How to get my wife to shoot a shotgun

[dmd6x]

I shoot 3gun, and want my wife to shoot 3gun too. She has received training with a pistol, shoots great, enjoys it. I have taken her out to shoot my 5.56 AR a couple of times...she liked it well, and said it was fun. A few months ago, I took her out to shoot a shotgun. Borrowed my buddy's 20 gauge, bought a box or two of factory birdshot for it, and put my wife about 10 yards out from a static clay. I convinced her to take 3 shots...she missed and shot over the clay every time, and after 3 shots said "I'm done, I hate it", and handed the gun back to me.

Any of you have any experience teaching a female how to shoot a shotgun? Any females out there have any tips for me? If I could get her to enjoy breaking clays, I think she would just eat it up...sporting clays, trap, skeet, whatever. This is the break through I need for her to start shooting 3gun, and thus not hate on me as much for shooting 3gun, spending money on 3gun, etc. etc. etc. So what's your best advice?

Moral of the story (for those of you with a decent news-memory...)? Joe Biden is wrong.

[MarkCO]

20 gauge is a waste! The VersaMax with the low recoil loads kicks about 30% less than a 20 gauge. Very soft recoil to start with, the low recoil shells make it downright tame.

Proper fit and stance are VERY important. I remember the bruised jaw of one female shooter...gun did not fit and she was lifting her head so she was not rolling with the recoil, she was getting punched. Since your wife already hated it once, you probably have one chance at getting it right the next time. Tell her you were wrong, apologize and ask he if you can make it up to her, then do it right.

Edited July 12, 2013 by MarkCO

[Dirty Rod]

You can't force her. When she is ready to try again, make sure she has the proper form. When my wife started she wasn't holding the shotty into her pocket so it was beating up shoulder. She also had the same aiming issue in that she was not looking straight down the barrel and was shooting over the target. Her stance was wrong as well. When she was ready again I made sure we went over fundamentals and eventually she came round. Unfortunately, she now thinks my mossy is crap and wants her own Benelli so be careful of what you wish for.

[dauntedfuture]

Borrow someone’s youth shotgun, 20 or 12 does not matter. Length of pull matters quite a bit. You can get away with some very low power stuff with a pump. Significant for shooting a SG for anyone that’s little (me) is to get a gun that fits and lean into it. Many people will stand there limp like they do with a .22 and shoot and the recoil will beat them around.

[perrysho]

Different opinions for different FOLKS,

IF you have the wallet for it, buy a VersaMax the call Gamaliels 270-457-2825 order a recoil reducer and install it in the stock, re-load some 7/8 or 1 oz /Clays lite loads for her until she gets accustomed to same. Also make sure the gun fits her.

My daughter shot trap with a Win Model 12 trap with a Edwards recoil reducer and gunsmith fit, (A Small Girl)

Find someone who shots trap or skeet to start her, sometimes it works better.

Just my thoughts,

Perry

[co-exprs]

Same input from me. Versamax tactical with a cut down and properly fit stock. Then some instruction of how to properly manage the recoil and it won't rock her nearly as badly. I was at a local match a few months ago. One of the competitors had his wife shooting his SLP with 3 dram loads. She was recovering from shoulder surgery and wasn't mounting the gun correctly. In short every shot was pure agony for her and I cringed every time she pulled the trigger. I had her try my versa max with some 2.75 dram loads and showed her how to mount the shotgun properly. It made all the difference in the world and she left genuinly honked off at her husband for teaching her wrong.

[Steve RA]

Never try to teach a wife or GF to drive or shoot. Get someone who is good to do it for you.

[dmd6x]

Thanks for all of the help. Steve, that sounds like words of wisdom from experience...I appreciate the sage advice.

[Thecelt]

Give her larger targets such as milk jugs with water. Pethaps the reward of an easier target may help increase her interest.

[Lead-Head]

How to get your wife to do something?.....Tell her not to...

[bigbrowndog]

looks like you have good advice already, but I'll add what Mark said,.......fit the gun to her, fit the gun to her, fit the gun to her.

way too many shotguns are too long, even for men!!! i have a shotgun im working on right now that is too long for me, and it belongs to a female who i know has a shorter reach than i do, how she can shoot and load it i do not know, i don't think she really knows that she is fighting the gun.

next step, find a local woman that can take her out and shoot with her, that will make a world of difference.

trapr

[P.E. Kelley]

looks like you have good advice already, but I'll add what Mark said,.......fit the gun to her, fit the gun to her, fit the gun to her.

way too many shotguns are too long, even for men!!! i have a shotgun im working on right now that is too long for me, and it belongs to a female who i know has a shorter reach than i do, how she can shoot and load it i do not know, i don't think she really knows that she is fighting the gun.

next step, find a local woman that can take her out and shoot with her, that will make a world of difference.

trapr

In case this has not been said enough...GUN FIT #1

[ltdmstr]

Show her this

.

