Pistol for wife

GaryO

GaryO

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M wife is expressing interest in getting her LTC-A ...Finally. Any suggestions what would be a good carry piece for her? I was thinking Walther PPK 380.
 
Ahh, that was kinda of a typical guy response, and now that I'm older and wiser what do you ladies prefer and how may we assist you with your choice?
 
if you know anybody that have different guns talk to them to see if you wife can look and handle them, or try to go to a public range that rents them, or if you belong to a club.
 
GaryO said:
M wife is expressing interest in getting her LTC-A ...Finally. Any suggestions what would be a good carry piece for her? I was thinking Walther PPK 380.
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Gary, having had a PPK in .380, you want to rent one first and let her try it; the recoil is pretty sharp, especially for a beginner.

Bring her to a NES shoot and she'll have a huge selection of guns she can try out.

Oops. Didn't realize that your name wasn't green. Anyway, we have shoots for the paid members periodically (Someone is trying to get one scheduled for weekend of August 18th, and we're planning to destroy a car in September again), so if you want to spring for the $19, you can get into the members forum and see when and where they are and make plans to join us. It's a lot of fun (and gun!). We had upwards of 70 people at the last one, IIRC... even in the rain!
 
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The PPK is a very nice gun but your wife might like the trigger pull on a Sig 232 better. Like the PPK the Sig can be a bit uncomfortable to shoot.


Respectfully,

jkelly
 
Gary,

Ross meant "NES Members" (green, paid members) for the NES events, not "registered members". The resident grammarian blew that one (but his spelling was OK [laugh] ).

Best bet is NOT for any male to choose what will work for our ladies. Let HER choose for herself. Any gun club worthy of belonging to has folks that will be more than happy to let her try their guns (you supply ammo). NES Shoots are another place to try various "toys".

Support her, but don't force your choice on her . . . both of you will regret it.

BTW, use Advanced Search after changing your User CP to show ALL THREADS and you will find this topic well discussed in the past, with lots of good info.
 
My wife has a .38 S&W five shot but every time we go out to the range she takes my .40 S&W and .41 Mag ruger. Let the wife pick something. Happy Wife, Happy Life.
 
The PP line, like most blowback pistols, has a stiff recoil spring and can be difficult to cycle for people who don't have strong gripping power.
 
GaryO said:
M wife is expressing interest in getting her LTC-A ...Finally. Any suggestions what would be a good carry piece for her? I was thinking Walther PPK 380.
Click to expand...

I tried that with my wife. The problem is loading it. If you don't pull the slide back all the way (and it is hard at first) you will get a real crappy jam with two rounds trying to go into the chamber. I have seen some lilly men have the same problem. And limp wrists will cause the some PPK's to stovepipe (or just no cycle). Not a good beginner gun.

I would start her with a revolver, like JAMMIN suggests.

Just my opinion.
 
Wife carries a Taurus .38 ported snub w/ C.Trace grips and a Ladysmith soon as I get the trigger redone from 10+ lbs. to something a little more realistic.

F-U MA.
 
Arioch said:
Gender aside, I've found revolvers to be a much better fit for new shooters.
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Hmm, and I am one who doesn't care for a revolver. Do as alot have suggested let her try a bunch out and see what she likes. What you guys think might be best she may not think so. Remember we have smaller hands and what fits for you may not for us.[wink]
 
As others have said, the PPK (like most .380s) is a blowback-operated pistol. This means two things to the operator:

1. The slide is hard to pull back because of the stiff recoil spring.
2. There's more felt recoil than with a locked-breach pistol.

The PPK is also a heavy pistol for its size. I have one and like it a lot, but most of the women that I've taken to the range find the PPK's recoil to be too much.

If you have your heart set on a .380, a better bet is a Colt Mustang. It's smaller, lighter, and fires against a locked breach. The recoil is less and the slide is easier to operate.
 
MrsWildweasel said:
Hmm, and I am one who doesn't care for a revolver. Do as alot have suggested let her try a bunch out and see what she likes. What you guys think might be best she may not think so. Remember we have smaller hands and what fits for you may not for us.[wink]
Click to expand...

I agree MrsWW, but I was thinking more about safe handling and comfort with operation rather than with shooting only. Most of the new shooters I've introduced to the art feel much more comfortable with a wheel gun rather than a semi-auto after I've gone through the drlls with them, then made them do it.

