Another qualification story

[Thumbcocker]

Some year back the office I worked in hired a new person. She is a naturalized U.S. citizen. She is Korean and lived in Seoul until her family immigrated when she was 12.

She claimed to be 5 feet tall and 100 pounds but I think she might fudge those numbers up some. She has tiny hands. I began to mentor her on the job and we became friends.

She expressed an interest in learning the basics of shooting so I started her with my model 63. With no bad habits and a great work ethic she was a quick study.

She decided that she would take the ccw course to learn more about guns and to have the option of getting a permit in the future.

My model 30-1 with factory grips was a perfect fit in her hands. I loaded some light wadcutter loads and got her used to the fixed sights. I used the target below for that.

On the shooting portion of the course she asked for Mrs. Thumbcocker and I to be there for moral support. Between sets I was able to talk to her and stress the basics. She got a little fatigued because the course of fire was 50 or 60 rounds and she has limited upper body strength.

Her boss was in the same class. About 6'4 300 pounds high school football player. He was shooting a loaner Ruger Mark III. To be charitable, the safest place on the range was behind the 9 ring on his target.

During a break my friend walked over to her boss' target, looked it over and said "Don't worry boss. I will protect you. "

Her target is attached. Keep in mind she had never fired a gun until a couple of months prior to taking the course.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[tankgunner59]

Sweet shooting, I hope you gave her a good pat on the back. Her boss might pay you for some training. lol

[rintinglen]

This parallels my experience teaching women to shoot. They arrive without pre-conceived notions and listen to what you tell them.

[EMC45]

She really did great. A great gun to train her with too.

[charlie b]

Good shooting. My experience has been that most women are inherently good shooters. Once they get how to operate and sight the pistol, they shoot well. BUT, do not let husbands/boyfriends be the teachers.

Yes, there are exceptions. Like the female security guard who was trying to qualify with us on the CCW course. She could not hit a std torso target at 7yd with half the rounds in the magazine.

[tigweldit]

Thumbcocker, Great story, thanks for sharing. Her boss should be happy that she can cover his six.

[45workhorse]

Teach multiple platoons of female recruits!
Easier to fill in the plank piece's of paper, than to erase a bunch of my dad/uncle taught me.........

[MrWolf]

Congrats on working with her and teaching her the proper way. Have also observed women being better shooters than men. My gf had never fired a pistol and also is small with tiny hands. We finally found a Kimber micro 380 that fits her. What a difference it made. She is a natural.

[Dale53]

My observation in training many, many, shooters over the years, is men have an inherently in built trait that makes teaching them to shoot more difficult. It is, "They already know EVERTHING!" Women, on the other hand, don't come with that "Macho" attitude and accept, up front, that they do NOT "know", and they pay attention. I would rather train 10 women than one man. On the other hand, I have never shied away from offering help to anyone who asked. It is quite satisfying, to work with someone who is having difficulty, and manage to successfully complete your task.

By the way, I LOVED the O.P.'s account! I LOVED It!

FWIW
Dale53

[Xringshooter]

Had one like that a few years ago. These were Chinese nationals going to school at Penn State. Did a class with them, gave them reading material for them to digest and told them to ASK QUESTIONS. Went to the range with a few of my shooting friends so the new shooters could have one on one training. My trainee was a girl, about 4'9" (stretching it) and probably 100 lbs soaking wet. Started her with my Single Six, doing the basices and she shot very well. Moved up to a Security Six with .38 spl, then to several semi autos, .22's, 9mm and a 1911. During a break, she saw my Super Blackhawk .44 Mag, asked questions about it, saw the size of the cartridge and asked if she could shoot it. Explained it and what she would feel and she said she still wanted to shoot it. Took her out to the line, showed her the proper grip for her and stood behind her to get ready to catch anything, her included. She cocked and fired the first shot, SBH rotated in her hands like it should, she maintained the grip, reset herself, cocked it again, and fired all six rounds. Turned around and had the biggest grin that I had ever seen on anyones face. Handed me the gun and said, "I really liked that, that was fun, maybe I buy one of those". The other Chinese guys were watching and saw how the gun reacted when fired and didn't want to shoot it. She loved it. She was a good customer for 3 years until she finished her PhD and went back to China (I sold the 3 guns she bought over the years because she of course couldn't take them back home with her).

[Outpost75]

The S&W Models 30 and 31, and the Colt D-frame in .32 Colt New Police are great for anyone with small hands. I wish we could convince Black Hills or Buffalo Bore to factory load the Hornady 85-grain XTP with 9 grains of LilGun to approximate .32 H&R Magnum ballistics from the S&W Long case, at about 20,000 psi and, have a decent .32 S&W Long+P SD load so people wouldn't be limited to handloads.

