Let's keep this thread for the Ladies Only please

I've seen threads talking about guns, holsters and concealment but none about training.
Training is the most important aspect of carrying.

Curious on how you train and prepare with your firearm.
What courses have you taken and what was something you've taken away from there that's positive or negative?
Do you dry fire, practice drawing?

Not a lady but you need to check out Massad Ayoob, John Farnam, and Gabe Suarez.  Ayoob is in the Fla panhandle, and Suarez has authorized instructors in Ga.

I would not take classes from Suarez.

 

Ben Kurata is a great instructor. I used to help him when I worked at RA. He always offered free courses if I could make a flight out. Never could afford it.

I've started a few training related threads in the past. I hope this one sticks around a bit longer.

As for me, I dedicated most of 2011/2012 to training. Since then I haven't taken as many courses but still continue to train at home. I've taken a carbine course, a women's pistol course, a defensive pistol course and I've participated in some sim training.

At home I dry fire, practice just handling my weapons (take them apart, load, unload, try out different holsters) and I have a steel target out back to shoot at whenever I want. One type of training that people tend to forget is cqb or house/room clearing. My husband and have gone over numerous different scenarios and practiced our reactions together.

If you chose a good training facility I don't see how you can walk away with any negatives. All of the training I have had has been positive and I am still learning every day.

serious, this is for the ladies only so please respect OUR thread

"Not a lady but ...."  at first I was going to stay nice but you just had to get your two cents in here. You should have NOT posted in this thread!

I think that is awesome ... do you have any other females you shoot with? I thinks it's great that there are more females out there considering carrying firearms.

I'm liking the new picture very much!

Do you go to an outdoor or indoor range to practice

Not many locally. Our friends all know we are shooters. They also know if they have any questions or want to shoot with us all they have to do is ask. A good amount of my female friends who shoot aren't local. But when they come into town we do go out back and train a little. I train/shoot with my husband whom I'm with most of the time.

I'm fairly new to firearms (family was full of hunters but I've only handled one once or twice before my husband bought me my first handgun) but I havrnt trained yet or practiced drills/dry firing. My husband wants to practice with me but I am almost embarrassed that I don't know what I'm doing. I don't want to look dumb in front of my husband is what it really boils down to.  don't get me wrong, he wouldn't judge or be hard on me....is it just me or have others experienced this feeling? I work at a mall and know how impt it is for me to be prepared for something to go  down but I want to be with other gales (who know what they are doing) and others who are just learning, too, but the women I know who handle firearms aren't as knowledgeable as my husband is...does this mean I should just buck up and train with him and shake off the uncomfortable?

 

I'm always nervous before I take a course or shoot. I love shooting but my anxiety causes me to be scared of making mistakes. Guess what? You will make tons of mistakes as a beginner. That's how you learn. I've had days during training that I shot so bad I literally almost walked away from the class. It pissed me off so bad. I knew I could do better but I let it get to me and didn't recover. I'm embarrassed to this day that I reacted the way I did. I pushed through and finished the course but it was hard. You will have good days and bad.

That all depends on your relationship with your husband. For example, a lot if husbands and wives can't train together often because they just don't get along in a teacher student role. If that's the case for y'all I would seek out a beginners NRA course. It will be very basic. As long as you can function your firearm you will be good to go there. They have women only courses if you feel more comfortable around other ladies. I'm lucky because my husband and I get a long so well. He never rushed me and I try to pay as much attention as possible. If you do decide to work together you have to be open minded to what he is saying and just make sure he takes it slow. Men tend to get frustrated because they feel we aren't picking up on things as fast. He will need a lot of patience.  

After you do start to familiarize yourself with good training and gun handling then the two of you must train together.

I'm on mobile so I can't hotlink but you might check out this thread. It's short but it includes some good info on why you should train as a couple. Cowboy is my husband. I would be happy to expand on anything if you want.

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_5_10/145053_Couples__Concealed_Carry.html

I've done some training in the military (not much) and when I was a LEO (most of it is probably considered obsolete by now) so more is always better.  Unfortunately my medical issues have made just going to the grocery store almost impossible.  Here in central Oklahoma there's a huge lack of shooting and especially training opportunities, however, there's supposedly a new range opening that is geared more towards training than just pleasure shooting which will be fantastic if it gets up and running.  We have a couple indoor ranges that are ok but the shooting distances are limited to 30 yards and absolutely no drawing or shooting from a holster is allowed so practicing anything but marksmanship is impossible.

