Scared to shoot?

[Aguila Blanca]

Thank you all for the responses by the way! My GF says she'll try shooting again soon but that shes still nervous and a little scared. I told her that if our daughter can do it and have fun then she can do the same. We are going to start my daughter off on airsoft (or paintball marker), so she can get used to something actually happening when the trigger is pulled. One she is used to that itll be a .22

Good that she's willing to try. Whatever you do, DON'T try to push her too far, too fast. You can't program away fear by pushing the person into doing things that reinforce the fear. Start her gradually.

I still think the single shot .22 with .22 Short ammo is a good start. It'll have essentially zero recoil, and very little muzzle blast. She should still wear ear protection, of course -- and she'll barely be able to hear the gun go off.

You could also look into various other options in .22 ammo, such as subsonic (no "CRACK" as the bullet leaves the barrel, or Colibris and Super Colibris (absolutely no recoil, and VERY quiet out of a rifle). Get her started with something that won't reinforce her fear, and then if she begins to enjoy shooting you can gradually introduce her to more powerful ammo -- such as regular .22 LR.

Caveat if you try Colibris -- before you let the GF even see them, be SURE they will reliably push the bullet through the rifle. Aguila (the manufacturer) cautions that the Colibri may not have enough power to function in a rifle. That's one of the reasons they came out with the Super Colibri.

 

[Frank Ettin]

...My GF says she'll try shooting again soon but that shes still nervous and a little scared....

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 runs 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, the first of which is on safety, 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 talking about how to actually shoot (grip, stance, sight alignment, trigger press, surprise break, focus on the front sight, and eye dominance), 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.
__________________

 

[psalm7]

My Daughter likes to shoot , She grew up shooting and hunting with me . She was made "coach" during basic training after joining the Military . My Wife will watch the rest of us shoot and enjoy being outdors but will not shoot , not everyone is a shooter .

 

[zach_]

My knowledge of how the female mind works ranks right up there with my knowledge of rocket science. Good luck, and proceed with caution and patience.

Get a single shot 22 and use quality hearing protection. Go to the range when it is not busy. Ramp up to more powerful guns. It worked with my wiff and stepdaughter.

 

[buckhorn_cortez]

I would suggest investigating local gun clubs or ranges and finding out if they have a women's introduction to handguns course.

My wife helps teach a women's course twice a year, and the course usually has a waiting list as it is very popular. For many women, guns are loud, dangerous, violent, scary things that are a mystery to operate.

The idea is to get them past all of the perceived negatives and to the "fun" part - shooting competently.

What it comes down to is teaching them basic gun handling and safety first, so that they understand that guns are really just pieces of machinery that anyone can learn to operate safely. They learn how to safety check the guns, operate the actions, safeties, dry firing, etc. in the class and get used to handling unloaded guns.

After the introduction to safety and handling, they progress to shooting starting out with .22 caliber and working up to larger handguns as the women feel comfortable shooting them. Some of the women never get past the .22's while others go through 9mm, .45, and some will even shoot the .44 magnums that are available.

It would probably be better if someone else introduced her to guns through a course as it takes the personal performance and competition issues out of the process.