training the wife - Airsoft or bb gun

L

longspurr

New member
I’m looking for opinions on a non firearm to work with the wife on home defense concepts. At 65+ she has limited hand strength.

She is not “into” guns and is doing this just to humor me. Is there an airsoft handgun (or rifle) that I can use for this training. Something that has a reasonable trigger pull & action.

I may pin up targets around the house and have her go find them, or have her try to “tag” me before I hit her while she is in a room defense. Thinking this I am NOT looking for a high power airgun!! Do I want her to do house clearing - NO! Just being familiar with a firearm around beds, doors, hallways.
 
I'm not a fan of using Airsoft guns for training like that.

These "training exercises" that you're proposing don't sound very useful at all really. If your wife isn't "into" guns I highly doubt she's going to go to a gun for HD or SD. I can say this safely because my wife came from an anti-gun family. She was ridiculed for keeping a baseball bat in her bedroom for self defense in case someone broke into her home and her room. However she'd always been taught that firearms were bad, evil and outright killing machines. She'd confessed to me after we were together for some years that she'd been lead to believe that just by placing a firearm on the table next to her she was in danger of the gun turning toward her and discharging thereby shooting her - after all guns kill people!

Now she's my wife and it took years for her to become comfortable enough with firearms to shoot one and another year or so to be able to carry one on her loaded.

What I'm trying to say is you should take the time to allow her to become comfortable with firearms first rather than pushing it on her. Let her do it at her own pace. Games with airsoft toys won't help.
 
Games with airsoft toys won't help.
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If she really is uncomfortable with firearms, giving her an airsoft and then having her "tag" you may not be the best approach.

It may be too much, too fast, to try and teach her safe handling and and defensive skills and at the same time have her try and shoot at somebody (even if is "just" and airsoft) if she was taught that guns kill people and are inherently evil, and is just now coming to terms with the fact that what she has been told for years upon years may not be true.
 
A BB gun is entirely unsuitable for getting shot with. Modern BB guns are fairly dangerous. Anything low powered enough to get shot with is going to be cheap and junky and require significant hand and arm strength to recock. It'll also sting like hell and be capable of breaking things in your house.

If you want to have airsoft battles in your house, you need airsoft guns.

I also think your approach is sub optimal. I think you would be better off building basic familiarity with firearms and marksmanship. Shooting BB, pellet, or airsoft guns at targets in the backyard would be a fine way to accomplish this. Maybe then you could build up to range trips. And when she is fairly comfortable with all that, maybe living room airsoft battles.

Otherwise, it would probably be too much too soon.
 
Introduce her to a youth model 20 guage pump shotgun and let her riddle some pop cans. After she learns the basic operation, introduce some urgency into the training and speed it up a little. When she's able to safely grab the shotgun, pump in a round, and splatter a can in under 5 seconds, she's as ready as she's going to get physically. The mental attitude is a whole different matter and she may not ever be able to pull the trigger on a person.
 
OK maybe I didn’t say this properly. I’m looking for info about airsoft guns that have good triggers and reasonable actions.

My wife has shot .22’s and 38’s. I’m trying to transition her into a rifle as a defense weapon, but she is not happy with the weight and unwieldy length. She is not “afraid” of guns, (except for the noise) just not interested

Time spent getting familiar with triggers & sights are what I am after. After all what is better. Once a year at the range with a real gun, or once a week in the basement with airsoft?

Cornered Cat. Yes this is a great site. Quote; A Long Gun for Home Defense? by Larry Correia Handguns suck for defense.

To people that “like” guns this makes lots of sense. To people that really don’t care, a long gun is heavy and clumsy. i will need time and exposure to change her mind.

SO I would like the wife to have trigger time that is convient and easy. AIRSOFT RECOMMENDATIONS??
 
You know your wife better than any of use will ever know your wife, put your thinking cap on, and get a clue.

Bribery is your friend. That's my first clue.:D
 
OP said:
training the wife - Airsoft or bb gun
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I've never thought about training my wife with an airsoft gun, although the idea has merit. I have trained puppies with rolled-up newspaper and young horses with a riding crop and lunge lead.

Somehow the idea of training the wife with Airsoft might be counter-productive. Training her with a bb gun might be considered abuse.

