[little rant] Dudes that push high recoil guns on their wives bug me.

[SRSTAdam21]

I start everyone with 22. I’m not an instructor but I take lots of guests, have three boys, and my wife. Never all at the same time mind you.

My kids all started with old model Single Sixes. My oldest has a 1956 flat gate. My middle son a 1958. Youngest has a 1960. As time has gone on we have worked ourselves to the Browning Buckmarks and then up to larger calibers. All three are good with my Browning 1911-380. The older two love my full size 9mm’s. The oldest is 13 now and shoots a 45. Each time we step up to try a new caliber the cylinder or mag gets one round in it.

My wife, who did not grow up around guns at all, has gone down the same path. I let her tell me if she wants to try something new. She got a S&W victory for Christmas. She loves it and prefers to stay with the 22 for range fun. We bought some game targets, such as Battleship, tic tac toe and others and that’s what she enjoys doing at the range. She is showing interest in a carry gun and I will let her rent whatever she wants to try (free perk of my membership) and make her own decision.

 

[LiveLife]

I host a weekly women's shooting event every Thursday night (going on 5 years!). It's free and we get a lot of new or "I haven't shot a gun in years" folks ... It is one of my favorite events to host. Very low key and seeing a very apprehensive person go from "I'm afraid it's going to kick" to "I got a bulls-eye!" is incredibly rewarding. And I get to participate in building the community.

Guy brought his wife down last night ... Her second shot (and subsequent shots) were flinching so bad she isn't hitting the 8.5x11 target at 5yrds.This exchange just... rankled me.

I agree.

When people ask me to help them pick out a pistol, I always apply my axiom and tell the boyfriend/husband to stay quiet and say nothing and allow the girlfriend/wife to shoot various caliber guns and "let HER" pick out the pistol she "feels most comfortable" and can shoot "fast and accurate the most".

Often they pick 9mm pistols but some of them actually pick 40S&W/45ACP pistols, to our surprise.

When I inquire, they actually confirm that those are calibers/pistols they shot best and verify by shooting at the targets.

After pondering and scratching my head why, I realized that female shooters like certain calibers and pistols for the same reasons us male shooters like certain calibers and pistols.

An awful lot of recoil is between the ears. Men and women get it in their heads that certain guns will dislocate their shoulder or wrist and never get over it.

I agree and why I demonstrate to people I train/share defensive point shooting to by shooting various 9mm/40S&W/45ACP pistols with just two fingers. By gripping the pistols with just thumb and middle finger, I proceed to shoot various targets single shot then fast double taps.

Some will comment, especially those who never shot before, that they expected the gun to fly off my two fingers.

I then have each shooter shoot the pistols with two fingers and they are shocked that they can control the pistols with just two fingers. My biggest confirmation is when a female shooter accurately shoot 1911 with two fingers and demonstrate good control on multiple targets with a big smile.

I stress to the shooters the incorrect misinformation of Hollywood movies and to focus on proper techniques to better control pistols and hit targets.

 

[Trey Veston]

I taught my girlfriend the basics of shooting with my Glock 19, a Taurus G2c, and a 9mm PCC. She did fine and liked them, but liked the G19 with the red dot best.

No issues with flinching, just couldn't use open sights for some reason.

She then went to a beginners class and that guy chastised me for starting her out on 9mm saying I was going to cause her flinching problems. Uh, well she didn't have any issues with recoil. He started the class out on suppressed .22 Rugers, then unsuppressed .22s, then 9 mm, and then .40 S&W. She still could barely hit anything. The guy was able to figure out that even though she was right-handed, she was left eye dominant. Weird. Now she is fairly accurate and wants a compact 9mm.

 

[Corpral_Agarn]

I also think it’s a good idea for new shooters to double up with plugs and muffs. Low recoil and less noise made a big difference for my wife.

I do my class indoors and recommend this as well.

I double up myself anytime I'm indoors.

 

[hemiram]

My mom's first shooting experience was .38 wadcutters in a well worn S&W 28-2. It was like shooting a cap gun. Her main issue with it was being able to hold it up long enough to shoot six rounds. I had her do a little lifting with the light barbells she had and soon she had no problems holding it up and was shooting "full power" .38 spl through it. I did have her shoot a few 110 JHP .357 "boomers" through it and she liked it, but didn't love it, and the flash bothered her, so we had it loaded up at home with some standard .38 spl. Accuracy was no problem with the 6.5" barrel.

She also shot my Browning BDA 380 pretty decently, and my Beretta 92, but her hands didn't quite fit the grip.

 

[DoubleMag]

Two fellows with a lady in the middle, hubby is 65+- years old (ref: Viet Vet) or more so she is similar aged (presumed), aging makes learning anything a LITTLE harder, she has a certain % embarrassment factor doing something new, and embarrassed factor due to ''we are late.'' Then, the two fellows exchanging / interchanging around her presumably while she is yet again in an unnatural senses environment ''ears plugged.'' She eventually hits paper, but under all that stress-load the patterns where supposedly to shrink under what other conditions exactly again please?

I watched for 30 years fellow female officers qualify annually on multiple platforms including the lowly GLock 40S&W. Requals were heavily skewered towards male officers even if calculated as a ratio with more positions male:female. Those career female officers who had ''problems'' on revolver (waaay back) STILL had problems with shifting platforms, and caliber.

I would say the caliber of pistol played some smaller portion of the connect-the-dots // pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey problem. Unrealistic expectations external (hubby and instructor trying to fix it) and internal (her reactions to same) a bigger portion IMO.

 

[Old Dog]

I also think it’s a good idea for new shooters to double up with plugs and muffs. Low recoil and less noise made a big difference for my wife.

