One of our first dates was shooting some guns together. She had never fired any type of firearm before so she was very nervous. Since then we went out shooting a few more times and while she can handle my glock 19 (pull the slide back and load it), she jerks the trigger every time because she doesn’t have the physical strength to pull back straight (5’4" and 110 lbs.).
What is the best way to improve her trigger-pulling ability?
I don’t want to take her back out shooting till she gets better with the trigger because I don’t want her to get discouraged.
I was thinking lots of dry fire and maybe a smaller handgun to fit her small hands better…what do you guys think?
Here’s a pic of her from our first time out shooting;
Take her to a professional instructor if SHE really WANTS to become a better shooter. Otherwise lay off and enjoy plinking.
My fiancé is about the same dimensions and there is no reason that your girlfriend can’t pull the trigger back without jerking due to strength issues, particularly since she has the strength to rack the slide. There may be an issue regarding how the gun fits her hand. Again, a pro can help you here. It takes just a quick glance to see where the crease of her hand is lining up on the backstrap, trigger finger placement, and alignment with her wrist with her forearm. Absent this, jerking the trigger can almost always be corrected with several variations of ball and dummy drills (and a few others). Stepping down to a smaller caliber is a possible solution but I would consider it last resort unless she is really weak or her psychological response to the gun firing is extreme. On that note, ensure good earpro and double up if necessary.
A professional instructor takes the ego and emotion out if it for her and for you. Depends on you and the girl but teaching girlfriends to shoot can turn out badly.
Dry fire is great for a shooter who wants to fine tune abilities and diagnose trigger issues but be careful, for the average person, extensive dry fire practice can be a turn off. Let her have fun if that’s what she wants and don’t try to “fix” her all the time.
Overcorrecting a new shooter is also very foolish and detrimental. Again, if she wants to get better and train, find a professional instructor.
Sorry for a quick write-up, I have to run. Good luck.
We always keep it fun and I tell her she’s doing great. She has a solid grip on the gun but when it comes down to pulling the trigger her hand starts shaking when she reaches the break point and she starts jerking the trigger.
The obvious answer is to buy her, her own kit, pistol and send her to see a “pro” and she be the next Anne Oakley
I must call bullshit
It is very hard to teach a loved one something you already know. My wife and I will do some shooting and I may giver her some tip but for the most part she thinks I am treating her like she is stupid.
If she is serious…
1.Dry fire is obvious
2.some of it may me psychology (fear of recoil) try to talk her through it(control breathing)
– You may want to do some shooting no targets about 5y from berm just to get use to pulling the trigger and recoil there will be no pressure of hitting the bull—
3.Maybe different ergonomics would help(trigger reach and placement of finger on the trigger)
4. Big tgts at close range for confidence
5. As you said “fun”
She is your future wife not your fire team leader, these are the things I covered with my wife, and she can hit and 8in bull at 7yrd almost every time and thats good enough for her and for me.
I wish you the best of luck in tackling this monster
She is hitting the b27 target at 5 yards but gets upset because she didn’t hit the center very often if at all. I keep telling her that she’s doing great. I was looking to buy a Walther PPS in 9mm anyways maybe that will fit her small hands better.
I’m not looking to make her a top shot, I’m just trying to get her over the obviously hard time she has pulling the trigger without shaking her firing hand. The rest will come by itself as she’s controlling her breathing and knows how to aim.
I will try adjusting her grip the next time we go.
Get a .22lr with a light trigger. She will do much better. Let her get used to that and enjoy it for a while. If she likes guns she will eventually want to shoot the others. She will have a lot more fun shooting a .22 though.
Yea, have thought about a 22. She fired my scar 16 once with my help and while she loved it it was too heavy for her to hold up. She bought some dumbells for strength training so she can shoot the scar by her self.
This is a fact very profound in it’s simplicity…and it’s NOT limited to wimminz. “Familiarity breeds contempt” covers nicely the idea that they’re likely to tune out a lot of detail on what you have to say during a time when detail is important.
