gun suggestion for sister

A

adamBomb

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She is a first time shooter, 25 yrs old, and wants something for home protection, jogging, walking, hiking, ccw, etc. We are headed to a few stores over the next few days...one today to see what fits her. Any good suggestions on what other females prefer? Here is what I am going to have her try:

Glock 42
Revolver - jframe 38 special
SW Shield

I had her look at my glock 26 and she really liked it but I dont think she realizes how heavy it will be for her. She is small and skinny and I think a double stack is too big for her. I also think the small 380s like the p3at are too small.

And yes she is going to try all of these first before buying. And once she buys we will teach her to use and she is taking a safety course as well.
 
Depends, no not the diapers !!!

Many women like my wife have trouble racking a pistol but there are a couple quality pistols that rack easily. The easiest for my wife is the Sig Sauer P938 in 9 mm. There are several trim models and they are a little pricey but not for a gun of its quality, It is a good value.

A more reasonably priced pistol she may like and it handles well is the Ruger LC9s. It has a great trigger and is pretty easy to rack for a 9 mm. You can also get it with a laser for about the same price or less than the P938 without a laser.

Another option is a revolver but my wife hates them and one of her friends has one that jams because of all the crap in her purse getting hung up the rotating mechanism. I know this is an issue with her carry method but t is what it is.

Good luck with it but above all else let her handle and if possible shoot the gun BEFORE you or she buys it. I wouldn't want someone else picking my EDC weapon for me. Just a recommendation (learned the hard way).
 
Have your sister take a look at the Kahr CM9 or PM9. They are small and have a trigger system that is forgiving to a newbie. There is a lot less chance of having an accidental discharge.
 
Of my wife, two daughters, and several friends of my daughters in their twenties who I have introduced to shooting, not a single one liked a J frame revolver. The snubbies are not great handguns for beginners because of the short sight radius, recoil, and heavy double-action triggers. Putting pink grips on the things do not make them "ladies' guns." IMO, the Shield and the little Glock .380 would be better choices.

My wife and one of my daughters have CW permits. One picked a Sig P238 because of its unusual combination of small size and easy shooting. She is able to dress stylishly and still conceal. The other picked a Beretta PX4 compact for its smooth, easy shooting and accuracy, but doesn't actually carry it because of its size. Concealed carry for women is not the same as for men. Steer your sister to PAX's excellent website www.corneredcat.com before she buys, and she will be able to make a much more informed decision.
 
Sounds like she needs more than one handgun. If she's that small she might like a pocket pistol for jogging, and I'd look at something in .32 Auto. A compact pistol for home defense and concealed carry makes sense. For a first-time shooter I'd stay away from 9 Luger.

Let her try carrying your G26 around the house or on a day hike (if not illegal for her to do so) -- unloaded likely, to give her an idea how that feels so she can decide on a smaller gun or alternative carry mode.
 
My sister is somewhat recoil sensitive. We made a discovery when we were looking around for her a CCW gun. She wound up with a small frame Charter arms snub in .22 Mag, which was a reasonable price to boot. There are some defense rounds out in 22 Mag that look pretty good on paper, and they're no more expensive than center fire practice rounds.

The gun shoots well, carries well, and will fill her needs fine. Where we are there are no large predators (4 legged), so no bear defense, etc. The occasional coyote when she and my BiL are out and about walking/hiking.

Anyway, don't discount the 22 Mag as a viable self defense round in a J frame. 7 shots of low recoil goodness in an easy to use/learn platform..................
 
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She is a first time shooter, 25 yrs old, and wants something for home protection, jogging, walking, hiking, ccw, etc. We are headed to a few stores over the next few days...one today to see what fits her. Any good suggestions on what other females prefer? Here is what I am going to have her try:

Glock 42
Revolver - jframe 38 special
Click to expand...

Skip these. For now. IMHO & YMMV.

SW Shield
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Shield maybe. Only in 9mm, and with the extended magazine.

Have her look at the XDS, in 9mm, with the 8 round magazines. Essentially a mid sized single stack Glock 9mm. Which is what I think would be a better place to start. Which is what she's doing.

I had her look at my glock 26 and she really liked it but I dont think she realizes how heavy it will be for her. She is small and skinny and I think a double stack is too big for her. I also think the small 380s like the p3at are too small.

And yes she is going to try all of these first before buying. And once she buys we will teach her to use and she is taking a safety course as well.
adamBomb is offline Report Post
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BTW, I would also suggest you read through this thread: Issues with the results of more women in the shooting world... .

There's a lot of sex/gender related posturing going on, with something that ought to be a simple choice of tool.
 
My wife was a first time shooter and I talked to a very good friend who is a police officer and firearms instructor. He recommended a Ruger LCR .22 or a Lady Smith .38. He said he would consider the LCR first. He said for a new owner/ carrier that the low recoil would be more successful at shots on target. With good quality .22 lr and the ability to hit what you are shooting at under stress, this would be the best. The revolver also has no issues with jamming, miss deeds, racking the slide, etc. It all made sense to me so that's what we bought. She shoots it well and is very comfortable carrying it. As we shoot more she may come to a point where she wants something bigger, but I am confident in my friends recommendation and I am sure that if she has to use it she will hit with a majority of her shots. I am sure a lot of people will argue the small caliber, but I don't want to be shot by anything reguardless of how big or small.
 
To all those recommending a j frame..... did you read the OP?

