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Yeah, I watched my dad teach my mom to drive. First lesson in why husbands and wives should not teach each other things. OTOH, my wife wanted me to teach her to shoot for her CHL, so I did. It was a bit, um, painful in spots, but I was pleased when the CHL instructor commented to me that she had the best and safest gun handling skills on the range.

Taking a tangent to Seamus's advice about instruction, Vicki Farnam and Diane Nicholls wrote a two books on women and shooting, if instead of getting another instructor you go the DIY route. You can find them at http://www.dtipubs.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; One is Teaching Women to Shoot: A Law Enforcement Instructor's Guide, meant for instructors, the other is Women Learning To Shoot: A Guide for Law Enforcement Officers, meant for female students. Making sure she has a good grasp of both the gun and the ideas can go a long way towards making the gun easier to handle. Altho these books were motivated by the author's experiences in training law enforcement officers, they are equally applicable to any one who shoots, not just cops. The focus is on shooting, not policing. The best would be read these two books, and then go to one of John Farnam's basic Defensive Handgun courses -- Vicki (his wife) teaches those courses, male and female students both, and she is good at it. There is one coming up in October in Victoria, Texas.

As for the gun -- bigger gun in same caliber will have less recoil. Simple physics. If it is really the recoil that bothers her (versus, say, maybe the way she is holding it amplifies the felt recoil), then the more metal and the smaller the caliber, the easier it will be.

My wife has had trouble with the slides on the Keltec and the Kahr P-9. Smaller guns have stiffer springs. She does better with the Glock 17, but it is still a chore, and the Glock is pretty big to haul around for her. She ultimately decided she liked shooting my snubbies best overall. Simple to operate, easier to pull the DA trigger than rack a slide, etc. I got her an Airweight bodyguard with a CT laser (I am not big on lasers, but she likes it) as a gift, and that is what she will carry and shoot. Good for most short range encounters, harder for someone to grab with that short little barrel, and she can shoot right thru her purse with it (I hate purse carry, but I am not her). Loaded with standard Corbon DPX.

seamusTX wrote:The century-old .45 ACP has quite a bit less "snap' than 9 mm in an alloy pistol like the SIG or modern calibers.

Shotguns have an undeserved reputation for knocking the shooter on his or her butt. They are quite manageable with competent instruction. Most bad guys looking down the barrel of a shotgun will hear their momma callin'.

Here's a nice .22 pistol. It's not for sale.

BuckMark2.jpg

- Jim

Seamus, was this a typo? Did you mean to type well deserved instead of undeserved?

I used to own a Remington Wingmaster 870 12 gauge five shot pump. Wish I still did. Used it for hunting birds. She reminded me that she had shot it and didn't think the recoil was that bad. My biggest concern about shotguns is the size. In a close encounter and in the many corners of a house scenario, a shotgun can be a liability rather than an asset. Especially if you haven't trained extensively in combat scenarios so you're knowledgeable of the risks of a long barrel weapon being taken away from you.

Nice .22, BTW.

baldeagle wrote:Did you mean to type well deserved instead of undeserved?

I used to own a Remington Wingmaster 870 12 gauge five shot pump. Wish I still did. Used it for hunting birds. She reminded me that she had shot it and didn't think the recoil was that bad.

I meant undeserved, and you answered your own question. My wife can pop off 1-ounce 20-gauge rounds as long as I can afford to buy them.

I shopped hard for that Buck Mark. They don't make many in stainless steel, and they are difficult to tear loose from the owners.

- Jim

baldeagle wrote:So what are her options? I'm thinking it's got to be a revolver, because she really doesn't care for racking the slide and for the ejected brass flying at her. But aren't revolvers, in general, heavier than a comparable semi-auto in the same caliber? The recoil is also a concern. I don't think the recoil of the P239 is bad at all, but she did. I'm almost thinking a .22LR revolver is about the best option, but it's clearly not a man stopper.

