My wife has recently decided that she would like a handgun for personal protection. I have carried ever since moving to a state that believes in the 2nd Amendment, and currently carry a Sig P365 loaded with 10+1 Critical Defense and a second spare mag. I’ve been shooting my whole life, and own many guns including semiautomatic pistols and revolvers so I’m familiar with the pros and cons of each. My specific question is on what would be the better choice for my wife to carry.
I like the idea of a revolver such as a LCR or S&W J frame in .38 special since the manual of arms is so simple and the double action trigger pull adds to safety. My concern is that she’s got small hands and the DA trigger pull may be a bit much for her. She’s fired my Glock 19 at the range and likes that, but I’m not super comfortable that she can operate the slide quickly if needed. I’ve thought of a hammer fired DA/SA with a decocker/safety, but that seems like it might be complicated for her. I’d appreciate your thoughts, especially if you’ve dealt with the same sort of situation.
OK, the road to blah, blah, blah, paved with yellow bricks or something. However that saying goes.
Don't fall into allowing your "ideas" to be the guiding or deciding factor. Not saying you are, but it's a common enough occurrence to make it worth pointing out.
This is not to say your ideas aren't worth while or important...just that how you present them may come across negatively.
Regardless of the individual, I ALWAYS advise ANYBODY to get out there and handle/shoot a variety of guns and see what they like. There are many factors which are important, and those factors are weighed differently from individual to individual.
Some such factors: Size, weight, feel, balance, design, caliber, capacity, auto/revolver, material, manufacturing company, color, custom features, recoil, sights, ease of operations, cost, availability, and not to be understated: personal taste.
As a couple personal examples:
1. Glocks are by any measure an outstanding pistol. They didn't get their reputation because they're a piece of dung. And a great many people swear by them for a variety of reasons. I totally understand all this, and more...but to me they're uglier than sin and I won't own one. BUT THAT'S ME.
2. My wife's pistol is a Walther PPK/S. She loves the look and feel, but has a very difficult time operating the safety and slide and always has me or my son go with her to the range to help her with these things. But she'll NEVER give up that gun because that's her "Bond gun" and that woman is a HUGE James Bond fan. She ADORES it. Knowing she would not be able to easily operate this pistol, I would NEVER have recommended or bought it for her. But her being such a huge James Bond fan makes all the difference to her and therefore could not be discounted in the decision to get that gun. Is it suitable for personal protection for my wife? Not with these problems. But the beauty is there are OTHER guns she can get which WOULD be.
SO...take your wife gun shopping. Go to gun shops/ranges which rent a variety of guns and try them out. (If for no other reason than "shooting is fun".) Go to gun shows where she can walk dozens of tables, talk to people, and handle a huge variety of handguns of all types, sizes, calibers, etc. She can hold them, feel their weight, see how they fit her hand, check the sight pictures out, rack the slides, open the cylinders, remove/insert magazines, etc.
And the real beauty is this: she gains experience in all this and is more apt to purchase something she is going to like. AND...this experience will guide her to any future purchases, because the true beauty is that buying ANY firearm does not represent a "failure" if it has aspects she turns out not to appreciate: she can ALWAYS get something else.
That experience will then guide her in any future purchases.
Look into a female firearms instructor, too.
And check this site out. It's written by and for women on the subject:
https://www.corneredcat.com/
My favorite page on that site for the subject of women racking semiautomatics:
https://www.corneredcat.com/article/running-the-gun/rack-the-slide/#comment-2949
Rack the Slide
By Kathy Jackson
“My wife can’t always rack the slide, so even though she wants a semi-auto, I am going to insist she gets a revolver.”
“I like my revolver okay, but I’d sure like to try a semi-auto. Problem is, I can’t pull the slide back.”
“I can almost pull the slide back, but not far enough to lock it open.”
“I’m not strong enough to do the slide …”
If I had a nickel for every time I have heard variations on that theme, I’d be a wealthy woman today. Despite this, it is my contention that healthy adult women who really-and-truly cannot be taught to rack a slide are very, very, very rare. I’m almost tempted to say there are none at all.
A lot of men who have shot for years have never learned how to rack a slide without using a lot of muscle. They have not learned the easiest techniques, because they haven’t needed to. As a result, when these men become informal instructors for their female loved ones, they don’t know what to do if a woman can’t just muscle the slide back in the same inefficient way many men do. Soon these men become convinced that “Women just can’t …” And their female loved ones buy the lie, thinking of themselves as too weak to run a modern firearm.
(It continues...check the link above.)
