How do I choose the best handgun for my teen daughter to learn and practice with?

[MannyGlocks]

Rutilate,

Thanks for your very helpful ear/eye protection tips.

I wear custom in ear plugs with a pair of H.L. Sport Impact muffs over them. (that need replacing) Their cracking with chunks falling off, but after some 15 or so years, I think I've gotten my money out of them...

 

[titsonritz]

Rutilate,

Thanks for your very helpful ear/eye protection tips.

I wear custom in ear plugs with a pair of H.L. Sport Impact muffs over them. (that need replacing) Their cracking with chunks falling off, but after some 15 or so years, I think I've gotten my money out of them...

I need to get some custom fit plugs to wear under my E hearing pro, I've had them lift off too many times in classes.

 

[rutilate]

You can get aftermarket gel ear cups for them and extend their life with even more comfort if you'd like. Or you can upgrade.

Rutilate,

Thanks for your very helpful ear/eye protection tips.

I wear custom in ear plugs with a pair of H.L. Sport Impact muffs over them. (that need replacing) Their cracking with chunks falling off, but after some 15 or so years, I think I've gotten my money out of them...

 

[bbbass]

The SR is hammer and D/A

Thanx for the redirect on that one!!

 

[EPS]

I would try to get together with a few people .
That have different guns that she could try out.
And start small .22 then go up .

 

[cityrice]

I vote Ruger SR22 pistol perfect for beginners, my little brother recently asked me to show him how to shoot and the SR22 was perfect for this. I always bring it along every time i go to the range cheap way to practice and improve your shooting even for experienced shooters IMO.

 

[WhyElKay]

I don't mean to pile-on, but the shotgun thing is a d*ck move we've all seen... probably way too many times. Chalk it up to maturity and experience.

'Nuff said about that.

A .22 rifle or pistol is no doubt the best starter gun. You're probably not looking to start a collection, and .22s aren't free, but they're a great investment. Why? Nobody ever outgrows a .22... they're fun and practical for all ages. If you get a good one (Ruger, Browning, etc) it stands a good chance of becoming an heirloom piece. A cheaper one (Heritage) will give you your money's worth at about half (or less) the cost.

That said, the first guns I ever fired (11 or 12 years old) were my Dad's duty guns... a S&W .38, a .38 Chief's Special, and later a 4" 686. None left me traumatized or turned-off on the sport. I was in my 20s before I bought my first .22. Ya shoot what you got or can get ahold of. If your LEO friend has a full sized 9 or two, they'd be perfectly suitable for a teenager to start with, IMO. Same goes for the .380.

When teaching, I like to start w safety (I also end with safety, and preach it all the way through) and get right into some live-fire. Once the fire and fury (and initial adrenaline shot) are out of the way we can settle down and learn the fundamentals of sight alignment, sight picture, trigger control, etc etc.

As for recommendations? My all-time favorite "beginner" gun is a 5" 1911 9mm. Mines from Para Ordinance, but they're pretty popular now so lots of manufacturers are putting them out in all price ranges. A softer shooting "real" gun in a "real" caliber cannot be had, IMO. A 5" PPQ 9mm and a 5" Canik TP9SFX round out the top 3... see a pattern? A "vintage" S&W Model 10 .38 also gets most of its exercise during these "teaching" moments.... "Hey, neat. An old fashioned wheelgun".

Best of luck. Have some fun and bring her back into the fold. Guns do NOT equal violence, they don't need to be scary or intimidating. Just respected, understood, and enjoyed.

I don't mean to pile-on, but the shotgun thing is a d*ck move we've all seen... probably way too many times. Chalk it up to maturity and experience.

I know it was not intentional, unfortunate but not intentional. She learned something too..

 

[cookie]

I would chose a Ruger 22/45. Why get a bigger caliber that will only teach flinching.

 

[bbbass]

She learned something too..

What did she learn?

 

[EPS]

Lol yesterday .
Her first time Shooting.
Lol she is 3 years old.

 

[turq]

I would only add a good teacher will recognize that a 12ga has near 30 ft/lbs recoil.
Not suitable for a new learner.

 

[Alexx1401]

What did she learn?

Sadly only fear of guns and probably a flinch that will have to be trained out.

 

[Alexx1401]

I would chose a Ruger 22/45. Why get a bigger caliber that will only teach flinching.

I LOVE the 22/45 enough to have a couple of them. They are both fun to play with and a great teacher. One upside to the SR's in either the compact or full size is they are very similar to many autos the new shooter may want to move up to later. Even in the compact version anyone can easily shoot one. They are D/A so the shooter can practice the feel of going from a D/A pull to an S/A pull if they later want a larger caliber pistol that is also D/A.
Another choice that is a little more expensive is the conversion kits. Several full size autos have a kit to make them shoot .22 ammo for practice. One downside is the conversion kits approach the price of a nice .22 pistol but they are cheap fun and a good trainer.
The compact SR is set up to be a defensive pistol. Has rail on underside for light or laser. Caliber is certainly no where near my top choices of course. Wife uses hers for carry so I let it go since she will carry and practice. Figure even a .22 is better than the guns she just will not always keep with her.

