What is she doing wrong?

[MSUDawgs]

without reading other posts.
my wife shoots without a problem and she has only shot a gun a hand full of times(maybe 2 prior to this past christmas - and she has shot only 3 or 4 times since)
i make her lock her elbow and hold with two hands with a tight grip. she doesnt get the limp wrist type action out of this grip.

after shooting my VE .40 a first and her parents .38, then she tried the 9 shield when i got it, she likes the 9 better, but will still shoot my .40 whenever.

my advice, make her hold the gun tight with her dominate hand and put the second over top(so to speak), then lock her elbow. i say that b/c it works for my wife.

 

[shutter13]

I finally got YouTube to upload from my phone. Here is a video of her shooting that shows the malfunction.

The "limp writing" is pretty obvious.

http://youtu.be/L_e-68PHjpI

 

[speedyquad]

yes it is...

 

[Rastoff]

Yes, definitely a weak grip.

This pic was difficult to get:

Yeah, it's terrible, but I cut it from a still of the video. Even though it's grainy, you can clearly see that the slide is not fully forward as it should be. This can certainly be caused by a weak grip. And, while the slide is not fully forward, it seems that the barrel is fully locked up (not 100% sure of that due to the low resolution of the pic). This condition will allow the striker to be released as is obvious by the "click" heard at the end.

I guess the slide being back a tiny bit would prevent the striker from being fully cocked. This would retard the striker and create a light strike. Weird that the gun can fire from this condition.

I don't have a Shield to examine. This could be a Shield thing. One thing I do know, none of my M&Ps will fire with the slide that far back.

p.s.
It would be wise to give a little advice about muzzle control. Bringing the gun in like she did at the end is common amongst new shooters. It is very dangerous though. Granted there was no one to her left, it is still a bad habit. Do this at an indoor range or another place where there are other people and she would have pointed a live gun at another person.

 

[crankyoldlady]

Thank you so much for sharing the video.

There is a connection between your wife's stance and grip that are contributing to her inability to shoot as well as she'd like.

I do not believe that locking elbows and over griping will help. A firm grip and slight bend in the elbow usually works better.

May I suggest two videos that have been helpful to other new shooters...

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDzC6djUQxM[/ame]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChSazF41q-s[/ame]