If recoil is the problem, then heavy is good. First time I let SWMBO shoot my regular carry, a Bersa 9mm Ultra Compact, the recoil really put her off. So, rather than change calibres, I went out in search of the heaviest, ugliest, 9mm I could find. It turned out to be a WWII P.38. So far, it seems to have worked.

Of course, this doesn't help you with the slide issue, but perhaps there's an old wheel gun out there that might suit her? Something like a Colt Army Special, or similar?

This is a Taurus Circuit Court Judge. It can be fired single action and of course chambers .45 long colt and/or .410 shotgun shells. I'd imagine there's not much recoil.
I seem to recall the hammer being kind of oversized. I'm certainly no expert but I'm thinking she could use the side of her hand to cock the hammer. Of course if she really needed to let some led fly, she could go double action.

I realize I left out a specific gun recommendation. Have her try a Browining Hi Power. Original hi-cap 9mm, yet very svelte and fits small hands very well. All steel, soaks up 9mm recoil just fine. Yes it has a slide, but I don't think it has a particularly stout spring; the slide is reasonably heavy so it doesn't need the stiff spring of smaller semi-autos.

Since it is going to be a house gun and carrying it concealed is not an issue, you can get 20 round magazines for it and she probably won't have to re-load anyway. Use decent ammo and malf drills are pretty much un-needed. Nothing's perfect (even revolvers have their issues) but I have gone through thousands of rounds with my HP (yes I counted them), and can count malfunctions on one hand. Other HP owners I know of have generally had the same results.

Just a thought.

I took my wife to Cabellas, flagged down an elerly gentleman behind the counter who looked like he knew handguns and had patience and we let her handle everthing in the gun case within reason. We spent about 3 hours there. At one point she started to complain about the time but when I pointed out how much time she can spend looking at shoes she didn't bring up the time factor again. She kept going back to the Ruger LCR. It fit her hand well, pointed well in her hand, she could pull the trigger with good control (she has cervical spine issues that have caused her to lose some grip strength) she liked the size (big enough to handle, small enough to conceal fairly easily) and found it easy and simple to operate. Ours is rated for .38 special +P and says so on the barrel.

I understand Ruger has recently released the LCR in .357 magnum and that this version can also shoot .38 special and .38 special +P. If I had it to do over again I'd probalby buy that one because although we'd probalby rarely if ever load it with .357, it might be nice to have the option.

Great choice IMO. My wife has the LCR and it is really excellent.

edmart001 wrote:I took my wife to Cabellas, flagged down an elerly gentleman behind the counter who looked like he knew handguns and had patience and we let her handle everthing in the gun case within reason. We spent about 3 hours there. At one point she started to complain about the time but when I pointed out how much time she can spend looking at shoes she didn't bring up the time factor again. She kept going back to the Ruger LCR. It fit her hand well, pointed well in her hand, she could pull the trigger with good control (she has cervical spine issues that have caused her to lose some grip strength) she liked the size (big enough to handle, small enough to conceal fairly easily) and found it easy and simple to operate. Ours is rated for .38 special +P and says so on the barrel.

I understand Ruger has recently released the LCR in .357 magnum and that this version can also shoot .38 special and .38 special +P. If I had it to do over again I'd probalby buy that one because although we'd probalby rarely if ever load it with .357, it might be nice to have the option.

Looks really interesting. Will definitely have to get her to try one out.

seamusTX wrote:

gfmun wrote:Husbands should not try to teach their wives to drive a straight stick, ...

I did. With my own car.

There's an old saying that good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment. I have lots of experience.

- Jim

I have a friend that uses a similar motto: "Experience gained is directly proportional to equipment ruined."

Have her try a Browining Hi Power.

I'll second that. excellent gun and one that appears to 'fit' more people well than many others.

Another option to consider is a 1911 in 9mm. The weight tames the recoil and the slide is fairly easy to rack in comparison to many other 9mm guns.