When you consider an area like central Oklahoma with a city like OKC in a state where the gun heritage is huge it's terrible that there is such a huge lack of maintained shooting and training facilities.  There's a large fairly nice facility in OKC that has a little bit of everything but it's a private club that requires membership. You have to fill out a packet with your personal info and such and then an essay about what makes you an asset to the club (basically why you think you should be accepted as a member) and if you are accepted then you pay a lump sum fee and agree to perform various work assignments to maintain membership.  

There's also another privately owned range but it's a bit of a drive for me and haven't been but I've heard it's a nice range.  Unfortunately it was destroyed in the recent tornadoes so it's just now opening back up after a partial rebuild.

I can imagine its even worse in areas where the gun culture isn't quite so ingrained.  I think what this nation needs is an influx of new shooting and training facilities where they are accessible to a much larger number of people.  As it is, unless you live next to a current facility or are wealthy enough to travel cross-country to attend those facilities you are out of luck.  I've got this beautiful 6.5 Grendel I had built and I've never had the opportunity to shoot it past 100 yards and even then it wasn't something where you could go mark targets and such, just ding the steel plate.  We need way, way more than this if we are to train new generations of shooters since we don't have nearly as many children growing up on rural farms where learning how to shoot was part of life.

Brandi, that truly is sad. I wish you had access to something better. We are in the same situation here but for different reasons. We are a very fudd oriented area. We do have one localish indoor range but it's so small and they have crazy rules as well. The rest of the local places are outdoor but pretty much a bench set up so you can sight in your hunting rifle. Most of those are shut down during any hunting season. We are lucky that we have DARC in central Arkansas. It's one of the best training facilities around and they cater to the type of training we are talking about here. I just wish it wasn't a 3 hour drive plus hotel stay for us.

This is why it's so important to train at home. Even if it's dry firing or just pistol draws. You don't have to actually shoot your gun to learn how to affectively handle it. But it does help to start with some good basic training from a professional so you know your fundamentals are correct.

He tries to give me so much information...history, firearm background, etc. that I get turned off after about 10 minutes. lol We work so well together and we think very similar but I want to know what I'm doing before we train together.  Thanks for the info!  It'll be nice if I can find a class with a trainer who knows what they are doing! Some of the gales I know really need to be trained on how to handle their weapons.

 

I know how you feel about all the information being a turn off. I have a horrible short term memory so it takes me a while before I can store and recall info. What helps me is just to talk about it A LOT. The more we talk about brands, parts and terminology the easier it is for me to recall it later. I'm one of those people who can't recall the brand of upper on my AR but I know how to use that gun. I pride myself in being able to pick up just about every firearm and function it safely. Just don't ask me what it's called.

I bet you can ask around in your hometown forum for a good instructor.

I always prefer outdoor... but usually it's not at a range.

Check out thewellarmedwoman.com and see if there is a chapter near you. We have over 140 chapters now nationwide and over 3500 woman who have joined. It is a women's only shooting group that does a once a month meeting with an educational portion and a range portion. Its a great time to practice with other like minded ladies.

I took Basic Pistol from HiTS in DFW.  Outstanding class with great instructors with a ton of street experience (retired PD).  Their approach and info works better for my life than most of the tactical-based operator classes, who  while those instructors may have lots of 2-way range history, it isn't as applicable to my life in the Metromess.  My goal for 2014 is to take the HiTS 1st Responder Pistol, and possibly their wheelgun class if it makes it on the schedule.

Marksmanship training and qualification with the M16A2 in the Marine Corps, many moons ago. Completed a HCP course and now interested in handgun training. Prefer 9mm for the time being and would like to become more comfortable with concealed carry. Thanks to all for the resources shared here!

Anyone go to babes with bullets camps?  I'm considering attending one but looking for non-bias reviews.

This is so right on. My husband is very knowledgeable and experienced (he's been a member here since 2004) and I have learned a great deal from him. But we've had some trouble in a teacher-student role. He's in the military and he likes a lot of structure, and going step by step, and I have a tendency to blurt out questions and be very curious and want everything explained to me so that I know WHY I'm doing everything I'm doing. We get frustrated with each others' styles. But I do love to shoot, and I recognize how lucky I am to live with someone so knowledgeable who is willing to teach me for free. So I'm making a sincere effort to respect his style and be a better student.

I agree with you about the anxiety. I don't shoot often enough to feel totally confident yet, so every time I go shoot I feel anxious and like everyone is watching me. I know that's not true, of course, but women still do stick out in a shooting environment. Back to the student theme: I agree with you that the trick is to be humble, ACCEPT that you will make mistakes, put your pride aside and have the humility and wisdom to just be a student and learn all you can.

