My wife had never shot handguns at all. She took a NRA basic handgun course by herself with my old P95. Took weekly range trips and would spend a couple of hours letting her get comfortable. Took her a while to get used to the noise of everyone else shooting. Bought her a SR-22 which she loves but would let her shoot my .40's and .45's. After a few 250 to 300 round trips with her .22, she was getting pretty good. Qualified for her CCW first time out.