Yesterday I was at the gun shop and ran into a lady that I had coached while she was getting her carry permit. She was shopping for a new gun, one that suited her better. I don’t recall what she had originally qualified with—and it doesn’t matter, because her skills had advanced and that gun no longer suited her. And, frankly, that happens to most of us.
Starting out, we do some research and rely on what judgment and experience we can muster to come up with something that we hope will work for us. I think that it is important for new shooters to know that we have all gone through that phase. There is nothing wrong with them, and the thing to do is to just keep searching until they find it.
Physical fit is important. The gun we choose needs to be of a size that we can grip it properly and get a good purchase on the trigger. We also need to be able to easily reach any and all control devices that the gun happens to have. In my case, the magnificent N-frame Smith & Wesson revolvers are just too big, and that’s not their fault; it’s my problem. I quickly found that the medium-frame Smiths, the K & L frames, were just a better fit for me. How do I know? I could handle them more efficiently and I shot them better.
But, an equal consideration is that the gun just suits you, subjectively. If a person learned on semi-auto pistols, for example, revolvers just may not be appealing to them and they may lack confidence in them. So be it. Confidence in your chosen defensive gun is important when your life is on the line. You’ve got to not only be able to shoot well with a gun, you’ve got to be able to believe that you can.
So how do we help our new-shooter friends? We try to offer them an assortment of guns to choose from that are of decent quality and within their budget. None of us, including the new shooter, will really know if it is the right decision until they have trained with the gun and put rounds downrange.
A great boon for the defensive shooter are the number of shooting ranges that will rent various guns for folks to try out. But, in our case, the closest such range is three hours away in El Paso. Fortunately, our local gun club is full of good people who, when properly approached, will often let newbies examine and even shoot some of their guns. For the most part, gun people are family and we try to take care of our own.
So we do what we can to help our new shooters, and we let them know that we have all gone through what they are now dealing with. The important thing for all of us to remember is that guns are like shoes; they have to fit.
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