Where's PAX??? I don't have her site on this computer!!!
Oh well, I know she had a take on things like this on her site. Maybe she can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe she has a whole series on various stances, and how one's eye dominance may come into play.
I finally got my wife to the range yesterday, after building up to it for a few weeks. Bought our first HG a little over a month ago, Glock 19. She has become more nervous about things in general sinc having a child, heights, driving, damn near anything that moves, and while she's shot guns before, a brother in law of ours (before we met) took her shooting several years ago, she said she didn't have a problem then, but now gets butterflies around the gun, despite my methodical approach to researching, purchasing, and safely handling and practicing with the weapon, she's still been a little gun shy so to speak...
At any rate, she did go to the range, and would shoot a few rounds, then take a break, shoot a few more rounds, etc. Before we started, I discussed safety rules, parts of the gun, had her practice racking the slide empty, dry firing, loading the magazine, loading the gun, racking the slide to load, and all the general stuff I could think of... I asked her to hold the gun empty, like she was going to shoot, and helped her w/ her grip a little, and that's when it came up that she said she wanted to see the sights w/ her left eye, despite being right handed.
Then from memory the three stances that I could remember, the weaver, the chapman (which works best for me), and the isosceles, which I *think* pax suggested on her site that many women liked, due to the extended arms helping absorb recoil (compared to weaver where some women lacked the strength to keep it steady for the shot, or to potentially absorb recoil), and also mentioned that the isosceles was ideal for left eye dominant people, because the gun is basically out in front of you, making it easy for a cross dominant eye.
Again, I'm not stating a fact, just what I remember reading. It seemed to make her feel comforable enough to shoot. I did notice that she was still aiming left prior to shooting. She ended up shooting right where she was aiming, which was a little high and to the left. She wasn't jerking it, and she knew to pull the long trigger til it was at the firing point, but if she did line up well, she would drift left before firing. I worked with her to dry fire some more, and she admitted that she was anticipating the bang, and said despite the hearing protection, thought it was too loud. (Note we were wearing identical hearing protection, I tested them before taking her w/ me, I had no problem) So I said next time we'll take plugs and muffs, maybe that will help.
She did a little better aiming (from what I could tell) dry firing. She was still hitting the target at 7 yds, but in the targets right shoulder. Not bad for first time out in years, and w/ a 9 MM, I suppose.
So, I guess my post is three-fold.
* Offer info/reiterate what I thought I remembered reading about the isosceles being good for women, and for cross dominant eyes...
* Hope that PAX or someone w/ a link to her site can chime in on that subject
* Hope someone relates to what I've tried so far w/ the wife, and has additional suggestions to help w/ her current results (although I'm sure some additional practice will do wonders in and of itself)
* Oh, and lastly to thank the forum, and places like PAX's site for giving me enough to go on, to at least get my wife started. If I hadn't read so much, I don't know what I would have said to her to get her started, certainly nothing as intelligent as I was able to muster up from all the info I've absorbed in the last month or so
Regards,
Karz
PS, this is all in preperation for her to take a CCW class next weekend. We got a couple deal on the class, and wanted her to be able to transport safely back and forth over state lines (we live on a border w/ very different laws, unless you have CCW, which simplifies things) so we can switch cars w/out issue. Although I hope she'll carry one day, for the time being, I want her to pass that class, and I'm sure she'll get some more training in that class too, which is another reason to take it.