revolver for the wife

Lightweight .357 Mag revolvers are extremely difficult to control. Sight picture retention is invaluable. Excessive recoil militates against sight picture retention.

Firing a .357 Mag at night is blinding. After the first round, even where recoil is not an issue, the oppressive muzzle flash will destroy night vision causing sight picture retention to become a prayer.

Were I to use a .357 Mag revolver for self defense, especially in a home, I'd use only .38 Special 158 grain SWCHP +P ammo. And +P ammo in a Model 60 is not easy to control. It ain't fun to shoot.

I consider 4" barreled revolvers to be best balanced with a more natural point. I'm sure that many others find same with 6" barrels.

Factory ammo .357 Mag velocities are nowhere close to actual velocities out of guns with 4" barrels. Barrels any shorter than 4" yield velocities that aren't much better than .38 Special +P velocities. Years ago I chrono'd factory .357 Mag ammo out of a 4" 586. Velocities were pedestrian.

Finally, one of the attributes of the .357 Mag cartridge is superior sectional densities of heavy-for-caliber bullets. For trout fishing in black bear habitat, I use 180 grain bullets because of their penetrative ability. Hard cast bullets & Partitions are great choices.
 
If she was fine with the SP101 in .357... just get an SP101 in .357. If it's not going to see much time outside the home, the 4" barrel will tame recoil a bit more as well.
 
I owned a Ruger LCR for a bit. For me even hot 28 speical loads stung the hand a bit. Not enough to hurt really, but it left me with no motivation to shoot it a lot. In 357 I can only imagine.
 
If she's recoil shy and you're not afraid to spend money, you could get a Chiappa Rhino. The bottom mounted barrel pretty much means no muzzle flip, even with .357 magnums. Firing .38s out of it is nothing.
Problem: It has a heavy trigger pull. You can get a trigger kit for even more money that removes this problem, but they refuse to put it on 2" barrel models. If you're going for a 4", 5" or 6" barrel, it would be great choice.
 
Before you even begin worrying about recoil, find out if she can even pull the trigger and shoot the gun you are considering. Best to let her try in store or find a friend with a DA revolver. My wife simply cannot pull the trigger to shoot any one of our three carry pistols. She must cock manually to fire the first shot. Not good but best we have at the moment.
 
If you can, find an SP101 in .327 Federal Magnum in 4" or 6". It will allow her to work her way from very tame 32. Longs, to .32H&R Magnum, to .327 Fed Magnum loads which will give her comparable performance to .357 magnum with much less trouble. They are not easy to find and they are not likely to be cheap. but they are perfect for the job.

Another possibility if she has issues with recoil is the Taurus Model M992 Tracker 22 LR/22 Mag, it's a 9 shot revolver in .22 Mag that will be very tame, she can then work her way into something better for the job and you have a good plinker in the mean time.
 
More psychology at play.

A non-gun person will usually by into the Magnum means really powerful or scary.

This is one instance where you can start someone on .22LR and when it's time to up the ante to magnum loads it's noticeable but not really worse in any negative way, magnum starts to loose the scary.
 
Here's my issue ... my wife does not like recoil .. at all ... the gun she chose for her nightstand out of my collection was my Ruger LCR in .22mag ... she loves shooting it, is very accurate with it ... it was a choice between that and pepper spray; I think we made the right choice. I'm retired, so it's rare that she's home and I'm not, making my Springer Loaded in .45acp or my 9mm carbine our first line of defense, but it's great to know that there's a second gun in play on my side if the balloon goes up. Incidently, if there is a second person armed and on your side, practicing spoken directions and coordinated movement is vital; no sense knocking down a BG and getting winged by your partner.

There are tons of women who can handle heavy recoil in a lightweight gun; my spouse does not happen to be one of them. IMHO, the gun SHE likes best and shoots well is the right choice.
 
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