GunnyGene
Hawkeye
Had a great meeting with a lady Senior Citizen and her son yesterday about what firearm would be suitable for her to carry. She had won a free Basic Pistol class with a local (MS) NRA Certified Instructor, but had zero experience with handguns. Her son had initially contacted me about it.
I didn't want to step on anything the upcoming class would cover (MS law, etc.), so this was strictly about what her needs and capabilities were regarding a handgun. Anyway I laid out 3 firearms for her to try out. S&W Model 60-10, Ruger .22mag LCR, and S&W 9mm M&P EZ, and explained and demonstrated the basic operation/function, capabilities, safety considerations, of each and the compromises she had to decide on (how to carry, capacity, terminal effect on the target, etc..), and had her load some dummy rounds, dry fire them, and so on. It was about as basic an intro to handguns as it gets. I did not discuss self defense "mind set" with her, although I did talk with her son about it separately.
Like many Senior ladies (and men) she had trouble with heavy trigger pull, racking slides, loading magazines, etc. ,so much of this revolved around how to cope with all of that, and I showed her some alternatives that would make things easier. So after about an hour sitting around the dining room table, she decided to try out the EZ, so we went out on the back porch and had her load up the M&P and shoot my target stump. Accuracy was not on the agenda for this, only for her to understand the basics and if she could deal with the recoil, proper grip, etc.
Bottom line is that I'm happy to have helped, and I am confident that she will fulfill her goal of being a woman who can defend herself.
I didn't want to step on anything the upcoming class would cover (MS law, etc.), so this was strictly about what her needs and capabilities were regarding a handgun. Anyway I laid out 3 firearms for her to try out. S&W Model 60-10, Ruger .22mag LCR, and S&W 9mm M&P EZ, and explained and demonstrated the basic operation/function, capabilities, safety considerations, of each and the compromises she had to decide on (how to carry, capacity, terminal effect on the target, etc..), and had her load some dummy rounds, dry fire them, and so on. It was about as basic an intro to handguns as it gets. I did not discuss self defense "mind set" with her, although I did talk with her son about it separately.
Like many Senior ladies (and men) she had trouble with heavy trigger pull, racking slides, loading magazines, etc. ,so much of this revolved around how to cope with all of that, and I showed her some alternatives that would make things easier. So after about an hour sitting around the dining room table, she decided to try out the EZ, so we went out on the back porch and had her load up the M&P and shoot my target stump. Accuracy was not on the agenda for this, only for her to understand the basics and if she could deal with the recoil, proper grip, etc.
Bottom line is that I'm happy to have helped, and I am confident that she will fulfill her goal of being a woman who can defend herself.