She is a first time shooter
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You would really recommend a DA revolver with a tiny sight radius and rudimentary sights for new shooter? Recoil issues aside, I can't think of a harder gun to get hits with without extensive practice..... which she has not had.

Also, how many 25 year old women do you know that wear pants the least bit conducive to pocket carry?

OP, direct your sister to the Cornered Cat site:

http://www.corneredcat.com/

or maybe buy her Kathy's book, so that she can make an educated decision on her own gun.
 
Is there a big rush? If not why not pay for an introductory firearms class for your sister that exposes her to several different types of guns? Makes a wonderful Christmas gift.

Treat her to a trip to a gun range that rents guns and have her try out every 9mm they got.

Trying guns on for size at the store is lots of fun but education and actual experience will lead to a better choice oh and this.

http://www.corneredcat.com/

That web site is a very valuable resource for women looking to get a gun or any user old or new.
 
I'm trying to figure this out myself. Three things have disappointed me about this process so far:
1) my subjects all are willing to spend less time getting this right than picking out a pair of shoes.

2) my subjects all struggle with the concept of telling themself "yes, i can shoot someone attacking me."

3) my subjects all struggle with making time to practice.


On my side, i really struggle finding a average sized women's gun. Basically, in today's gun world, the subcompact single stack 9mm size in 9mm or 380 is about the right hand fit. My wife shoots an XDS 9. It really has too much recoil for her to throw lead with much speed. I'm wondering if the larger Kahr 380 would be a better choice...

Basically, they struggle with grip size, struggle with recoil, and really struggle with slide racking...
 
It is a complex process, and our friend on the other thread was really stirring the pot.

Right now I can offer that a lightweight .38 revolver is a hard gun to handle.
My neighbor asked me what to get a couple of years ago and his requirements were such that nothing else would serve. But when he wanted to outfit his wife similarly, I at least got her into a Model 10 which didn't HURT.

The plastic .380s I have seen were nasty little kickers, too. One woman's Ruger LCP was at least an improvement over the Airweight that HER husband had considerately provided. Another's Bodyguard was less manageable for some reason. I saw a favorable review of the Remington .380 as superior to the Ruger... by a paying customer.

On the other hand, just last week I had a lady out with a Shield 9mm. The dealer had thrown in a laser guide beam as a Christmas bonus. It did not take her long at all to get on target with that laser at across the room distances, and the recoil did not much trouble her.
 
SP-101 in .357. Start low & slow on the power scale and work gradually upward.

I do not understand this fetish for equipping petite shooters with petite firearms, especially when controllability drops precipitously with size (of the firearm, not the shooter). J-frame revolvers in .38 or .357 are an expert's gun, not a beginner. Starting new shooters on these revolvers is analogous to shooting new shotgunners on .410s. They're likely to tolerate a low-brass 20 gauge just as well, plus the probability of hitting something seriously enough to take out of flight is substantially increased.

A 3" - 4" barreled K-frame-sized .357 is tougher on attackers than the j-frame anythings, and much easier on the shooter. A 5-shot, 3" barreled Taurus M431 or Rossi M721 .44 Special is more controllable than a j-frame with any serious defense ammunition, and a more decisive fight-stopper. Ammunition expense is one consideration, but the more expensive .44 Spl ammunition is somewhat offset by the shorter learning curve. If a 5-shot .45 ACP revolver can be had, its ammunition expense is somewhat lower than for a .44 Spl., and nothing is sacrificed in terms of controllability or ability to incapacitate an aggressor.
 
J frame

As others have said though small in size this is a difficult weapon to master, especially for a new shooter.

My petite daughter carries a Walther PPK/s stainless in .380 loaded with +p ammo. Make no mistake, she loves shooting her .45-70 black powder rifle as well as her husband's 2 1/12 inch .357.

The Walther PK 380 is quite easy to rack the slide.
 
A subcompact Sig P250 in .380 looks like it might be a good fit for her. Not a tiny pistol but still fairly small. 12 round capacity. I almost bought one in 9mm a while back. Nice trigger and feels really good in hand. Might be worth checking out, maybe even the 9mm version if she's not recoil sensitive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70xUWN7DFdQ
 
But not for a first gun. Not to say it can't work out. Is she's willing to work with a somewhat steeper learning curve?
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Ease of use, and why they made a Lady Smith. I've taught many on one, and all did well without complaints.
 
With a good holster setup, a g26 would not be a problem even for a smaller woman.

For jogging, a fanny pack can work well for carrying a larger pistol.

Something around the size of a g19 can be a very versatile size, but it may be big for comfortable carry for a small woman.

Any pistol she wants to get, you need to ensure that she can properly manipulate.

If she can't rack the slide well enough to clear a malfunction, then that isn't the pistol for her.

A double stack is much easier to shoot than a single stack. Mostly due to recoil.
 
Thanks for the suggestions.

Update: We went to gander mountain today and she got to hold a bunch of them and get a feel for them. Her top two choices were the glock 42 and sig 238. She is going to shoot the glock 42 in a few days as well a glock 19 to get a feel for the different sizes and calibers. She wants to purchase by mid january when she returns home so there isnt a huge rush to get it today but she is looking. Unfortunately she wont be able to take a course until she gets the gun. I am pushing the glock over the sig at this point if those are the only two she is going for but her opinion may change once she actually fires them. Both the glock and sig slides were very easy to rack, easier than any other gun we tried out.
 
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