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Okay, the wife has sold her Bersa Thunder and now wants a new gun. What should we be looking for? She doesn't have much hand strength. She cannot pull the slide back on my new XDm 9mm so I'm thinking that will limit her to staying with a 380.

What do you knowledgeable members think? Any suggestions? I'll be checking out the Mesquite gun show Saturday morning roaming from table to table.

Thanks for your time and suggestions.

Joe

Maybe a revolver would work for her. My daughter has a Lady Smith &Wesson 38. It is fairly small and the grip is good for small hands.

03Lightningrocks wrote:Maybe a revolver would work for her. My daughter has a Lady Smith &Wesson 38. It is fairly small and the grip is good for small hands.

I was thinking the same thing. If she can't rack a slide, look for a light trigger revolver.

Have you looked at a Lady Smith?

JRG wrote:Okay, the wife has sold her Bersa Thunder and now wants a new gun. What should we be looking for? She doesn't have much hand strength. She cannot pull the slide back on my new XDm 9mm so I'm thinking that will limit her to staying with a 380.

What do you knowledgeable members think? Any suggestions? I'll be checking out the Mesquite gun show Saturday morning roaming from table to table.

Thanks for your time and suggestions.

Joe

You bring up an issue that has been discussed a few times here and the cornered cat has a tutorial which covers this particularly well. Almost any healthy woman or even child can pull back the slide if they do it properly. It is about technique not strength. Have her check it out, and practice a little bit, before you even consider buying her another gun. She will find that she can not only do it, but its not even difficult. This will open a whole bunch of other guns available to her. Its been my experience that most women tend to prefer larger guns than what we men would expect.

The Cornered Cat does make a point that might get overlooked. Approach it aggressively, you don't have enough strength to hurt the gun while charging it.

As Liberty mentioned, this comes up a lot.

Here is a link to the most recent discussion I am aware of. On the second page, you will find a post I made with links to eight other threads mentioning this topic. It might be beneficial for you to check out the thread and links, as there is a lot of good info to be found there.

http://www.texasshooting.com/TexasCHL_F ... 23&t=21726" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

JRG wrote:She cannot pull the slide back on my new XDm 9mm so I'm thinking that will limit her to staying with a 380.

IMO and experience, it's not the caliber of the firearm that determines how easy/difficult it is to rack the slide. It's the strength of the spring and the leverage you can apply to it.

I've handled .45s that were easy for me to rack - more slide to grab and hang on to - and .32s that were not as easy. I've been dealing with CTS and arthritis for years so I don't have much hand or grip strength myself.

Take her to a gun show/store and let her handle a bunch of different pistols. She'll know when she finds one that feels right to her.

Liberty wrote: Its been my experience that most women tend to prefer larger guns than what we men would expect.

I have found this to be true also.

Take her to a gun show/store and let her handle a bunch of different pistols. She'll know when she finds one that feels right to her.

+1 Quidni, well put

While I think a revolver is a great option, don't rule out a semi-auto yet. My wife has had the same difficulty with racking the slide on many semi-autos and tends to like a larger gun. She did well with the Bersa .380 but cannot operate the slide on my LCP. She also has a very difficult time with the baby Glocks in 9mm or .40 caliber. She finally fell in love with my G19. The larger semi-autos for some reason seem to be a little easier to operate for females. Try a G19 and see what she thinks. 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. (She really is more opposed to the difference in recoil which I can't tell much difference) While a gun shop is a good place to sample and try out, I have found that if she is left alone to practice and try it out she builds more confidence. Something about having someone watch over your shoulder makes people give up easily. My .02

Thanks for all the replies. I indeed will need to take her to a gun show to let her see and handle what interests her.

The revolver is not an option because I had a S&W 642 for a while, and she did not like the kick using even just regular 38 rounds.

Joe

I'm going to suggest the Smith and Wesson M&P 9mm Compact. It's a great lady's gun, in my opinion, and my wife's primary carry weapon. It's small, but not too small. The grip size is adjustable. The springs are moderate, so the slide is fairly easy for people with not-so-strong hands to manipulate. I frequently teach women with this gun, and even women with weak or arthritic hands can rack the slide. Good luck.

magicglock wrote: While I think a revolver is a great option, don't rule out a semi-auto yet. My wife has had the same difficulty with racking the slide on many semi-autos and tends to like a larger gun. She did well with the Bersa .380 but cannot operate the slide on my LCP. She also has a very difficult time with the baby Glocks in 9mm or .40 caliber. She finally fell in love with my G19. The larger semi-autos for some reason seem to be a little easier to operate for females. Try a G19 and see what she thinks. 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. (She really is more opposed to the difference in recoil which I can't tell much difference) While a gun shop is a good place to sample and try out, I have found that if she is left alone to practice and try it out she builds more confidence. Something about having someone watch over your shoulder makes people give up easily. My .02

My wife cannot operate the slide on my P3AT and has difficulty with my G19 but she can get it done. In her defense she does have pretty severe carpal tunnel on he left hand. I have considered getting a couple of reduced power recoil springs to see if that helps.

Mike from Texas wrote:My wife cannot operate the slide on my P3AT and has difficulty with my G19 but she can get it done. In her defense she does have pretty severe carpal tunnel on he left hand. I have considered getting a couple of reduced power recoil springs to see if that helps.

Just make sure that the new springs don't reduce the reliability with the loads that she will be using.

magicglock wrote: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.