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A Girl and Her Gun(s)

Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2014 12:06 pm
by Selina Kyle
I have noticed several other folks posting their experiences on here in the form of a blog. I was thinking that since I'm pretty new to shooting, and it is quickly becoming a huge passion of mine it might be fun to do a blog myself. I also sincerely hope that maybe someone will read this and realize that it is entirely possible for a very liberal gun-ignorant individual to become a more conservative and passionate gun enthusiast. You will notice that the title of this blog has Gun with an S in parentheses. This is because currently I only own one gun that I would actually call my very own (even though hubs graciously shares his guns with me). I added the S because I definitely plan on purchasing more firearms in the future, as my budget and husband will allow. LOL

I will begin with telling you a little bit about myself. While I have never been anti-gun, I was not raised with much experience with them at all. I always knew that my mom had guns in the house, but I had been given strict instructions not to mess with them. As a result, I had quite a bit of fear. Knowing nothing about firearms, I had the irrational fear that one could just go off in my hand. I decided that since I knew nothing about them, my best bet would be to keep a safe distance.

During my senior year of college, I met the man that would eventually become my husband. He is an avid (and very ethical) hunter, and probably the biggest gun enthusiast that I know. I think it is also important to note that I am huge animal lover, and at the time I was a member of PeTA. I despised hunting, and I had a very false and jaded view of the NRA. Once I got married, I quickly realized that guns would be a very large part of my life whether I liked it or not.

Before long, hubs decided to get his CHL. At this point in time, my curiosity about guns was starting to grow. He took me out to his dads place, and that was where I shot my very first gun - a Smith & Wesson .22 revolver. To this day, I still love shooting this gun. It will always hold a special place in my heart, because it was part of a major turning point in my life. Fast-forward a few years, and that will take us to March of this year, 2014.

While I was eating breakfast one Saturday morning, hubs informed me that he had decided it was finally time to purchase an AR 15. By this time, I had become very pro-gun, and I had already joined the NRA. However, I was still pretty afraid to fire most guns. I knew that there was only one way to get over this. So what did I do? I went to the gun store with him, and that day he purchased what is now my favorite gun that is in this house! Not long after this, he took me up to the gun range and I fired this "mean looking" gun for the first time. My first shot was horrible, as I was so nervous I was shaking and my mouth went completely dry. But, I knew I wanted to do it again. By the second shot, I had nailed my target and I was hooked. :mrgreen:

So here I am today, an NRA member who is waiting on her CHL to arrive, and I have not renewed my PeTA membership for some time. I have no plans to do so in the future. I am obviously pro-Second Amendment, and I am even pro hunting now. I feel so much better and more grounded in my beliefs now. It is as though the proverbial wool has been lifted from my eyes. I plan on continuing this blog as a means to share my adventures in the exciting world of firearms. I hope you all enjoy this!

Re: A Girl and Her Gun(s)

Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2014 1:08 pm
by Jumping Frog
Good for you, Selina!

I am confident that you will continue to enjoy this journey.

Re: A Girl and Her Gun(s)

Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2014 4:37 pm
by Texsquatch
My wife can buy all the guns she wants. Budget...now that's another issue.

Re: A Girl and Her Gun(s)

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 8:03 am
by asbandr
Thanks ks for sharing your story! I was never anti gun but very intimidated by them a few years ago. Then my husband bought me a ruger lcp and a gun enthusiast was born! Now I have more guns than my husband and have a list of new ones I want. My idea of a date night is me, my hubby, couple boxes of ammo and a paper man and of course the guns. I got my chl in may and have spent more time with my guns than my kids (sounds bad, lol!) I make my own holsters and I'm not sure when I watched anything on you tube not related to guns.

Re: A Girl and Her Gun(s)

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 9:35 am
by puma guy
Great story with a great ending. Well, I guess it doesn't end, but you know what I mean.