 

[WhyElKay]

Sadly only fear of guns and probably a flinch that will have to be trained out.

She didn't cry. She learned to ask questions and learned that not all guns are the same, but most of all she learned that she wants A better teacher.

 

[titsonritz]

I know it was not intentional, unfortunate but not intentional. She learned something too..

she could have learn the same thing watching this video.

 

[Alexx1401]

She didn't cry. She learned to ask questions and learned that not all guns are the same, but most of all she learned that she wants A better teacher.

When what was done to her is done, the first thing that happens is a flinch. Even long time shooters have to watch out when shooting something with a lot of blast and recoil. I can guarantee you that if you did a flinch test on her now she would have a bad one. It is easily trained away but pretending it's not there will just frustrate her when she starts having accuracy problems. Most new shooters who have a flinch have no idea they are doing it until the see it in a test. Then it makes sense to them and can be worked out.
After you get her shooting with something easier to master do a flinch test with her and let her see it then she can beat it. As she gets rid of it her accuracy will greatly improve and make shooting fun again. She will learn to love the sport when she has success.

 

[Alexx1401]

she could have learn the same thing watching this video.

Yep, exactly what I was talking about earlier. People do this to others thinking its funny to laugh at them. Then they wonder why the people they did this to no longer want to shoot, or try to and can't hit anything and of course get frustrated.

 

[2A2Dend]

There's plenty of input here already.
My kids learned on a Daisy BB gun, then a Sheridan Pellet gun, then a Ruger 10/22. From there they stepped up- to a Ruger 357 w/38's.
Next thing the daughter was shooting bowling pins, and doing well.
To date she has shot everything from .22 revolver, to .45, and now has her CPL and is going to get trained by a female.

My son has also shot everything up-to .45, and has since gotten his CPL and is on his way to getting some professional training

 

[turq]

A nice lightweight 22 pistol is a bersa. It is easy to rack stationary bbl and can be accurate when learning the trigger/ site alignment. Worth a look and they are fun at 10 yrds.
Easy to load 10 rnd mags just costly to buy the extra mags.

 

[OldBroad44]

We teach women-only firearm safety. We've taught over 350 women in the past year plus, and about 20% of them have never touched a gun before. Those who are most afraid tend to end up shooting ALL the guns and loving it, going from I hate guns to when can I buy my own? My wife, daughter, son, and I make up the training staff.

You're welcome to pm or call me and I can share what we've learned. Or she (or the two of you) can come up for the day to one of our classes in September.

We start with Ruger MKIII/IV .22lr pistols because they're big (lower perceived recoil) and easy to operate. For small hands we'll use a Ruger SR22.

We've found this order to be most effective in preparing new shooters to excel:

Off the range:

1. Safety rules
2. Parts of the firearm
3. Stance/grip/aiming with an unloaded firearm
4. Dry-fire practice to get comfortable with the feel, operation, and smooth trigger press-without having to worry about danger/noise
5. Put shell casing/penny on front sights, practice pressing trigger without knocking off penny

At the range:

1. Stance/grip/aiming with unloaded firearm (.22lr)
2. Dry-fire
3. Load one cartridge and fire at the berm (to avoid startle reflex squeezing off multiple rounds, and avoiding having to aim)
4. Load and fire five at a paper plate, dot in the center, 10' away.
5. Diagnose grip/aiming, trigger press
6. Fire another 5
7. Repeat until they can get 5 consecutive shots in a 4" circle @ 10', repeated 4 times.

Once they've mastered this, we typically move them up to a full-size 9mm, again because we want to minimize the perceived recoil. We use M&P 9, or Glock 19. We have them shoot ~10 rounds to get the feel before moving on.

We then encourage them to try on concealed carry pistols to make sure they like them. Many are dissatisfied with the options: they hate the LCP, LOVE the SIG p238 and LOVE the M&P 380EZ.

We ensure they all shoot the "girl gun"—the .38 revolver the bastards behind the gun counter always recommend to the ladies because they are "simple." For crying out loud, women are airline pilots and surgeons. They don't need "simple." Nearly without exception they hate it.

And then we encourage them to shoot the.460 S&W Magnum (firing .45LC loads). We call it the big-bubblegum revolver. They're petrified at first. But then they see my very petite daughter shoot it first and then give it a try. And they want to shoot it again, take selfies with it, and brag to all their friends about shooting the big-bubblegum revolver.

But we don't bring that out until the very end, and we download the load, and show them how to do it very, very safely so they have a good experience.

Feel free to pm.
I hope you're daughter learns to love firearms as much as mine does!