I finally got my wife to the range. The idea was to get her used to "her" Ruger LCP. She fired 20 rounds or so, but she got her hand pinched in the slide, so now she doesn't like her little gun. I also brought my PT 111 and she shot it. Here is the problem, she likes the PT 111 better. A good thing is that, even though she is a beginner, she is deadly. I have a new respect for her abilities and I better stay on her good side.
Another minor problem is that my eyesight ain't what it used to be, I have a dead spot right at arms length that everything is fuzzy with or without my glasses (nearsighted). So I burnt up what was left of the .380 ammo to see how acurate I could be without using the sights. I am accurate enough to hit center mass, so BGs should be afraid, very afraid.
Taurus PT111
Ruger LCP
5/26/10 Plastic
To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage.
Confucius
1. Don't buy a high end 1911 and let her try it. For one thing, you'll just fuel her addiction. For another, you'll just have to go out and buy yourself another one, and then where will you be? You find yourself in possession of two 1911s and surprised how it happened, and frequenting all the gunshows looking for deals on more 1911s.
2. You'll actually find that it is easier to shoot a much harder hitting caliber in a bigger, heavier pistol, than it is to shoot an anemic cartridge like the .380 in a small, light pistol. So will your wife, as you've already amply demonstrated.
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”
I don't want to be a grind, but a good optometrist can fix that to a large extent.
With people over 40 who are both nearsighted and have presbyopia (as I do), they will by default adjust your glasses for computer-screen distance of 20 inches or so.
If you tell a good optometrist that you shoot, first of all, he's not going to freak out and call the cops. This comes up all the time. He can adjust your dominant eye for 30 or 40 inches (depending upon whether you shoot rifles).
I got this done some years ago. The last time I went for a check-up, I encountered a young optometrist that I had not seen before. She looked at my chart and said something along the line of, "I see there that you shoot. I'll make that adjustment."
Of course, what they call "Main Street" optometrists charge just a bit more than Wal-Mart, like maybe five or nine times more.
What Jim says about optometrists is true. They see people all the time for whom this is an issue, and so any discussions thereof are business as usual for them. I just had my prescription updated last month. Since this was a new doctor for me, I had to fill out their questionnaire, which included questions about outdoor activities and hobbies. I listed "target shooting." She saw that on the chart and asked me, without any prompting on my part, if I needed any special lenses for shooting. The conversation was quite natural.
[off topic]
Later during the appointment, she said that I looked familiar and asked if she had seen me as a patient before (she hadn't). I told her I get that from people sometimes, but the only thing I could think of was that perhaps people see me on stage at church, then they see me somewhere else later, but don't remember where they saw me the first time. Sure enough, it turns out she and her husband (who is also an optometrist in the same office) go to my church.
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“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”
A good thing is that, even though she is a beginner, she is deadly. I have a new respect for her abilities and I better stay on her good side. 
, but on the bright side, maybe it will be easier to talk her into getting her own compact 9 MM now, maybe a 709. 