Handgun for a Woman?

BirdWatcher

My wife, with little shooting experience, has asked me to purchase a handgun for her to use for home security. I am considering a low priced .380, like a Bersa Thunder or Firestorm? Are there better options? She needs something she will not be afraid to shoot, and that is sized to suit her. I'd appreciate any suggestions.

royc38

I have heard many good things about the Bersa. I, myself have never shot one so I don't have any experiences that I can relay to you. I do however know about two other guns you might want to keep an eye open for. One is the Colt gov't pocketlite .380 cal, and the Beretta 84. I own both of these and they are very good for carry,reliabilty, accuracy, etc. My girlfriend likes the Pocketlite because it is very light and she can carry it in her purse and you hardly know its there. Colt doesn't make them anymore but you can find them on the auction sites. Hope this helps.

almaguns

If your wife is not comfortable with the workings of a semi-auto a revolver would be a better choice. Both for safety and for ease of use in a stressful situation.Get a .357 medium frame snubby and use .38 ammo for practice. Taurus would be a good choice.

JustC

I am very impressed with the S&W lady smith 9mm semi-auto. It is small enough for a smaller women, but very comfortable and reliable. You will know it when you see it, it has light grey grips. Check it out, it's worth a look.

A great rifle with a junk scope,....is junk.

k.stanonik

AS above with little experience i would suggest a wheel gun. Taurus or smith is what i would choose in a wheel gun, models such as a taurus 85 or S&W 60 is my choice in snuubby's. If you are serious about a semi auto you might think about a walther PPK or as stateed above a beretta 85 would be a wise choice.

William81

It really depends on what feels comfortable in your wife's hands.... We did a lot of experimenting and my wife finally settled on a Glock 19. My wife also likes the the S&W 3913 TSW.


Guns only have two enemies: Rust and Liberals....

Edited by - william81 on 06/27/2002 16:42:10

nmyers

For inexperienced shooters I always recommend a .38 snubby. No safety, no worry about "1 in the chamber?", no worry about racking the slide, no worry about clearing jams.

For women my favorite is the old S&W M36 or M60 Ladysmith models, with 2" or 3" barrel. Better ergonomics, lighter trigger pull for the small shooter. Second would be the regular M36/37/60 with Woolf springs and wide trigger installed. Tauri and Colt DS/Agent/Cobra may also be good choices.

A sad case was a lady friend who refused my offer to help her choose a handgun. She took her new gun to the range but found that she could only fire it single action---she didn't have the strength to fire it DA. A lot of good that gun will do her in a jam!

I only give the ladies wadcutters to shoot --- even for real. Once they get their hand bitten by a high velocity load, that tends to make them gun shy. Before I give them anything more powerful, they must work up to it by a lot of practice.

Neal

gunpaq

Mrs. Gunpaq carries a Taurus 85 gold trigger (Lady Smith Copy) .38spl. She is not a "shooter" but really likes it , is very proficient with it and very comfortable with it's simplicity. She has also handled and shot the Keltec .32 and 9mm's- she likes the 9mm best. Keep it reliable and easy to use-it's for her.

Pack slow, fall stable, pull high, hit dead center.

allen griggs

Take nmyers' advice to the bank.

"Not as deep as a well, or as wide as a church door, but it is enough."

dandy

I bought my wife a Glock 19c, and she loves it. Porting helps with recoil and 9mm is a good protection round over 380. Whatever you do buy remind her of safety responsibities and take her to range several times to practice shooting and safety practices and to get comfortable shooting it.I try to take my wife shooting as much as possible and now she can shoot(almost) as good as I can and it gives us an opportunity do do something together. Good luck---Dandy

nunn

Shucks! From the title I thought this was a "for trade" ad.

What can I get for a 1966 model white American female?

SIG pistol armorer/FFL Dealer/Full time Peace Officer, Moderator of General Discussion Board on Gunbroker. Visit www.gunbroker.com, the best gun auction site on the Net! Email davidnunn@texoma.net

k.stanonik

Hey nunn, sure you want to trade her in, still has reasonable mileage and dont have to retrain. 1966 was a good yr.

martzkj@msn.com

If you go with a semi, make sure she can work the action. My wife likes the Sig 230. I think that a revolver is the way to go. Look at S&W airlite series.

rsnyder55

If this is for home defense, why the small revolvers? Small revolvers are hard to aim and relatively heavy on the recoil. Get a four inch 357 magnum and start with 38 specials. Then work up to a good self defense load. A S&W or Ruger in this configuration would be easy to handle and a have an easy learning curve.

gundummy

My wife loves her Taurus 605 revolver. I would get a revolver, either a S&W 60, Taurus 605 or a Ruger SP101. Nothing to mess with, just point and shoot. Unless she practices alot, I would not recommend a semi for reasons already stated above. GD

4000fps

The Wife loves her Glock 30 and her PPK/S. She has a very small hand and not much upper body strength. Never thought I would buy a gun for my wife but so far it has not caused me any grief although she has chased me around the house with it on occasions. LOL

aby80

My wife is only 4'6" tall and 90# and prefers my 38 Spec. S&W Model 10 with bull barrel better than any other handgun I have. That includes a Glock Model 19, a S&W 3913, A Colt Diamondback, or a Colt 2" Detective Spec. She is not weak but has problems pulling the slide back on Autos. She can hit a 9" paper plate 50 times out of 50 shots from 15 yards with the Model 10. She shoots my target reloads most of the time but also shoots Hydroshocks part of the time.

If you don't care where you are going, you can't get lost.