Why is it so HARD!!!!!

[tuff]

Why is it so dang hard to teach your wife how to properly shoot a handgun..... When it comes to archery she is dead nuts accurate, but put a handgun in her hand and whoooo its scary... She is great on the safety aspect, but when I try to explain grip technique and trigger control, its like nobody is home..

I think its a WIFE thing, I have never had any problem helping out other ladies that shoot....but when it comes to my wife, well I just cannot get it done, and well I end up walking off muttering to myself...

[ArmaGlock]

Too busy fighting the urge to shoot you? Who knows, I've seen grown men like that. And my ex-fiance could shoot the hell out of a rifle, she grew up hunting and shooting rifles and shotguns, but couldn't shoot a pistol to save her life.

[Gentle Ben]

how are you teaching her? my wife had never seen a gun in person until she met me. I taught her the fundamentals of grip, sight alignment/picture, trigger press, etc with an airsoft gun. Then I let her use a .22 pistol. By that point she was very comfortable and doing well accuracy-wise, so I moved her up to a 9mm.

[TOrrock]

Usually the worst person to try to teach to is a close relative or wife/girlfriend.

Too much emotional baggage....usually.

Not in every case, but that's been what I've seen and experienced.

Sometimes, a more neutral instructor can get results, telling them the exact same thing that you just did, but because it wasn't you, it went through.

[Jay Cunningham]

What Templar said - you are probably phreaking her out.

Drop her off with an instructor and GO AWAY.

[mark5pt56]

Sometimes one instructor doesn't get through and another can. I've seen a student that took at least 4 before something clicked.

Sometimes you are baffled when after a week, someone says "I got it!" ok, what's that? "man, when you have the front sight in focus, you are more accurate!" Have I been speaking another f'ing language?

[RogerinTPA]

Usually the worst person to try to teach to is a close relative or wife/girlfriend.

Too much emotional baggage....usually.

Not in every case, but that's been what I've seen and experienced.

Sometimes, a more neutral instructor can get results, telling them the exact same thing that you just did, but because it wasn't you, it went through.

That is soooo true. I lost count at the number of guys actually yelling and getting pissed off at their woman while she's holding a loaded firearm!

That said, I must have trained quite a few ex's who turned out to pick it up rather quickly after a safety course, position coaching and dry firing prior to getting to the range, then just fine tuning once we got there. After 2 or 3 sessions, they were shooting pretty damn good.

[WS6]

Why is it so dang hard to teach your wife how to properly shoot a handgun..... When it comes to archery she is dead nuts accurate, but put a handgun in her hand and whoooo its scary... She is great on the safety aspect, but when I try to explain grip technique and trigger control, its like nobody is home..

I think its a WIFE thing, I have never had any problem helping out other ladies that shoot....but when it comes to my wife, well I just cannot get it done, and well I end up walking off muttering to myself...

Some women just have more trouble than others learning proper stance, ect. Normally I find that telling them to watch some Youtube videos that depict people who know what they are doing helps (normally it is up to me to find these videos as they obviously do not know who knows what they are doing and who doesn't if they themselves are not grasping the concepts), as it gives them another female figure to emulate if you are lucky enough to find a vid with a girl shooting.

That and practice practice practice. Maybe a .22 pistol to eliminate blast/kick from the equation until stance/grip are mastered would be a good idea.

I also agree with the emotional baggage thing another poster put up there. It is YOUR wife or GF and you want them to do well, and they also want to make you proud, so both of you are really stressed over GETTING RESULTS and this leads to frustration or feelings of failure when things don't go 100%. That is why I always compliment/smile as long as they are safe. Fix ONE THING at a time, maybe get her gripping it correctly one day, then work on her body-stance the next. Take it slow and above all, make it fun, or you will ruin a potential enthusiast.

Another thing I have noticed with myself is that sleeping on it helps. I tend to go over my failures/successes right before I go to sleep, and you would be amazed at some of the insight I gain doing this. This was especially helpful back when I fought full contact and was more involved with martial arts. The whole "what could I have done to avoid being hit/what could I have done to make my strikes more successful?" questions and mentally playing things back in my head over and over changing little bits and pieces as I did helped immensely. The same thing goes for me and shooting. Maybe others are the same way, I bet they are (or maybe I am just a headcase).

[Robb Jensen]

I find that loved ones don't learn from me well but do from other people teaching them the same things.

[tuff]

I gave a good friend a call last night (chief instructor/amour for a big PD) he said he would be glad to come out and help....He then laughed and said he had the same problem with im own wife....so he had another instructor help her out..LOL!!! Atleast I know I'm not alone!!