How did you get your S/O into Shooting Sports?

[Rosswoodford]

Valid question. My wife likes to shoot, and is generally a pretty decent shot.. But, she's terrified of shooting with an audience.  If it's just her and I, she does great, and enjoys herself.  If there's more than a couple people at a range, she won't shoot.  I got her to shoot indoor league (stationary targets, changing scenarios each week for 6 weeks), but I'd like to eventually get her to try USPSA at some point.  I considered taking her to a few steel challenge matches to get the feel for shooting on a timer.

Anyone have any other suggestions? I'm just making it a point to try not to push anything on her so she wont shoot at all.

[Lastcat]

Can you setup somewhere at a Range or out in the Woods and setup a Stage? Bring the timer and nooks. Bring some friends she knows, make it a fun shoot. Do it a few times and maybe in the future, join a Match, with U, D and C shooters.

[MikeBurgess]

Well I don't recommend this but after I had a stroke my wife started shooting matches with me. It's a bit drastic but it worked.[emoji16]


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[Mcfoto]

18 minutes ago, MikeBurgess said:

Well I don't recommend this but after I had a stroke my wife started shooting matches with me. It's a bit drastic but it worked.
 

 

A bit drastic but I’ll try anything. Still trying to get my better half out there, even after I married her for the second time...

[Sarge]

Am I the only one who goes to the range to get away from my wife?!?

[Rosswoodford]

1 hour ago, Sarge said:

Am I the only one who goes to the range to get away from my wife?!?

Depends on the day. Sometimes I do.. But others times I’d like to get her into it. She needs a hobby anyway

[EEH]

1 hour ago, Sarge said:

Am I the only one who goes to the range to get away from my wife?!?

Nope

[Sarge]

1 hour ago, EEH said:

Nope

[Lastcat]

One thing, if they are not interested, then that might be as far as it goes. I have all kinds of friends and brothers that love to shoot. But none have any interest in Matches. Just not in their blood. It's like playing the Bass Guitar (like I have for 40+ years). Can I get my wife to play drums? Very unlikely.

[12glocks]

My wife was shy of an audience at first.  The very first match she shot was an indoor match the day after the actual match.  The owner of the shooting range left it set up for her to shoot the next day.  She got pretty good at pistol after that.  The was 17 years ago and the shooting world is very different now, specifically,  there are a lot of woman shooting now.  We still do some pistol games but mostly 3 gun and she has become quite good at that also.  The women, they really like to be together and my wife has become good friends with a lot of woman shooters, some with names we all know, and they like to squad together.  There is often 4 or more women on my squad.  Also there is a ladies Brownell's match (A Girl with a Gun Fall Fest) that my wife loves.  So my advice is:

 

Squad with the women and bring her.

See if you can get her into into a ladies only match AGAG (in KY) or Babes with Bullets (in LA).

 

Also my wife's equipment if VERY different than mine.  Her benelli M2 is a compact, her rifle has an ultralite match barrel etc...We had to adapt a few times.

[Aggieddad02]

9 hours ago, Sarge said:

Am I the only one who goes to the range to get away from my wife?!?

I have to agree with Kevin on this reply.  Besides I bet many a good man has been accidentally shot like this    Good luck 

[NoSteel]

There are times when I'm glad the wife doesn't want to learn to shoot...  If they suddenly get the urge to learn,  move out!!  LOL...,

[Youngeyes]

Lorena Bobbitt and knives.....wives and guns......just sayin"..

[EEH]

7 hours ago, Youngeyes said:

Lorena Bobbitt and knives.....wives and guns......just sayin"..

Haven’t heard that name in years .

[Nevadazielmeister]

23 hours ago, Sarge said:

Am I the only one who goes to the range to get away from my wife?!?

 

14 hours ago, NoSteel said:

There are times when I'm glad the wife doesn't want to learn to shoot...  If they suddenly get the urge to learn,  move out!!  LOL...,

 

8 hours ago, Youngeyes said:

Lorena Bobbitt and knives.....wives and guns......just sayin"..

