New gun for the wife...........what to get?

[barres]

My wife has had the same difficulty with racking the slide on many semi-autos and tends to like a larger gun. The larger semi-autos for some reason seem to be a little easier to operate for females. I 100% agree that technique for pulling the slide back is really more of the issue than strength. Body mechanics and leverage plays a large role in successfully operating the pistol.

Personally, I think part of it is all in the head. My wife swears that my Glock 23 is more difficult to operate than the G19 however these are identical guns including the recoil spring assembly.

Most of this "dilemma" can be easily explained. A larger semi-automatic has more surface area on the slide that the shooter can grab. That translates to less pounds per square inch required to keep a firm grip on the slide. Therefore, a person with a weaker grip can still have the upper body strength to operate a larger pistol more easily that a smaller handgun. That's my theory.

I am not a Glock expert, but if the Glock 23 and Glock 19 were identical guns then they should have identical model numbers.

The G23 and G19 are identical except in what caliber ammo they fire, so their barrels, trigger assembly (including the ejector) and extractors are different. The rest of the pistol is the same for the two models, including the recoil spring assembly. Not to mention every other spring in the pistols.

[CompVest]

So they are the same but different! Duh

[barres]

Okay, point taken, CompVest. In regards to the point of this discussion: the ease or difficulty of retracting the slide, they are identical. They use the exact same recoil spring assembly and slide. The minor differences wouldn't affect the amount of force needed to charge the pistols.

[Sangiovese]

A Bersa 380 was my wife's first gun as well.

Like your wife, she has a hard time with the slide on some guns (my XD 45 is really hard for her, and she doesn't care for my XD 9 either)... but she absolutely loves her full size HK USP 9mm. And she doesn't have any problems at all with the slide.

The gun show is probably your best bet. The only way to be sure is for her to get her hands on a few different models and see what she can and can't operate.

While yer waitin' for the show... I'll second the recommendation of the Cornered Cat website. Lots of good info there that might be helpful/interesting.

[Hamourkiller]

About 20 yrs ago, I had my future bride at the range letting her shoot the "Female Apropriate" guns A Browning High Power 9mm and a Mod-19 S&W stuffed with 38's. I took my Colt Combat Elite 45 along for my shooting pleasure. Sad mistake
The Mod 19 didn't fit.
The High Power stung! recoil was sharp
The 45 was jussssst Right!

She could grab that big slide and operate it with no trouble, liked the big bullet too! Recoil was more of a shove and less sharp than the 9mm. Stays with her to this day.

When I am less depressed (A man should never loose a good 45!) I will tell the tale of how my CAR-15 became her CAR-15!

Moral of this story, let her try various platforms, you never know what she will take too.