Great point! ESPECIALLY in an indoor range -- first-time shooting experiences in indoor ranges have, I'm sure, turned off a lot of potential new shooters.

 

[bdickens]

One of the funniest things I’ve ever seen was when a stock built, macho acting, young man probably 22-23 ish years old shot my brothers 454 Casull, if memory serves he shot it three times before he stopped and looked at his hand (while cursing) just to see he had busted a blood vessel in the web of his hand.
About 10 minutes later a sub 100lb, 14 year old girl, who was very familiar with guns, shot a cylinder full. Then she turned and looked at the man and said “I just don’t see the big deal” she just shrugged and proceeded to shoot it six more times one handed. The whole event was hilarious to my immature 20 year old self.


That said, I don’t start anyone of any gender (even the made up ones) off with high recoil guns, .22lr if at all possible, and that’s after dry fire.

I would have paid to see that!

 

[SteadyD]

Great point! ESPECIALLY in an indoor range -- first-time shooting experiences in indoor ranges have, I'm sure, turned off a lot of potential new shooters.

My wife is not a shooter. She doesn’t have any issues with guns, it’s just not something she finds enjoyable.

The last time she went shooting was her first time shooting in more than three years. She wore muffs over plugs and was shooting a Ruger LCR 327, loaded with 32 H&R Magnum. She was keeping almost everything inside a 6 inch target at 5 yards shooting at a fairly brisk rate.

I would wager she hasn’t shot more than 800 rounds in her entire life, maybe considerably less, and she accomplished this using a DAO trigger on a snubby. With mild recoil and no noise she enjoyed herself, and she personally said both of these factors played a huge role in her shooting.

 

[Olon]

Just a little more annoying than "Here darlin', I got you a 5 shot wheel gun. Its simplicity suits yer feeble mind. Only a fool would let his woman shoot one of them fancy autos."

 

[Kleanbore]

I host a weekly women's shooting event every Thursday night (going on 5 years!).....

Sounds as if you do it well and that you enjoy it.

The man you described seems to be some sort of dolt.

Bak in '08, I saw a man in a store trying to interest his significant other in a scandium J-Frame .357. I was appalled, but the clerk gave them little advice.

I stepped up to the counter next to them and asked to see a stainless steel model with a 3 inch barrel, target sights and beefy grips. I told the (different) clerk that I liked the weight and size of the grips and that I would never shoot magnum loads in a small, light gun. Mr Romantic moved her down the counter a bit.

I had not meant to be ruse or to butt in, bit hI thought that someone should mention the subject where where could hear it before she had a really bad experience

I do not know whether they bought anything, how it turned out, or how long the romance may have endured.

But I did buy the heavier Smith-- to shoot .38 Specials.

Rant? Justified, I'd say.

 

[RA40]

The gun my wife chose was the S&W M66. In stock form it wasn't very good so it was dropped off at the 'smith for some smoothing. I already had a variety of 9's so doubling up wasn't necessary. She has to work on her grip strength now because grabbing the HP to rack the slide is not as easy relative to the serrations on the modern 9's which aren't a problem.

 

[bannockburn]

I have taught a lot of kids and adults shooting with handguns, always starting them out with their choice of a .22 rimfire revolver or semi-auto (found that the Beretta Model 70S is a very user friendly gun for beginners). Most prefer the semi-autos though there have been a few who felt more comfortable with the operation of a revolver. Same when I move them up to a .38 Special, typically a S&W Model 686 or Model 10 loaded with wadcutter target ammo. Very easy to begin with and gives them a feeling of accomplishment and purpose getting solid hits on target.

Those that try the .22 semi-autos normally gravitate to a 9mm. Use to have a Star Model B for them to shoot but found that the Browning Hi-Power has a pretty universal appeal to men and women shooters alike. For those that get the hang of it and want to try something in a .45 I bring along a Colt Government (had a Browning BDA for this but foolishly sold it some years back). Have had a number of female shooters try all three semi-autos in one session though most go back to the 9mm. for the rest of their time at the range.

 

[OneFreeTexan]

Some time a guy wants to ‘scare’ his lady on her first time, so she won’t develop an interest in guns,,,ie...leave him alone, not want to share, etc, etc.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

If that’s what dudes are doing then they’re with the wrong lady.

 

[hso]

Some time a guy wants to

Some times a pathetic looser want to...there, fixed that.

 

[Jammersix]

I get annoyed with spouses (women are guilty, too) who do anything beyond dropping their spouse off for a class. I have a set-in-stone policy of breaking couples up during classes.

In my experience, the most dangerous set of students for instructors are cops. Right behind them are young males, say, 20-30, in front of their wives.

 

[Old Dog]

In my experience, the most dangerous set of students for instructors are cops.

Why would you say that? Are you an instructor? And what exactly does that have to do with males trying to get their girlfriends/wives to shoot unsuitable handguns?

In my experience, cops don't generally take shooting instruction from non-cops unless it's a pretty well-known school that caters to law enforcement for advanced training.

 

[RA40]

If that’s what dudes are doing then they’re with the wrong lady.

Then they sneak in the stuff and that's a bad road when/if they share finances. Leads to a one up that you bought this, I get to buy that. Pissing matches between couples is . Sadly I know several couples that do this...was an iffy fit at the onset. But that diverts to a different discussion and acceptance about a life partner.

Mrgunsngear, was gifted a Wilson Combat 1911 from his wife. That's cool!
Found the video here:

 

[Robert]

Stupid people are everywhere. Some carry guns. Not really sure we need to go further down this road so let's call it a day.