Female wants a wheelgun but.....

Jack, I'm a revolver afficianado from way back, but on the positive side for the Glock: It is the simplest of auto designs. There is very little to confuse a new gunner. The 9mm has a recoil spring that is fairly readily manipulated by a female shooter. The trigger is consistent, first shot and subsequent shots.

I don't like or own Glocks, but I have shot a lot of them. They are reliable, accurate, and as safe as any other auto pistol. I just prefer other brands and particularly revolvers for self-defense.

The "try before you buy" comment was serious. Many folks find that the pistol of their dreams is not what they thought it would be when they finally get one in their hands. This particular shooter (Scamp) found that the recommended Ruger revolver felt like a heavy club in her hands. (An assessment that I can second!) If she can successfully rack the slide to load the Glock and can manipulate the very few controls (essentially a mag release), and can learn enough rudimentary disassembly to clean the gun, then the Glock might work for her. It would be a better choice, in my opinion, than a 1911, an auto with a DA/SA trigger and/or a decocker, and even any auto with a thumb safety.

It's too bad that we can't hold a forum "range day" where we could trot out some examples of the various guns that we espouse for newbies to try.

Clemson
 
I own and sometimes carry a Glock 19, but it feels awful in the hand (my ex girlfriends Sigma felt much better) and there is no way on earth it could be considered as "safe" as a good DA only auto or revolver. Like I said, you load the chamber and the firing pin is on half cock. Most stock glocks only require a 4 pound short tug on the trigger to go off.
Which is why ADs seem so prevalent in PDs that issue them. But then again, in all honesty, when DA only wheelguns were issued to police agencies, there were officers who had ADs with them too.
 
I do ladies' handgun shoots. Around 1000 women have participated in the last 7 years. The revolver of choice for South Dakota women is the SP101, mostly because of how the grip sorta melts into our hands. My gunsmith smoothed and lightened the trigger a bit for me, and we've only had one lady who couldn't handle it. For her, we could find nothing larger than a very small 22 - she was just too tiny and weak. This is all coming from a real woman, of course - 5'9'' and 132 pounds, LOL! SP101 is my gun of choice and I keep one in the console of my car. I also have some Glocks and other guns, but my favorite is the SP. Them's my $.02!
 
Can She?

Let's see, a woman is lacking enough hand strenght to pull the double action trigger of a revolver, so some of your are suggesting an auto. Is there something wrong with this equation, or am I being too technical here?

I have had women ask about using various self loaders. Many of them cannot operate the slide. Some use that gun would be!
 
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You're exactly right - women have a difficult time pulling slides back - we have a special "girl way" to do it and still some of them don't have the strength. Also, with a revolver, we don't have to worry about whether there's one in the chamber, or the safety being on, etc. In a stressful situation, most of our brains won't be functioning properly. Especially mine - I'm blonde.
 
Re:nramom

I have been married for just over ten years. When I met my wife, she had zero gun handling experience. One day she decided to accompany me to the range out of curiosity.

I had just picked up a Vaquero. At 25 yards I was having difficulty with it even though I was firing from a sandbag rest. My wife asked to try it. I helped her load it and explained the function of a single action revolver. I wasn't worried about recoil, I was using mild factory loads.

I tried to explain the sighting process as best as I could. But this gun's sights are on the crude side, so I doubted that she would even hit paper.

Her first shot on the silhouette hit alsmost dead center. I thought to myself, must be luck. Well, her next shot, and every other shot hit close to the first one. She swore to me that was her first shooting experience.

I changed our intruder scenario. If someone came in, she would grab the gun and cover me while I dialed 9-1-1. :D
 
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Many auto's have a striker system instead of a hammer(eg.glock). These slides are very easy to cycle. As far as Taurus revolvers being "known for poor double action trigger pulls", That poster must have tried one soaking in salt water, if he tried one at all. :rolleyes:
 
At my ladies' handgun shoots, there are always about 20 male range safety officers, so we have enough for one-on-one. They will all admit that women are naturals when it comes to shooting. I don't know if it's the way we line things up, or perhaps a lighter touch, or a left-brain right-brain thing, but we seem to be better at it than men from the git go. It takes a real man to recognize and admit this. PLEASE DON'T TAKE THIS AS AN INSULT, GENTLEMEN! I dearly love, respect, and appreciate all the men who help with my shoots.
 
We always have a huge amount of Glocks available for women, and, for the most part, they have a difficult time pulling the slide back. It does get easier, however, as they become more familiar with the gun. A lot of it is using muscles in a new way and performing a function that is new to them.
 
Re:nramom

What do you think of a single action revolver for home defense? As mentioned earlier, my wife is an expert with it. I realize there are short comings to this type of revolver, but the 45Colt would seem to be an effective round.

I have taken her plinking with that gun. I have set up cans, plastic bottles, and all sort of targets up to twenty or so yards away. She rarely misses. It drives me crazy, I can't shoot that gun worth beans. In fact, the safest place for someone to be if I was to shoot at them with it would be straight in front of me.

