I agree with everything you said, but I will offer this caveat from personal experience. My wife owns several pistols, all of which she has chosen herself. They range from an LCP to a S&W Lady Smith. The one she shoots the best with is a Ruger Single Six. But she carries that dang little airweight .38 snubbie that hurts her hands and bruises them every time she shoots. I didn't choose any of them for her. I just tried to explain the pros and cons of different actions, calibers, and weights. So sometimes the classic little lady with a little gun is her choice, not her husband's.Charles L. Cotton wrote:Scott B. wrote:In the last two years I've 'failed' 3 students on the shooting proficiency. Those failures were 60% wrong gun for the student and 40% lack of shooting experience. Put a better gun in their hands with some one-on-one instruction and they all passed in the 200s on the second try. Nothing like the smile on a student's face who went from shooting a 140 to shooting a 240.
Have never had a student fail the written.Wrong gun has always been the problem with the few students that have had to shoot twice and one a third time. I also agree about giving them a better/bigger gun makes a world of difference.
The most glaring example of this was with a very small elderly lady whose husband made the classic mistake of thinking "the little lady needs a little gun." She didn't weigh 100 pounds, so he bought her a Taurus Millennium compact. Every time she pulled the trigger, she winced and flinched badly -- as bad as I've ever seen. She shot a 129 and I thought I had finally seen my first student that wasn't going to pass.
I was carrying my 1911 lightweight Commander .45ACP, so I knew that wouldn't be any better. My buddy walked by with his full-size M&P in 9mm and I asked if she could shoot it with the next relay. I let her dry-fire it several times to get the feel of the trigger, then she shot the course. She shot a 219 with a gun she had never fired! That's an increase of 90 points because she used a gun that didn't hurt every time she pulled the trigger. Since that day I always have a 9mm in my bag or on my side for just such an occasion. I may bring a .22LR pistol now that the law changed.
Chas.
She would not, however, choose to qualify with the Lady Smith!
