Disappointment at the Range with new shooters

[txaggie]

I hate males that take females to the range and can’t/won’t teach the person they are with to properly shoot. I know that we have all seen it, here’s the big bad boyfriend/husband (or sometimes even fathers with young daughters) who brought along his hand cannon and the girl is here for her first time on the range. He fires a couple of rounds down range and then hands it to the girl without any instruction. Her stance wouldn’t allow her to stand still in a light summer breeze, but here she is about to fire a gun I wouldn’t want to fire. No instruction, no caution, no safety briefing, just point it down range and pull the trigger. BOOM!!! She flinches and what little chance for an enjoyable outing there might have been is now gone because now she has an unnatural fear of the recoil and noise.

I was at the range yesterday and there is an older man with his ~12 year old daughter, he hands her his full size 1911 and she takes a shooting grip like the old Cagney/Lacy/Charlie’s Angels with her weak hand wrapped around her strong arm wrist. BOOM!!! She glances at her Dad with this look of fear on her face, not a look of enjoyment or let’s do it again. A look of let’s leave, I am tired of this. I have a friend who is a LEO and he took his wife for her first trip to the range 2 years ago. The first gun he hands her is his Glock 23. She fires about 10 rounds and says she is through. I try to rescue the range session by renting a Ruger Mark II and working with her on stance, grip, and sight alignment. Granted I am no expert nor do I claim to be, but that 10 minutes that I spent talking and showing her the technique was more than she had ever had from her husband. She fires about 100 rounds out of the Ruger and seems happy with her results. But she hasn’t been back to the range since.

When my wife and I were first getting interested in shooting, I didn’t know enough to teach her, so I paid for her to have private lessons. We also started at a knowledgeable shop and range and rented just about every caliber you can imagine, starting small at 22lr and working up to 9mm. She enjoys shooting very much and in fact, many times out shoots me.

I guess the point of this rant/vent is that our sport/hobby/passion suffers enough bad publicity on its own, the last thing we need to alienate the better halves in our lives and deny both parties the enjoyment of shooting together.

[shred]

This is one of my top range-peeves. Joe-Manly hands the "little lady" a pistol-grip 12 gauge or something and says "here, try this.. heh, heh, heh"

My GF got handed a full-auto AR in .22 LR on her first trip to the range. After about half a magazine she handed it back and said "thanks, but I can't hit anything with it" and went back to my scoped 10/22.

[cking]

Maybe they didn't want the wife or grand kid to come again!

[Patrick Sweeney]

Exactly. I'm convinced the main reason so many do it (at least those that think, and aren't simply floating along in some fog of testosterone) is that they want at least one place the wife/girlfriend won't go.

Ferchrissakes, if she's such a drag, why are you still together?

On the other hand, I've had a number of women to the range, and they have all commented on how it was the least-sexist environment they had ever been in. (Several were certified hotties, and always hit upon elsewhere.) They were with me, which would cut down that crap, but they were also with IPSC shooters. IPSC shooters, a better-grounded group you'll be hard to find.

How you gonna be a sexist pig, when Julie Goloski or Lisa Munson can kick your ass so hard it hurts?

The next time you think USPSA or IPSC is populated by opinionated, stubborn, recalcitrant people, I invite you to observe other sports. Just about any will be a revelation.

[Carlos]

Good point. I find its the gun owners who are not into competition shooting who usually screw up the 1st-timers at the range.

Another point: 1st timers do not want to feel like failures first time out so give them a chance by not setting the bar too high. How? Make it easy. Plenty of chances to toughen the challenge later.

I took my pro-gun (though generally non-shooting) ex to the range to shoot at some old bowling pins. She told me she had shot rifle in High School and she once had a CCW permit so I gave her the benefit of the doubt about knowing what she was doing with a pistol. Using a 9mm Glock, things did not go very well for her. Turns out she had less pistol experience than I thought. I then had her try out shooting those same pins with red-dot equiped semi auto (a .22 w/ a sweet trigger) and truth be told, it was hard NOT to hit the pins with that gun. She felt like a champ & always wanted to try it again.

[rhino]

How you gonna be a sexist pig, when Julie Goloski or Lisa Munson can kick your ass so hard it hurts?

I can be a pig under pretty much any circumstances, but then it's not just a hobby for me.

[Shooter Grrl]

How you gonna be a sexist pig, when Julie Goloski or Lisa Munson can kick your ass so hard it hurts?

