I'll have to admit, that most of the women I've dated in the past have been extremly against my interest in firearms.  Now, I've met a new girl.  A conservative attorney, can you believe it?  Although she seemed a little bit reserved at first, she has said recently that she'd be down for trying it out atleast once.    Any suggestions?

This is what I have to shoot:

G27
Sig229 in .40
HK USP Compact .45
Keltec P3AT .380

Should I rent a .22 or 9mm?

Take a firearms class for the weekend.  Front Sight, Gun Sight, LFI, etc.  Make a week of it.  4 days training, couple of days of goofing off.

rent a .22, preferrably a revolver.


ETA: Why? it doesn't have a rapidly moving slide, nor does it spit brass. this will help her get over the recoil characteristics.


.22 revolver, then .22 auto. keep it there for a while until she's ready to move up to 9mm.

Shootemup,

Good on you for asking this. Too many guys think it's manly to hand their girlfriend a .44 mag or a 12 gauge shotgun and not instruct them how to use it.

Start her off with a .22 and if she gets comfortable with it, move her up. Doubtful I'd go straight to the .380 after that though - some of them have straight blowback actions and thus have more perceived recoil than 9mm feels (I know, I have one )

I'll second the .22 statement.

I took a GF out shooting once, she never even held a handgun.

I don't own any .22's...I figured I break her in with my USP .40

Went to my buddies house (whose a dealer with his shop in his barn) to shoot. He broke out a .22 revolver.

She loved it, had a ton of fun with it plinking at steel spinners. Then I let her try my USP....

She didn't like that....don't start with something too big...a .22 is nice, not too loud, and very mild recoil, just the thing for a NEW shooter....ease her up gradually. If you scare her the first time, you might not get a second chance....

shootemup: All you guns would have too much recoil and muzzle flip for a 1st time shooter regardless of gender.  The 40S&W is especially snappy for a newbie.

Yep, I would go with a 22LR revovler.  Remember the old saying "K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple Stupid."  Let her shoot it until she can keep all 6 shots in the black.  Then I would transition her to a 38Spl ammo in either a 38 or 357 Rem Mag revolver.  Let her shoot it until she can keep all her shots inside the black, 15, 20, 25 feet.

Get dressed up in all your gear with camo paint on your face.  

Storm into your bedroom and drag her out of bed at 03:30 in the morning.

Down some freezed dried eggs and sausage and hustle to the range before daybreak.


If she is still with you after that, you'll know it's "true love".  

Then you can let her feel your 'bangstick'.

Friend of mine went from 9mm S&W to my M16 in 10min.... She had a blast and now owns a Kimber Eclipse..

Be careful what  you " Start them out on"

(She just might be bored with a .22)      

Go to lunch with your new girlfriend and bring one of your big-mouthed friends and have him sit in the backseat and scream, "So how many guns do you have? 40? 50? 75? I know it's gotta be more than that!" If your new girlfriend is still talking to you after lunch, then you're golden.

So anybody want to guess what happened when my new girlfriend and one of my big-mouthed friends went to lunch this weekend?

Buy a 10-22!
Looks like you need one anyway and you can get them for under $200.

Quoted: Buy a 10-22! Looks like you need one anyway and you can get them for under $200.

+1

A nice friendly .22 rifle is the best for learning trigger control and sight alignment.  Also, I would recommend shooting at 30 yards or less with some shoot-n-see targets for instant feedback.

I started my g/f with a S&W 617 .22 with a 6" barrel.  The thing has no recoil.  After that, she moved to a .22 buckmark.  After that, I moved her to a Beretta 92.  Her sister is in the military.  So, I said if your sister can do it, you can do it.  It worked great.  

The bad thing about .22s is they occasionally spit powder.  Hopefully, that won't happen.  A simple ruger .22 auto should be available at any range for rental.  

It has been more difficult to get her hooked on rifles.  It takes a lot of coordination to get eye and shoulder and hands to all work together if you haven't done it before.  Plus, she is cross eye dominant.  