Re: A Girl and Her Gun(s)

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 8:26 pm
by Selina Kyle
asbandr wrote:Thanks ks for sharing your story! I was never anti gun but very intimidated by them a few years ago. Then my husband bought me a ruger lcp and a gun enthusiast was born! Now I have more guns than my husband and have a list of new ones I want. My idea of a date night is me, my hubby, couple boxes of ammo and a paper man and of course the guns. I got my chl in may and have spent more time with my guns than my kids (sounds bad, lol!) I make my own holsters and I'm not sure when I watched anything on you tube not related to guns.
It sounds like we are a lot alike! :cheers2:

I certainly do not have more guns than hubs, but I do plan on helping him fill the safe. I am pretty addicted to YouTube as well. Hickok45 has some fantastic ones!!! I'm with you in the date night thing- nowadays I'd MUCH rather grab the range bag and head out to shoot. Going out to eat seems so overrated now LOL!!!

I want to take a moment tonight to talk about my holster. It just arrived last week, and I already love it. It is a Crossbreed Mini Tuck, and it holds my Ruger LCP quite nicely. I might have mentioned before that I am pretty small in stature, so this pistol was naturally the easiest choice for my first carry gun. I have been practice carrying at home each night so I will be as prepared as possible when my plastic finally arrives. So far, I have felt like I have great mobility and comfort with this holster. Just for grins, I tried hubs' SR 9 and his Sig 1911 TACOPS.....talk about a difference!! I'm super pleased with my choice of holster and gun. I love shooting the larger guns at the range, but for carrying, my little buddy is the way to go.

About the LCP...I know that a lot of folks don't care much for shooting it. Although I couldn't comfortably shoot it for long,I do enjoy shooting a couple of mags! I get a little bit better with it each time, and last time I was hitting bulls-eyes! I like taking it out fairly often so I stay comfortable with it. I hope and pray that I never have to fire it, but if the unthinkable happens, I HAVE to be prepared. It is not by any means my favorite gun to shoot, but I have full confidence that it could save my life if it needed to. I added a pink grip (Hogue) for both comfort and my own personal flair, and that helps quite a bit with shooting it. So overall, I am delighted with my weapon of choice. ***Side note.....if you've never watched the music vid for Fatboy Slim's Weapon of Choice, I highly suggest you watch as soon as possible.

Stay tuned for my next entry! Hope y'all have a great evening!! :cheers2:

Re: A Girl and Her Gun(s)

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2014 8:21 am
by TomsTXCHL
Selina Kyle wrote:About the LCP...I know that a lot of folks don't care much for shooting it. Although I couldn't comfortably shoot it for long,I do enjoy shooting a couple of mags! I get a little bit better with it each time, and last time I was hitting bulls-eyes!
My wife had never shot (maybe never TOUCHED) a firearm til we got her an LCP last fall, after some 3-score years on the planet. The grin she had on her face after that first mag was priceless. She quickly got her CHL and is happy to let me buy her more guns and I of course am a beneficiary of that allowance, especially as her tastes and mine (in all things) have pretty much tracked perfectly over these many years.

The only problem I've yet to completely resolve is that she has referred to me on a couple of occasions as "a gun nut" and these days of course that is not a good thing to say. But we'll get that fixed...

:smash:

Congrats on your new-found interest. It is great to have good people (and so many of those here at TexasCHLforum) to add to the legions of law-abiding, red-blooded, firearm-respectful Americans in a country that in too many other ways seems to be in a death-spiral.

Re: A Girl and Her Gun(s)

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2014 11:17 am
by VMI77
That's a great story. I sort of went in the reverse direction. I had guns and shot skeet, rifles and handguns, and hunted when I was in high school. I could have guns in college but they had to be kept in the armory and there was little opportunity for shooting. Then I went into the military where the situation was similar so I went for quite awhile without shooting or buying new guns. Then I got married. My wife had grown up around guns and gone hunting with her father so it was never an issue for either of us. I didn't start up with guns again until our kids got old enough to shoot. And now I'm an animal lover and only hunt with a camera but I have a rifle, pistol, and skeet range in my "backyard,"

According to the libs though, your story is impossible, because there aren't new gun owners, just old gun owners buying more guns.