Perversely, they’re also often very keen on doing well by you…so, one would think that they’d be paying attention, but it just doesn’t always shake out that way…which puts a particular sort of pressure on them. Not “a lot” of pressure, but a certain type of internal pressure that can really get in the way of them being successful. Distraction + buck fever, basically.
It’s NOT impossible, however… I taught The Henchwoman how to shoot pistols (she don’t like carbines, because she’s a blasphemer and follower of a false prophet… ), but I had to make an actively conscious effort to treat her like any other student; successful, but it took some effort. Once she’d reached a certain level of competence in terms of safe gun-handling and accuracy, I packed her off to somebody else so that I wouldn’t poison the well.
Funny markm should bring that up…! I did, at one point, state: “If you don’t get all 5 on that 3x5, no Executive Branch for you…!” Her being exasperated with my immaturity is a certain status quo, and I wanted her to feel calm… :haha:
She, however, specifically wanted to learn how to shoot, in her own right; sboza touched on this, and so did you, just now. It simplifies things, vice your gal simply wanting to “keep the peace” and just humor you by going shooting with you. It’s worthwhile to remind her that nobody slid down their mother’s umbilical cord knowing how to do this stuff.
Another recommendation to start her off with a .22, then work up. Also make sure she’s wearing good earpro – anything you can think of to allow her to become skilled in sight alignment and trigger control, while minimizing/eliminating anything that might cause her to flinch or jerk the trigger.
I think my original response didn’t get through due to the server upgrade.
This sounds to me like anticipatory overgripping. This is not a trigger finger strength issue. New shooters tend to grip too tight to begin with and a lot of them tend to dramatically increase grip pressure as the explosive event approaches (gun going boom). The balance is found with an understanding of individual strength and the concept of maintaining appropriate dexterity, particularly for the trigger finger, given combat vs precision shooting scenarios. This can easily be remedied with several drills including variations on ball and dummy. The new shooter needs to learn the concept of managing recoil as opposed to defeating it.
As for the .22 recommendations, like I said, only if she is really weak or if she has a very adverse psychological response to the gun firing. I’ll probably catch flak for this but most “instructors” who go to the .22 option first are inferior instructors who use it as a crutch to their own lacking instructor toolbox and experience. A .22 has it’s place but it should not be the first (or even second or third) instinctive fall back.
Good luck.
ETA: JSantoro’s advice is solid.
ETA: Shooting a .22 because she enjoys it more is completely acceptable. As I originally hinted, make it fun for her. My critique is in regard to the proper use of a .22 as a tool for instructors.
I had a similar goal. This was my solution. First, she liked the .22 best (Colt Huntsman), so that is what she shot. I did not try to talk her out of it. She has a choice of the Colt, a .45 1911, and a .38 revolver. It was her choice. She had fun. Fun counts as much as hits. Maybe more to start.
Second, a friend took over the instruction. I just watched. We had zero friction between us, and she did well. He could emphasize something 3 times, and correct her every time, and it did not bounce back on me. She had a good time, learned faster. I just stayed out of the way. Trust me, it is the only way to go.
All the comments about shooting technique are probably correct. But they do not matter - you can’t fix them:
To a guy it is shooting, mechanics, and muscle memory, like other sports. It is not about feelings. You don’t mean to offend her. In your mind you are helping her. But in her mind it is a relationship thing first. Your emotional interactions with her on the range are more significant to her than learning to shoot. She will never be able to put that aside and be a student. What looks like instruction to you looks like criticism to her. Weird but true. So get someone else to teach her. All you need to do is have fun shooting with her after she learns to outshoot you.
I’m no instructor so my advice for a .22 was strictly from the fun aspect. I simply think she will have fun and actually either want to shoot other guns in short order or not want to shoot at all.
I agree with you though on the trigger deal. I don’t think this is a strength issue. I think something else is going on unless she has pain like carpel tunnel which I doubt.
Look for a ladies-specific “first steps” or handgun orientation event. Alternatively, find an instructor with particular aptitude for coaching ladies.
There is nothing wrong with the G19, and ladies and youth far smaller than your fiancee shoot them with great proficiency. The G19 is the leading pistol at various youth and ladies’ events I am a part of. She may benefit from a .22 of some type to build greater confidence and performance through reduced recoil and noise however.
