Revolver for my wife

[Big Old Boy]

Have her try a lc 380 easy to work slide recoil of a 22 took mine to a Bbq last year all the girls that shoot it feel in love with the gun.

 

[Sacramento Johnson]

Hi,
A GP100 is a revolver made by Ruger. Too big for CCW, but a fine gun to learn with, as long as she can hold it up. That's the other side of the problem; a gun with enough heft to tame recoil will probably weigh a a bit more than those tiny CCW revolvers (or semi-autos), and can be a challenge for a woman to hold up for repeated rounds while practicing (and practice is an absolute must if one is planning to CCW). Here's a link to Ruger's web site. The Hogue grips help with recoil (although the earlier rubber grips Ruger used to put on them do a better job in my opinion!)

http://www.ruger.com/products/gp100/models.html

Couple this with some very, very light hand loaded 38specials, and she will do well, I bet. Watch for flinch, though. The last two lady shooters I taught, even with mild 38 special hand loads and a Ruger vaquero, started anticipating the shot after awhile. (Easy to fix actually with a revolver and a little coaching, as long as one picks up on it!) Do make sure she's wearing good eye protection and start with double ear protection (plugs and muffs; the sound can really put them off). Also wearing comfortable shoes! Posture is also very important; watch for leaning back and tummies stuck out and head dropping to the sights as her arms fatigue; time to call it then. Give only lots of positive encouragement; don't even think of a negative comment (women don't tend to respond to yelling and intimidation like guys do) and a good meal afterward as a treat!
Hope this helps; it always pleases me when I've empowered another woman by teaching her how to shoot!

 

[Viking Queen]

I dunno, I heard the LCR .22 has a heck of a heavy trigger pull. Can anyone confirm that?

No! It has a longish trigger pull, but not heavy. Quite comfortable, actually.

As a woman, i feel obligated to throw my two cents in here, hopefully my comments will help.

I am a senior woman who never even held any gun at all until 3 yrs ago, much less shoot or own one. I have an LCR in38 special and can manage it just fine. I have an LC9 and it is quite manageable, nicer size for my hands than the LCP, it is too small for me. The slide racking was an issue for me at first, but with practice, it is fine now. I have strength issues in my shooting hand and don't have any problems with either of these two handguns. However, I prefer the revolver because it is simply load, point and shoot. No slide racking, safety to take off, etc. for me, simplicity rules. When I carry either of them, or have them ready at home for self defense I have them loaded with Hornaday Critical Defense hollow points, however use different ammo for most of my range time. If LCR in 38 spcl has too much recoil have her try the LCR .22, much less recoil, I have tried that as well.

I hope she has an opportunity to try out several handguns prior to making her decision.

Best of luck! Viking Queen

 

[Viking Queen]

Hi,
A GP100 is a revolver made by Ruger. Too big for CCW, but a fine gun to learn with, as long as she can hold it up. That's the other side of the problem; a gun with enough heft to tame recoil will probably weigh a a bit more than those tiny CCW revolvers (or semi-autos), and can be a challenge for a woman to hold up for repeated rounds while practicing (and practice is an absolute must if one is planning to CCW). Here's a link to Ruger's web site. The Hogue grips help with recoil (although the earlier rubber grips Ruger used to put on them do a better job in my opinion!)

http://www.ruger.com/products/gp100/models.html

Couple this with some very, very light hand loaded 38specials, and she will do well, I bet. Watch for flinch, though. The last two lady shooters I taught, even with mild 38 special hand loads and a Ruger vaquero, started anticipating the shot after awhile. (Easy to fix actually with a revolver and a little coaching, as long as one picks up on it!) Do make sure she's wearing good eye protection and start with double ear protection (plugs and muffs; the sound can really put them off). Also wearing comfortable shoes! Posture is also very important; watch for leaning back and tummies stuck out and head dropping to the sights as her arms fatigue; time to call it then. Give only lots of positive encouragement; don't even think of a negative comment (women don't tend to respond to yelling and intimidation like guys do) and a good meal afterward as a treat!
Hope this helps; it always pleases me when I've empowered another woman by teaching her how to shoot!