Re: A Girl and Her Gun(s)

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2014 5:43 pm
by asbandr
I had the same issues shooting the lcp and had a very difficult time improving simply because I dreaded shooting for very long. My husband and I decided to rent a Kahr P 380 and a Sig p238. With the sig it was love at first shot. ;-) we sold the lcp and bought the sig within a week and that's what I qualified with. I can shoot several hundred rounds at a time without any discomfort. It's my usual edc gun.
But I also wanted something super light I could carry when exercising and the sig was too heavy for that. I ended up buying a kel tec p32 and making a super light holster for it. It feels about the same as the lcp when shooting but it was the lightest most affordable semi auto I could find. So when I go to the range I do shoot a few mags through it but spend more time shooting the sig.
I shot my husband's SR9C before he sold it and it was ok. I shot his glock 19 last time and liked the accuracy and recoil ok, but it just didn't fit my hand very well. I'm also on the small spectrum (no matter what my scale says about me!) So I have to keep pretty small for a carry gun. I keep playing with the idea of moving up in caliber and size, but that'll have to wait til I get rich. I tried talking my husband into trading his non running boat for an ar15 but he's saying no. :???:

Re: A Girl and Her Gun(s)

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2014 7:42 pm
by gljjt
asbandr wrote:I tried talking my husband into trading his non running boat for an ar15 but he's saying no. :???:
Two happiest days in a man's life.....the day he buys his boat.....and the day he sells it!

Re: A Girl and Her Gun(s)

Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2014 3:18 pm
by Selina Kyle
Thanks so much to everyone for all of the comments and also for sharing your stories with me. This is definitely an exciting journey for me, and I love sharing it with all of you.

Today hubs and I had the pleasure of attending an event at Sportsman Shooting Center. They had reps there from Blaser, Mauser and Sauer. Up until today, the only rifles I have shot include the AR, hubs' Savage .270 and my father-in-law's .22. The rep from Mauser had a .308 available to try, so you can bet we did! I was a little apprehensive at first, as this gun kicks significantly more than the AR (which is what I am comfortable shooting). But, curiosity won, so I gave it a shot (pun intended). Talk about FUN! That beautiful gun does have more recoil for sure, but I found that this actually added to the fun and excitement. I am absolutely in love with the trigger pull! There was only time to fire 5 rounds, but I definitely could have shot it some more. But probably not too many more rounds, as I am already feeling it in my shoulder, LOL!! I also got to try out the new Aimpoint sight that we recently added to the AR. This made SUCH a difference for me. Even just from testing it out, I can tell my shots are going to be so much more accurate. I cannot wait to get back on it and fire away!

As for my CHL, I am still anxiously awaiting my plastic. It hasn't quite been a month since I submitted everything, so I know I just need to be patient. At least I can continue to carry at home in the meantime. :mrgreen:

I don't know about y'all, but it's been a fun Saturday for me so far. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Re: A Girl and Her Gun(s)

Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2014 12:44 am
by TexasGal
Selina, you are a credit to gun ownership. Your willingness to learn has shown you the truth and now you are lighting the way for others to follow. I saw when I met you that you had a thirst for knowledge and would head full steam for more. You go girl! :thumbs2:

Re: A Girl and Her Gun(s)

Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2014 7:20 am
by Selina Kyle
TexasGal wrote:Selina, you are a credit to gun ownership. Your willingness to learn has shown you the truth and now you are lighting the way for others to follow. I saw when I met you that you had a thirst for knowledge and would head full steam for more. You go girl! :thumbs2:
Thank you so much!!!! And thank you again for the pistol lesson you gave me! :cheers2:

Re: A Girl and Her Gun(s)

Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2014 10:23 am
by ELB
It has been fun to read about your enthusiasm. Keep it up! :mrgreen:

Re: A Girl and Her Gun(s)

Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2014 11:31 am
by mikeloc
I have several .380's and have short many more, but never liked the .380 until I shot a Glock 42.