Beautiful words Patrick. Please notice my new signature

[michael_aos]

I started my wife with a S&W "airlite" .22. She shot it a little but mostly wasn't too impressed.

She really liked my Browning BuckMark micro though, and buzzed through a few bricks with it.

Then she moved to my CZ75B 9mm. She liked it so much, she "adopted" it as hers.

Now she'll shoot my single-stack 1911's in 9mm or ~130PF .38S but mostly she just likes "her" 9mm.

She's also likes the Remington 700P in .223. It's a lot of fun smacking am MGM prairie-dog auto popper out at 300yds.

Mike

[Patrick Sweeney]

Always glad to be of service, Shooter Grrl.

[XRe]

Started my wife out on .38 wadcutters in my .357 - I didn't have a .22 at the time. Some good training on stance and grip helped her a bunch. She ended up handling full house .357 (old major from a 3" barrel Cor-Bon stuff!) w/ no problems. She still loves the Mark-II we later aquired better, though... Later, though, I had her running a 9x21 CZ race gun for a while. Alas, shooting sports were not for her, though - she had to find something more expensive - horses!

What *I* hate??? People who bring folks out who've never shot before and fail to instruct them in proper gun safety. I can tell you from personal experience that 12-gauge and .44 Mag barrels take on the appearance of 55 gallon drum openings when you're looking down the business end of one loaded w/ shooters finger on the trigger. And they say skeet is a safe sport...... heh....

Dave

[rhino]

When coaching my sister years ago, I noted that the noise was scaring her at least as much as recoil. That was with a S&W 686 with very mild .38special loads, so recoil was minimal. The problem was that we were indoors, and the echo from the walls of the shooting lane made it worse. I had her double plug, but it would have been better outside.

Shooting .22s is more amenable in that regard as well. The "pop" they make isn't very intimidating to anyone.

[tightloop]

Until they get into it, women are intimidated by the noise, and the weight.....22's are the best to start with...then move to very mild center fires...

[Hank Ellis]

I was on the receiving end of a too much gun experience when I first started. A dude I knew invited me out to the range to shoot. At the time all I had was a Ruger MKII. After a while he handed me a revolver and said 'Try this'. Cocked the hammer, pulled the trigger, BOOOM! "Ha haha ha haha. I love the look on peoples faces after they shoot a .44 Magnum. Haha hoho." Jacka$$.

Recently I've been bringing a MKII (the same one as above) with OKO optics with me and offer others to shoot it. After a brief lesson on the function of the gun, how to use the optics, and what I want them to do with the target, I turn them loose. After the first mag, I sometimes give a little instruction on grip, stance, trigger control, etc. I love the look on peoples faces when they enjoy shooting and can hit the target they're aiming at.

Of course there are those that when they show up, I take a break. Funny how looking down the barrel of a 9mm makes it look like looking down a coffee cup. But thats for another thread.

[JFD]

I bought a Walther P22 to introduce my 7 year old daughter to shooting. First session mainly involved her shooting talcum powder-filled balloons at 5 yards. Easy to hit and there was some fun when they popped.

These days we're slowly reducing the size of the targets, but my main concern is to keep her interested.

[SiG Lady]

Though I don't actually fit into the above category of needing to break into shooting gently (more like, "Hey guys, where can I find a custom .45ACP 1911??!!"), I can attest to the respect shown at our range. Now, what's cool is, I can have fun there actually SHOOTING and have fun FLIRTING, too, without weirdness taking hold... or sexist crapola insinuating itself. We all know where we stand in terms of skill level so it's never used as a lever for power-trips or abuse. Mostly we talk about how to shoot better, what new this-or-that we've discovered, what new toy we/they just got, when the next league is going to start and/or whether it's good luck (or not) to shoot in the booth next to yours truly.

There are numerous couples of all ages who frequent the range just for practice sessions and I kinda keep a subtle eye on 'em, but I've never seen anything but two genders shootin' away and having a decent time.

[Nolan]

I don't know what thrill these Jackasses get from doing this, but I've seen this behavior many times at the range. I had to interfere one time when the Bozo hands a woman a .44 Mag revolver. She holds the gun with her strong hand on the grip and her weak hand holding the frame/barrel junction from underneath right at the cylinder gap. Bozo is just standing there watching her get ready to shoot this cannon. I butted in before the woman could fire and explained that she shouldn't hold the gun that way. Bozo wasn't too happy with my interference, but let me show her the proper grip.

