Den of the Beastly Bear
Hi Folks!
Askhole: a person that asks you advice, then completely ignores it.
I used to have a friend, "used to" being the operative term, we'll call him Mr. A.
One day Mr. A gives me a call to ask my advice.
"I want to buy my wife a gun so she can go shooting with me, and for home defense."
Mr. A sought out my advice, I believe for two reasons.
1) I used to work at a sporting goods store, and sold weapons for a living.
2) I'm a Concealed Weapons Carrier, and shooting enthusiast. I shoot, have competed with, and hunted with handguns.
So, my advice to Mr. A was this:
" Most women that are inexperienced in the use of guns are best served by getting them a .22, either a revolver because they are dead simple to work with minimal moving parts or if she can handle something a little more complex .22 auto's are a great choice!"
"Well, I want her to be able to defend herself and the kids with it if need be... isn't a .22 too small for that?"
Ah ha, I've seen this COUNTLESS times before.
The boyfriend/husband brings the girlfriend/wife in to get a gun, except she is just the "excuse" he is using to buy himself a new gun. When they want to see a double stack magazine 9mm she can barely get her hand around, let alone be able to shoot accurately without HOURS of training and hundreds of rounds of ammo, despite recommendations otherwise...I'm sure!
"Not at all," I explained "more people are killed every year by .22's than any other caliber. A hit with a .22 is far better than a miss with a .44 magnum she's scared to death of."
"What about a .380 or a 9mm?"
"Of course larger bullets are more effective, but the blast, recoil, and action of one of those will scare her and then she won't want to shoot...which is what you want. The small size of .380's compounds the problems by concentrating the recoil into a smaller area of her hand, and the smaller grip makes the harder to hold onto, and because they are designed to be concealable the generally have crappy sights which makes them harder to shoot well. 9mm's are larger with better sights but the size of the grip is too larger for most women as most 9's these days have double stack magazines. I'm telling you, get her a .22 she'll love shooting it, ammo is cheap, she'll be more accurate with it, which will build her confidence...which is what you want."
When we ended the conversation we had discussed different models, in different price ranges, and the pros and con's of different action types. With my final admonition to have her handle the guns herself, and pick the one that feels best in her hand. Easy breezy.
So a couple days go by and he calls me to ask if he and the wife could come over? I said sure, come on...
When they came in his wife was carrying a pistol size gun case.
"Well, we got her a gun...show him honey."
She unzips the gun case and pulls out a Ruger Blackhawk with a 7½" barrel, in .357 magnum!
WTF????
This is a gigantic pistol!
The antithesis of EVERYTHING we discussed! This gun was wrong for her for more reasons than I could count, the biggest being it is a single action. That means that every time you want the gun to fire you must cock the hammer, first....every...time...
Put yourself in a self defense situation where time is measure in tenths of a second...high stress...even if she remembers the first time...will she have time for another?!?
He looks at me, gives a shrug and says "It's what she wanted.." Yeah, right...
Well, done is done...
"Ok," I tell him "if you don't want her terrified of that cannon, do this:
So a week or so goes by...when I get another call.
"Well, I took her shooting...or tried..."
"What happened?" I asked feeling sure I already knew.
"Where'd you guys go?"
"Bass Pro Shop"
"So an indoor range, like I told you not to....what ammo did you buy?"
"158 grain .357 magnum Jacketed hollow points."
"Why in the HELL would you do that?!?"
"The guy there said it was the best self defense ammo..."
"Well, #1 it's not...though I'm sure it WAS the most expensive! And #2 it's the exact opposite of the power spectrum from...oh never mind, what happened?"
"She took one shot, put it down and said 'FUCK THAT'! Took out her earplugs and left the range."
"EARPLUGS?!?! BUT I..." Oh screw it...
Why even ask if you're going to do the opposite of everything I tell you?
WHAT AN ASKHOLE!!!
Be Well Folks!
Beastly Bear
Askhole: a person that asks you advice, then completely ignores it.
I used to have a friend, "used to" being the operative term, we'll call him Mr. A.
One day Mr. A gives me a call to ask my advice.
