And successful!
I worked with her a little before the range to soothe her nerves. I promised her all she would have to shoot is the .22 Pistol and two shots of the shotgun.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is my wife's first target with the Ruger Hunter at ~7 yards
(click to embiggen)
10 of those holes are mine (including the one on the lower left in the 9 ring). The rest are my wife's. Needless to say, she was totally thrilled with the .22 and even mentioned how much she enjoyed it. No nerves at all and is more than willing to go shoot again.
But that's not the cool part. The better story is how I got her to shoot the shot gun. I let her shoot it from the hip since I didn't want her to hurt her shoulder the first time. My first shot missed completely (I've never fired from the hip) and my second shot tore the target up. Much to my dismay since the range officer was watching and realized I was using Buckshot instead of slugs like the range requires you. The problem is my 00 Buck is reduced recoil which makes it easier to shoot. So Kari had to shoot the full, 3" slugs which hurt me when I shoot.
She hit the paper (although a miss, had it been with the 00, it would have been a lethal head wound), but the butt rubbed the inside of her elbow really bad. She toughed it out and took another shot in about the same place.
Now, here she is, not a big fan of guns, and instead of saying "I don't want to do that again", she started talking about the various things she could do next time. Long sleeves, maybe a towel, etc. Which, to my ears means she quite possibly liked the shotgun.
Afterwards we ate lunch and she talked about it. Not "gushing" but quasi-enthusiastic. She admitted she liked the .22. I think the red dot sight helped so well and such a grouping (impressive for anyone!) really got her spirits up, which is exactly what I was hoping it would do.
I have a feeling it won't be a full year again before I get her back. I'm not ready to give her a "Chicks with Guns" badge yet, but it's a great start!