Posted: Sep 7th 2010, 05:37 PM
My Lil' Darlin' wife, younger son and I went to the range yesterday afternoon for fun, but more seriously get in a little practice for my wife. She had surgery on her rotator cuff, physical therapy and I thought was about ready to a little shooting practice. She appropriated my Ruger LCR for self defense since she felt the Ruger Secutiy Six was just a bit too heavy. Even with physical therapy the arm and hand muscles were still not up to full strength. I think she was ready to do a little shooting, because as I was going over the grip, sight alignment and stance with her and the LCP, she said, "Just gimme the dang gun." So like a good husband I gave it to her. In any case after about 25 rounds I notice the recoil was more than usual, changed the grip a little and fired a few more. She was finally hitting in the 9 ring at 9 yards. I realized that her hand/arm would really be hurting if we continued, so I convinced her to shoot my Ruger Mark II with the long barrel. She fired 10 rounds, removed the magazine, turned around and told me in a rather iritated manner, "Why didn't you give me this gun to begin with, it doesn't kick." (There was a 2" group in the 10 ring. I explained to her that the .22 caliber is really not as good a defense round as a .38+P, although a good defense round is what an individual can shoot accurately and best, and even though she could have good shot placement with the .22, it's likely not going to stop the bad guy right away with a center of mass shot. I also mentioned to her the simplicity of the revolver and the Mark II wouldn't fit as well in her purse or or pocket. Fortunately, she didn't remind me she has several purses she could carry a shotgun in. (I was afraid she was going to take my Mark II as well as the LCR.) I really would like for her to practice enough with every firearm in the house, so that she could pick up any one and be comfortable, but under stress I like to keep it simple and not have a lot of gizmos for her to flip, tap, press, etc. She enjoyed the practice, but I noticed she had iced down her hand that was hurting. We will go again soon.
Younger son shot his Ruger P89, my Glock, the .38 and .22. He's a lot better than the Old Man, that's for sure. All in all we had a fine, but hot Texas afternoon.