I agree with you, women seem to have some sort of natural knack for shooting. I know there are several theories to explain this. I like the one that states that women have more feel in their hands. In other words, they are less likely to jerk the trigger.

Like I said, if an intruder paid us a visit, and if my wife used the Vaquero and kept her witts, that person would be in serious trouble.
 
When it comes to self defense, it is the CARTRIDGE that matters. The gun is basically a projectile launcher. The cartridge does the job.

If somebody is a good shot with a SA, then the SA is a good choice for them, especially if they can cope with what are seen as it's "shortcomings."
(most of which would only matter if you were in a foxhole overrun with enemey troops).
Certainly most SA revolvers are chambered in much more effective rounds than modern auto pistols, such as the .45 colt, 44-40 and 38-40 and .357.

For years, I carried a short barrel super blackhawk as my primary self defense CCW weapon.
In regards to women and shooting. I have trained men and I have trained women and women pick up on it faster for one simple reason - They don't have preconcieved (false) notions about shooting.
You tell a woman to go into a particular stance and use the sights in a particular way and she does.
You tell a tyro male the same information and he doesn't beleive it. He has a lifetime of watching John Wayne and Clint Eastwood movies under his belt, and he just knows deep down in his heart that he is a natural and he is gonna drill that target at 50 yards firing from the hip like the Duke.
When he starts missing, despite being a "natural" he starts losing confidence in the gun at first, then himself.
Meanwhile, right next to him on the firing line is a female shooter who has done what was instructed and gets better and better with each round fired. She did not expect to hit the target, so when the hits start c oming, she thinks "this is easy and fun" and her confidence level in the weapon climbs.
I have seen this over and over and over through the years. Where I live, our probabtion office recently armed its officers . For over a year now, one of the females with no previous weapons experience has consistantly outscored the males when they have their regular qualification shoots. She said that the range master told her the same thing I did.
 
"What do you think of a single action revolver for home defense?"

I know that question was directed elsewhere, but I'm going to chime in on it anyway.

I say, if you can shoot it well, go for it. SA revolvers have served many people well for many years.

When I was still at home growing up, my father had an early Ruger Blackhawk .357 Mag for home defense -- my sister has it now. He never had to use it in a HD situation, but he was competent with it.
 
SA for Self Defence?

I would bet that if the BG were to take it away from you before you vented him, he would be pulling the trigger and tryin to figer out why it don't work. (assuming the average BG ain't 2 smart to begin with). This would give you time to place yr hands comfortably around his neck and as they say......squeezeeeee it till it go Bang.

A very good cop friend of mine always said he carried his service revolver with 5 rounds. If they take his gun and take a shot at him he has time to grab him by the hair and procede to kill with his bare hands...there are time when I believed him! This was back in the days (70's) when everyone had long hair and bald guys didn't get in trouble I guess.

In serious thought, perhaps SA is the best to get started with. You can always work into the DA in good time.
 
There was, until this year, a single-stack, tilt-barrel, .380 available from Beretta. It was the Model 86 Cheetah. You didn't need to rack the slide. It was also capable of being cocked for the first shot, and was SA after that. If you could find one, it might just work. No slide to rack, slim grips, enough weight to render the .380 way down in recoil, and a light SA trigger.

As for a revolver, I'll second the Colt Agent. It's not heavy, has a pretty good DA trigger, and can be cocked for SA fire. Also carries six rounds. Use a good .38 Special non-+P, and she should be pretty happy.

She really needs to do some hand and forearm exercises. Otherwise, she will find the weight of any handgun too great for meaningful practice.

By the way, our 19 year old daughter, at 5' 6" and 118 lbs. has zero problems shooting my 1911, or my Taurus PT-101, or our assorted .357 Mag revolvers. She was a little tired after 20 minutes the first time we took her out, but built up her hands and forearms gradually. Today, the words "Lets go to the Range" trumps even a date with her boyfriend.

NRAMOM, women are easier to teach. They don't seem to feel that the outside plumbing men possess makes them instant John Waynes. They listen more closely, and ask questions more freely then most males. When I teach, if I can't have one or more females in the class, I always bring one along to the second lesson. Them hitting the target, while the Waynes are patterning usually brings the boys back to the basics without comment. :D
 
>>IMHO, learn how to fan it!<<<

Never fan a SA revolver!
If its a Colt or Colt copy, you will break all the hammer notches off the hammer. If its a Ruger, you will score the cylinder around the locking bolt notches.
Fanning is very abusive to the lockwork of an SA revolver.
The only one made from the factory that can be fanned without major damage that I know of is the new Taurus gaucho.
 
"Fanning is very abusive to the lockwork of an SA revolver."

Not only that, it is really unnecessary. With practice (yes, you ARE going to practice, right?) you will find that you can actually shoot a SA about as fast as you can a DA (unless you are extremely proficient with DA), that is until you run out of shots in they cylinder. Don't believe it? Go check out the CAS guys, they do rapid fire SA all the time. There's a trick to it: You co.ck the hammer while recovering from the prior shot's recoil. By the time you have it back on target you are already ready to shoot. The shape of the grip actually helps you do this, as well as helping with the recoil.
 
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