So my wife says she’s interested in learning how to shoot and get her permit now

[Saltwater60]

I’ve been trying for years and years now with all this shit going on she’s coming more and more to my side on NYS, Cuomo, and now guns. She even agrees with me that we should be able to have 30 round mags and I showed her how dirty mags get on the inside and I said all this dust will stop your gun. I have a para ordnance p12 with pinned magazines and said see I can’t take those apart to clean them. That’s a problem.
So she came to me on her own and said I think it’s time I learn to shoot more this weekend. We’re heading to my parents property for the day I think on Sunday. Looking for advice on my plan.
I have a 20 gauge semi auto I’ll have her shoot last because of the kick. I have a fixed mag AR I’ll have her shoot and I’ll have a her shoot a featureless AR I have. I also have a 22 pistol, my 9mm pistol, and .380 I’ll have her shoot and change mags on. I’ll just have her shooting paper or cardboard nothing crazy.
I’ll go over the guns with her Friday and Saturday for familiarity and function. She’s smart so she will get the hang of it fast. Also I have a great ruger 10/22 with a nice dialed in scope I’ll have her shoot that too.

 

[Calculon]

Glad she’s coming around. My only advice is take your time and let her master one or two firearms vs throwing the whole collection at her. If she wants to come up curve quickly less for her to learn (different mag releases, safeties, trigger weights, etc). Maybe let her sample all with an objective of selecting 1 pistol and 1 rifle to master going forward. Repetition is key. Just my $0.02.

 

[alistair]

Remember in NY it is a felony for her to touch your handguns !!!!

 

[Cooolone]

Good for her! Sorry it took some crazy shyt going on for the awakening, but it's never too late!

There is 1,000 suggestions can be made, so I'll throw a few at you.

Don't dismiss dry firing, you don't need ammo to learn how to feel trigger and sight control. Just keep the ammo far away! This is something that can start right away, no need for a range. Recoil and reset comes at the range...

Forget the fine control, teaching self defense use is important, like using the pistol in a stabbing motion toward the target while squeezing the trigger at extension. Again, no need for a range! This works very well in close quarters for unskilled shooters. Think throwing a ball...

Don't forget to use some dummy rounds in the mags for the WTF!?!? lesson when at the range, lol, works very well if they don't know it's there.

If you have property or use a club, close quarters instinct shooting is awesome to teach too. 5' from Target, draw and shoot from hip at Target. Start this one slowly, and gradually look for speed. The draw can be practiced at home, before the range.

And yes, repetition is the mother of skill. Dry fire, dry fire, dry fire! I also have told others to use the penny method, ie, penny balanced on top of front sight, dry fire pistol without dislodging penny... This helps to very quickly bring some sight movement while pulling trigger, under control. I still do it from time to time when bored... It also helps to focus on the front sight.

Anyways, you may have all of these in your repertoire, just thinking aloud... Best of luck to ya'

 

[dsdmmat]

congrats, my wife just started realizing she wants to be able to shoot when i am not around.

 

[Blimey]

Cold day in hell before my wife goes that far but I know she is relieved to know that if anything happened around here I wouldn't be screaming at people with only a shovel to defend us.

 

[Drinkthekoolaid]

IMO a .22 first and then the AR are great places to start. Easy to shoot minimal recoil. The .22lr isn't overly loud or intimidating.

See how she does with those before going to the 20g

 

[BDinPutnam]

Would recommend just using cardboard for the targets at first with maybe a 8-10" circle on it to get her on paper without any pressure to be super precise. Wouldn't stick with that for very long (don't want to teach the wrong lesson) - just enough to get her on paper and comfortable shooting and then start giving her things to really aim at.

 

[Vapor]

Aim small, miss small. Put up a large target but have a small bulls eye to aim at.


I would start with a .22 and just see how that goes. I don't know about you, but I don't want 10 rounds of mini mags dumped into me. If that's what my girlfriend is comfortable with, then that's what I'll give her.

 

[Blimey]

Aim small, miss small. Put up a large target but have a small bulls eye to aim at.

Also: one shot, two kills

 

[gun_slinger_boy]

Too bad about that whole NY thing. This would be a nice little starter.

https://palmettostatearmory.com/ati-gsg-16-22-lr-16-25-carbine-black-gerggsg1622.html?trk_msg=IEGQQDNLCAB49FF97JH14MSCT4&trk_contact=L0EAL5ASQ8PEH5LF8G6231B6T4&trk_sid=0C3H2U0LIRUS5G1VL3O04B1HHK&utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=https%3a%2f%2fpalmettostatearmory.com%2fati-gsg-16-22-lr-16-25-carbine-black-gerggsg1622.html&utm_campaign=Daily+Deal+Email&utm_content=5%3a00+Email

 

[S&W Fan]

I’ve been blessed from day one with my wife. She showed interest in shooting when we were dating so every chance I got I packed up the .22 rifle ,.22 Pistol and .44 mag. and headed for the local gravel pit to shoot cans until we were out of ammo. That was over 35 years ago. Since then she’s shot just about every gun that she knows that I own, incl. the .44 mag. ! 6 years ago she applied for and received her pistol permit. My advice, what ever you do make it fun the first few times out and she’ll be hooked in no time.
from there you can start teaching her the confidence building SD drills.

