Well, Operation Get Wife Hooked On Shooting seems to be going well. She shot the Mark III 22/45 tonight and did what I can only describe as phenomenal. I mean, look at these pictures!
On the target, the center is her groupings, the others are mine (wanted to make sure we could tell whose is whose) Notice how her groupings are as tight as mine. And this is only her 4th time ever at a range.
She did great. She enjoyed herself too, which was the big part.
To the right of us, two lanes down, were a flock of Common Range Idiots. Some guy with a .45 thinking firing as fast as he can will impress his girlfriend and buddy, both who never had shot before. It impresses them more when you actually hit the target. This guy was everywhere. That, of course, assumed he could actually hit a target at 7 yards.
Then, he hands it over to his girlfriend who you could tell had a hard time determining which end of the muzzle went where. Took one shot and she was done for the evening. Then, buddy who had never shot before got his turn. Let's just say I'm glad the dividers are bullet proof.
The wife took it all in stride. I at least was able to use them as examples of what not to do.
She did go through a magazine in the .45 herself. Still a little too much gun for her. She really liked the .22, though, especially with groupings like that. Her stance is a little odd, but she was comfortable and that was what mattered to me. Her grip was much improved from last time – no tea-cupping at all.
Afterwards we looked at a Ruger LCP since I'm thinking about picking one up. Damned things are tiny, but that's the point really. The local range (Shoot Straight) had it for $499 which is ridiculous being that Gun Broker had 'em for ~$360. Need to look around some more.
Finally, I don't know what in the heck were in them, but the bulk Remington .22s I bought (plain old brass colored ones, not even Golden Bullet type) were friggin' LOUD and snappy. Had I not been firing, I wouldn't have been able to tell they were .22s by the sound of them. Odd, but we both liked them.
So, she enjoyed herself which means I can probably get her there more than once a year. Of course, according to the signs at Shoot Straight, I won't be shooting there much any more. They have a 'no reloads' policy and that's the only way I can afford to shoot as it is, so if they enforce it, I won't be giving them much business any more. It might just be one of those non-enforced rules so that they're not liable for accidents with reloads, and that's acceptable to me, but if they're strict about it, I'm going to give my business to Knight Shooting Sports instead. I'll have to find out.