Teaching a first-time shooter

[ChaparralCommando]

The young lady who stores my guns for me is going shooting with me on Sunday at the range. She has only shot less than 10 rounds before. She mentioned .22 and .30-06. But I doubt she has really been taught safety or marksmanship technique. The three guns I have are a Baikal IZH-46M air pistol, CZ452 bolt-action .22, and a .22 Buckmark pistol. I think I'll start her out on the rifle because it is the safest (?) , then air pistol, then Buckmark. Basically, I'm probably going to have to stress pointing it in a safe direction (duh), keep it unloaded until ready to shoot, and trigger control. My dad and I had a terrible time teaching some teens trigger control at an air pistol match last year, but I sure hope it's not that bad for all first-time shooters! Anything else I'm missing?

What the best way to teach marksmanship? I learned it by reading a book by an olympian 8 years ago. Basically stance, grip, muscle relaxing, breathing, trigger control, sight picture. I'm not sure how directive I should be. I don't want to look like I'm nitpicking her on her first time, but I also don't want her to develop bad habits.

[BamBam-31]

First time is always about safety and fun, so she'll want to come out again next time. Don't ruin it with over-coaching technique.

One tip: Load her up with only one round in the mag before she shoots the firearms. Watch her to see how she reacts after shooting said firearm. If she keeps the muzzle pointed downrange, then load her up with more rounds.

[ghostwong]

For beginning shooter, use a LARGE target like a solid 8 inch black circle. Tell her to aim in the middle of it. You can see trigger control, trigger press and can teach grouping. When you but a scoring target up it is going to be a pressuse issue. I got to get all 10 in the X -ring. vs I got 10 in the black. Fustraton will kill fun, and she'll never want to do it. If it is fun, put clays , glue paint ball rounds to the target, make it reactive vs staic and the fun level goes up and you can teach more techniques.

Good luck..

The young lady who stores my guns for me is going shooting with me on Sunday at the range. She has only shot less than 10 rounds before. She mentioned .22 and .30-06. But I doubt she has really been taught safety or marksmanship technique. The three guns I have are a Baikal IZH-46M air pistol, CZ452 bolt-action .22, and a .22 Buckmark pistol. I think I'll start her out on the rifle because it is the safest (?) , then air pistol, then Buckmark. Basically, I'm probably going to have to stress pointing it in a safe direction (duh), keep it unloaded until ready to shoot, and trigger control. My dad and I had a terrible time teaching some teens trigger control at an air pistol match last year, but I sure hope it's not that bad for all first-time shooters! Anything else I'm missing?

What the best way to teach marksmanship? I learned it by reading a book by an olympian 8 years ago. Basically stance, grip, muscle relaxing, breathing, trigger control, sight picture. I'm not sure how directive I should be. I don't want to look like I'm nitpicking her on her first time, but I also don't want her to develop bad habits.

[j1133s]

I'd suggest asking her what she wants out of the shooting.

Most people I introduce shooting to just wanted to have fun and aren't interested in full marksmanship training. I just go over the safety rules and gun operation and let them have fun.

[USN CHIEF]

Just don't looked very pissed off when she shoots better than you...

It's a fact that most female first time shooters shot better than men.

[OCguy65]

I learned to shoot at my father's feet, starting when I was about 6. The first thing I remember learning was how to carry his rifle when he was done...proper safety handling of a weapon was drilled in early and often. As far as actual shooting was concerned I started with a bolt action .22LR with iron sights on a bench rest at 50 yards. Single shot bolt action taught me to make every shot count. It's also inexpensive. At first, just hitting the target was a fun. I think keeping it safe and fun are the key to a good start.

[1859sharps]

This is a question I have been giving some thought to lately, more so since I recently took my sister shooting for the first time in years.

Here is how I approach helping a new shooter.

1. cover the 4 rules of gun handling and leave it at that. don't over load them with a 101 do's and don't. the more you try and make them remember, the less they will.

2. don't try and make them gun experts in 1 outing. or law experts, or marksmen etc. focus on shooting safely and having fun. non of us acquired all we know in 1 sitting, don't expect your guest to do the same. wet their appetite and they will come back for more.

3. when you set them up to shoot the for the first time, explain how to hold, load, sight and put the firearm on safe. and what to do if the firearm does not fire or does something unexpected. But keep it high level, don't try to cover all the little details, facts, and theory of shooting <fill in model here> in 5 min or less.

4. as already mentioned, for their first time, load and make ready the firearm for them. loading only 1 round. lay it on the bench with safety on. then have them approach, pickup and make ready to fire. all the while you stay CLOSE to take control if need be.

5. once they and you feel ready to have the new shooter try to do it all on their own, don't walk away...stay close, but don't hover. be close enough to take control quickly, but far enough you aren't hovering. This paid off one time for me. I had a new shoot sweep the entire firing line when sitting down to load the rifle. I was able to grab the rifle back into a safe position almost as soon as the rifle started to sweep. New shooters get focused on each task separately, its your job to keep the whole picture in mind and supervise.