Great comments, here! Viking Queen

 

[Junglebob]

Which S&W 38 did she shoot? Was it an airweight? Poly? Was she firing 38spcl+P or standard?

If it was a lightweight or poly, then you might look into an all steel model like the S&W 60 or Ruger SP101.

Good option is a Ruger LCR .22mag. Light, small, and no recoil.

Also, take a look at the SigSauer P238 in .380auto. Very manageable recoil, night sights standard, great trigger pull, and small enough even a petite woman in tight fitting clothes can hide it.

I know the S&W wasn't poly. Not sure if it was an airweight. I'll have to ask the friend I borrowed it from. Ammo was standard FMJ I'm pretty sure.

 

[Junglebob]

Hi,
A GP100 is a revolver made by Ruger. Too big for CCW, but a fine gun to learn with, as long as she can hold it up. That's the other side of the problem; a gun with enough heft to tame recoil will probably weigh a a bit more than those tiny CCW revolvers (or semi-autos), and can be a challenge for a woman to hold up for repeated rounds while practicing (and practice is an absolute must if one is planning to CCW). Here's a link to Ruger's web site. The Hogue grips help with recoil (although the earlier rubber grips Ruger used to put on them do a better job in my opinion!)

http://www.ruger.com/products/gp100/models.html

Couple this with some very, very light hand loaded 38specials, and she will do well, I bet. Watch for flinch, though. The last two lady shooters I taught, even with mild 38 special hand loads and a Ruger vaquero, started anticipating the shot after awhile. (Easy to fix actually with a revolver and a little coaching, as long as one picks up on it!) Do make sure she's wearing good eye protection and start with double ear protection (plugs and muffs; the sound can really put them off). Also wearing comfortable shoes! Posture is also very important; watch for leaning back and tummies stuck out and head dropping to the sights as her arms fatigue; time to call it then. Give only lots of positive encouragement; don't even think of a negative comment (women don't tend to respond to yelling and intimidation like guys do) and a good meal afterward as a treat!
Hope this helps; it always pleases me when I've empowered another woman by teaching her how to shoot!

Thanks for the teaching suggestions. I think I'm pretty good at positive encouragement, I taught my wife to drive when we were still single, car with a manual transmission, it went pretty well and she married me. Also taught my daughter to drive a manual transmission car.

 

[eveled]

I dunno, I heard the LCR .22 has a heck of a heavy trigger pull. Can anyone confirm that?

Every .22 double action revolver does. I would get a stainless j frame, .38, and load it with light target loads. Or better yet, start her with a heavy revolver like a GP100 loaded with target .38 loads let her shoot it til she is comfy with it, then move to the j frame.

Or maybe a SP101?

My wifes bedside gun is 10 shot stainless .22 revolver, it is all she will shoot, so it will have to do for now. When she is ready, I have an 8 shot .357 that is almost identical to the .22.

 

[Bob R]

JungleBob
My wife trail rides over in your neighborhood. South and East of Marion. It's about a 4 hour trip going through Cairo.

I have a suggestion. I just happen to be the President of a very nice Sportsman's Club. I also have a good selection of Carry Revolvers, and even a few semi autos to play with.
You two might make a trip over this direction some weekend, OR during the week, and we can try and wear out a few of them. I have an LCR22, S&W 442, a Couple SP101's tuned to perfection, a couple 2 Inch K Frames, a 3 Inch K Frame, 3 Inch GP100, and some 4 inch revolvers as well. I even have a 4" 617 K Frame 22.
I also reload, so I can run off some reduced power 38 ammunition to start out with.

We hold Reactive Steel Handgun Matchs, Defensive Pistol, and ICORE Revolver Matchs as well as 3 Gun. She would not need to shoot at Lilly Pads in a pond.

