Zaydok Allen
Member
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2011
- Messages
- 13,274
A revolver convert.....
Saturday morning my gal and I headed out to the woods to shoot some guns. I'm working with her to help her develop her fundamental shooting skills. The idea is that she wants to carry concealed at some point.
From the first time firearms came up in conversation, she has taken a stand point of "I don't like revolvers. They seem big and clunky and too old fashioned."
I calmly accepted her opinion for what it was, her opinion. I of course was sobbing like a child who's puppy just got ran over on the inside, but respected that each shooter needs to shoot what interests them. So I did not press the issue at all. Then one evening I was giving her a brief lesson on different operating systems (revolvers vs DA/SA semiautos vs SA only guns vs striker guns), when she spied my 3" Ruger SP101 in the case. Suddenly, she told me "See that looks like a gun I'd like to shoot. Not that one (pointing at one of my L frames)."
As it turns out, the mass, and frame size was what she was centering on. The L frame looks huge to her, intimidating, and unwieldy.
So Saturday rolled around, and I showed her the basics of revolver shooting, demonstrated the long DA trigger pull, talked about safety, and explained the sight picture to her on the SP101 (She has a natural logical understanding of sight picture which is great.).
She did well. I started her out on some really mild 130 gr American Eagle full metal jackets, and she enjoyed it a great deal. I had her shoot some Hornady Critical Defense 110 gr +p ammo also that I had sitting around. While loaded hotter, the lighter bullet only generated about 10-15% more noise and recoil than the 130 grain plinkers.
Then I loaded some 158 gr American Eagle jacketed soft point 357 magnums, and had her watch me shoot them. Those rounds are fairly warm and do kick alright in a small gun. That's where she drew the line, and she said she didn't want to shoot them. I did not pressure her to shoot them at all, as I don't believe in pushing someone to shoot something they don't want to. It's a good way to ruin a range trip.
By the 4th and 5th cylinder she was starting to hit the pie plate sized target pretty consistently at 10 yards. She even took some shots at a target that was about 15 yards away and managed to hit it.
Afterwards, we shot my Wilson/Beretta 92 Brig Tac (which she loved and was really shooting well) and my VP9. By the time we got to my VP9 her arms were tired, so she started missing a lot. So I unloaded another 75 rounds or so myself and we called it a day.
So the staunch revolver rejecter now has an interest in a revolver............ Hmmmmmm........... There may be hope for this relationship yet.
Too bad I already bought her a Ruger LC9S for her birthday present next weekend. It's the one she really liked, but that was prior to her shooting a revolver. I told her that nobody ever said she couldn't own more than one gun.
Oh well, I knew this would get expensive, but having a shoot'in girl around is definitely worth the expense.
Have you ever converted someone who didn't care for revolvers originally?
Saturday morning my gal and I headed out to the woods to shoot some guns. I'm working with her to help her develop her fundamental shooting skills. The idea is that she wants to carry concealed at some point.
From the first time firearms came up in conversation, she has taken a stand point of "I don't like revolvers. They seem big and clunky and too old fashioned."
I calmly accepted her opinion for what it was, her opinion. I of course was sobbing like a child who's puppy just got ran over on the inside, but respected that each shooter needs to shoot what interests them. So I did not press the issue at all. Then one evening I was giving her a brief lesson on different operating systems (revolvers vs DA/SA semiautos vs SA only guns vs striker guns), when she spied my 3" Ruger SP101 in the case. Suddenly, she told me "See that looks like a gun I'd like to shoot. Not that one (pointing at one of my L frames)."
As it turns out, the mass, and frame size was what she was centering on. The L frame looks huge to her, intimidating, and unwieldy.
So Saturday rolled around, and I showed her the basics of revolver shooting, demonstrated the long DA trigger pull, talked about safety, and explained the sight picture to her on the SP101 (She has a natural logical understanding of sight picture which is great.).
She did well. I started her out on some really mild 130 gr American Eagle full metal jackets, and she enjoyed it a great deal. I had her shoot some Hornady Critical Defense 110 gr +p ammo also that I had sitting around. While loaded hotter, the lighter bullet only generated about 10-15% more noise and recoil than the 130 grain plinkers.
Then I loaded some 158 gr American Eagle jacketed soft point 357 magnums, and had her watch me shoot them. Those rounds are fairly warm and do kick alright in a small gun. That's where she drew the line, and she said she didn't want to shoot them. I did not pressure her to shoot them at all, as I don't believe in pushing someone to shoot something they don't want to. It's a good way to ruin a range trip.
By the 4th and 5th cylinder she was starting to hit the pie plate sized target pretty consistently at 10 yards. She even took some shots at a target that was about 15 yards away and managed to hit it.
Afterwards, we shot my Wilson/Beretta 92 Brig Tac (which she loved and was really shooting well) and my VP9. By the time we got to my VP9 her arms were tired, so she started missing a lot. So I unloaded another 75 rounds or so myself and we called it a day.
So the staunch revolver rejecter now has an interest in a revolver............ Hmmmmmm........... There may be hope for this relationship yet.
Too bad I already bought her a Ruger LC9S for her birthday present next weekend. It's the one she really liked, but that was prior to her shooting a revolver. I told her that nobody ever said she couldn't own more than one gun. Oh well, I knew this would get expensive, but having a shoot'in girl around is definitely worth the expense.
Have you ever converted someone who didn't care for revolvers originally?
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