finally got my wife out shooting again

[Cee Zee]

I've been teaching my wife how to shoot a handgun. But the first time she fired the LCP she bought to carry after she completed her CCW class the sound and the muzzle flash scared her. So I borrowed a Buckmark to teach her with a .22. Yesterday she finally got ready to shoot it and before long I had her bouncing a small water bottle around a field from 25 yards. She was thrilled that she was able to hit the thing. I told her that shooting was simple and that if you did things right then chances are you will hit what you aim at but she wasn't convinced until she saw that bottle jump. I had worked with her on her grip and her stance and her trigger pull just enough to get her on target. But she surprised me too that she did as well as she did.

It just goes to show that it pays to be persistent in talking others into taking up shooting. I'm not talking about hard selling someone who hates guns or fears them too much. I'm talking someone that really wants to shoot but worries about the potential danger or just not being able to hit the target. Shooting is fairly simple to a point. If you show someone the right things they can surprise you and themselves too. She really enjoyed shooting now that she understands she can do it effectively. But I had to give the Buckmark back yesterday too. We had it the entire winter and of course it was just too cold to do any shooting. I think I'm going to have to buy her a .22 pistol so she'll keep up the good work.

 

[tarosean]

Great job....

 

[Zaydok Allen]

Good work

 

[Hometeached1]

Good for you. Glad your wife enjoyed shooting and hope she sticks with it. What type of .22 are you two looking at getting, another buckmark?

 

[Cee Zee]

A Buckmark or a Ruger MkII if I could find one at a decent price. But that doesn't seem likely. The only one I've seen I would want in quite a while (5" barrel, 22/45/ target model) was $375 at a LGS. I'm sure they would come down some but they would have to come down a lot considering I could get a new MkIII for under $300.

I would be open to quite a few pistols but those are the obvious choices IMO. There are certainly other nice .22 handguns around.

 

[bannockburn]

Cee Zee

A .22 is a great way to start someone off with shooting a semi-auto. Reactive targets are a lot of too for a beginner. Another decent (and relatively inexpensive), .22 pistol to consider would be the Beretta Neos.

 

[Cee Zee]

I like teaching people to shoot where they can see where their bullets are hitting. I go to a spot that has a lot of sand when I can. You can see really well where your shots hit. In some situations I will let them shoot at targets in water. As long as there's no chance of ricochets it works really well. Reactive targets are great but you have to be able to hit them and IMO a newbie should start in a place where they can see where every shot goes.

I have thought about the Neos too. It's one of the guns I was thinking about when I said there were other great .22's around. Another possibility might be a S&W 22A.

 

[MedWheeler]

When mine was oriented, I had several guns for her to try, including a Bersa Thunder 380 and a .38 snub. I also had four .22 pistols. The one she kept coming back to was my Taurus PT-22. That's now the gun I leave out for her when I'm not home. I'm glad she'll at least learn that one over none at all.

For plinking, the Mk-II or III are definitely hard to beat. The Mk-III in 22/45 configuration looks pretty intriguing as well.

 

[Cee Zee]

Buckmarks are really nice for plinking too. I have a bunch of pistols she could try. I didn't have any .22's though so I borrowed one. Maybe I need to buy one just to get her shooting on a regular basis though.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Buckmarks usually have a great triggers right outta the box.