The standard trigger control drills apply here as well… Dry fire, ball and dummy. A laser is a great illustrator here as well.
Coaching a loved one can be challenging, as it brings extra baggage to the event.
Another vote for .22
Many of us learned to shoot as kids, where we hung on every word of our instructors. (dad and granpa)
We spent countless hours on the range with our .22’s mastering the basics. Then every once in a while we’d get the treat to shoot a couple rounds through the big guns. We tend to discount the fact that we may have easily put 5-10k rounds through .22s before we seriously branched off to bigger guns.
Back when I trained anyone new to shoot I attempt follow the same principles. (IMHO Women make much better students. They don’t feel emasculated shooting a “wimpy” caliber.) I start them out with a .22’s and at the end of our session I let the shooter take a few shots with a larger caliber.
It’s infinitely easier to do this with younger shooters but, in my opinion, you cannot fast track past the fundamentals without consequences. Also, in my limited experience dealing with this sort of thing, I find that a bad habit is like a negative number. You need to work your way back to zero and then build a foundation. It’s much easier in the long run to take the time to master proper fundamentals.
(Caveat: I am an NRA certified instructor but have not done much training in the past several years. I got married, started a business, had kids, etc.)
What you’re describing doesn’t sound like a strength issue at all. I’ve seen the same thing happen and it’s nearly always related to a fear of the recoil and muzzle blast.
Look at her picture and her posture. There are all kinds of wrongs: She’s leaning back and off balance
I don’t or can’t see if she’s wearing eye protection or hearing protection (may be she had ear plugs)
Looks like she’s wearing heels
Clothes not proper for shooting (sexy but improper)
Taking a date/GF/wife/chick shooting is not to be taken as a romantic outing. Take it seriously. Most men approach it all wrong. They take it as a time to impress the chick. They bring whatever cool gun they had at the time. I’ve heard from female friends that their husband, boyfriend, date, etc. let them shoot a .45 or .40 or .44 mag. etc. on their first shooting session. That is as wrong as “two boys fucking”, quoting a famous instructor.
It took 8 posts before somebody recommended a .22. Give him a gold star. The first time my dad took me shooting a handgun when I was 15 was with a 2.5" .38 special, without eye protection and no hearing pro. Mistake! But he didn’t know. I think it set back my learning for 5 years! I flinched like a dog shitting razor blades (another quote from that great instructor, he’s on this forum). Not until he bought me my own .22 single action Ruger revolver, did I restart learning how to shoot properly without flinching.
Don’t take this wrong, if you’re not accustomed to teaching, you may be doing more harm than help. Find a professional instructor who is a certified NRA basic pistol instructor. The NRA basic pistol class is awesome for introducing first timer or even a seasoned (learn from watching tv) shooter the proper basic technique. Not all instructors are equal. When I took my NRA Instructor class, there were students who couldn’t walk and chew gum at the same time. There were a couple who couldn’t pass an open book written test. One young guy said he shot himself in the head with a bb gun.
About the clothes thing, another instructor told me that you need to isolate the student from the noise, muzzle blast and environment as possible. The eye and ear protection do the obvious but most people forget the clothing. Wear comfortable clothing that covers the body from hot brass and shoes that offer stable and secure footing while also protecting the feet from brass. I’ve seen more than one woman wearing open neck blouse having hot brass inside their shirt. Wear close neck shirt with at least short sleeve of some sort. At least wear shorts but long pants is better, flying hot brass is unpredictable. Shooting attire is not “walking the runway” modeling session.
Once the shooter does all of the above, then the learning begins.
I bet its not a strength issue. How much is the trigger pull on a Glock?5 lbs or so? If she’s new to shooting, its probably an issue of anticipating the pop and recoil. A 22 is a great idea. Cheap and easy to shoot. I figured I could teach my wife to shoot, as I work in law enforcement. but she learned the most when I got her into a one day defensive pistol class with Louis Awerbuck…If she enjoys shooting let her have fun with it, and if wants to really improve get her into a class with a good instructor.
), but I had to make an actively conscious effort to treat her like