Although I mentioned the fact that I was at a range two nights ago I forgot to mention the most entertaining part. A man was in the stall next to us teaching his girlfriend/wife/who-knows-what-relation to shoot a handgun. I will give this man kudos on doing that but also shake my head at his method of training.
First if you’re a lady heading to the range let me give you this pro tip (which I received from a female friend who pointed this fact out); high heels do not for a good time at the range make. This goes double if you’re new to shooting. I don’t think I have to explain the laws of physics involved with high heels making a very unstable platform but they also offer poor support for when you step on empty brass casings and tumble over. Lucky for the girl in the stall next to us that didn’t happen but it’s a real possibility so please ladies wear sensible footwear at the range.
The guy had a good shooting stance. He was leaning forward aggressively, feet spread a correct distance apart, and he had a good grip on his pistol. His student was shooting with feed spread very far apart and standing straight up. When you teach somebody to shoot also teach them a proper stance. I can understand a proper stance being difficult to achieve when wearing high heels and refer you to the paragraph previous to this. Having an improper stance from the start makes that stance habit forming and thus harder to get away from when you want to learn the correct way of doing things. Try to establish the correct procedures for doing things from the start.
Finally I have this little quip; the time you’re using to teach a new shooter is not the time to show off. It’s intimidating for a new shooter to watch an experience shooter unload a magazine into a target with some semblance of accuracy. This guy did this several times. If you want to shot off pick the proper time.
Beyond those criticisms I have to give the guy credit for getting a new shooter to the range and making it an enjoyable experience for her (he was smart and didn’t spend time ridiculing the woman for not being a pro shooter from the start).