Taking wife shooting for the first time--which guns?

9mm and light 38 special. Don't give a bad first impression with heavy recoil unless she specifically requests it. Hope she has fun!
 
From the choices -
1. 38 snub with the mildest ammo you an get
2. 9mm Kahr if it is the size of CW9 or K9. any smaller may not be fun for first day.

Most important - Have fun.
If it is fun, she might want her own gun.
Do not make it too fun for she will want a 1911 in 9mm with FO front sight and reloading equipment.:)

I may have been pushing it a little bit on the reloading equipment.
 
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A .22 and a 9mm would be my suggestion...................my wife handled both easily. .22 was 617 revolver and ruger p95.................she did better then I can with 9mm p95?:eek:
 
A couple years ago I finally got my wife of 40 years (at that time) to go to an indoor range with me to try shooting. I started her out on a 22 Super Bearcat. She liked it and so i consider it her gun now. She calls it her "pop pop gun".

She has no interest in shooting a semi - doesn't like the slide coming back nor the spent shell flying. I have a number of 38 spls. and she has no interest in them as they make too much noise/recoil.

Regardless of if someone has grown up in a family of shooters or not - if they have never shot a gun they are a beginner. To me, starting anyone out on a CF, whether it be .380, 38, 357, 40 or 45 is the best way to scare them off so that they won't want to shoot again. A .22 is a good beginner gun - no recoil to speak of, they learn the basics of gun safety and shooting and then, as they get used to it, if they want to go to a larger caliber, more power to 'em.

Starting someone out on a firearm that is loud (even wearing hearing protection) and a hefty recoil is sort of akin to starting a young kid out hunting pheasants or shooting clays with a 10 gauge.
 
I like the idea of starting with a .22, then moving up to a .mild .38 target loads. Even when she's comfortable with the .38, resist the temptation to slip a .357 or +P into a cylinder full of wadcutters. It won't seem nearly as funny when you're sleeping on the couch.
 
Auto5 wrote:

Even when she's comfortable with the .38, resist the temptation to slip a .357 or +P into a cylinder full of wadcutters. It won't seem nearly as funny when you're sleeping on the couch.
Click to expand...

It could be far worse than that. The last thing you want to do to someone holding a hot weapon, especially a very inexperienced shooter, is to violently startle them. Think about it. Would you walk up behind someone at the range and let off a firecracker next to their shoe? It is the same principle and a very bad idea.
 
I agree with those recommending a .22 pistol and rifle for 1st time shooters. Also, I think an all steel full sized 9mm gun, such as a sig p226st, would be a good gun to have a new shooter try because the extra weight helps dampen the recoil. I've heard some women such as Erika Maxwell from the Cory and Erika YouTube channel mention how a lot of people steer women to the subcompact guns and how this can actually be discouraging since these guns tend to have more recoil. Erika recommends starting small on caliber but not on the size of the gun. She said she's glad she learned to shoot on a full sized gun (in her case a 9mm G17).

Here's a link to a "choosing a handgun" video she posted for women. Hope this helps.

http://youtu.be/vH9lNyhSYV8
 
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