply counter with the fact that posing for Playboy is apparently tough on the joints as well.... This will either get a laugh or get you beaten about the head and shoulders. But I guarantee that it'll aid in relieving the tension....

Start with www.thecorneredcat.com
and then follow that up with some real instruction WITHOUT you there

Sorry, most wives/girlfriends do better taking a lesson from someone they do not know

How about she makes up her own stance that is comfortable and natural for her.

One persons way be it Weaver or whomever does not fit all.

If a two handed grip is not comfortable then as suggested, perhaps one handed will work best for her. Trying to bend the arms around the big girls just might make things turn out that way.

All good suggestions you've gotten so far. I agree with proper posture, leaning forward and breaking her elbows.
My SO is very well endowed, and has no issues at all holding and firing her pistols in an isosceles stance.
I just asked her about this, and her other suggestion was that a proper fitting bra makes all the difference in the world. Maybe a shopping trip to your nearest Nordstrom is in order-seriously.

I once had a student with a similar problem. She was competitive good with a rifle, but couldn't get the pistol to eye level with her stance.

I had her take an offhand rifle stance without the rifle. Then I placed the pistol in her strong hand and moved the pistol out to a safe distance from her face. Then I brought her fore hand back to wrap around the strong hand while lifting the weakhand elbow sightly. I had her place her weak-hand thumb up against the pistol's frame to put some pressure against canting the piece. Her body stance automatically rotated to more straight on then the rifle position put her, so we had to move the weakhand foot back just a little.

It looks wierd to have the stronghand elbow up ear-high like that, but she was suddenly getting on target with no problem.

Pops

I was going to suggest getting a laser sight for her. While lasers are no substitute for iron sights, for folks with specific problems (like declining eyesight, e.g.) it removes the necessity for bringing the gun up to eye level.

I got a laser for my 1911 and loved it so much that I also got one for my J-Frame. They're expensive, but hang the expense.

You can hold that dot pretty steady with a two-handed hold down near waist level. (Watch out for the slide comeback on a semiauto --don't hold it too close to the body.)

In addition, in low-light conditions, the muzzle flash is no longer at eye level and doesn't tend to blind you for an instant.

I'm a believer. Maybe your range has laser-sighted guns you can rent out and have her try it.

Terry, 230RN

Strongly second the recommendation to get an instructor to work with her.

If you are comfortable mentioning your general location, I'm sure someone could steer you to a reputable person. This is not an unusual issue.

Another vote for outside help...even if not a professional, an experienced female shooter can help more than you can. I've seen it with motorcycling and snowboarding as well.

Tough to impose something on somebody if it doesn` work............

Try letting her get into something(stance) that is more comfortable for her. Remember,she`s the one shooting. One stance does not fit all!

I guess there is no room for humor here. Thanks Al Thompson for your edit.

I believe what some of you folks are talking about is the "Modified Weaver Stance", now that is a more natural shooting stance anyway. It allows a shooter to focus on sight alignment, and trigger control.

I'd no more try to teach my wife how to shoot than I'd go shopping for her wardrobe. Jewelry is OK, she says I have amazing abilities to choose stuff she likes. I think that's just a con job to convince me that buying expensive stuff is preferable to trying to go the cheaper route.

9mm, I'm not exactly sure what you state as the "Modified Weaver Stance" having any affect on her trigger control? Perhaps we're talking about a different stance all together. Any type of shooting stance requires proper trigger control to consistently hit your target. I beleive the original poster said his wife's breast were quite large. Therefore I beleive in using a modified Weaver stance would help, as the Isoseles Stance would actually hinder, as well as the Weaver stance would in this case. Remember the main two functions used in combat shooting is "sight alignment and trigger control".

9mm, now I know what you're saying, but I thought she was allready an outstanding shot with the rifle, therefore I thought she had trigger control down. I was thinking using a "Modified Weaver Stance" that it would have a way of, shall I say, shooting around her breasts.