 

While I probably get that you all are joking, it is this condescending attitude and chauvinism that is driving women away. My wife got ME into the USPSA shooting game because of the great friends and good natured people that were involved. She and I are lucky to belong to a good club. We have visited other club matches and yikes, scary stuff. I was into the PRS long range game but didn't like some of the people involved. Too many sniper wannabes and strange bearded guys who never made the cut in the military. Just weird people. 

 

I would recommend to the OP to find a good club with good people in it and this should attract her by realizing that it is a safe community to be around. It was funny but my wife commented how meeting people there is safe since we can rest assured no one is a felon/criminal. I would also recommend finding a club that has some women in it. This seemed critical for my wife to enjoy the sport. If it's just a bunch of guys acting like the above, then this might be causing her to shy away from the bigger sport of USPSA.  

[Sarge]

44 minutes ago, Nevadazielmeister said:

 

 

 

While I probably get that you all are joking, it is this condescending attitude and chauvinism that is driving women away. My wife got ME into the USPSA shooting game because of the great friends and good natured people that were involved. She and I are lucky to belong to a good club. We have visited other club matches and yikes, scary stuff. I was into the PRS long range game but didn't like some of the people involved. Too many sniper wannabes and strange bearded guys who never made the cut in the military. Just weird people. 

 

I would recommend to the OP to find a good club with good people in it and this should attract her by realizing that it is a safe community to be around. It was funny but my wife commented how meeting people there is safe since we can rest assured no one is a felon/criminal. I would also recommend finding a club that has some women in it. This seemed critical for my wife to enjoy the sport. If it's just a bunch of guys acting like the above, then this might be causing her to shy away from the bigger sport of USPSA.  

Can’t speak for the others but the last person I want on my squad is my wife. I truly love her and she helps a ton with putting on major matches. But I am thrilled that she has no interest in shooting competition. Or jewelry for that matter.

  She also rarely comes into my Reloading room.

  As for driving women away, that’s nonsense. I love to recruit new shooters but I don’t see them as women, juniors etc. a shooter is a shooter. I’m not changing everything I do to make women more comfortable. They need to jump in and play just like the rest. The women I know who shoot USPSA do just that. They are not coddled and take just as much ribbing as the guys when they screw up. 

[Racinready300ex]

Personally I like that my wife shoots, and I miss her when I got to a match with out her now. But, I do need range time alone to work on my skills. With such a skill gap, I need time to work at my own pace. Sometimes practicing and teaching get's tense. She doesn't take instruction from me very well. Occasionally at matches she'll get upset if I'm not giving her the attention/help she wants. But, overall it's a positive experience.

 

My wife had zero experience with firearms. I started her just shooting at the range like you are, then moved to smaller IDPA matches locally. She's now C-class and has shot a few different Area matches. One big thing for everyone who's afraid to shoot in front of others to remember is no one is really watching or really cares how you shoot. Well, the RO should be watching but no one else really is. We're all more worried about ourselves then anything anyone else is doing.

[Rosswoodford]

2 hours ago, Nevadazielmeister said:

 

 

 

While I probably get that you all are joking, it is this condescending attitude and chauvinism that is driving women away. My wife got ME into the USPSA shooting game because of the great friends and good natured people that were involved. She and I are lucky to belong to a good club. We have visited other club matches and yikes, scary stuff. I was into the PRS long range game but didn't like some of the people involved. Too many sniper wannabes and strange bearded guys who never made the cut in the military. Just weird people. 

 

I would recommend to the OP to find a good club with good people in it and this should attract her by realizing that it is a safe community to be around. It was funny but my wife commented how meeting people there is safe since we can rest assured no one is a felon/criminal. I would also recommend finding a club that has some women in it. This seemed critical for my wife to enjoy the sport. If it's just a bunch of guys acting like the above, then this might be causing her to shy away from the bigger sport of USPSA.  

