Took the wife shooting
Well my wife finally decided it was time for her to learn how to shoot some of the guns I own. She has always been very accepting of my love for guns and all things tactical but was just never interested.
Well last week I was out of town for some work stuff and she heard some noises in the backyard and realized that we had all these guns in the house and she really didn’t know how to use them. I actually got a phone call from her letting me know she had already gotten a sitter for our daughter and we needed to go to the range when she got back.
I was really surprised because about 4 years ago she had a really bad experience shooting a shotgun. She was trying to shot an old single shot shotgun of mine and as she was pulling the hammer back her thumb slipped off and the gun fired when she wasn’t ready and with me and my father slightly ahead of her but still behind the muzzle. Needless to say it scared the bejezus out of all of us. Luckily we knew to stay behind the muzzle so we really weren’t in any danger but still scary. After that I didn’t think she would ever touch a gun again.
The night before we took some time to go over the four basic safety rules and how the gun functioned. She seemed good to go so we loaded up my Glock 19 and a couple of boxes of ammo for her. I also took my Saiga so I would have something to play with if she started enjoying her self.
When we got to the range I set some Pepsi cans up at around 7 yards for her to shoot at. I loaded a single round in the magazine and then chambered that one round for her and laid the Glock on the range table with the muzzle down range so all she had to do was pick it up, align the sights, and squeeze the trigger. She was really apprehensive at first and picked it up like it was going to bite her. She finally got a little more comfortable and took aim at one of the cans and started to pull the trigger when a guy a few lanes down let out a few rapid fire shots out of his AK and spooked her. She actually had to put the gun down and take a few breaths.
At this point I wasn’t very hopeful for how things would turn out but just reassured her and got her to try again. She finally squeezed off that first round and then turned around and commented that it barely kicked at all. She was expecting the gun to either hurt her wrists or jump out of her hands. As soon as I saw the smile on her face I knew she was having some fun. I loaded a full magazine for her and chambered the first round for her making sure to show her again how to do it. She slowly fired off that magazine and asked to shoot some more.
At this point I just handed her a loaded magazine and told her if she wanted shoot some more she had to load the gun herself. She was a little nervous but got the magazine into the gun and then racked the slide and commented that it was easier than she expected. After she finished that magazine I handed her an empty magazine and a box of rounds and showed her how to load the magazine.
Once she was able to do everything herself I started shooting the Saiga in the lane next to her. After a couple of minutes I heard her do a rapid fire magazine dump and I looked over at her only to have her tell me she wanted to see how fast she could shoot it. At this point I knew she was hooked.
She continued to shoot until finally she had to go tinkle and didn’t want to do it behind a bush. If nature had not called I’m sure she would have shot all the 9mm ammo I brought out with us. On the ride home she actually started asking about carrying a pistol and maybe getting her own Glock. She really liked the way the Glock 19 fit her hand but she knows I carry it daily hence her wanting her own. She also commented on how relaxed she felt. I told her that is one of my favorite things about going to the range. You concentrate so much on what you are doing that you don’t think about anything else.
Overall I think the trip was a huge success. Next trip will be her trying out one of the shotguns, either the 870 of the Saiga. She also asked if she could shoot my 1911 next time. I’ll be sure to let y’all know how it goes. Any of y’all have any tips for either getting your significant other to the range or how to get them more comfortable around guns?
Keep up the good fight
-Rob
Tactical Texan 