The best road from where you are at would be to drop South to Cairo, and cross into Missouri. Interstate 57 turns into Missouri 60. Stay on 60 to Mtn View, Missouri. At Mtn View go North on 17 to Yukon. At Yukon Highway 137 and 17 run together for about 1 mile. Sweep on around the corner staying on 17 at the first 137 Intersection going to Willow Springs. A mile down the road on the straight-a-way 17 turns off Left going to Houston. Keep going straight on 137 to Raymondville. At Raymondville 137 Tee's into B Highway. Turn Left going to Houston on B. The Big Piney Sportsman's Club will be about 3 miles on the left. Look for a large Timber Frame Sign on the Left. Pretty hard to miss the 120 foot long covered Bench Rest Line also.

You can also cross the river at Chester and get on Missouri 32 to Licking.
At Licking turn Left on 63 to Houston. Turn Left at the bottom of the hill just as you get to Houston onto B. The Range will be about 4 miles on the Right from this direction.

Bob
[email protected]
417-457-6248
http://www.bigpineysportsmansclub.com/

 

[old 41]

As a completely new shooter, I began my wife with a 38 Special double action revolver for self defense .
As she progressed she wanted to add a semi auto, racking the slide sometimes became a problem until she learned more.
Have your wife look up " racking a slide for women" on youtube.

 

[Pal Val]

My wife tried out a number of handguns until she tried my 3"bbl SP101. When practicing at the range, she will shoot 50 or so .38 Spl rounds and finish off with a few cylinders of full-load .357 Mag. A small-framed 5"3' lady shooting my .357 mag defense loads attracts quite a bit of attention at the range.

 

[toysoldier]

My wife (past retirement age) could not rack the slide on a P-90, Colt 1903 .32, Llama .380, or LCP. She could handle a Service-Six .38 Special, then replaced that with a Taurus .38 snubbie. I handloaded some milder 140 grain ammo, and she doesn't mind the recoil.

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

Some great ideas here. Something I've found doing training with ladies. We would start out with Ruger 22/45's and let them try a few rounds out of them. They figure out recoil isn't really that bad. Noise isn't that bad. Then they get to select from several revolvers, lots of Rugers, especially the six series, and Smith K series. The nice thing is they have a lot of different grips. The ladies pick them up and try them. Feel them, wave them around (relatively) and decide. One of the things I've noticed is that Hogue grips are pretty popular due to being small and regardless of their hand size it works for them. The Pachmayer compacs are good too. Nice thing about revolvers is you can put on any grip that they like.

 

[Junglebob]

Medium size revolver like a Ruger Security Six or GP100 (or a K or L frame S&W) loaded with .38 wadcutters. I also found out that most women are more sensitive to blast than actually recoil, which makes the .22 mag a challenge as the blast is pretty nasty out of a snubby.

I found some .38 special 148gr police wadcutter ammo in 3D brand for 30 cents per round. Would this be a lower recoil ammo? I might get some and borrow a snubby like the Ruger 101 or something of that weight for her to try.

 

[Junglebob]

My wife (past retirement age) could not rack the slide on a P-90, Colt 1903 .32, Llama .380, or LCP. She could handle a Service-Six .38 Special, then replaced that with a Taurus .38 snubbie. I handloaded some milder 140 grain ammo, and she doesn't mind the recoil.

I found some .38 special police wadcutter 148gr ammo for 30 cents a round, 3D brand. Would this be a lower recoil ammo? Maybe I'll find a revolver about the weight of a Ruger 101, to borrow, for her to try and get some.

 

[32shooter]

My wife also recently acquired her CC permit. She used my Colt Trooper with reduced 38 reloads to take the class. I picked her up a lightweight Taurus in 32mag and she likes it. Lower recoil than the 38 and more power than the 22. Don't overlook the 32's. I would like to get one for myself sometime either a Taurus or a S&W.

 

[Junglebob]

JungleBob
My wife trail rides over in your neighborhood. South and East of Marion. It's about a 4 hour trip going through Cairo.