 

 

Thanks. We have an excellent club, and even a few women that have already mentioned I should bring her. Her main thing is the audience. I’ve just been working with her to help be more comfortable with the mechanics of shooting in general right now.

[Nevadazielmeister]

3 hours ago, Rosswoodford said:

 

 

Thanks. We have an excellent club, and even a few women that have already mentioned I should bring her. Her main thing is the audience. I’ve just been working with her to help be more comfortable with the mechanics of shooting in general right now.

 

Strangely enough, my wife got involved with the shooting sports based on a shooting at Walmart. She figured how is she going to protect our 2 little children if there was an active shooting event. Then this morphed into friendships and out of state competitions. Now I am not advocating finding your closest mass shooting attempt, but maybe you can share our story with her? It is up to you. I just think that if people are super nice to her and they are helpful, she will be more comfortable shooting in front of them. 

 

Oh, and one more thing. Do not. I repeat, do not try to train your wife yourself with the mechanics of shooting. That is a recipe for disaster. Ask me how I know. Maybe try some classes. Maybe even a class just for women? 

Edited November 30, 2018 by Nevadazielmeister
Spelling.. always spelling.. and grammar.

[Rosswoodford]

3 hours ago, Nevadazielmeister said:

 

Strangely enough, my wife got involved with the shooting sports based on a shooting at Walmart. She figured how is she going to protect our 2 little children if there was an active shooting event. Then this morphed into friendships and out of state competitions. Now I am not advocating finding your closest mass shooting attempt, but maybe you can share our story with her? It is up to you. I just think that if people are super nice to her and they are helpful, she will be more comfortable shooting in front of them. 

 

Oh, and one more thing. Do not. I repeat, do not try to train your wife yourself with the mechanics of shooting. That is a recipe for disaster. Ask me how I know. Maybe try some classes. Maybe even a class just for women? 

I mis spoke a bit. I take her with me whenever I can, and only help when she asks. I’ve already learned that one he hard way with multiple other things

[Dranoel]

I didn't.

 

When the S/O said, "The guns go, or I go."  I said, "Do you need help packing?"

[Sarge]

1 hour ago, Dranoel said:

I didn't.

 

When the S/O said, "The guns go, or I go."  I said, "Do you need help packing?"

[aandabooks]

I have mentioned to the wife about her starting to shoot with me and she has no interest.  Can't even get her to the range.  I've come to realize that it is a good thing that she keeps turning me down.  If she gets around some of my shooting buddies and starts hearing about how much certain things actually cost, I might be in big trouble.  She is under the impression this is a reasonably priced sport.

[Modoc]

On 11/30/2018 at 10:35 AM, Nevadazielmeister said:

 

Strangely enough, my wife got involved with the shooting sports based on a shooting at Walmart. She figured how is she going to protect our 2 little children if there was an active shooting event. Then this morphed into friendships and out of state competitions. Now I am not advocating finding your closest mass shooting attempt, but maybe you can share our story with her? It is up to you. I just think that if people are super nice to her and they are helpful, she will be more comfortable shooting in front of them. 

 

Oh, and one more thing. Do not. I repeat, do not try to train your wife yourself with the mechanics of shooting. That is a recipe for disaster. Ask me how I know. Maybe try some classes. Maybe even a class just for women? 

 

As an instructor, I try and REALLY follow the last two lines.  I enlist others to teach both my wife and son.

 

i got my wife started by just bringing her to matches and then we would go out to lunch with the crowd afterwards.  Over time, she started helping with squad/posse duties (more cowboy action than USPSA) and then we started sharing gear at level III matches.  It has been great as a family, but now there are 3 sets of EVERYTHING!  Cowboy Action gear & Guns, Silhouette, multi Gun, USPSA, and Mountain Man Rondevoux.