Teaching the gf to shoot.

Cobra246 said:
Thats a good idea! I'll definitly look for one near me. As for the .22 revolver im guessing a single action would be OK?
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IMHO, a very good choice. First, having to cock for every shot means she WON'T be able to just pull the trigger, rapid fire, and forget about sight picture. Trigger pull is lighter with single action.

With a revolver, you can start her off extra light. Shop on-line and see if you can find a few boxes of .22 Short. In a steel revolver, that's like shooting a BB gun. Once she gets accustomed to those, you can move her up to .22 LR.

You can get a Heritage Rough Rider with .22 LR and .22 Magnum cylinders for a couple hundred bucks.
 
Single action 22lr revolvers ... no household is complete without one! Ours is a Ruger Super-Single Six. :)

In addition to what JohnKSa posted, I'd relate how much my wife loves to shoot her Beretta M84, but really does struggle to pull the slide back. Her grip strength just isn't there and she has to make a deliberate effort and use a hip technique to work the slide. It's not always just about the recoil.
 
1. Unless you are a rarity, you should not be one teaching your GF to shoot. Female relatives learn best from female instructors or very patient male instructors who are very keyed in on the differing style needed.
2. As noted, start with a .22. Then move up, renting lighter recoiling (remember smaller does not equal lighter recoiling) firearms.
 
zukiphile said:
Indeed.

A new shooter needs one to learn fundamentals while not being beaten up by noise and recoil. Many of us have seen the moron at the range who puts a 44 magnum in his girlfriend's hands to show her she can't handle his manly weapons. That guy teaches her to hate shooting.

Experienced shooters need a .22 for practice. The cost of practice isn't trivial. Before I had children, I fired between 500 and 1,000 rounds a week, each and every week, mostly through a biathlon rifle. For a 22lr, that was a $10 or $20 cost. For a 45acp that would be $100 to $200.

Every frequent shooter needs a 22lr to avoid poverty.
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The only downside with shooting a .22 is you realize its a perfect little round and you just want to shoot even more .22s. LOTS more. :)
 
Aguila Blanca said:
I have no idea what you mean by "fun sized," but start her with a .22.
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You know how some candy bars say fun sized on the wrapper and others say king sized, or family sized. We'll my girlfriend if fun sized...small, 5'3"...im like twice her size...king sized haha1

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Cobra246 said:
You know how some candy bars say fun sized on the wrapper and others say king sized, or family sized.
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I've never seen that, so I had no idea what your reference was supposed to mean. It's much easier to communicate ideas when we use words that everyone understands.

We'll my girlfriend if fun sized...small, 5'3"...
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And the impression I had, since I had no way of relating to your metaphor, was that your significant other was a gordita (i.e. a chubbette).
 
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Start her with a .22. And if she's having a good time and if she's really into it and wants an upgrade have her shoot the AR. AR's are super fun and they manage recoil really well. I've taken girlfriends shooting who had no prior experience that wanted to go out and buy an AR based on just one experience.
 
Humans are prone to continue things that are FUN

you start a kid on a Honda 90 and NOT a Kawasaki 250 full race dirt bike

A walmart CO2 Pelet rifle or hand gun and reactive targets is FUN
With Louder Bang! Any 22 Cal pistol or rifle and reactive targets...goofy targets... like my dangling condom is FUN

My 80 Year old never fired a gun in life Mom now is a plinking nut case....terrorizing every squirrel she can spot

So last trip up to Mom's I let her shoot a mag out of mt Tarus PT 1911... though the woman was going to fill her Depends.... glad I only had 50 rounds that day

Next trip I thought on loading the Model 29 44 Mag long 8+" barrel for her.....to shoot reactive targets.......OK probably not cool as there is not much to inherit and I am sure that pure fun gun may induce a heart attack.... not ready to loose the old bird yet...
 
I'll join the Get A .22 Chorus. Many new shooters start with either BB guns or .22s, and there are good reasons for that. As others have noted, people tend to continue things that are fun, and I'll add to that list "things at which they succeed." There's not much that's more fun in shooting than the .22, IMHO. If I were teaching a wife or daughter to shoot, I'd start with .22 rifle, from a bench if possible. The bench makes it easier to hit the target, and I'd want a new shooter feeling the success of hitting the target from early on.

I'll also suggest reactive targets. New shooters love the immediate feedback. As do I, quite honestly. Whether those targets jump, bounce, or even just ring (like steel targets), something that lets them know right now whether they've hit the target is great.
 
First off get her something that not going to be punishing to a small framed person, a nice 22 pistol perhaps, then work up to a nine. Have someone else teach her, buy her a lesson to a ladies only firearms class. Make it fun!
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Outstanding advice by Chainsaw. All women class will put her at ease and truly make it a fun day. Never know she may come home and teach you a thing or 2;)
 
This comment will probably have a lot of critics but let me tell you where it's coming from. From your comments, I'm guessing that you and your GF are fairly young. Young people are usually open to using technology to learn things on their own.

The NRA basic pistol online course is pretty good for learning the vocabulary, basic operating principles, and fundamentals. There is no substitute for time on the range with a patient instructor but a working knowledge of the vocab takes some of the anxiety away. The advice above about starting with a .22, especially a revolver, is very sound.
 
lockedcj7 said:
This comment will probably have a lot of critics but let me tell you where it's coming from. From your comments, I'm guessing that you and your GF are fairly young. Young people are usually open to using technology to learn things on their own.

The NRA basic pistol online course is pretty good for learning the vocabulary, basic operating principles, and fundamentals. There is no substitute for time on the range with a patient instructor but a working knowledge of the vocab takes some of the anxiety away. The advice above about starting with a .22, especially a revolver, is very sound.
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Sound advice. Yes we're both in our 20's so tech is definitely a good route to go.

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I still have my workbook from my hunter education class. It had a huge section on gun safety and shooting basics. I'll dig it out and get her started with it.

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1. Unless you are a rarity, you should not be one teaching your GF to shoot. Female relatives learn best from female instructors or very patient male instructors who are very keyed in on the differing style needed.

Reads a little silly and sexist, IMO. :p

A good instructor will always be able to read the student and tailor the lesson to the student's learning style. In my experience (14 years of it) most new instructors teach they way they were taught, never reading the student. Later on some instructors find that ability but I doubt most do.

I didn't pay that much attention to the "fun sized" comment. But I agree, "fun-sized" anything is best. :p
 
The first handgun my fiancee shot was my SW659 and she hated it. I think it was a combination of the noise and the grip being too big for her.

I got her a Walter p22 for Xmas this past year and after two mags with relatively minimal instruction(she has been shooting a .22 rifle for a few years now so she was already caught up on general safety) not only was she good to go but she now shoots it better than I do. Stupid little gun :p

That same day she was shooting my FNX40 with no issues.

If its an option, definitely start with a .22 to build confidence
 
I feel really comfortable giving anyone basic shooting and safety instruction.
Except my wife and previously girlfriends. In all cases, once it got to the point where I wanted them to have some understanding of the firearms around I payed someone else to give them a basic class. A beginning shooter can make a lot of mistakes which require a stern correction. Such as sweeping the line when they turn to say something to someone behind them. Maybe rigid would be a better word than stern. With hearing protection on and other people shooting the direction pretty much has to be in a raised voice. Unless you already raise your voice to your wife or girlfriend and/or boss them around, that probably isn't going to go over well.
I much prefer to step in once the mistakes have a less immediate need for correction. Things like forgetting to lock the action open during a cease-fire. A gentle reminder will suffice.
 
I ended up letting my dad teach her as he seemed to be doing a better job and freed me up to take pics for her.

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