I offered to let them use my C-More equiped Buckmark. The lady said she would like to try it, but the Bozo insisted that she shoot the .44 because he wanted her to really learn to shoot. I bit my tongue and let them continue. She shot a couple of rounds and then refused to shoot anymore.

Nolan

[rhino]

I was at the range once (with BigDave... I think) when some guy arrived with a woman and gun. They had no hearing protection visible, so I just assumed they had plugs in their pockets or something. Then I noticed they were watching us shoot without any protection at all. So I gave them both a pair of foam plugs and kept the comments to myself when the guy started talking about how he had forgotten the earmuffs, blah blah blah.

[OKO USA]

I am located in the Phoenix area, and we have a state run range called Ben Avery. I took my wife there to teach her how to shoot. Now this girl was afraid of guns, in fact her whole life she hated them. I have been shooting since I was about 9 years old, and didn't learn any proper technique until I joined the Army. In my opinion guys let someone else teach your wife to shoot, because you will probably piss her off. Even if you are fine teaching someone else, teaching your wife anything is a whole different beast.

Anyway, the point to all this is when we went out to shoot, one of the range guys told us about a program they had called Annie Oakley Shoot. It is a great program that is once a week and there is no men allowed. They furnish the guns, and the ammo, and give them a lot of great instruction. They start them out with .22's, which is way better for her to learn with than my 9mm.

Now she loves to shoot, and she avoided all the bad shooting habits I would have taught her. And she is now one hell of a shot.

[Rikarin]

Awww, poor girls! its a good sign she should ditch him, seriously (Hemph)

I grew up in Japan hated gun. I used to be conviced gun is the violence until I shot first time with proper instructions at a class. That changed my life and I am still thankful for my first instructor, who has killed in Iraq. I owe him alot.

[ima45dv8]

Awww, poor girls!  its a good sign she should ditch him, seriously (Hemph)

I grew up in Japan hated gun.  I used to be conviced gun is the violence until I shot first time with proper instructions at a class.  That changed my life and I am still thankful for my first instructor, who has killed in Iraq. I owe him alot.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sorry to hear about your friend. You are just one of the legacies he left.

[Genghis]

OKO USA, I envy you. Ben Avery is one of the biggest and nicest ranges I've ever seen.

I absolutely love teaching females how to shoot. They are usually much more willing than guys to admit that they don't know it all, so their ego doesn't prevent them from listening to what you say.

When introducing a newbie to shooting, it is important to let them build skills one at a time, and to eliminate distractions. A heavy .22 or airgun reduces the distractions of noise and recoil. And I like to start with a scope from a bench so they can focus on trigger control first, before adding complications like sight alignment and more complicated positions.

The scope and benchrest position allow them to build some confidence so they like what they're doing. I took my secretary to the range once and let her shoot my Ruger Mk II. She was scattering the rounds around a pie-plate sized circle, until her best friend showed up. Her group instantly shrank to a few inches.

[GuildSF4]

I definitely hate it when people want to punish other people learning about guns...

I taught my wife to shoot (before we even dated), and most of my kids (3 girls, 2 boys) the oldest girl is by far the best shooter of the bunch.

I taught them safety first, and started with .22s. You would never guess which gun my wife likes the best.....

My 9x25...

[CQB Dave]

My wife's family thought it was weird that I was into guns. They aren't anti's. They just thought it was weird liking/owning guns. I taught my wife how to shoot with a Stainless Ruger Mark II. She loved it. Later I bought a pistol just for her. A Ruger SP-101 with a 3 1/4 inch barrel in 357 mag. I changed out the factory grips for a set of Hogues with finger grooves. Like they were made for her.

Some of her female friends are a little jealous that their guy's won't take them to shoot.

[bierman]

I bought a Ruger Mk II years before I even met my wife, thinking "this would be a great gun to teach a kid how to shoot". Many years later, I am now teaching my 9 year old daughter with it and have even bought her a 10/22 as well. Its a good thing 22lr is cheap as she burns through it as fast as she can. Almost brings a tear to my eye.

[iweiny]

I absolutely love teaching females how to shoot. They are usually much more willing than guys to admit that they don't know it all, so their ego doesn't prevent them from listening to what you say.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This is true of most sports!

Ira