[hpnewby]

YOU GOT HER TO SHOOT THREE SHELLS?!?! I could only get 1 out of my wife, followed up by her dragging the muzzle through the gravel and holding her shoulder.

[Dirty Rod]

I don't know if the video will help her but I'm definitely impressed. My wife just pointed out that they weren't using Mossy 500s and asked me when her Benelli was going to arrive.

[larry weeks]

or find a video of Katie Francis. She's tiny and shoots a 12 gauge. BUT, it all comes down to fit. I won't even try a full length shotgun with free ammo because I know 1) I will shoot it horribly and 2) It will hurt. Tapr is dead on, and as someone else said, find a woman to teach her. We had a group of Chinese folks at our range last week on a corporate shoot. They had never fired a gun before. Many were too small for full size guns but there weren't any youth models available. One of our guys is a pretty good teacher and kept working with them, through an interpreter. The interpreter looked at us funny when we said, "butt out". Took a bit to get her to understand, then figure out a way to say it to the shooter. Because of the too-long length, women, and men tend to lean back. Get the length, drop and cast right and they can lean into it better. One girl, shorter than my 5', got so she could hit 2 or 3 out of five, even with a "wrong" gun. Years ago I saw a girl trying to shoot the 20 ga. dad brought for her. Grabbed Larry Dunn who coached his daughter Halley to being a world class shotgunner AND one of her guns that was in his truck. Short pull, etc. He coached the girl who'd broken 1 out of 25 with the 20 ga. to 19 out of 25 with a 12 ga. O/U. Long way around to say, GUN FIT IS EVERYTHING, well, that and some good instruction.

[NinerRider]

How to get your wife to do something?.....Tell her not to...

+1 LOL

[Dan Sierpina]

I've followed this for a bit. Mark, Trapr, Pat and Larry have it nailed. Gun Fit is most important for a lady it seems.

My wife likes to shoot occasionally, and sporting clays is a game she'll shoot. After a disaster with a shortened Berretta O/U, she got a Browning Gold, Ladies sporting clays model. The gun is softer shooting, granted, but, it beat the heck out of her cheek. Alas, Browning no longer seems to offer the model. I'm glad we have one in the safe.

She did try my M2, with the short pad, and didn't like it. She picked up a buddies Versa Max, and liked how it felt. Now a Versa Max is keeping the Browning company. I'll get her to shoot a match eventually, I hope.

[Sarge]

Come home drunk with a blonde. That might inspire her to pick it up.

[Pinecone]

I was an NSCA Level 1 Instructor, and taught a LOT of women.

You really need to get a woman into a forward leaning stance with a long gun, especially a shofgun. The angle of the butt is such that the tip will dig into their chest if they are upright or leaning back. Makes it VERY painful.

AR has so little recoil, it is not noticeable, but a shofgun it is significant.

As has been mentioned, the gun has to fit properly. Length of pull and cast. Also, was she shooting with both eyes open or one? Many women have cross or incomplete dominent eye. Both eyes open causes all sorts of issues.

Also, start with low recoil shells. I like the Fiocchi 1 ounce low recoil 12 ga loads. Very light recoil.

[Blaise1]

My wife shot 1 round out of my M1 and said enough. She still wanted to shoot 3gun though and as with most spouses I new it was better to get her a real instructor so she could learn and not do what they do when we try to help. It just so happened Kurt M. was holding a shotgun class 3 hours away last spring. Depending on how you look at it it was the best investment in time and $$$ I've made since I was foolish enough to shoot my first match. Before the class she hadn't shot two boxes of shotgun shells in her life and didn't really care for them, but Kurt loaned her his VM and OMG!!! Shotgun is her favorite thing in the world now. She got her own VM and has shot the snot out of it. At Rockcastle this year though she decided it was just too heavy and she could handle an M2 now. Now the VM is in the safe, she just picked up a Vinci to play with and has an M2 getting AI'd.

Gun fit and instruction will do more for her than anything else.

When you do get her back out to try it again line her up on a bunch of poppers and good sized steel. Women like killing steel A LOT just like we do and big targets help more than turning little clays into dust. A lot of times a new shooter never sees the clay go poof, I've had too many ask "where'd it go?", but with poppers and steel there's an audible they can't mistake. You may get tired of setting steel but it will be worth it.