So the wife wants a gun....

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longshooter99

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So the other day my wife laid down the law and told me that the next firearm I purchase has to be for her, it has to be pink, and has to fit her comfortably. Now, she'll be happy wether it's a bow, handgun or rifle. We have a real good archery shop in town, and I know plenty about rifles, but handguns not so much.

So here I am, seeking your guy's knowledge on handguns. I myself have limited experience. My dad owns a browning buckmark. 22LR and Taurus Judge. I've seen plenty of pink buckmarks and they have the right price, plus the wife can shoot that comfortably (recoil sensitive). However, .22 is still a bit scarce so I'm open to other suggestions. She seems attracted to those small conceal carry pistols like the Ruger LC9 but I feel like that little guy would have more muzzle flip than a larger handgun.

So, any suggestions? Stick with .22s or something bigger like a 9mm? I'm not necessarily looking for a "self-defense gun" more so something she can shoot cans and paper with, along with the occasional opossum or rabbit. Also, I reload and the wife is a lefty while I'm a righty. Thanks!
 
Lot of issues here. I personally think the KelTec .32 is not a good choice if she wants to plink and shoot paper especially if this is not primarily a self-defense pistol. My wife has one and it's somewhat difficult to shoot accurately although she carries while working in the garden. She also has a Buckmark, although not in pink, and it gets a lot more use in the can/paper department. You are correct that .22 ammunition is still difficult to find in my area and may drive your options.

You might consider a decent mid-sized 9 mm as ammo is easier to find and in the right firearm, recoil is not intolerable. I did teach a class recently and instructed a woman with a Beretta Nano. In pink. As a single stack, the recoil was objectionable and the trigger pull difficult. She shot my Glock 26 with a 3.5 connector and announced "Time for a new gun!" The wider back strap and lighter trigger made a huge difference to her.

Try to talk her away from the "pink' business. When my wife was shopping for her first centerfire, she picked a Glock 19 and still loves it. Ammo is available, stock trigger is decent, manual of arms is simple. I think she would recommend it to your wife.

I believe the key issue for your wife to pick the handgun she wants, not what you think is "best" for her.
 
I would definitely take her to a gunshop and let her see whats available and how it fits her, I know women who can handle a .44 mag like a champ , but I also know women I wouldnt dream of handing one off to .
 
She needs to pick. Make sure she is made aware that pink grips can be had for a lot of guns.

If she's recoil sensitive, I don't recommend a polymer gun of any kind. She needs to make the deduction though.
 
Definitely let her pick. If you have a range in your area that rents guns go there and let her play with a few. You can't force a gun on someone. Sorta been there an' done that.:banghead:
 
I'm surprised there is no auto response feature that replies "LET HER PICK" everytime someone asks about a gun for the wife/girlfriend.

I would steer her towards a .22 or even a .38 revolver. Stay away from concealed carry guns, the recoil is snappy/harsh and she won't be able to shoot crap with it. If you want to go 9mm, go on the larger size. If she wants a crazy color, look at the EAA Witness Pavona line. They are compacts, but still shouldn't recoil as fierce as a subcompact or pocket pistol. In the end, let her pick with some guidance.
 
I got a S&W Model 34 for my wife's first gun (she's not big into pink guns anyways), because it would give her something that was easy to use and train with, little if any felt recoil, target sights, and a comfortable grip. It has worked out great for her.
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Handle many, shoot a few finalists, make final decision.

Make sure the salesman shows her how to manipulate the gun and let her do that manipulation as a lefty. Some southpaws manipulate non-ambi guns like revolvers easily while others struggle.

Try to let the pink issue work itself out. Encourage her to try handling and shooting guns that aren't pink just so she can get a feel for them then worry about color after she gets hooked on a model.
 
Stay out of it. Take her shopping, keep your mouth shut and your wallet open.
 
Took my wife to shop that had an indoor range. She shot several compact pistols, didn't like the recoil of 9mm and 38 snubbies. She ended up with an LC380, which is identical to the LC9 but has very little recoil. After shooting several magazines myself, I'm very pleased with her choice. The gun has a long trigger pull, but that's a good thing considering it being in a purse. It's very accurate, very easy to keep baseball size groups at 15 to 20 ft.
 
Any gun can be made pink these days..Think Duracoat

or even just pink grips. Also, even though 22 ammo is hard to find, even if you have to pay 10 cents per round it is still half the the price of 9mm and one quarter of the price of 380 or 38 special.

As to guns, the buck mark in pink or Muddy girl cammo would be a very good choice. Ruger makes the LC9 and the LC380 in pink or lavender. They also make the LCP in 380 in pink or lavender. These are all very good guns. My daughter,23, has the LCP and the LC9, my wife has an LCP. They are all black by the way.:)

Sig Sauer has the 938 and the 238 available with pink grips and engraving, very sharp looking guns. I want a 938, just not a pink one.:D

Charter has several revolvers in 9mm and 38 special but they all have 2" barrels, not the best choice for a beginner.

As i said earlier you can accessorize any gun with removable grips, with pink ones. You can also paint any gun these days. I would definitely have your wife look at the Glock model 42 in 380. I almost forgot Taurus makes the TCP in 380 in pink.

