Pax wrote:
On the issue of hand strength, here's what I've written elsewhere:
Over the past ten years, I’ve worked with thousands of women as they learned to shoot. To this day, I have literally never met a healthy adult woman who could not be taught how to rack the slide on a semi-auto with less than an hour on the range — and the overwhelming majority of those women took less than 5 minutes to learn the simple technique that makes racking the slide an easy no-effort thing. Racking the slide is almost entirely a matter of technique, not strength, which means it’s something that almost anyone can easily learn how to do.
In contrast to this, I have met dozens of women who did not have the hand strength to reliably pull the trigger on a double action revolver for more than a few rounds even after repeated efforts. ... The tricks you can use to make pulling a heavy revolver trigger less difficult for someone with low hand strength nearly all require you to do something contra-indicated in a self defense situation.
If you're concerned about weak-handed women, you're better off learning how to teach someone to rack a slide, so you can hand those women the more appropriate weapon for their physical abilities.
"She won't learn how to use the gun anyway" is far too often a self-fulfilling prophecy. The newcomer's reluctance to learn anything can be caused by your own low expectations, and it's also often driven by forcing her to use a gun that's difficult to handle or uncomfortable for her to shoot. Many of the small, lightweight, difficult-to-shoot guns traditionally recommended as especially suited for women fall into this category.
pax
Kathy, my post was not intended to be demeaning towards women and I hope you did not take it that way. My post reflected MY experience regarding the size and strength (on average...
as I stated) regarding woman's hands.
Nowithstanding what you've "written elsewhere" Kathy, (and I have read some of your blogs at your "Cornered Cat" website), I believe I know my wife's hand size and strength better than you do, and do not believe I would be "better off learning how to teach someone to rack a slide"....as you stated, (at least regarding my wife).
I know very well how to rack a slide Kathy. I was racking the slides on .45 acp 1911's in the Marines during Vietnam decades likely before you were born. I have been shooting and working on guns for 50 years since I was 10. I carry and use a variety of semi-autos as well as revolvers myself. I know the different "techniques" for racking slides such as holding the frame stationary and simply pulling back on the slide, holding the slide stationary and pushing forward on the frame,
or the best way to maximize force using both those techniques wherein one pulls the slide back as one also pushes the frame forward at the same time. I have tried to teach my wife how to rack a slide.
However my wife is very small and petite at 5ft 2in. Standing behind her I can rest my chin on top of her head and even then I have to scrunch down a bit to do that. Her hands are very small and she doesn't have much strength in them. My 13 year old granddaughter's hands are bigger and have more strength in them than my wife's. Just yesterday she brought me a pickle jar to open that I opened right up that she didn't have the strength in her hands to get the lid off. She said getting the lids off jars and things off the top shelves that are too high for her 5 ft 2 in height,....is why she keeps me around Lol.
My wife isn't into guns like I am. She is only interested in just knowing enough to be able to operate her S&W airweight .38 special and that's it. She doesn't care about going to the range and shooting otherwise, and try as I might, she just has no interest in guns other than that. I'm grateful she even has THAT much interest because some woman don't even like guns. At least my wife has enough interest in them that she took a handgun course and learned to shoot hers and accepted my help in teaching her to shoot hers. However, she'd much rather be at home sewing and making curtains and doing "girly" things. And also we are most of the time together, so she has her "junk yard dog" to protect her and she would only have to resort to her S&W revolver (that she keeps handy) if I were incapacitated.
I have tried over and over again to teach her how to rack a slide. I have shown her how she can maximize her force by pulling back on the slide while at the same time she pushes forward on the frame. She just doesn't have the strength in her 62 year old hands (and arms) to do it....period. And she didn't have the strength even when she was much younger when I was trying to teach her. I had the same experience with my aunt when she was in her 60's and was telling me she couldn't even operate the slide on her .25 acp semi-auto she had inherited and asked me what gun she should get, and I also steered her to a 2 inch Rossi .38 special that she can operate just fine.
No doubt there are many women that can handle racking a slide, clearing a stovepipe jam and remembering to take the safety off....just fine in an emergency situation. And you no doubt are one of those and are obviously a knowledgeable and experienced shooter Kathy, but as I said, I believe (
on average as I previously stated) many women have less strength in their hands and are not as easily able to operate a slide nor as mechanically inclined as most men are (again....on average).
I disagree with your assertion that if a woman can't rack a slide then she likely can't operate a double action trigger either. Unless the double action handgun she is trying to operate is a cheap one, with an atrocious double action trigger pull, or an old war surplus Webley .455 with its also attendant atrocious double action pull. It is my experience and opinion that it is much easier for the
on average woman to pull a double action trigger than it is for them to rack/operate a semi-auto slide....and or clear a jam on a semi-auto. Your experience may differ, but that's MY experience. Nothing demeaning towards women regarding my opinion and experience.
My wife doesn't have the strength to rack a slide, nor the inclination to train to try and gain that strength no matter what technique I try to use to teach her. Lacking that training (that would kick in in an emergency situation), I wouldn't WANT her attempting (and failing) to rack a slide or try to clear a jam and for her to try and remember to disengage the safety on a semi auto. But she likes her simple, pretty much goof proof (point and squeeze) S&W .38 special airweight and can operate that just fine in double and single action in spite of her lack of strength or more advance training. And that works for her self protection if I'm not around. And ultimately finding out what works for one's body and self protection, is what personal protection is all about.
.