Good luck.  I have taught many women to shoot.  It is very rewarding.  Plus, they learn faster than men because they basically have no ego about thinking they already know how.

Dont use them in order to have sex...You should be fine.

My g/f wanted to learn how to shoot, unfortunatley she is a total pussy when it comes to any kind of pain.  I knew that if she didnt like it the first time that she would get discouraged and loose interest.  I was planning on having her shoot a .22 rifle from a bench, low and behold the weekend she decided that she wanted to learn, my only .22 was in pieces awaiting parts.  The only other least recoiling gun that I had ammo for at the time was my Armalite. She shot it and loved it.  The next weekend we moved on to a .22-250 @ 100 yds.  after 10 minutes she was shooting 5/8" groupshung  She hasnt tried a handgun yet, Im waiting for her to get more comfortable.

My best advise is to sart off with a small caliber accurate rifle at short range.  If it reccoils too much or she cant hit the target very well, she will likely get discouraged and loose interest.

Dittos on the .22.  Also, I strongly suggest reactive targets.  When I take a newbie shooting, I go somewhere that will let me shoot 10 lb. blocks of ice, and also steel.  Punching paper isn't very rewarding.  Watching a block of ice blow up (you'd be surprised what a .22 hollowpoint will do, much less a .45), or ringing steel is.

Reward is what it's all about.  Shooting is FUN.  Punching holes in a human silhouette target might not be to a newbie.

First, show her a movie of a woman whose car breaks down late at night, then gets raped and strangled by a nice guy who offers her roadside assistance. Barring that, here's what got my wife really hooked on shooting...we went to the rifle range and being the sneaky dog that I am, had previously sighted in a very accurate .243 with a 4-12X scope to be DEAD ON the bullseye at 100 yds...most women don't understand or care to understand about groups outside the bullseye...the bullseye to them is like the G-Spot...I set it up on a good rest, and she was easily putting them in the center with a little coaching. Here's the important  part...I got a guy that I know who she DOESN'T know to go to the range around the same time we did...at the range he comes over(pretending to be a stranger) to ask what she's shooting and notices the group on the target, and says "wow, that's some great shooting...most guys I know can't shoot like that after 20 years", and bingo...she lights up like a Christmas tree. Now she's thinking Annie Oakley. Since then she wants to shoot all the time, wants to start hunting, bought a 20 ga shotgun, a S&W 386PD, a Taurus Titanium 357, and just applied for a carry permit. Now, some may say I'm devious in my methods...but all we guys have is our brain...they have boobs and butts and associated hardware which are far more persuasive...we're still at a disadvantage.  Good luck!!!

Quoted: First, show her a movie of a woman whose car breaks down late at night, then gets raped and strangled by a nice guy who offers her roadside assistance. Barring that, here's what got my wife really hooked on shooting...we went to the rifle range and being the sneaky dog that I am, had previously sighted in a very accurate .243 with a 4-12X scope to be DEAD ON the bullseye at 100 yds...most women don't understand or care to understand about groups outside the bullseye...the bullseye to them is like the G-Spot...I set it up on a good rest, and she was easily putting them in the center with a little coaching. Here's the important  part...I got a guy that I know who she DOESN'T know to go to the range around the same time we did...at the range he comes over(pretending to be a stranger) to ask what she's shooting and notices the group on the target, and says "wow, that's some great shooting...most guys I know can't shoot like that after 20 years", and bingo...she lights up like a Christmas tree. Now she's thinking Annie Oakley. Since then she wants to shoot all the time, wants to start hunting, bought a 20 ga shotgun, a S&W 386PD, a Taurus Titanium 357, and just applied for a carry permit. Now, some may say I'm devious in my methods...but all we guys have is our brain...they have boobs and butts and associated hardware which are far more persuasive...we're still at a disadvantage.  Good luck!!!

  my girl was pissy becase she wasnt hitting  "the middle" as she called it  she thought  I was lying to her when I said she was doing excellent with 5/8" groups....maybe I just need to find an actor at the range.