Thanks to Larry Gibson for testing the load.

[PhilC]

Really enjoyed reading this and you obviously did a great job tutoring her!

[Thumbcocker]

Ultimately she decided that she did not want a ccw or even a FOID card. I have encouraged her to get a FOID card so that she would have the option of owning a gun if needed. I worry about her with the violence towards Asian people in the news. I pointed out that I cannot loan or gift her a firearm legally. I am glad she had the experience. She lives in Chicago. While we worked together she tried venison (loved charcoal grilled backstrap) and got a taste of downstate culture. Another co-worker took her to a tractor pull. Overall I am sure she has a pretty positive view of responsible gun ownership.

The office I worked in (retired March 1) has a pretty regular turnover of younger people as well as summer interns. I was able to take a few to the range and they all liked venison jerky and other deer dishes. I never got into politics with them just fun shooting and sharing the venison. I wasn't out to make hard core converts, just sharing part of my life that I enjoy with them. I'm pretty sure that all left with a more positive view of gun ownership and hunting. I consider that a good result.

[Xringshooter]

^^^^^ This is the way to change peoples minds, don't lecture, don't rant and rave about the 2nd Amendment, just take them out and have fun shooting and showing what firearms are all about. That will start them down the path and they may then bring their friends who might be on the fence about guns and get them to change their minds. Then those start bringing their friends and so on, and you get people thinking differently.

I agree with explaining why she should at least get her FOID. I do the same thing here in PA to new shooters, I tell them to go ahead and get their LTCF (License To Carry Firearms - $20 for 5 years - not a bad deal) then they can borrow, legally a handgun from someone if need be.

[charlie b]

Helping people see other parts of the country is a great way to bring us together. Get city people out in the country and vice versa. I am amazed at how many people live their entire lives without moving outside their birthplace.

Visiting other countries is a bonus. When you see that everyone in every part of the world just wants the opportunity to live and raise their families in peace. The governments, official or criminal (or both), screw it up.

[rbuck351]

I don't no what a FOID is and didn't know there was such a thing as a LTCF until just now. Don't have those things in MT. Can still get a concealed permit but no longer need it here. Can also buy, sell,loan or borrow guns without paper work so long as the other person can legally own one.

Good job with the lady. I too have found women to be easier to teach because they aren't "know it all" and don't have anything to prove. Guys tend to give up the know it all if you start them with a revolver with two or three empty rounds in the cylinder. It shows them and every one watching that the problem is trigger control.

[yeahbub]

It's great to share the niceties of liberty with people who didn't grow up with options many take for granted, ain't it? When I was in the USAF, I took a British couple to the range (husband in the USAF, not long before his discharge) and they expressed how much they wished they could do this so easily in the UK.

During a meet with friends at a restaurant some years ago, the then-current subject of the city's gun control push came up and several of the women present were pretty convinced about how that would solve all society's ills, but were still willing to listen to other takes on it. After explaining nuances about the issue that gun-controllers conveniently leave un-mentioned in their presentations of "air-tight logic", some considerable discussion ensued and I offered to provide a trip to the range to acquaint whoever was interested with first-hand experience to dispel the fog about the issue. One of the women who took an interest was a small gal tired of being afraid and not knowing up from down about such things and thought it would be good to try this gun thing and see what that was about. We started out with safety (always point the gun down-range and especially not at the guy in the orange vest) and basic function of autos and revolvers. After observing her care with safety rules we progressed from .22's to .38's, 9mm's, etc., but toward the end, she wanted to shoot that big one she hadn't tried yet, a 1911/.45acp. Even with her shall hands, she did very well and was grinning from ear-to-ear. "I like THAT one!" For the first time, the shy, retiring wallflower held power in her hands and liked it. I don't know whether she ever became a gun-owner but she had a lot of fun and could see through the bad bad baaad semi-automatic (BAD!) gun-control drivel in the news at the time.

Hey, hasn't the whole FOID thing in Illinois bit the dust recently?

[MrWolf]

Firearm Identification Cards are still used in several states. I know NJ still has them. Think I still have mine when I left four and a half years ago.

[Thumbcocker]

I have noticed that women with average sized hands often favor the 1911.

[charlie b]

Interesting stories.

My wife hated my 1911. She didn't like any semi-auto. She said they were too 'busy' in her hands. She did love revolvers and could shoot them well, including my 4" Colt .357mag. Years went by. Then I found a Colt 1903 and let her fire it. Bad mistake. She loved it. She shot it a lot and wanted to carry it. So, based on our CCW rules she had to qualify with a semi-auto that was the max caliber she would want to carry, so she chose my 1911. This time she loved it. Liked it even better than the little .32acp. So now she has her own Lightweight Commander.