If they will normally have someone to get advise from when a gun needs to be made safe or made hot, then it's not as important. For someone on their own in a high pressure situation with an unfamiliar (or less familiar) tool, it can make a diference.

By all means allow her to choose, but only after doing the drills.
 
When my wife got her LTC, I got her a S&W Lady Smith 3913LS. She loves it. Its easy for her to shoot and she can shoot it well. She didn't like j frames or any of the poly frame auto's. (Glock, SW99 compact and P99 compact). She did like the PPK, but not nearly as much as the Lady Smith. Its a 9mm with a 7 round mag.
 
She could use something like this?

powellknifepistol.jpg




I made the mistake of letting my wife try out a custom compensated Colt .45ACP Race Gun that belonged to a friend. She loved it and said "Get me one like it" I asked about the price $2,700! YEO!

I dont think so?


I would like to get one of these Hunting Knive/.45 Combos. Does anyone know were you can get them? Now that would fit in the wives purse and be practical as well.

Hit a deer on the Highway? No Problem. Dispatch it and then Gut it! All in one Tool!
 
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First, make sure you have and carry a .45 ACP 1911. (I assume you have an ALP LTC, I don't recommend breaking any laws!)

Explain to your wife that she should begin with a .45 ACP and work down in caliber only if she needs to. Explain to her that stopping a predator, not eventually, but right away, requires at a minimum the .45 ACP. Explain that this feature should be important enough to try to tough out the felt recoil, if she doesn't believe you.

Then, explain how the 1911 is the most robust pistol design, which should be easy to prove since it's 96 years old. Also explain that the 1911 is a very unique design, what with the thumb safety and all, and that it would make a lot of sense for her to have the same style pistol that you carry, so that she is never confused by it if she ever needs to use your gun.

Then, explain that although there are economical 1911s out there, the last thing you want is insufficient quality for a self defense gun. Tell her that Rock Island and the like are not worth the risk for such a small savings.

Now you should be all set to shop for a nice new SW, SVI, Sig, etc. (i.e., MA compliant[angry]) 1911. Your handgun can now look forward to a new sibling. Everybody's happy!

[kiss]
 
Gabe
I suggest that you print and read an article at www.neshooters.com entitled “Buying a Fire Arm for the Woman in your life”

http://www.neshooters.com/buying a fire arm for the woman in your life.pdf

You mentioned a PPK. If you realy want her to shoot, do not, I repeat, do not buy this gun for her. One gun that seems to work well for the women that we have trained is the Glock 19. I know that they are hard to ind in MA.

Someone mentioned a wheel gun, I have found that it is harder to teach a new shooter to use a wheel gun that a semi. One suggestion might be a .22 Walther P22. Have her use this to learn the basics and she can move up later.
 
In todays world, women are just as capable as men are and deserve the same ability to stop a assailant. Do not pick her a firearms because of soft recoil, it must be something that you yourself would carry and they she is comfortable with carrying. Make a day out of it and pick something out together!-as Dr. Phil would say if he was pro-gun.
 
You'd be surprised, I've seen many a woman in the 100-130# category handle a 1911 with admirable shooting.

One of these days, I'm going to try to convince my Wife to try mine, but I'm still waiting for one of those "receptive moods" when we're at the range. [wink]

As for the .32, not on your life! Puny cartridge to bet your life on for any defensive use. Just picked up a new client the other day . . . retired LEO, currently a PI and bodyguard. He's very, very thankful for the .32 as he sat at a traffic light on his Harley and noticed the person in the car next to him (who looked familiar to him) aim a gun at him and shoot him in the shoulder at point-blank range. Short story is that the round barely made it thru the leather jacket and only buried itself just under the skin, popping out when the doctor touched the area. Bottom line, he realized that he had put this perp away ~10 years earlier . . . the guy had only been out of jail a few days, happenstance recognized the former LEO and tried to take him out, he's now doing Life (for real) as a 3-time loser in FL.
 
From my experience the only problem learning from a revolver, was getting used to the trigger. I could shoot well (at first) with the hammer cocked, but when the hammer wasn't cocked I had trouble (at first). Eventually, as with anything in life, one adapts and it wasn't a problem. Still prefer semi-autos though.ffffffffffff
 

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