I'm sorry, I'll go away now.
 
ok since a person is asking for our help, i believe we should offer constructive advice rather than criticism. As far as if she will actually seriously take your advice as possibly clearing rooms tactically its not a terrible idea. However an airsoft gun will never actually resemble something similar to a gun, airsoft guns can resemble "similar" weight and dimensions, the weight is generally unproportional. Absolutely not a bb gun. an airsoft gun can still be slightly dangerous. you will need eye protection and also understand that these bb's will dent your walls and break fragile items. if you have concrete walls in your basement that might not be a bad place. as far as sights and triggers, the sights will generally always be the standard stock sights of a particular weapon. triggers will vary, in my experience the trigger travel will be similar but the actual lb's of pull i believe have been lighter in my opinion. The only downside of the facts of airsoft guns is the more similarities to the "actual" weapon is an increase in price. for instance if you were to get a handgun i would definately recamend a gas blowback pistol of the same design as one of your own particular weapons. if you go for a rifle, they differ even more from a real rifle. your options for a rifle are either spring, which i would stay away from because you get one shot then have to cock again, electric which are full auto that you can put on semi but has a hesitation, or gas again but cost much more. for advice i would personally call a member of airsoft gi, they have amazing customer service, or at least did years ago. their website is airsoftgi.com

hope that helps at all. i belive your wanting to teach your wife this way is possible but will be a long strange road, but i understand. Good luck.
 
I think accuracy should be your main concern. as well as most trigger time without reloading.

I find tokyo mauri to be the leading edge of airsoft.
I own the vietnam era m16 electric from them.

personally I feel something like that would be the way to go. you will be spending a bit of money. I think close to 300 to pick one up. but it is consistant at around 15 yards indoors.

I prefer this as there is no gas to reload, just reloading the mags and recharging the battery's between use.

however, the sights are not adjustible. so if point of aim is off, you have to know and adjust accordingly.

there are a few pellet rifles that are used for small game or that airforce whisper or somethign like that that use co2 instead of pumping. pretty accurate as well.

A final thought, perhaps with an old 38 or 45 colt gun, you could use wax bullets instead? practice with the real thing.
uses a shotgun primer or 22 blank to drive a wax bullet out.
very accurate up to about 20 feet and it falls off rapidly after that.

quick draw uses them. no force on force training, but the only thing different at close range is the recoil.
 
If handguns suck for defense - how come they seem succesful in many incidents?

Empricism is better than cliches - sorry, Larry.

Also, to be cranky - if you teach clearing and have no experience with it or the clearing training, so to speak, is not with opponents - you really don't know if it any good.

Sure, one can go over the principles, etc. but let's not fool ourselves. Better to hunker down, etc. Old conversation.
 
I picked up a .22 revolver for my wife to use. Will she? NO, she'd rather be dead than defend herself from an attacker. But she always asks me if I'm carrying if we go out. She's not against me defending her, but she wont do it herself.
 
I have looked at alot of airsoft guns and it seems that one that has a good trigger and action, like you are looking for, can be pricey. You can go to a Wal-Mart and pick up an airsoft rifle for cheaper, but you run the risk of not getting what you want at all. I would try to find an airsoft dealer (some paintball stores deal with them), and actually hold them. Otherwise, I would recommend a nice ruger 10-22. Thats what I trained my wife with and now she loves the AR-15. I guess what my .02 boils down to is go somewhere you can handle the weapons (even airsoft) and also talk to your wife and let her be a part of the process.
 
The BB guns are a notch up from the air soft in terms of feel and performance, some are several notches up. Many of the popular platforms are available in replica CO2 BB and pellet guns such as Sig, Ruger, PX4, 92FS, Glock, PPK, ect. There are a couple of steel ones (like Beretta's 92FS) that are nearly identical to the real thing but in a CO2 powered pellet gun. The pellet guns are far more accurate (they have rifled barrels) but I have found the BB guns to be pretty good when using the high end steel BB's (still very cheap). Although not as much fun as a .22 to practice with, they have a pretty good feel, are full size replicas, and are whisper quite so you don't annoy the neighbors. For dinging around with the kids, airsoft is great. But for a target practice substitute for a real gun, go with the BB/Pellet pistols.
 
If she's doing this to humor you, what's the point. If she's not capable for one reason or another of using a firearm for protection forget the gun and get a taser or bear spray. Even a cupful of Liquid Plumber thrown in the face could make a reasonable defense.
 
longspurr:

Buy her a .22 pistol and some snap caps and school her on the basics before you take her to the range. With an air soft or a BB gun she might pick up the habit of yanking the trigger.

Semper Fi.

Gunnery sergeant
Clifford L. Hughes
USMC Retired
 
I picked up a NIB Ruger Mark II 22/45 to get my gf accustomed to shooting pistols. She loves it and I admit I really enjoy shooting it as well. We went and shot steel today and we were hitting plates like it was nothing. Very fun to shoot. I'd go for a .22 pistol and lots of range time over a BB or airsoft pistol.
 
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