My wife and HER 2 girlfriends passed their Utah CWL course today

[gearchecker]

Woo-Hoo ! ! !

My wife and her 2 girlfriends took the Utah Concealed Carry class today, and all 3 passed. All 3 of them have been at the range for the past 3 evenings practicing their shooting and learning the ins and outs of their pistols.
Corlinda (my wife) shoots a Walther PPS 9mm. Linda was shooting a Bersa Thunder 9mm, and Cheryl was shooting a Ruger LCP .380 ACP with a Crimson Trace Laser.

The shooting segment requires 15 out of 20 shots stays inside the 6 ring to pass. My wife and Cheryl had to shoot a 2nd qualifying round but they both made it on their 2nd round. Linda shot 19 out of 20 inside the 6 ring first time out. Linda's been shooting since she was 12 or so living out in Wyoming and growing up around guns. She was pretty sure she'd qualify right off.
The battery to Cheryl's Crimson Trace Laser failed on her LCP so she only got 2 rounds in the 6 circle 1st round out. She did place 14 shots on paper but only 2 were qualifying shots. Pretty good for such a little pistol.
Corlinda got 8 of 15 in the 1st round and 17 of 20 in the second round. She has a tendency to look beyond the front sight and lose her sight picture while she is shooting. The instructor was watching her shoot and figured out what she was doing wrong and worked with her to correct it. Obviously she paid attention and did quite well on her 2nd round.

All the paperwork is signed off and ready to go out in Monday's mail.
The Utah Concealed license is the most recognized license in the country and covers more states than any other.
When My Idaho license expires I'm going to take the course and get my Utah permit as well.

I'm so proud of these ladies for their success and determination.

 

[TrakHack]

I read the title as your wife and *your* two girlfriends!

Congratulations to your wife and her friends. I'm doing my class on the 28th with a female friend of mine, and we have the option of getting a Utah permit, which we're doing. She's pretty excited to be getting her CCW before her husband. I'm hoping having my CCW will help me find one!

 

[o Unforgiven o]

Corlinda (my wife) shoots a Walther PPS 9mm. Linda was shooting a Bersa Thunder 9mm and Linda is shooting a Ruger LCP .380 ACP with a Crimson Trace Laser.

They are all named linda? I am assuming typo but until then...

Back on topic tell your wife and HER two girlfriends congrats

 

[gearchecker]

Correction Cheryl shoots the Ruger LCP. I'll fix the original post.

 

[JEB]

congrats! im a little curious though, why did they all choose to shoot such small guns and not something that would be easier to shoot? what distance did they have to shoot from?

 

[gearchecker]

I'll try to answer your question objectively, but it isn't going to be easy.

im a little curious though, why did they all choose to shoot such small guns and not something that would be easier to shoot? what distance did they have to shoot from?

Should they have used a .22 revolver with an 8" barrel? It would be a bigger gun, and easier to shoot, and very accurate! But it won't be the gun they each choose to carry, when they do carry.

People pick the weapons they shoot for their own reasons, and I'm not going to lecture them over their choices. The 9mm is a most adequate weapon for nearly any self defense purpose and my wifes 9mm Walther is a very reliable handgun. Too many people discount the .380 as a defensive weapon altogether because it's "Too small and lightweight"
Why are the .380 pistols some of most popular being sold on the market now. Because they're easily concealed and are capable of stopping almost any threat. A small gun in hand is far better than a big gun left in the nightstand drawer. It's been said that more people are killed by the lowly .22 than any other caliber. So what would make you think the .380 would be less capable of stopping a threat if it's needed.
I needn't make any excuses or explaination for their choices any more than I'll comment on your choice of firepower. They've all decided that they'll defend themselves, instead of being the next victim. And that's more important than any other decision they'll ever make.

Women often choose defensive weapons for completely different reasons than men do. Their needs to carry are different as well. Each of them made a choice as to the pistol they'll be carrying for their own defense. I didn't choose the pistol for any of them.

Now here's the answer to your question as to why they chose what they did.

My wife chose the 9mm Walther PPS for it's size and concealability. She spent the best part of a day at the local Cabela's and after trying out numerous handguns she chose it over all the others. We've fired over 1,000 rounds thru it with only 2 misfires, and those were directly related to the ammo and not the pistol.
Cheryl's LCP is strictly used as a travel pistol. She has a rural delivery route and is often great distances from immediate help if she were to ever need it. She has a .45 pistol as well, but decided not to use it in her qualification because she will be carrying the Ruger most of the time anyway.
Linda carries the Bersa every day in open carry. She grew up outside of Casper Wyoming and has been around guns all her life. Sadly she was present one day when her brother-in-law shot and killed her husband over a petty argument. She decided then and there she'll never be a victim. She has almost always carried a gun since then, but decided she want's to be able to conceal carry after all. She can shoot a ragged hole in a target at 25 yds. with almost any handgun she shoots. She can outshoot most people I know. Her favorite gun is her Uberti .45 Long Colt SA Revolver, but it's not very practical to carry concealed.

The range qualification is at 7 yds., 15 yds and 25 yds. The 15/20 requirement is at 7yds. and must be shot within 90 seconds. They also had single handed and weak handed shooting.

All of these handguns were chosen by the respective shooter. My wife can shoot anything in the safe she chooses. From the .380 we have, up to the .44 magnum, a 1911 or an XD .45.
We have .22, .380, 9mm, .38 Special, .357 magnum, .44 magnum, .45.

She is normally an excellent shot but has a tendency to suffer from test stress anxiety so it took her a little longer to settle down to qualify.

I appreciate your congratualtions to the ladies. They well deserve it.