Thank you for posting this. I was not aware and it sounds awesome. I really want and need to train more.

Just out of curiosity, what kind of prices do y'all pay for a 4 hour class and an 8 hour class?  Doesn't have to be an exact price, just the average amount.

I decided I would look around to see what was available in my area and I was pretty disappointed with what I found.  The most basic 4 hour course I found was $80-100 plus the price of ammo.  The basic 8 hours classes were $200 and above plus a few hundred rounds of ammo.  Being disabled and having no income means living as cheap as possible so looks like training is off until such time as my money situation somehow changes.

Yeah, I've been asking around and trying to find alternatives but it's not working out.  I'm not sure I could make it through even a four hour class, the pain levels are excruciating just driving longer than 20-30 minutes so by the time I get to the range I'm already going downhill.  No worries, I'm still a pretty good shot so there's that .

I know some friends that are really experienced in various disciplines but aren't instructors so maybe I can trade brownies for a one on one class of some kind.  Not to qualify for giveaways here but just to break the monotony of being homebound most of the time.  I've been really interested in learning long distance shooting, not for competition but for fun.  I have this beautiful, super accurate 6.5 Grendel and while I can shoot a couple hundred yards with it I want to learn how to take advantage of it's high power optics and stretch it out to 600 yards and further.  I can do that off a bench so it's far easier on my broken down spine.

My DH was an instructor for 20 some years.  At first, my biggest fear was shooting in front of his students/co-workers.  They would give me their biggest weapon, chuckling, waiting to see me mess up.  LOL, I was raised with guns on a farm, they were for hunting food.

Around here, we usually go shooting in the fall/winter/spring almost every week.  He makes sure I shoot a variety of weapons, at varying distances, with different scenarios.  Tactical, close quarters, and long range.

Like most of you have referred to, and after all the years we've been shooting, the things I think are most important are familiarity and practice.

Anyone doing any interesting or new training while the weather is warming up?

I had baby girl in April, via c-section, so I'm slow to get back into hard training. Cowboy and I are working and participating in a local shooting even that requires us to run, shoot, climb and carry heavy things. Its a pretty large course and is going to kick our butts. We have been doing a lot of running with our gear and engaging targets at different distances for practic. My poor post partum body is taking a hit. My accuracy has also taken a hit from my time off. I am good to go with the rifle but pistol is like starting over. Almost every day we switch off with the kids and the other kits up and runs their run. Then we switch. I'm also burning through a few hundred rounds of 9mm trying to get back on track with my pistol. Usually shooting anywhere from 7-50 yards.

Its been raining almost non stop here and we have missed a lot of days. I went out yesterday while it was sprinkling and ended up having to quiet on my second run because of the weather.This is the result.



Keeping fingers crossed for better weather soon.

Thanks! Our event is this weekend too. Good luck

I recently took a class to qualify for the ID Enhanced CWP from the Outdoorsman located in Ontario, OR..  It included a home invasion scenario (including shooting right and left handed, around corners, etc.).  They were offering a followup Woman's defense class that I was unable to attend -- once some medical issues are out of the way, I'll be checking to see if they'll be offering that training again.  Have to say I shot more types of weapons and more rounds in that 1.5 day class than in the last couple of years.  Much better preparation than the original CWP class I took.  


I agree with others....it's hard to find opportunities to really train over an above target shooting.  After that experience I'll definitely be looking for more opportunities to train.

I got my new M&P 9 at the perfect time. I'm taking Massad Ayoob's MAG-20 live fire class this coming weekend. I took the legal portion in the spring. I've got a knee that's bothering me and carpal tunnel, but I decided what the hey. The carpal tunnel's why I'm using the M&P rather than my Shield, as this is a high round counjt class (500+ rounds over two days).

Class is pricy though. $400 for each 20 hour portion. But the info I got from the classroom legal portion was so worth it.

It has been far too long since I've been around but at any rate. I am back and wanting to go back to the range. I'd like to learn as the rest of you are speaking about. A big question that has come to mind is if you're just starting out where is the best place to begin?

I'm in Iowa, close to the state line for Omaha, Nebraska. I would greatly appreciate any thoughts. Thanks everyone!

MrsS, the first question I would ask is what type of firearms do you shoot? How much experience do you have? What goals do you have for training? Do you have in mind something self-defense/CCW based, for example...