Any shooting disciplines where women generally score higher than men?

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MatthewVanitas

MatthewVanitas

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It seems to be a general consensus that women tend to learn to shoot better than men, for both cultural reasons and fine motor-skills issues.

Leads me to ask: is there any organized shooting discipline in which women consistently score higher than men? Just looking for examples to cite if anyone accuses us of trying to "subverty inclusivity for your reactionary goals."

I'm sure there are individual times when women have placed high in competitions, but is there any general trend for, say, women biathlon shooters getting higher scores than males, or female clay shooters tending to break more birds than their male counterparts at national competitions?

I realize the issue is complicated by the fact that far more men than women are involved in many shooting sports, giving males a larger pool of talent to draw upon. Not unlike how the Army sometimes manages to beat the Marine Corps rifle team, due largely to the fact that the Army is ten times the size of the Corps.

If anyone has any concrete examples that can be verified by posted scores on line, those would be great to keep handy.

-MV
 
While it varies from person to person, women tend to have better fine muscle control and men have better strength (upper body). This means that women can become very good at trigger pull, breathing, holding the gun properly. However, men usually have better stamina for prolonged compititons that involve holding heavy weapons (3-position rifle). This is a gerneralization and both aspects can be overcome with training.
 
It seems to be a general consensus that women tend to learn to shoot better than men, for both cultural reasons and fine motor-skills issues.
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FWIW, I disagree with common wisdom on this one. I think men-in-general have an easier time learning to shoot than women-in-general do.

Longer post later; I'm out of time today.

Oh, re your main topic? I'm not aware of any. Talked to one of IPSC's shining stars, female variety, and asked her why she thought there were no female GrandMasters yet. She said that since she herself didn't win national competitions until she started working out with weights and really working on her stamina, she suspected that IPSC is far more physical than most people at the lower levels ever realize. Men win physical games.

pax
 
pax said:
FWIW, I disagree with common wisdom on this one. I think men-in-general have an easier time learning to shoot than women-in-general do.
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Wouldn't statistics play a large role in this as well?

I mean, if say, there are 50,000 men competing in shooting sports and only 1,000 women it makes it more likely that there will be at least 100 men with mad skillz :uhoh: and maybe 2 women.

Furthermore, military background would also play a role right?
If the military has a policy of no women on the 'frontline' (whatever that means anymore). Doesn't that mean no designated marksmen training, or other specialised combat training; EVEN if they qualify?

Drew
 
Everytime I take my wife to range with me :rolleyes: Sickening sometimes, but she likes to shoot so I can't complain. :D
 
There is some conjecture that rules drafted to segregate the International shooting sports in the 1970's were a direct result of a few high-profile female victories, most notably when Margaret Murdoch tied Lanny Basham for gold in 3 Position Rifle at the 1976 Olympics.
 
Any shooting disciplines where women generally score higher than men?
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Of course not! Women winning shooting competitions? Can you imagine? What will they think of next?:neener:

Everybody knows women aren't man enough to shoot good, nohow.
 
I remember shooting three position, prone and air rifle then I think in the late 80s the ISU said to be fair to women they can't compete against men. At the time there were some American women cleaning the Europeans clocks and I guess their manhood wasn't ready for the challenge.
 
Trap and skeet?

I don't follow it to know names, but aren't there quite a few high ranked competitors of the fairer persuasion busting a lot of clay pigeons?
 
There was a thread in practical tactical about how in training, men tend to hesitate long enough to get themselves killed if the target is a woman (or even is a cardboard sillhouette wearing a bikini top), but women don't.
 
I wish I could remember more details. I was told that the world record "bench rest" group was held for many years by a woman. The cal was .222 Remington. the group was a slightly out of round hole that was measured 0.09 inches center to center.

Any bench rest competitors here? Does this sound right?
 
Back in High-School I shot 4-H small bore competitions. It seems that a lot of the Girls did very well at it. I think it had to do with the fact that a lot of them didn't have to be untrained before learning to shoot properly.
 
yeah, i wouldn't expect to see many females dominating the top competitions, but i think the 'common wisdom' here is from stuff like college PE marksmanship classes, and the CCW qualifications and beginner defensive handgun classes, where you have a dozen guys and two or three girls in a group, most of which have very little experience.


i agree it would be interesting to see some real data on the subject, but my anecdotal experience supports the "girls outshoot the guys" position
 
my anecdotal experience supports the "girls outshoot the guys" position
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You know, ONCE I would have said the same thing. ONCE I would have said that all the instructors I know personally also agree with you.

But THEN I was "informed" on another board that the only way an instructor could make a statement like that is if he were giving the good-looking women preferential treatment in his classes. SUDDENLY I realized that I must have been wrong and that all the instructors I know (including me) are just drooling after any bit of skirt that comes along, completely unable to teach to the class without giving preferential treatment and totally unable to make objective evaluations of their student's performance. :rolleyes:

BTW, the above (you're only saying that cause you give the good-looking women preferential treatment) is a great argument. If you respond that's not true because ugly women also shoot well, now you're a pig for commenting on the looks of your students. And if you say you're not affected by the looks of your students, now you're not a real man. Any way you cut it, you're an unethical instructor and pretty much worthy of denigration.

It's a wonderful way to totally end discussion on the topic and make sure that you will get no further input from any males who have experience as instructors. Which, I guess, is really important to some people although I'm not exactly sure why...

JohnKSa

Certified Instructor: Rifle, Pistol, Shotgun, Personal Protection, Home Firearm Safety.
 
a lot of them (women) didn't have to be untrained before learning to shoot properly

I heard that from an instructor with 82nd Aitcorne about 15 years ago.
Has something to do with male ego not taking correction of bad habits
or poor form.
 
Many moons ago, when I was an instructor at my college rifle club, we used to hold 'open days' to try it out.

More often than not, the guy would show up, with his lass in tow. We'd fit him out with a jacket, give him some basic instruction, and let him plink away. Of course, he's a guy. He knows by mere chromosome osmosis how to fire rifles. He doesn't listen to us. Off he goes, plinking away. (We did Olympic Air Rifle. Don't knock it, it's a tough discipline).

In the meantime, the lass is in the back chilling. Of course, being sociable people that we are (and not overlooking the possibility of a new member), we convince her to have a go as well. She listens to everything we say.

Guy finishes his shoot, winds the target back, and he's got something of a shotgun effect. A few good hits, but generally all over the place. He then notices his lass going at it a few lanes over, and wanders over. When she finishes, and draws the target back usually with everything in the black, it's just silence.

The next week he comes back on his own, and listens to what we tell him.

We noticed that on average, the women tended to be better shooters, but the absolute top notch were men. We never did quite figure out why: Although OAR is a standing unsupported discipline, there really isn't any muscular strength involved as the bone structure supports the weight of the rifle.

NTM
 
Manic Moran nailed it. Men are naturally a little better than women at the start, but women listen.

Get a man who will listen, and you've got a great shooter.

Edit: THAT'S A GENERALIZATION. There a lot of women who are better than a lot of men. On the average, though, I've found men to be slightly better.
 
I've seen women do VERY well in smallbore position shooting. Best prone scores on my college team were by a girl.

A former president of my shooting club was consistently among the top scorers in the city pistol league.
 
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