 

[shiftyer1]

I assume he meant why didn't they use a larger frame gun for the test due to better accuracy? For mosy small guns are harder to shoot.

 

[Dookie]

Nice. Was that the class at Center Target? That is where I got my UT CCP. Very educational class. 2 hours of gun talk and 6 of legalese.

We had one girl there who had to talk her boyfriend into taking the class. I felt bad because she failed the shooting part 3 or four times. We had one person fail because he was using a revolver and could not reload fast enough, he borrowed his friends auto and did it in no time. It is a times 20 rounds.

 

[gearchecker]

Yes, they went to Center Traget. Their classes are so much more complete then some of the others in the area. The owner gave the course this time. I guess they switch every now and then. I also really the quality of the indoor range there. It's so well designed that you never smell any of the gunpowder or have to deal with any smoke either. We'll be joining pretty soon. She has been shooting there 6 times in the past few months so
I know it'll be a good investment for both of us.

 

[JEB]

Should they have used a .22 revolver with an 8" barrel? It would be a bigger gun, and easier to shoot, and very accurate! But it won't be the gun they each choose to carry, when they do carry.

People pick the weapons they shoot for their own reasons, and I'm not going to lecture them over their choices. The 9mm is a most adequate weapon for nearly any self defense purpose and my wifes 9mm Walther is a very reliable handgun. Too many people discount the .380 as a defensive weapon altogether because it's "Too small and lightweight"
Why are the .380 pistols some of most popular being sold on the market now. Because they're easily concealed and are capable of stopping almost any threat. A small gun in hand is far better than a big gun left in the nightstand drawer. It's been said that more people are killed by the lowly .22 than any other caliber. So what would make you think the .380 would be less capable of stopping a threat if it's needed.
I needn't make any excuses or explaination for their choices any more than I'll comment on your choice of firepower. They've all decided that they'll defend themselves, instead of being the next victim. And that's more important than any other decision they'll ever make.

if it seemed like i was looking down on their choice in firearms i apologize. that was not my intention.

i was more interested in the requirements of the test, if they had to qualify with the gun they intended to carry. ive heard of the test being like this in some locations, but when i took my test, ammo was nearly extinct in these parts and i did use a .22. myself included, their were 4 of us shooting the same gun and that much .40 ammo was simply unavailable.

i do commend these ladies though. small guns are often not easy to shoot and it sounds like they did well! if they were not required to shoot what they were going to carry and did anyway, then i would have to tip my hat to them. even if i did have a good supply of ammo at the time, i most likely would have still used the .22 because i was more experienced with it.

 

[gearchecker]

JEB,
I really didn't think you meant ill feelings in your comment. But I tried to defend their choices carefully. It's not uncommon for somebody to question the choice of another for a certain purpose and there's nothing wrong about that either. They all made the decision on what they took to the class on their own, and I'm pretty proud of all they've accomplished too. I've been working with them on what gun to choose and how to use them, in preparation for the class this past weekend. Linda has plenty of experience and Corlinda chose her pistol after a very long time of deliberation on what she wanted in her pistol.

Cheryl's choice was by far the most difficult for me to work with. She has the .45 cal 1911, but she's convinced herself it's too big to tote around all the time when she's getting in and out of her car quite a bit. We tried a Model 19 revolver with .38 special ammo in it, but she hated the muzzle blast and barrel flip. We tried 2 different 9mm pistols but she didn't like the effort it took to pull the slides. I met her at Cabela’s and she handled numerous pistols and revolvers and decided on the LCP for it's compact size, ease of racking the slide and she could easily add the laser to it, which we did. She's still relatively new to shooting the LCP with only 300 rounds or so thru it, but she’s absolutely confident she'll be able to use it without any concerns if the need ever arises. Cheryl is planning to take some additional pistol courses to become more and more proficient shooting the LCP. She continues to practice shooting the LCP with and without the laser. It shows, since she put nearly every shot on paper without the laser on her fist qualification attempt and qualified with it in her 2nd go round. I'm confident that she'll be able to meet the 15/20 qualification requirement with out the laser within the next month or so after she gets in some more practice.
Regards,
gearchecker

 

[smallbore]

Good for them. The fact that they decided to pursue and have obtained their CWL's is fantastic. Congratulations ladies.

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

Pictures are always appreciated!

 

[gearchecker]

Of the ladies, or the targets?

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

Both! But if we can only have one, the girls!

 

[gearchecker]

The only one of the girls I have a picture of is my wife Corlinda. I'll share this picture of her.

She's sitting on the edge of a ledge with a 1500-2000 ft. vertical drop at the very end of Lost horse trail over near Hamilton Montana. It's one of the most beautiful valleys in all of Montana, overlooking the Selway mountain range.


I hope you enjoy it.

 

[JEB]

I've been working with them on what gun to choose and how to use them, in preparation for the class this past weekend.

good for you! for newer shooters it can be very intimidating trying to figure everything out without guidance from someone who knows what they are doing.


by the way; your wife has more guts than me! sitting on the edge of a 2,000 ft drop? i think ill wait in the car.... dont get me wrong, its not the heights that bother me.......just the falling part! beautiful view though!

 

[gearchecker]

If you think about it, look where I'm at when that picture was taken. I was about 20 ft away from the ledge and zoomed in. I didn't handle the cliffs very well. Made me a bit nervous.
I kept thinking about the cliff face falling off in a landslide with me on top of it, screaming like a little girl all the way down..

 

[Wildyams]

Why not just get your Utah permit now?

I know over here in WA, you cannot use the Utah permit to buy a handgun, so I'll always have a WA permit and hopefully soon I'll have a Utah one to go with it.