At the risk of annoying some of my male readers (sorry guys, no sexism intended) the ladies tend to outshoot the men, especially as beginners. Guys, it does seem to even out later as skills progress.
This seems to be a common theme that I’ve heard from lots of other instructors. The consensus seems to be that the women do not come into shooting with the attitude of I can do this that so many men do. They are not as prone to have played “shoot ‘em up” video games, nor had the same experiences as the guys with guns at a younger age.
Men can learn from this. Shooting is a skill. Like any other skill it takes learning the fundamentals and PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. The ladies generally don’t seem to think that they should know how before they learn and master the basics.
In my own experience, I was a relatively new shooter, only a couple years, when I went to the range with a guy I was dating at the time. He went all “macho” on me, he knew how to shoot, he’d been trained by the Navy (I was active duty, too). We took turns shooting. I was hitting what I was aiming at, which was not the bulls eye (I know, but it was a long time ago, I don’t do that anymore). Then, he made some arrogant comment about shooting better than me. Mind you, he was all over the target, too. So..I emptied the last magazine in the center of the target, with that satisfying explosion of cardboard out the back, and just smiled.
Ok, what is the take away? Fundamentals are important! Learn to shoot the right way, practice your grip, your stance, your aiming, your trigger control… None of us walked in a straight line the first time, we wobbled, fell down a few times. It takes practice. I think the biggest difference is mind-set. I know some amazing shooters, men and women. Give yourself a break, none one shoots perfectly the first time out. But, with practice, patience and perseverance, you can be good. We can’t all be great, but we can be good!
Safe Shooting!
I have taught and watched alot of women learn to shoot, as well as men, and yes women have a natural sense of aim that men have to develop. The learning curve levels out fairly quickly, but as beginners women definitely have an advantage. I think part of it is that women are not comfortable with guns generally and they pay more attention to the trigger pull waiting for that first big boom. Attention to the trigger pull is the first fundamental to master. So between the natural aim and attention to the trigger pull, women start out ahead of the curve in general.
ReplyDeleteThe advantage that men have over women when learning to shoot, is that they are very rarely timid. They might have it all wrong in the fundamentals department, but their can-do attitude (which can be a little over the top) and lack of fear of all things that go boom is a definite advantage.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I much prefer to teach women to shoot. I love the "ah-ha" moment when everything clicks and their mindset changes from "I'm here to please my husband/boyfriend/significant other" to "I'm GOOD at this and it's fun, too".