Helping folks get into the sport

[Adam Helmer]

Mr. 16 gauge,

Well, it goes both ways about who likes what. Last September at my local club I ran the Black Powder arms event for 45 women participants in Becoming an Outdoor Woman (BOW). They shot sporting clays, .22 rifles and pistols and BP. Many of the women never fired a gun before even though they had husbands who hunt. I had .50 calibers in a T/C flinter and caplock and a Black Diamond inline.

Not one woman asked to shoot the inline. One commented, "That is too much like the .22 rifles we just shot." All were fascinated with the flintlock and some asked, "Does that thing really shoot?" The caplock Hawken was a close second in popularity. Several women went to the local shop and bought traditional muzzleloaders after the BOW experience and 6 joined the gun club.

Adam