[rkt88edmo]

1. The 4 rules
+practicing picking up and setting down w/o putting finger in trigger guard
+specifically discuss putting firearm down before turning around to talk
+specifically discuss to let a falling firearm fall to the ground.
(I specifically include those three extras because the first two are common ways of breaking the four rules and the third can get you dead)

2. Range procedures (cease fire, staying away from the bench)

3. Sight Picture and trigger press

4. loading and unloading for bolt action or revolvers (for semi autos I leave it out unless it is clear they aren't already overloaded)

I don't worry about more advanced marksmanship unless it seems like they are ready or doing something egregious.

[TheBundo]

Make sure you tell her it's not really safe for a woman to shoot a gun with a bra on

[ZRX61]

Just don't looked very pissed off when she shoots better than you...

It's a fact that most female first time shooters shot better than men.

No kidding, my 11yo tried out my M&P 40 today & nailed the target with the first shot

[wash]

Obviously safety first but once she's safe make sure you keep loading up those Buckmark magazines so she can have a good time out there.

My Marlin 60 is a lot of fun because it will fire as fast as you can pull the trigger and it holds 18 rounds. If you are at a range that allows some rapid fire, go for it.

Also, while .22's are fine, unless she's a tiny she can handle and probably enjoy something a bit bigger. I introduced a male friend to handguns, we started with a 9mm because that was the smallest I've got, then made the step up to .475 Linebaugh (about 1 2/3 the muzzle energy of a .44 Magnum) with no problems. Of course he had shot rifles for some time. I wouldn't hand a woman the .475 unless I was pretty confident that she could handle it. I had my sister shooting a 1911 .45 on her first trip to the range and she weighs right around 100 lbs.

[BillCA]

The first thing to do is cover the 4 rules of gun safety with her at her house before you go to the range. Use the air pistol to let her practice.

Before leaving for the range, make sure she is not wearing an open top shirt or low neckline. A crew neck t-shirt under an open top shirt is okay, but don't let her shoot if an empty shell casing might get into her shirt. I also recommend a ballcap or ladies' golf hat to shield her face from flying brass (I dunno why, but it usually happens with women shooters more).

At the range, before entering, discuss how the range operates. Cease fires, not handling weapons during cease fires, always keeping the gun pointed downrange, what to do if there's a malfunction, etc.

If you've done your homework by talking to your local rangemaster, you've found out which day of the week and what times are "slow" at the range. This allows you to arrange to take her when it's quiet and not with some yo-yo firing a .375 H&H or .454 two lanes away.

Demonstrate the things she will need to do. How to use the safety, turn/pull the bolt, how to aim the gun and how to depress the trigger. Get her comfortable holding the weapon properly, then prepare it for live fire.

Help her focus on breathing first. Take a deep breath and relax a moment. Repeat. Now aim the gun and take off the safety. Breathe and let half of it out while squeezing the trigger. After the shot, tell her to remove her finger from the trigger and take a deep breath. One round every 30 seconds or so is plenty fast for now.

At this point, any corrections you make should be phrased as "You'll find it more comfortable to..." or "It will be easier if you..." What you want is her to be relaxed and not feel like she's doing anything wrong even if her technique is lousy. If you make her take deep breaths, she will relax into it and have some fun. At the end of a session, if she says she feels good or relaxed that's exactly what you want. A relaxed person can think easier than one who's tense and nervous.

Male v. Female instruction
No matter how attractive (or not) she is, most women don't want an instructor making unncessary body contact. If you find it's necessary to touch, use one or two fingers only. If she's not raising the pistol enough, use two fingers under her hands and tell her to raise it to eye level. The more professional your conduct the less distracted she will be and the more appreciative of your instruction.

Absolutely NEVER take a new shooter out and then hand them a firearm loaded with full-power loads. Not even after letting them shoot some "smaller" centerfire gun. If they want to try something bigger, always demonstrate firing the gun with the load yourself first. Then allow them to decide. Everytime I see some yahoo do this to someone I want to slap the #&%$ out of him.

[ChaparralCommando]

Thanks for the good advice all. She turned out too tired to go with me today after riding quads all afternoon yesterday, but plans to go next weekend with me to the rimfire night. I don't own any center-fire guns, so nothing to worry about there. And good advice on the shirt; I'll make sure to tell her as she often wears low-cut tops. I've had hot 9mm brass from my dad's P1 go down my shirt; not fun.

[wolf13]

When I took my girl friend shooting, we went over the safety rules before we left, in the car, and again at the range. Once at the range, I went over all the guns, how to load them, and the safety. After showing her to check to make sure it was unloaded, I just had her dry fire a couple of times. I shot everything a couple times first so she got a sense of how loud they were, and the recoil. She loaded everything up, and then just shot. I didn't really try and get her technique perfect, but cared much more about her safety as well as her enjoyment.

[eccvets]

start with a .22 so they get use to the noise, then 9mm for a bit of recoil, then anything else shouldnt be that bad.