Kivuli
New member
And, fortunately, it didn't take anything bad happening to her for it to come about.
My mother is a buddhist, and detests war, violence, and until recently my decision to carry a concealed handgun. She has two labradoodle dogs that she loves to take for extended walks outside but has always felt safe doing so unarmed (much to my chagrin). However, next month she is moving to Evergreen, CO from Raleigh, NC. Many of her friends that live there have told her that mountain lions are a real nuisance there and that they have been known to come into inhabited areas and wreak havoc with livestock, horses, and even pets. So, she came to me one day and said, "I know you're going to laugh at me, but I need you to teach me how to shoot". I didn't, of course. I was actually happy that she'd decided to open her mind about firearms.
So we planned to get together yesterday so I could teach her about handguns. She had never so much as held one before so I started with the basics of gun safety. Never point it at anything you don't intend to shoot, keep your finger off the boomstick until you're ready to shoot, always assume every gun is loaded even if you "know" it isn't, etc. I covered the differences between semi-automatic and revolvers, and a short bit about holsters, then we headed to the range.
The three guns I had for her to try were a 9mm Browning Hi-Power, a .38 special Rossi snub-nose revolver, and an H&K USP .45. Once on the range, I demonstrated how each was loaded, how to tell when each was empty, and covered the basics of shooting stances, grip styles, and sight alignment. As might be expected, she started out anticipating the recoil when I handed her an unloaded gun, but she learned impressively quickly not to.
She liked the feel of the Hi-power, though the ambidextrous safety this one had on it kinda threw her off a bit. She had a hard time learning not to guide the slide back home. She picked it up eventually though when I told her to simply pull it back and let it go. She was able to handle the kick very well.
She didn't much care for revolvers after shooting the Rossi snub-nose, but the kick wasn't much worse for her, and she got the hang of how to load the cylinder and unload the spent brass in a snap. She decided she wanted something with a few more safety features though, so we moved on after about ten rounds.
The USP was a bit big for her to wrap her hands around and the first time she fired she nearly lost control of it, so we rented a Glock single-stack .45 for her to try. That felt much better to her and she was able to get a firm grip with good control. The USP kicked less than the Glock, but she agreed that a proper grip was paramount so she asked if they made a smaller .45 than the USP that could perhaps fit better in her hands. I told her that she might try a compact 1911, SIG, or USP compact.
Now for the scoring! We were using standard man-sized silhouette targets at 21 feet. For someone who's never fired a handgun in her life, she could've qualified for her CC right then and there. The vast majority of her shots were within the white circles, and she even got a few in the X circle. She had a tendancy to shoot low, but she only had a few wild shots. With practice I think she'll be a heck of a shot.
We made plans to visit a gun store in the near future so she could see what sort of firearm fitted her hand best, and also talk holsters and concealment in more depth. Now I just need to start reading up on Colorado CC laws to help her apply!
My mother is a buddhist, and detests war, violence, and until recently my decision to carry a concealed handgun. She has two labradoodle dogs that she loves to take for extended walks outside but has always felt safe doing so unarmed (much to my chagrin). However, next month she is moving to Evergreen, CO from Raleigh, NC. Many of her friends that live there have told her that mountain lions are a real nuisance there and that they have been known to come into inhabited areas and wreak havoc with livestock, horses, and even pets. So, she came to me one day and said, "I know you're going to laugh at me, but I need you to teach me how to shoot". I didn't, of course. I was actually happy that she'd decided to open her mind about firearms.
So we planned to get together yesterday so I could teach her about handguns. She had never so much as held one before so I started with the basics of gun safety. Never point it at anything you don't intend to shoot, keep your finger off the boomstick until you're ready to shoot, always assume every gun is loaded even if you "know" it isn't, etc. I covered the differences between semi-automatic and revolvers, and a short bit about holsters, then we headed to the range.
The three guns I had for her to try were a 9mm Browning Hi-Power, a .38 special Rossi snub-nose revolver, and an H&K USP .45. Once on the range, I demonstrated how each was loaded, how to tell when each was empty, and covered the basics of shooting stances, grip styles, and sight alignment. As might be expected, she started out anticipating the recoil when I handed her an unloaded gun, but she learned impressively quickly not to.
She liked the feel of the Hi-power, though the ambidextrous safety this one had on it kinda threw her off a bit. She had a hard time learning not to guide the slide back home. She picked it up eventually though when I told her to simply pull it back and let it go. She was able to handle the kick very well.
She didn't much care for revolvers after shooting the Rossi snub-nose, but the kick wasn't much worse for her, and she got the hang of how to load the cylinder and unload the spent brass in a snap. She decided she wanted something with a few more safety features though, so we moved on after about ten rounds.
The USP was a bit big for her to wrap her hands around and the first time she fired she nearly lost control of it, so we rented a Glock single-stack .45 for her to try. That felt much better to her and she was able to get a firm grip with good control. The USP kicked less than the Glock, but she agreed that a proper grip was paramount so she asked if they made a smaller .45 than the USP that could perhaps fit better in her hands. I told her that she might try a compact 1911, SIG, or USP compact.
Now for the scoring! We were using standard man-sized silhouette targets at 21 feet. For someone who's never fired a handgun in her life, she could've qualified for her CC right then and there. The vast majority of her shots were within the white circles, and she even got a few in the X circle. She had a tendancy to shoot low, but she only had a few wild shots. With practice I think she'll be a heck of a shot.
We made plans to visit a gun store in the near future so she could see what sort of firearm fitted her hand best, and also talk holsters and concealment in more depth. Now I just need to start reading up on Colorado CC laws to help her apply!
