Took fiancee shooting, need advice

[BornToLooze]

I took my fiance shooting the other day, and for her first time shooting she did really good, but she only shot 3 rounds because she didn't like the noise or the recoil. So what would you do if you were me? I have a couple ideas, the first is get her some ear muffs to go along with the plugs and let her shoot some 38s out of my S&W Model 28, because it's a fairly heavy revolver so it shouldn't have much of a kick to it and doubling up on ear protection should help with the noise. Second idea is just get her some kind of 22 revolver once people stop going crazy about ammo.

Another thing, I've seen low recoil buckshot, so there wouldn't be any kind of low recoil 9mm ammo would there?

[Silver00LT]

My wife loves her .22 over my 9mm. But at the same time she enjoyed shooting the Ruger P95 over the Hi-Point C9.

Give her options of calipers, and find a place that rents firearms so she can try out different firearms.

The doubling up was a good idea, but make sure she is wearing those plugs correctly as well.

[MTSCMike]

Teach her a proper grip and the recoil fear should go away. Double hearing protection is a smart move.

Try to determine if she is really interested in shooting or if she was just doing you a favor by going this one time. Some people actually don't like shooting after they try it the first time. I know, I don't understand it either.

[JimPage]

I would suggest that a .22 be the first shooting experience for anyone. Proper eye and hearing protections are no brainers.

[MLeake]

Doubling up is a good idea.

You did not say where you took her. If a busy, indoor range, then you might try on a less busy day. Better yet, try an outdoor range at a slow time. My wife likes shooting on our property, but hates the noise at indoor ranges.

The .38 in the Model 28 is a good idea. So is the .22.

It is unusual to find factory "low recoil" ammo in traditional semi-auto calibers because recoil impulse has to be within a certain envelope. Too high, and the gun could be damaged. Too low, and the gun may not cycle properly.

[Revolver1]

You're dead on with the 38spl out of Model 28. Don't buy nothing else, except GOOD hearing protection for her.

[MrBorland]

I like the .38spl idea, but you could take it further by buying some .38 Short Colts, .38 Long Colts, and some mild 148gr .38spl wadcutters to shoot in that order, building up to standard .38spl, and beyond.

My only other piece of advice would be to stop immediately progressing higher when she says so. If .38SC is as high as she wants to go, so be it.

[stephen426]

I always double up with plugs and muffs for new shooters, especially in indoor ranges. I always start with .22 LR unless I start them on an airsoft gun first. The airsoft is great for teaching safe handling and the basics of marksmaship. It also builds confidence so they have less of a likelihood of flinching with a real gun. I move up in calibers gradually as well until they are confident.

[deepcreek]

I always like to bring the target close for new shooters it is a lot funner if you are hitting somewhere near the bullseye. Also lots of encouragement and "good shot.." makes people feel like they are having fun.

[Madcap_Magician]

.22 pistol, revolver, rifle, and a dirt berm with a lot of tin cans.

That's how I learned it, that's how my daddy learned it, that's how America learned it, and gosh darn it, it's worked out pretty well so far.

[southjk]

.22 pistol, revolver, rifle, and a dirt berm with a lot of tin cans.

Unfortunately, not everyone has access to a legal dirt berm to shoot at.

[Daryl Waldron]

First time shooter must have fun. We as shooters we have a tendency to try to impress a new shooter with our knowledge. Other than gun safety, just let them shoot. If they have a first time positive outing, they will be back.

A 22 cal is always a good way to start.

[FlySubCompact]

With new shooters, of all ages, I start them with a .22 and balloons. Balloons are great......cheap, size variable and dramatic when hit.

My youngest daughter is a grown woman and has shot a good bit during her life. Mainly .22. This last year after we finally bought service caliber pistols she got the biggest rush when she finally connected on some balloons at 50 and 100yards. The only thing holding her back is this ammo drought.

[MLeake]

Current ammo prices have me seriously considering taking up archery for a while...

[357 Python]

First doubling up on hearing protection is always a good idea. Some law enforcement academies require it unless you are using the electronic ear muffs. Secondly a good to high quality .22LR is a decent gun for a beginner who has some trouble with rcoil. While a S&W 28 is a good revolver when loaded with 38 Specials it is still a quite a bit heavy. Some may consider it a bit too heavy. If you want to train her with 38 Special ammo check for a good used S&W K frame revolver in 38 Special or 357 Magnum or a Ruger of similar size. You can still find police trade-ins for decent prices out there. I do like the idea of teaching her with 38 Special ammo. It gives her a viable self defense/personal protection round should the need arise.

[P5 Guy]

Air CO2 pistol, much less noise, recoil and possibly a less formal shooting range? Any of the CO2 powered guns, pistol, rifle, are fun to shoot, cheaper in general and easier to shoot.

[Gaerek]

Wow, 15 replies and no mention of Cornered Cat...

That's a website by our very own Pax. Incredibly good information, regarding women and guns, including your very issue (as well as many others).

Speaking from experience, it's usually a bad idea for a husband, boyfriend, fiancee, significant other, etc to take their wife, girlfriend, fiancee, significant other, etc to the range for their first firearm experience. I don't want to rag on you, and I commend you for actually getting her out to the range, but if you're not an instructor, it can be very difficult to teach someone like that.

I won't go into all the ins and outs of why this is. But my #1 recommendation is just to get her into a woman's only intro to handguns (or even firearms in general) class. Usually the instructors are women, so it helps newer women feel more comfortable. They know exactly what issues new shooters have with shooting.

