Expanding her shooting

[DirtSailor]

My wife had never touched a gun before she married me. The first gun she ever shot was my snub-nose .357 (though she will only shoot .38s out of it). She has shot other calibers of pistols since then (.22, .40 & .45), but won't try the .357 (she has watched me shoot it and it scares her) or my 12 gauge or rifle (it's a 30/30, I don't really blame her for not wanting to shoot that one). I try to get her to shoot everything we own, but she just flat out refuses on some of these. It's not a huge deal to me but I feel that if it's in the house, you should know know how to shoot it (and part of that is actually shooting it).

Does anyone have any sugestions on how to convince her to try some of these larger calibers? She is rather petite, so that is part of her fear of some of these guns.

BTW, she does like going shooting now that she isn't terrified of the guns anymore.

[THT]

Sometimes, the more you push, the more she'll resist. She needs time to come around and want to shoot them. Keep offering but don't push it. I was in a similar situation w/ my fiancee with a 12ga shotgun but after she shot my 10/22, AR, and a few handguns, she finally got curious and asked to try it.

[rkt88edmo]

I would just let her shoot the three she likes 22 40 45 until her heart is content.

You said she has already shot the .357 with 38, so she knows how to shoot that.

Otherwise, get her a 20 gauge?

[forgiven]

20ga gas operated shotgun (Beretta) would do the trick. Let her be, she's doing just find.

[ajaffe]

Just load a 357 round in with the 38s. I equate it to getting hit with a ball, when you don't know it is coming, it doesn't hurt as bad, but when you see it coming, it hurts a lot worse.

[DirtSailor]

Just load a 357 round in with the 38s. I equate it to getting hit with a ball, when you don't know it is coming, it doesn't hurt as bad, but when you see it coming, it hurts a lot worse.

Yea, cause that won't put me in the dog house!

[ajaffe]

Yea, cause that won't put me in the dog house!

Just plead the 5th or ignorance. Besides, once she does it (be sure to make it the last round in the cylinder for safety reasons), she might lose her fear of it and divert her anger to you. That fear is a big hurdle, you can get out of the dog house with a nice dinner and some flowers.