"I want to buy my wife a gun so she can go shooting with me, and for home defense."
Mr. A sought out my advice, I believe for two reasons.
1) I used to work at a sporting goods store, and sold weapons for a living.
2) I'm a Concealed Weapons Carrier, and shooting enthusiast. I shoot, have competed with, and hunted with handguns.
So, my advice to Mr. A was this:
" Most women that are inexperienced in the use of guns are best served by getting them a .22, either a revolver because they are dead simple to work with minimal moving parts or if she can handle something a little more complex .22 auto's are a great choice!"
"Well, I want her to be able to defend herself and the kids with it if need be... isn't a .22 too small for that?"
Ah ha, I've seen this COUNTLESS times before.
The boyfriend/husband brings the girlfriend/wife in to get a gun, except she is just the "excuse" he is using to buy himself a new gun. When they want to see a double stack magazine 9mm she can barely get her hand around, let alone be able to shoot accurately without HOURS of training and hundreds of rounds of ammo, despite recommendations otherwise...I'm sure!
"Not at all," I explained "more people are killed every year by .22's than any other caliber. A hit with a .22 is far better than a miss with a .44 magnum she's scared to death of."
"What about a .380 or a 9mm?"
"Of course larger bullets are more effective, but the blast, recoil, and action of one of those will scare her and then she won't want to shoot...which is what you want. The small size of .380's compounds the problems by concentrating the recoil into a smaller area of her hand, and the smaller grip makes the harder to hold onto, and because they are designed to be concealable the generally have crappy sights which makes them harder to shoot well. 9mm's are larger with better sights but the size of the grip is too larger for most women as most 9's these days have double stack magazines. I'm telling you, get her a .22 she'll love shooting it, ammo is cheap, she'll be more accurate with it, which will build her confidence...which is what you want."
When we ended the conversation we had discussed different models, in different price ranges, and the pros and con's of different action types. With my final admonition to have her handle the guns herself, and pick the one that feels best in her hand. Easy breezy.
So a couple days go by and he calls me to ask if he and the wife could come over? I said sure, come on...
When they came in his wife was carrying a pistol size gun case.
"Well, we got her a gun...show him honey."
She unzips the gun case and pulls out a Ruger Blackhawk with a 7½" barrel, in .357 magnum!
WTF????
This is a gigantic pistol!
The antithesis of EVERYTHING we discussed! This gun was wrong for her for more reasons than I could count, the biggest being it is a single action. That means that every time you want the gun to fire you must cock the hammer, first....every...time...
Put yourself in a self defense situation where time is measure in tenths of a second...high stress...even if she remembers the first time...will she have time for another?!?
He looks at me, gives a shrug and says "It's what she wanted.." Yeah, right...
Well, done is done...
"Ok," I tell him "if you don't want her terrified of that cannon, do this:
- Do NOT take her to an indoor range! The concussion inside will cause her to flinch, and jump. Take her to an outdoor range.
- Do NOT buy magnum ammo for that gun!!! .357's can shot .38 specials. Buy 148 grain wadcutter ammo. It is VERY light noise/recoil and will get her used to shooting it. Then you can gradually increase the power of the ammo if you want, but the wadcutters will suffice for home defense.
- Make sure you make her wear shooting muffs, not just earplugs.
So a week or so goes by...when I get another call.
"Well, I took her shooting...or tried..."
"What happened?" I asked feeling sure I already knew.
"Where'd you guys go?"
"Bass Pro Shop"
"So an indoor range, like I told you not to....what ammo did you buy?"
"158 grain .357 magnum Jacketed hollow points."
"Why in the HELL would you do that?!?"
"The guy there said it was the best self defense ammo..."
"Well, #1 it's not...though I'm sure it WAS the most expensive! And #2 it's the exact opposite of the power spectrum from...oh never mind, what happened?"
"She took one shot, put it down and said 'FUCK THAT'! Took out her earplugs and left the range."
"EARPLUGS?!?! BUT I..." Oh screw it...
Why even ask if you're going to do the opposite of everything I tell you?
WHAT AN ASKHOLE!!!
Be Well Folks!
Beastly Bear