 

[Jem45472]

My daughter's itching to turn 21 and get her permit. She mentioned it today, and the wife said she'll probably get hers at the same time. The two sons don't really show an interest, they could have had it by now.

 

[spat]

Would recommend just using cardboard for the targets at first with maybe a 8-10" circle on it to get her on paper without any pressure to be super precise. Wouldn't stick with that for very long (don't want to teach the wrong lesson) - just enough to get her on paper and comfortable shooting and then start giving her things to really aim at.

Steel is king for generating enthusiasm.

We went through this with my sister in law a couple weeks ago.

She *loved* the 10/22 with steel. That instant feedback is gold.

 

[spat]

Cold day in hell before my wife goes that far but I know she is relieved to know that if anything happened around here I wouldn't be screaming at people with only a shovel to defend us.

Or a golf club like that poor guy in Rochester.

Imagine your wife getting attacked by a gang of thugs and all you have is a golf club.

 

[Vapor]

Or a golf club like that poor guy in Rochester.

Imagine your wife getting attacked by a gang of thugs and all you have is a golf club.

Fuck around and I get the long gas tube.

 

[Vapor]

Steel is king for generating enthusiasm.

We went through this with my sister in law a couple weeks ago.

She *loved* the 10/22 with steel. That instant feedback is gold.

Or a spinner. I used to love wacking spinners off had at 50 yards with my model 60.

 

[Saltwater60]

Glad she’s coming around. My only advice is take your time and let her master one or two firearms vs throwing the whole collection at her. If she wants to come up curve quickly less for her to learn (different mag releases, safeties, trigger weights, etc). Maybe let her sample all with an objective of selecting 1 pistol and 1 rifle to master going forward. Repetition is key. Just my $0.02.

That’s a good plan.

 

[Saltwater60]

Good suggestions. I do have a steel target as well. I’ll bring that.
I agree with the cardboard and small bullseye. I have orange tabs I can place on the cardboard.
I do know what’s not supposed to or allowed to shoot my pistols. I think it’s a stupid rule and I just don’t care honestly. We will be at private land too. Thanks for saying it though.

 

[spat]

Good suggestions. I do have a steel target as well. I’ll bring that.
I agree with the cardboard and small bullseye. I have orange tabs I can place on the cardboard.
I do know what’s not supposed to or allowed to shoot my pistols. I think it’s a stupid rule and I just don’t care honestly. We will be at private land too. Thanks for saying it though.

I will frequently just put a small piece of blue painters tape in the center of the steel for a more precise target.

1 roll of tape and a can of spray paint will last all day.

 

[Vapor]

Just don't talk about certain things.


We don't own pistols.

All our semi autos were lost in a lake/fire.

We only own 5 round mags.

I hope you guys have fun.

 

[Acer-m14]

start small and work up and have fun ..

Remember in NY it is a felony for her to touch your handguns !!!!

hush up FUAC isn't there lol

 

[cgrutt]

My wife and I got our permits in 1998. She's definitely not "anti" but has shown less interest in recent years. Hanging out at range with anything larger than a 22LR now disturbs her. So does watching news, lol... She gets why ordinary citizens need guns but doesn't want to handle them. Getting old sucks... BTW she's all for me taking our son to range...

 

[Saltwater60]

My wife and I got our permits in 1998. She's definitely not "anti" but has shown less interest in recent years. Hanging out at range with anything larger than a 22LR now disturbs her. So does watching news, lol... She gets why ordinary citizens need guns but doesn't want to handle them. Getting old sucks... BTW she's all for me taking our son to range...

That’s essentially where my wife is. She didn’t like AR’s but I think now understand the need for them in civilian hands. She didn’t even ball at 30 round mags either. Victory.

 

[Saltwater60]

So she just said today she wants her own gun. A pink one. I don’t care. If she’s interested I’ll do it.

 

[Saltwater60]

She did ok. She doesn’t like the noise. I started her off on the .22 riffle and she said that’s not what I’m here to learn to shoot. I had her shoot my LCPII and my Springfield. The LCPII hurt her wrist a bit. No surprise as it does mine at times. The Springfield she was so so on and thought it was too loud. No shit!
My son has largely only wanted to shoot .22’s and I said you want to try? He said what is it a .22 pistol. I said nope it’s a .380 and a 9mm. He loved the 9mm and shot it fairly well. Even a few bullseyes. He anticipated the recoil a few times and dropped them low but honestly did great.
For some reason I shot the Springfield the best I have in my life. Lots of bullseyes and just to the left of the bullseye. Not sure what changed as I’ve never shot it that well before and thought of buying a new pistol just because poor shooting with that one. Strange times these are.
I then said I’ve one more gun for you to shoot honey. She said ok. I pulled out my AR-15 and my son said dad isn’t that illegal? I said no son. He said oh why because of this and that. I said no because of this and hit the mag release... that well didn’t release the mag. My wife flat out refused to shoot it and said I’m so glad you went out and bought the guns I told you I didn’t want you to have. I said I only have 3 and none of them are considered assault riffles in NYS or any other state because of what I’ve done to make them complaint. She moderately accepted that and laughed at her approval.