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Been trying to teach my wife to shoot. After 600 rds I am starting to get Frustrated. This morning she shot 100 rds of 9mm. Out of the 100 only 5 hit paper at 3-4 yrds, this is the ways it's been the last few times we shot. I was hoping by now she would be able to atleast hit paper, especially around 3 yards. I don't know how to help and teach. I have never been "taught" how to shoot either. Everything I know and learned is from trial and Error and watching and trying a lot of YouTube stuff.



Is there anyone in the Wichita Falls area that's wants to help? Or know if anyone offering classes? Preferably a woman. I think she would feel more comfortable with a woman.


Oh and she is shooting a Ruger LC9S.

If I may... She is scared... Go get a nice little .22lr pistol and let her start out with that.. Maybe graduate to a nice .38 spl later on. Have her dry fire a couple of times and you will be able to tell if she is anticipating the shot.

I start out any new shooter on a 22 if I can. I have taken them up to a 38 revolver and have on purpose left a few cylinders empty. I then very closely watch them and when I see the muzzle jerk off to one side when they pull the trigger on the empty then I know that they are anticipating the shot. That way they can become used to the action of the firearm and of course the little 22 doesn't make that big bad noise and kick... It will build up their confidence that they can shoot and can hit the target.. Once that happens then it really is a simple matter of moving them to an auto 9mm.

My wife can hit the hair off a nat's rear with my 6 inch S&W .357 revolver, but when I put an automatic in her hands her accuracy drops way down because she is still a little afraid of the action... But she is on her way...

I have been shooting since I was 4, I'm 56 now and I can never remember not owning a gun!
Here my 2 cents, first is your wife closing her eyes when she shoots? Does she yank the trigger rather than squeeze it?
The best way to find out is to load the gun for her, do not put a round in the chamber, do this so she believes she has a live round! If she yanks the trigger it will be very apparent!
What kind of hearing protection are you using? If it's ear plugs get her some ear muffs and make sure she has eye protection also!
Basically she's afraid of shooting and this has created her bad habits and her bad habit is preventing her from concentrating on hitting her target!

I was very much against teaching my wI've to shoot for a bunch of reasons.
I contacted Linda from crossfire training where all my problems were solved. Can't recommend her and Marty enugh.
You can contact her by pm on this forum... just search for crossfire.

Just to be clear I have no relation to them other then being a happy paying customer

Tex1961 wrote:If I may... She is scared... Go get a nice little .22lr pistol and let her start out with that.. Maybe graduate to a nice .38 spl later on. Have her dry fire a couple of times and you will be able to tell if she is anticipating the shot.

I start out any new shooter on a 22 if I can. I have taken them up to a 38 revolver and have on purpose left a few cylinders empty. I then very closely watch them and when I see the muzzle jerk off to one side when they pull the trigger on the empty then I know that they are anticipating the shot. That way they can become used to the action of the firearm and of course the little 22 doesn't make that big bad noise and kick... It will build up their confidence that they can shoot and can hit the target.. Once that happens then it really is a simple matter of moving them to an auto 9mm.

My wife can hit the hair off a nat's rear with my 6 inch S&W .357 revolver, but when I put an automatic in her hands her accuracy drops way down because she is still a little afraid of the action... But she is on her way...

I was going to post almost exactly this...
Except the hairy gnats' rear part..

Buy or borrow a good 22lr...
Dry fire...
Check eye dominance..
.22lr.
.22lr.

Tex1961 wrote:If I may... She is scared... Go get a nice little .22lr pistol and let her start out with that.. Maybe graduate to a nice .38 spl later on. Have her dry fire a couple of times and you will be able to tell if she is anticipating the shot.

I start out any new shooter on a 22 if I can. I have taken them up to a 38 revolver and have on purpose left a few cylinders empty. I then very closely watch them and when I see the muzzle jerk off to one side when they pull the trigger on the empty then I know that they are anticipating the shot. That way they can become used to the action of the firearm and of course the little 22 doesn't make that big bad noise and kick... It will build up their confidence that they can shoot and can hit the target.. Once that happens then it really is a simple matter of moving them to an auto 9mm.

My wife can hit the hair off a nat's rear with my 6 inch S&W .357 revolver, but when I put an automatic in her hands her accuracy drops way down because she is still a little afraid of the action... But she is on her way...

My wife was irrationally afraid of shooting because of some family history but she did not tell me that the first time we went. Needless to say it was quite an unproductive day. So I started her on a sig mosquito instead and she quickly graduated to my XD-s in 9. Now she has better trigger control than I do and carries everyday. Also, she had problems with her LC9s grip being to rough, which caused her to not enjoy shooting it, so I put a talon grip and that changed everything.

