please help get a good girl into shooting!

[sevensix2x51]

i posted this in another thread, but it seemed like a major derail. so i figured i'd start a new thread. i figure the insightful ladies could give me some insight into my issue.. thanks in advance, and sorry if y'all resent young men posting threads in this forum section. i didnt know, im new here!
so ive taken my girlfriend out shooting twice. i guess i should give some background.
my girlfriend is from thailand, is here on an F1 visa, has been in america for 8 months. its her second stay, her first one was only a month. as one could imagine, guns are not as prevalent in northern thailand as they are in the usa... she had only ever seen m16's before, being carried by the military over there. our first trip out, she was scared of all the guns at first.(there is also a somewhat substantial language barrier, when trying to explain the fine points of shooting. she is here to learn english, mainly.) i got her fixed up with my ruger 10/22, and it took her a good 5 minutes to get the first shot off. after that, i think she was hooked. followed all my suggestions on trigger discipline, safety, muzzle awareness, and actually did a darn good job of shooting the white flyer biodegradables i had set out for her. she went through about 60 rounds of 22lr, and decided she was done. i offered her some more shooting, but she declined. i didnt push her, figured it was already a bit of culture shock, and the smile she wore told me that the first trip was a success already. no need for overkill. she wasnt nervous about my ar bump-fire, actually got a few giggles out of it. (and so did i )
so second time out, is our first time to a private range, as in pay-to-shoot. i took with us my savage 93r17, and my m1a supermatch. i get lined up at 50yd, and make sure i hadnt inadvertently dropped the savage and threw it off zero. got a decent group at poa, and handed it over. this is her first time with a scope, and as such, cant find the target. (18x@50yd, who can blame her) so i keep a hand on the zoom ring, and go to max once she tells me she is centered on the target. she gets two groups around 3/4" using this method. pretty good, for a rookie. im a broke-butt youngster, so the half-hour is up by this time and i have to shift lanes to check sight-in on the m1a.
so, my question ensues. when is it time to bump her up to handguns and centerfires? when she asks to shoot them? she never really asks for anything, it might be cultural difference, it might be that she is easy to get along with, but i just thought i'd defer to the fairer gender in this scenario. i dont want to force her, i cant really be sure that she wouldnt accept just to appease me asking her... then she could be turned off to higher powered weapons forever. i dont want to make that mistake. i picked up a 9mm today, could that be a good segue? anyways, thanks, in advance, for your insight!!

[Uriah02]

Don't force it on her. You gotta be gradual, you can always offer her an invitation but you got some serious stigma and communication to get by. One step at a time.

[sevensix2x51]

Don't force it on her. You gotta be gradual, you can always offer her an invitation but you got some serious stigma and communication to get by. One step at a time.

thank you! thats what i was thinking. just wanted a couple second opinions.

[CSACANNONEER]

I think most people will agree that going from rimfires to centerfires or rifles to handguns is not "bumping up". It is simply moving over. OK, going from long guns to handguns may be taking a step down or backwards but, it's definately not "bumping up". Relax and let her decide what she wants to do. If you push her, it may turn her away from firearms and you too. I've had the pleasure of teaching more than a few females to shoot. Some of them just love shooting .22s and don't want to try anything else and others, well....lets just say that some women like the feeling of a bigger gun discharging. I know one female member here who hasn't been shooting too long but, last summer, she jumped on her bike and rode down to Coalinga to watch a FCSA match. She was a bit apprehensive but, she did get behind one and pull the trigger. I've got a picture of her with her 50 grin. I can't post it though. She's a bit shy and asked me not to. I taught another girl to shoot when she was about 13, by the time she was 14, she could handle my .44mag a lot better than I can. No joke, she's a damn good shot with it and I would have more luck if I just threw it at the target. As far as your girl goes, let her know that she doesn't need to shoot any gun but, all your guns are available for her to try if she wants to. If she's not having fun shooting, she won't want to do it anymore.

[liketoshoot]

^^^^^^^^DITTO^^^^^^^^^
it's for together time and fun, the emphasis on FUN

[Acorn556]

I'd stick with the 10/22 and take her when she wants to go. IF she wants to shoot 10 rounds, let her. If she wants to shoot everything you have let her. Just go slow. You've pop'd her cherry on shooting so just take your time and focus on developing safe firearm handling skills first, then good shooting skills.

