My wife's introduction to long guns

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  • tribeofham

    Plinker
    Rating - 100%
    11   0   0
    Jun 21, 2017
    117
    18
    Fishers
    Let me start off with telling you a bit about my wife: she was born and raised in Germany so our gun culture is very foreign to her. She's shot several handguns with me on the range and did remarkably well. Moreso, she listens well and takes safety as her top concern.

    I finally convinced my wife to come with me to my friend's house where is has a small range equipped for rifle shooting. As a milsurp guy, I brought about a dozen rifles of varying calibers. I also brought my CZ 455 Ultra Lux (22lr bolt action).

    Now, a smart person would start off with the .22lr but me being me, I figured it's best to get the big calibers out of the way and move our way down. So, she sat on the bench and I handed her my trusty 'ol kar98k (I was nice, I fitted my rubber pad on the buttplate). She did everything right, even kept the buttstock firmly seated in her shoulder. Then, slowly pulled the trigger and.. boom! haha, BIG MISTAKE!! She's seen it shot in movies but she had no idea what 8mm feels like until now and boy was she pissed! She didn't even want to look at my other rifles so I packed everything up except for my 22lr Ultra Lux. It took some convincing to get her to come over but I loaded it with subsonic ammo and took a few shots for her to see that's it's nothing like 8mm. "Oh, that looks like fun!", and sat down. Phew. Ok. She's giving it another try.

    Fast forward an hour later and she's keyholing shots at 100yrds and loving every minute. She's shooting paper, steel, 2 liter bottles of soda, and apples. She's in the prone and tearing through box after box of 22!

    Next week she asks if we can take a day off and "shoot that gun again". I also brought along my CZ 512 (22lr semi) and my Ruger MKIV Hunter. She let me shoot maybe 10 rounds. The rest were "hers", a tax I had to pay for punishing her with the kar98k.

    Today, she's moved up in caliber and very much enjoys shooting the M1 Carbine, M1 Garand, 1903 Springfield, K31, Winchester 94 - you name it. Just not anything in 8mm, this caliber may be forever blacklisted.

    As a former active duty Marine who always wore the expert marksmanship badge, I took pride in being the good shot. Now, my wife takes pride in giving me tips and my position has been dowgraded from teacher to student! It's all good because more importantly we're having fun and she's finally seeing one reason why Americans love their guns!
     

    T.Lex

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    Mar 30, 2011
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    Excellent. :)

    My grandfather always said that women were better natural shooters than men. He figured it was due to better fine motor skills. I've heard others attribute it to the "better listeners" thing.
     

    Tactically Fat

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    Oct 8, 2014
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    Indiana
    Excellent. :)

    My grandfather always said that women were better natural shooters than men. He figured it was due to better fine motor skills. I've heard others attribute it to the "better listeners" thing.

    I've heard it attributed to "no male ego and actually listening to instruction"
     

    Bfish

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    Feb 24, 2013
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    Glad she warmed back up to it! I always go the other direction and start at the 22. Then you get a halfway good reaction on a larger caliber even if they are hesitant to shoot it more. If she's asking to go though that's awesome! I love "introducing" people distant from gun culture to shooting.
     

    Nazgul

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    Dec 2, 2012
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    Near the big river.
    Excellent. :)

    My grandfather always said that women were better natural shooters than men. He figured it was due to better fine motor skills. I've heard others attribute it to the "better listeners" thing.
    While in the Marines I coached a rifle and pistol team for ROTC students. By far the easiest to teach were women. They did not have to unlearn some of the habits it seems men have built in. As men we don't easily relax with a mechanical device, we have the desire to control it. Not sure it makes sense but it was my experience.

    Had to be very vigilant about safety, until they understood what was going on.

    Don
     

    tribeofham

    Plinker
    Rating - 100%
    11   0   0
    Jun 21, 2017
    117
    18
    Fishers
    While in the Marines I coached a rifle and pistol team for ROTC students. By far the easiest to teach were women. They did not have to unlearn some of the habits it seems men have built in. As men we don't easily relax with a mechanical device, we have the desire to control it. Not sure it makes sense but it was my experience.

    Had to be very vigilant about safety, until they understood what was going on.

    Don

    Semper Fi, brother
     

    Cameramonkey

    www.thechosen.tv
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    35   0   0
    May 12, 2013
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    Camby area
    Good for her! Glad you got her into it and she ended up enjoying it.

    You are damn lucky she didnt give up right then and there after shooting that beast. ALWAYS start small with a new shooter. ALWAYS. Even if they scoff at it. Now you dont have to work your way up caliber by caliber, and can skip ahead a bit if they appear to be able to handle it. But you were foolish to give her the big gun first. Don't do that again. Please? Your next [STRIKE]victim[/STRIKE] student may not be so forgiving of you and may just walk out never to touch those painful guns again.
     

    rugertoter

    Master
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    0   0   0
    Apr 9, 2011
    3,264
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    N.E. Corner
    Let me start off with telling you a bit about my wife: she was born and raised in Germany so our gun culture is very foreign to her. She's shot several handguns with me on the range and did remarkably well. Moreso, she listens well and takes safety as her top concern.

    I finally convinced my wife to come with me to my friend's house where is has a small range equipped for rifle shooting. As a milsurp guy, I brought about a dozen rifles of varying calibers. I also brought my CZ 455 Ultra Lux (22lr bolt action).

    Now, a smart person would start off with the .22lr but me being me, I figured it's best to get the big calibers out of the way and move our way down. So, she sat on the bench and I handed her my trusty 'ol kar98k (I was nice, I fitted my rubber pad on the buttplate). She did everything right, even kept the buttstock firmly seated in her shoulder. Then, slowly pulled the trigger and.. boom! haha, BIG MISTAKE!! She's seen it shot in movies but she had no idea what 8mm feels like until now and boy was she pissed! She didn't even want to look at my other rifles so I packed everything up except for my 22lr Ultra Lux. It took some convincing to get her to come over but I loaded it with subsonic ammo and took a few shots for her to see that's it's nothing like 8mm. "Oh, that looks like fun!", and sat down. Phew. Ok. She's giving it another try.

    Fast forward an hour later and she's keyholing shots at 100yrds and loving every minute. She's shooting paper, steel, 2 liter bottles of soda, and apples. She's in the prone and tearing through box after box of 22!

    Next week she asks if we can take a day off and "shoot that gun again". I also brought along my CZ 512 (22lr semi) and my Ruger MKIV Hunter. She let me shoot maybe 10 rounds. The rest were "hers", a tax I had to pay for punishing her with the kar98k.

    Today, she's moved up in caliber and very much enjoys shooting the M1 Carbine, M1 Garand, 1903 Springfield, K31, Winchester 94 - you name it. Just not anything in 8mm, this caliber may be forever blacklisted.

    As a former active duty Marine who always wore the expert marksmanship badge, I took pride in being the good shot. Now, my wife takes pride in giving me tips and my position has been dowgraded from teacher to student! It's all good because more importantly we're having fun and she's finally seeing one reason why Americans love their guns!
    Lol. Semper Fi! Well, if she is German, then you need to tell her it is an important thing to show her national pride, and master that K98k! ;)
     

    tribeofham

    Plinker
    Rating - 100%
    11   0   0
    Jun 21, 2017
    117
    18
    Fishers
    Lol. Semper Fi! Well, if she is German, then you need to tell her it is an important thing to show her national pride, and master that K98k! ;)

    I was surprised. She didn't even want to touch it, let alone shoot it. In Germany, the Nazi era is a sensitive subject, and for good reason!
     
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