Good for you in looking for someone to help instruct your wife. Sometimes the dynamic of husband teaching wife isn't the best for one reason or another. Some women are intimidated at the prospect of using firearms. The source of this feeling may be a negative previous experience, lack of understanding about how firearms work, discomfort with recoil and/or sound, or even discomfort with the whole idea of potentially using it in need. A good instructor should be able to work through most of these or whatever other concerns she may have, and help her focus on the things she as the user needs to be doing to hit what she aims at. Best of luck with your search and to her in her journey!

Glad you see it.... much better for her learning curve and your marriage to hire her a private instructor... at least for 1-2 sessions to get her on track. It's like teaching your wife golf- it's a rare man that can do it.

Where are you located?
Maybe someone near you can offer to help.

I know many husbands/ wives where they cannot teach each other.
While I am not an NRA instructor, and many of my friends are not either, we tend to teach our friends spouses, at least to get them proficient, then the spouses tend to be able to teach them up better.

Years ago, a friend lamented that he had tried repeatedly to teach his wife to drive a stick shift and had gotten nowhere. His car was a '60 - something Mustang with a V-8.

I volunteered to teach her, using my Dodge van. The combination of a heavy vehicle with a straight 6 engine made it a very friendly teaching device. That vehicle was to a clutch what 22lr is to shooting -- easy as pie.

She spent about 30 minutes driving my van with me talking her through things. When they were ready to go home that day, she announced she was driving the Mustang.

The next time I saw him, he lamented that he couldn't get the Mustang away from her.

I agree with the others, she needs to be taught with a 22lr and by someone else.

I'll try and keep an eye on this thread. I have a few different .22's from a revolver to a couple different semiautos and a really sweet shooting .357mag revolver that also takes .38 rounds. If there isn't anyone closer to you that you are able to get together with then we'll see if we can arrange a time and place to meet and it'll be a great excuse for me to take another ride.

I tried to teach my wife to ski.

Surprisingly we are still married.

Thanks for all the replies.

She is scared and has admitted it. We are using electronic ear muffs. No cheap ear plugs. And we are using eye protection. We have done the dominate eye test.

I knew she is scared and the first few hundred rds tried to tell her not to concentrate on aiming just get used to shooting and the noise.

cheezit wrote:I was very much against teaching my wI've to shoot for a bunch of reasons.
I contacted Linda from crossfire training where all my problems were solved. Can't recommend her and Marty enugh.
You can contact her by pm on this forum... just search for crossfire.

Just to be clear I have no relation to them other then being a happy paying customer

will shoot her a pm. Thank you.

Tylerscott20 wrote:

Tex1961 wrote:If I may... She is scared... Go get a nice little .22lr pistol and let her start out with that.. Maybe graduate to a nice .38 spl later on. Have her dry fire a couple of times and you will be able to tell if she is anticipating the shot.

I start out any new shooter on a 22 if I can. I have taken them up to a 38 revolver and have on purpose left a few cylinders empty. I then very closely watch them and when I see the muzzle jerk off to one side when they pull the trigger on the empty then I know that they are anticipating the shot. That way they can become used to the action of the firearm and of course the little 22 doesn't make that big bad noise and kick... It will build up their confidence that they can shoot and can hit the target.. Once that happens then it really is a simple matter of moving them to an auto 9mm.

My wife can hit the hair off a nat's rear with my 6 inch S&W .357 revolver, but when I put an automatic in her hands her accuracy drops way down because she is still a little afraid of the action... But she is on her way...

My wife was irrationally afraid of shooting because of some family history but she did not tell me that the first time we went. Needless to say it was quite an unproductive day. So I started her on a sig mosquito instead and she quickly graduated to my XD-s in 9. Now she has better trigger control than I do and carries everyday. Also, she had problems with her LC9s grip being to rough, which caused her to not enjoy shooting it, so I put a talon grip and that changed everything.

Will look into the talon grip. Thank you. We looked and handled quite a few guns. She really liked the feel of it.

Teamless wrote:Where are you located?
Maybe someone near you can offer to help.

I know many husbands/ wives where they cannot teach each other.
While I am not an NRA instructor, and many of my friends are not either, we tend to teach our friends spouses, at least to get them proficient, then the spouses tend to be able to teach them up better.

Wichita Falls

C-dub wrote:I'll try and keep an eye on this thread. I have a few different .22's from a revolver to a couple different semiautos and a really sweet shooting .357mag revolver that also takes .38 rounds. If there isn't anyone closer to you that you are able to get together with then we'll see if we can arrange a time and place to meet and it'll be a great excuse for me to take another ride.

Will take you up on that offer. We are willing to travel also. Where are you?

Look up Ricochet Red from Iowa Park, she may be willing to help her. She teaches LTC classes and may be able to help her out. I would help but am tied up for the next 5 weeks. If you can't find the number PM me and I will get it for you.

Been there and failed, hire a lady instructor for private lessons. My wife now shoots with confidence our 1911, the SR40, her Sig P238, etc. Her favorite in the 1911