[maschronic]

ya know, your situation is similar to my wife. when i first took her shooting, i had her shot my buckmark 22lr. she was apprehensive about it, but she shot it. she felt comfortable shooting a 22lr. after that, i had her shoot the 10/22 to get a feel for it. she liked it. then i had her try my beretta 92. she didn't want to try it, but said you shoot it first. i put 1 round in the magazine and took a shot. afterwards, i put 1 round in the magazine and told her to shoot it. i kept reminding her that there is 1 round. she felt comfortable shooting 1 round because there couldn't be a 2nd shoot. after she shot the 9mm, i asked her how it was. she said that it was more powerful than the 22lr. i put in 3 rounds of 9mm in the beretta. she fired off all 3 rounds. i moved her up to 45acp. i told her that the recoil would be harder than the 9mm. she fired 1 shot and didn't like the recoil. the final gun she shot was a 357. she really didn't want to shoot that because the ammo was larger than the 45. still, i had her shoot 1 round of it. she actually like it because the recoil wasn't as harsh was the 45.

basically, my method was to make her comfortable by only letting her shoot 1 round at a time. if she liked it, then i would let her shoot couple more round of the same caliber. that made her feel comfortable because she couldn't fire off an accidental round. hope that helps dude.

[AndrewMendez]

The recoil on an AR is really not that bad, even from standing up. However, I think you should have her sit down and shoot with the rifle resting on something, to avoid the shock of the recoil. I say take everything you have with you. Show her how to use one properly, then let her shoot 50 rounds out of it, then move onto the next, and so forth. I think she will really start to enjoy it after she starts getting good at it! My GF always ask when She can kick my a** at shooting again!

[pachador]

be careful. she might start loving your guns more than you

[Steyrlp10]

To the OP, you are and will continue to receive some of the best advice on here from all these experienced members. I think the best thing is that everyone on here is very helpful and give very diverse views on what could work for a new female shooter.

Me, I'm Chinese, so I can understand some of the cultural differences you may be facing with your new GF. As everyone has mentioned, you can't push her and still expect her to have fun. Most of us chicks tend to move at our own speeds according to how we feel on a particular day.

You know, some days we want to bake you a cake and on another, we just have to kill something!

Like one post said, watch out when she gets hooked! You'll have to constantly update your shopping list! (As if that's a bad thing, right?)

The 10/22 is a great starter rifle, but as a pistol shooter, my tastes tend to go towards handguns. You never know -- she may like all this so much that she'll become Double Distinguished!

Best of luck to the two of you... it's a cool way to spend time together.

[Dezertchick]

Get her a Walther P22.
I can't stop shooting that gun...it's so fun!
I have plenty of other guns to choose from
but I shoot the heck out of that .22

I just got 10,000 rounds for it! Yippie!

[blackberg]

What I have done, on the rifle side, is start off with the 22 AR, then show them the 5.56 one, and on handguns, start with the Glock 17 with the AA 22 Conversion, then move over to the 9mm. Let them see how it works at first with the rimfire first, then move up to the bigger caliber, and leave them up to them if they want to go or down. Then move to a different weapon...
-bb

[sevensix2x51]

thanks for the replies! i think i'll just let her decide what she wants to shoot, and when. the emphasis, as it always is, being on 'fun.' that was kinda the original plan, anyways. i should just thank my lucky stars i was able to get a buddhist to shoot a gun in the first place!

thanks again, y'all.

[Steyrlp10]

thanks for the replies! i think i'll just let her decide what she wants to shoot, and when. the emphasis, as it always is, being on 'fun.' that was kinda the original plan, anyways. i should just thank my lucky stars i was able to get a buddhist to shoot a gun in the first place!

thanks again, y'all.

Just remember, Buddhists have nothing against defending those who cannot defend themselves. That should never have been one of your worries when it comes to teaching her firearms safety. Look at how well Jet Li takes care of business - lol

[sevensix2x51]

Just remember, Buddhists have nothing against defending those who cannot defend themselves. That should never have been one of your worries when it comes to teaching her firearms safety. Look at how well Jet Li takes care of business - lol

hmm, interesting. ive learned a lot of things about buddhism so far, but i didnt know that yet. but i know the purpose of the plate of food outside the house, and the inscense. she doesnt know how to explain the 3 sticks for going to the temple in english, but shes gonna look it up and let me know tomorrow!