sturmruger
Member
I have always worked a job that has given me a lot of flexibility with my days. I used to be able to leave early, or take the day off on a regular basis. Since moving here to WI I am now working for a large company with a whole book of corporate policies. The amount of freedom I have with my days has greatly diminished. Since my weekends tend to be kind of full I don’t have a chance to get out and shoot as often as I would like to. I was talking this over with my wife, and we both decided that we could use a Monday to relax.
My main plan for Monday was to get some serious shooting done while Leanne wanted us to get to the fitness center. We made an agreement if I work out with her on a regular basis she will go shooting with me once a month! You might be saying that I am getting the short end of the stick, but I think I am coming out ok. What she doesn’t know is I don’t mind working out as much as I let on. In fact I might protest a little just for show.
After having a busy Easter weekend it was nice to get to Monday and not really have any sort of timeline. We lounged in bed for a while, and then got up. I started collecting all of the stuff needed for a range trip. After 4 arm loads of stuff I had the car all packed. I shoot at nice outdoor range that is about 5 minutes from our house. We got to the range and got everything pulled out of the car. Since I know that she is always concerned about safety we sat down and had a safety briefing. I went over keeping the guns pointing down range, no finger on the trigger until you are on target, and all the other safety rules. I could tell that this safety talk was something put her at ease. Usually she sees me cleaning my guns or working on them at the dining room table. While I do practice the four rules it is hard for her to understand just by looking all of the safety precautions I am taking. She did really well with all of the safety rules only once did I have to warn her about her trigger finger.
She has shot with me before but I never had quite the right gun for her. We started out shooting my Ruger 22/45 which she immediately took to. I started her shooting the 22/45 at one of my steel targets at 7 yards. She wasn’t having a lot of luck because she has so little experience shooting a handgun. I could tell that she was getting frustrated that she wasn’t hitting the steel flip up plates. I told her that we would switch her to paper until she got the hang of it. After 2-3 mags she was hitting the bullseye consistently. She then switched back to the steel reactive target. After I could tell that she could handle loading and shooting I started shooting my P89 at the full size steel plate rack we use in our leagues. I got a little preoccupied with that and forgot to check up on her. She finally came up to me to ask if she can move back the targets, and if I have any more .22s ammo!! I left her with 200 rounds and was surprised that she had shot it all. We did shoot some .38s in my Security Six, and in my Airweight S&W. She even shot the 8 inch plates from 10 yards!! She liked the fact that you had to hit those big plates several times with a .22 to get them to fall over.
In the end she admitted to having a “good time†and said that she would gladly come back with me next month. I don’t want people to get the wrong idea. I think very highly of my wife and do not want to sound like one of those over bearing husbands that thinks their wife is dumb. To the contrary I think my wife is smarter then I am. I am sharing this story so that other people that are trying to get their significant other out to the range can possible glean a little advice, and maybe some hope.
Here are a few factors that contributed to her having a good time.
My main plan for Monday was to get some serious shooting done while Leanne wanted us to get to the fitness center. We made an agreement if I work out with her on a regular basis she will go shooting with me once a month! You might be saying that I am getting the short end of the stick, but I think I am coming out ok. What she doesn’t know is I don’t mind working out as much as I let on. In fact I might protest a little just for show.
After having a busy Easter weekend it was nice to get to Monday and not really have any sort of timeline. We lounged in bed for a while, and then got up.
I started collecting all of the stuff needed for a range trip. After 4 arm loads of stuff I had the car all packed. I shoot at nice outdoor range that is about 5 minutes from our house. We got to the range and got everything pulled out of the car. Since I know that she is always concerned about safety we sat down and had a safety briefing. I went over keeping the guns pointing down range, no finger on the trigger until you are on target, and all the other safety rules. I could tell that this safety talk was something put her at ease. Usually she sees me cleaning my guns or working on them at the dining room table. While I do practice the four rules it is hard for her to understand just by looking all of the safety precautions I am taking. She did really well with all of the safety rules only once did I have to warn her about her trigger finger. She has shot with me before but I never had quite the right gun for her. We started out shooting my Ruger 22/45 which she immediately took to. I started her shooting the 22/45 at one of my steel targets at 7 yards. She wasn’t having a lot of luck because she has so little experience shooting a handgun. I could tell that she was getting frustrated that she wasn’t hitting the steel flip up plates. I told her that we would switch her to paper until she got the hang of it. After 2-3 mags she was hitting the bullseye consistently. She then switched back to the steel reactive target. After I could tell that she could handle loading and shooting I started shooting my P89 at the full size steel plate rack we use in our leagues. I got a little preoccupied with that and forgot to check up on her. She finally came up to me to ask if she can move back the targets, and if I have any more .22s ammo!! I left her with 200 rounds and was surprised that she had shot it all. We did shoot some .38s in my Security Six, and in my Airweight S&W. She even shot the 8 inch plates from 10 yards!! She liked the fact that you had to hit those big plates several times with a .22 to get them to fall over.
In the end she admitted to having a “good time†and said that she would gladly come back with me next month. I don’t want people to get the wrong idea. I think very highly of my wife and do not want to sound like one of those over bearing husbands that thinks their wife is dumb. To the contrary I think my wife is smarter then I am. I am sharing this story so that other people that are trying to get their significant other out to the range can possible glean a little advice, and maybe some hope.
Here are a few factors that contributed to her having a good time.
- Having a gun that she wasn’t afraid of, and that fit her hand
- A thorough safety briefing
- Starting her out at an appropriate range to target(7 yards)
- Not trying to scare her with my big guns (.357, .40 or .44)
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I hope this helps some of the guys, or gals who are trying to get their SO more familiar with shooting. Oh one more thing, she saw me looking at the Pac-Lite Barrels that are available for Ruger .22s. She loved the pink one, and now I am going to have to order one. When I get home tonight I will post some pics.
( Hand a 10 year old girl a shotgun and not tell her it kicks, will you!
) I need to get a decent pistol again, then maybe she'll shoot more!