My last suggestion, since your wife did not specify handgun I would take a look at the S&W AR 15-22 in Muddy Girl cammo. Great little plinker and a whole lot of fun. Savage also makes rifles in in Muddy girl cammo in everything from 223 to 308. 223 ammo doesn't cost any more than 380 auto and is a heck of a lot more fun.
 
My wife picked and bought her gun. She rented several different pistols at the range, one of which I talked her into trying. She did not pick the one I suggested trying, and she loves what she got. I'm personally glad she picked it because she loves it.

Let her pick. Feel free to suggest certain ones to try, but I highly recommend keeping feelings out of it... Lastly, I can't stress this enough, avoid the fan boys working in gun shops. A few of them made her shopping experience annoying at times.
 
HexHead said:
Stay out of it. Take her shopping, keep your mouth shut and your wallet open.
Click to expand...
+1 on this gem of advice,,,,

I took this approach and took sweety to the LGS and she came out with a S&W 642-CT and I came out thinking I need to get a second job.......

ps,, she's happy and I love her choice,, she did good.
 
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My wife and daughter both liked plinking with my ancient NEF 32 H&R revolver. They hinted around about something that was less than 25 years old. I happened across a Charter Arms 32 H&R in very good condition at a very good price and bought it for them. They both like it better than the NEF and it is a reasonable SD cartridge. I scored big dad and husband points for $233.

And I didn't care about the color one way or the other... but it just happened to be pink.

They still make them. They are around $350 brand-new.
 
"let her pick"

Hopefully there's a range near you that will allow her to rent a pistol & try it out before purchasing one... My only caution would be as JeeperCreeper said,
those small lightweight pistols that feel so nice in the hand are not so great to shoot.As he said in his post , these pistols are snappy & difficult to place shots accurately. An all metal gun, even if it's small (Sig 232) is much more comfortable to shoot, & place shots accurately. Good luck in you search..
 
Originally Posted by HexHead View Post
Stay out of it. Take her shopping, keep your mouth shut and your wallet open.

+1 on this gem of advice,,,,

I took this approach and took sweety to the LGS and she came out with a S&W 642-CT and I came out thinking I need to get a second job.......

ps,, she's happy and I love her choice,, she did good.
Click to expand...

Wise decision Grasshopper,,,
Sounds like a great time was had by all.

Aarond

.
 
Whew this question has only been asked about 10,000 times on this forum. You can get a lot of ideas from previous threads by using the search function at the top of the page.

Since other posters will cover guns I will suggest you don't worry about color. After she chooses a gun you can send it off and have it Ceracoated in pink or just about any other color.
 
I am also very surprised about the shear number of woman who like the 1911 platform. My wife's son is a lefty and he finds the 1911 to actually be very good for him as long as it has an ambi safety. But you will have to let her choose of course. Pink grips can easily be had.
 
Well...the "pink" option is throwing me for a loop here, but I'll give it a go in general.

My wife now owns three firearms that I've gotten her over the last 2-3 years. The first one was a Savage Mark II-F bolt action 22 LR. This became hers because her husband knows "the right answer to important questions".

In this case, I had found a good deal on this rifle as a new gun someone bought then decided they didn't want. I snapped it up because my wife and I had been talking about taking our three kids out to shoot real guns and this would have rounded us out at three .22 caliber rifles. She asked if I had brought it home with me and wanted to see it when I told her it was in the trunk. She took one look at it and said "COOL! Is that for me?"

As I said..."husband knows right answer"!

The second was a Walther PPK/S .380. We had been talking about getting her own handgun for a while and we just hadn't had an opportunity to go gun shopping and handle/shoot some things she might like. Just before Christmas she sprung the "I want a handgun" line on me, when there was no opportunity or time to make good on that by Christmas. I had been saving for this for a while, so I took a huge leap of faith and, knowing my wife for the HUGE James Bond fan that she is, I picked up the Walther. I figured if she didn't like shooting it she would STILL love her "Bond gun" and we could shop for another.

You couldn't pry her Bond gun from her cold, dead fingers without a pry bar!

And the last one was a S&W M&P 15 Sport. Why this? Because right after Sandy Hook, when all the gun control nuts started crawling out of the woodwork and President Obama started pushing for more gun control, my wife (who absolutely hates any authority which tells her what she can't do or what she has to do) said "I want an assault rifle!"

Never cared one wit for anything like an AR-15 before at all until people started telling her she COULDN'T have one! When the prices came back down, I bought one for her birthday.



The key to buying someone else, especially a spouse, a gun is to find something THEY will like. Listen to what she says, look for what strikes her fancy, take her out to handle/try things, surf the web with her. If at all possible, find rentals she can shoot to see if she will really like it.

Let HER make as many of the decisions as possible on it, including the caliber. If she doesn't know...then take that as an opportunity to work with her on that decision, but leave it to her. In the end, she will appreciate and love that for what it is...respecting her needs and wants on the issue.

And when all is said and done...the gun is HERS. As in "not YOURS". It's something she likes, something she takes pride in, and she has pride of ownership in it. And it helps a lot that YOU bought this thing for HER and took HER considerations in on it when you made the purchase.


But "pink"? Ya got me there! Sounds like you have some homework to do!

Have fun!
 
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