My wife was deathly afraid of guns until her friend invited her to take a women's only class. Now, she loves shooting, has her CCW and her own gun. And that was all within about 6 months time (going from deathly afraid to having a gun and CCW).

[MarkDozier]

First time shooter must have fun. We as shooters we have a tendency to try to impress a new shooter with our knowledge. Other than gun safety, just let them shoot. If they have a first time positive outing, they will be back.

It is not often I agree and disagee with the same person at the same time.
He is right, first time shooter must have fun
He is wrong, you don't just let them shoot. A postive first time with good solid, politely delivered instruction makes for a safe shooting experience. i work with new shooters almost every week and almost every week they thank me, shake my hand, say we will be back, have smiles often head to the store to pick up a new toy for next week.
I don't try to impress anyone with my knowledge. I know I am good, but need to get even better to serve myself and others even better.

[Frank Ettin]

Originally Posted by Daryl Waldron

First time shooter must have fun. We as shooters we have a tendency to try to impress a new shooter with our knowledge. Other than gun safety, just let them shoot. If they have a first time positive outing, they will be back.

Yes, they need to have fun. And they also need to be made thoroughly familiar with gun safety. But then just letting them shoot is a bad idea. They won't have fun if they aren't getting decent hits, and they won't get decent hits unless we tell/show them how to do it.

I'm with a group of instructors putting on a monthly NRA Basic Handgun class. Probably 80% to 90% of our students had never touched a real gun before. Our class enrollment run 20% to 40% female. We have students of all ages from early 20s to us more seasoned types. We've had entire families attend together. Most of our student show varying levels of anxiety at handling real guns.

We try to address this by bringing them through the course material in a step-by-step, measured and supportive way.

In addition to the core lectures, we do a lot of "hands-on" work with the students. The students handle a variety of revolvers and semi-autos under direct supervision, one-on-one, of an instructor. They use dummy rounds to load and unload the guns, dry fire and generally learn how things work and feel, and they get continual safety reinforcement.

These initial hands-on exercises help students get familiar with handling gun and lay a foundation for safe gun handling habits. The students begin to realize that although guns can be dangerous they can learn how to handle them safely and that safety is in their hands.

Then in preparation for live fire, and after the "marksmanship" lecture, we work one-on-one with students on grip and stance using "blue" inert training guns.

Before going to live fire with .22s, the students shoot airsoft (the quality type) in the classroom so they can get a feel for sight alignment and trigger control (and reset) without the noise and intimidation factor (for beginners) of firing real ammunition.

After the students fire their 25 rounds of .22 (working one-on-one with an instructor), we put out a variety of guns from 9mm to .44 Magnum so the students can get the experience of firing the larger calibers. Shooting the centerfire guns is at each student's option. Most fire them all, but some choose not to.

When someone has gone through our program, it's not uncommon for her/him to be shooting 1.5 to 2.0 inch groups at seven yards with the heavy calibers. A few months ago, a petite young woman who had never fired any type of gun before out shot everyone, including her husband, with the .44 Magnum -- putting three rounds into about an inch at 7 yards.

Going through our process most students shed a good deal of their initial anxiety. Some remain anxious to a degree but still manage to master their anxiety and perform well. In the last several years only one or two (out of perhaps a couple of hundred) could not complete the class.

She had never fired a handgun before (six rounds, three of .38 Sp and three of .357 Magnum, at seven yards -- I'd say she looks like she had fun):

[Gaerek]

Frank, I have trouble getting groups like that at 7 yards sometimes! I guess we can call it quality instruction?

[Frank Ettin]

Originally Posted by Gaerek

Frank, I have trouble getting groups like that at 7 yards sometimes!...

And her mother put six rounds (.44 Sp/.44 Magnum - three rounds each) into one ragged hole. Come take our class.

[Gaerek]

Come take our class.

Bay Area? I lived there during the 90's. North Bay, in Novato to be exact. Unfortuantely, I try to avoid California as much as possible today, even though I really liked that area. I noticed you've come to Sierra Vista to help teach before. Come on back sometime, let me know, and I'll try to make it! Sierra Vista is just a leisurely 45 minutes East along I-10 for me.

[Silver00LT]

Frank it looks like you do a quality instruction class. Props man!

I've thought about getting my instructor license as I teach basic fundamentals of rifle shooting at our yearly qualification for military. Not really by volunteer either lol, but I don't mind it. Keeps ME fresh in my mind on everything. Just never looked into it nor do I really have the time. Firearms is a loved hobby...if I try to turn it into a money maker I am sure it'll follow suit of my automotive love and become a hated job.

I hate...HATE seeing people just hand a new shooter a weapon and say look here and pull trigger. I underlined the wording as I know you know you can rip it to heck and back.

[Erno86]

The factory 115 grain 9mm bullet is lower recoiling than the 124 grain 9mm. The 22 magnum has a better felt recoil similar to a 38 Special, when shot in a light revolver and is a joy to shoot.

[Frank Ettin]

Originally Posted by Silver00LT

Frank it looks like you do a quality instruction class. Props man!...

Thank you, sir. But I also want to be clear that this isn't just me. We have a group who put on the class. There's a core of six of us plus a number of others. We'll have five or more instructors at each class, so each student can get a lot of person attention.

The group has been around for a great many years. I've been a part of it for about the last five years. We have an all day instructor meeting at least once a year to go over and revise our power point presentation and discuss training issues and methodology.

Having a group of instructors in class can be very useful. We each handle things slightly differently and have different strengths. So if a student is having a problem one of us can't seem to help with, another one of us usually can.