I have a suggestion. I just happen to be the President of a very nice Sportsman's Club. I also have a good selection of Carry Revolvers, and even a few semi autos to play with.
You two might make a trip over this direction some weekend, OR during the week, and we can try and wear out a few of them. I have an LCR22, S&W 442, a Couple SP101's tuned to perfection, a couple 2 Inch K Frames, a 3 Inch K Frame, 3 Inch GP100, and some 4 inch revolvers as well. I even have a 4" 617 K Frame 22.
I also reload, so I can run off some reduced power 38 ammunition to start out with.

We hold Reactive Steel Handgun Matchs, Defensive Pistol, and ICORE Revolver Matchs as well as 3 Gun. She would not need to shoot at Lilly Pads in a pond.

The best road from where you are at would be to drop South to Cairo, and cross into Missouri. Interstate 57 turns into Missouri 60. Stay on 60 to Mtn View, Missouri. At Mtn View go North on 17 to Yukon. At Yukon Highway 137 and 17 run together for about 1 mile. Sweep on around the corner staying on 17 at the first 137 Intersection going to Willow Springs. A mile down the road on the straight-a-way 17 turns off Left going to Houston. Keep going straight on 137 to Raymondville. At Raymondville 137 Tee's into B Highway. Turn Left going to Houston on B. The Big Piney Sportsman's Club will be about 3 miles on the left. Look for a large Timber Frame Sign on the Left. Pretty hard to miss the 120 foot long covered Bench Rest Line also.

You can also cross the river at Chester and get on Missouri 32 to Licking.
At Licking turn Left on 63 to Houston. Turn Left at the bottom of the hill just as you get to Houston onto B. The Range will be about 4 miles on the Right from this direction.

Bob
[email protected]
417-457-6248
http://www.bigpineysportsmansclub.com/

Thanks for the offer maybe we'll be in your neck of the woods sometiime and take you up on it.

I found a range in Paducah Kentucky, where we sometimes go, that rents handguns. They have some revolvers for rent, no SP101 though. They did have a Taurus 85, any idea if the trigger pull and felt recoil would be similar to the SP101?

 

[Bob R]

Junglebob
Compaired to the crew I have on the range this week, you are a local.
I have a shooter from Springfield Missouri who knew about the Range, and took care of the arrangements for the use of our centrally located range. The rest are from everywhere. Florida, Texas, Road Island, New Jersey, California, Ohio, Oregon, and Illinois. I think I may have missed a State or two. We are catering Lunch for them. I think today it is Sloppy Joe's and Chicken Pot Pie in a Pot. I believe Chocolate Cake and Pumpkin Pie, and probably cornbread. They have not been missing Lunch.
I will be picking up 5 gallon buckets of steel cases after they are done. They have been picking up ammo for a while to use on this shooting vacation. They are all Internet Buddys off some shooting website. They have been giving our Plate Rack, Dueling Tree and Steel Tombstone targets a real work out.

Junglebob come on over when you get time. It is not that far. Over 25% of our 600 yard IBS bench rest shooters drive further than that to our matchs. One of our ICORE Revolver shooters, and several Bench rest shooters are from Memphis.

Bob

 

[Ekim1966]

My wife couldn't rack the slide on any of my Semi auto handguns. My smith 642 with light handloads was way too much recoil for her and a ruger sp101 was better but still more than she was comfortable with.

She really liked my Taurus 22 LR revolver even with the horrible da trigger. That was "her" gun until I found a J frame S&W 32 long Colt. Even with the Buff Bore ammo the recoil is easy and t he trigger is much better.

She also liked my Beretta 21 'tip up" semi-auto but I have yet to find ammo that it will shoot reliably.

 

[jeffnles1]

Same considerations for my wife. Great thread. She does not like my 1911 in the least. The Shield she likes well enough but racking the slide is hard for her (and she's not fond of that thing that goes up the bottom - It's called magazine dear. change subject, talk it another day. Whichever one of the ladies suggested positve encouragement was spot on...). She liked the 22/45 but thought it too big to carry with her. She does not like any of my single actions (too big and heavy).

She did like my Smith Model 60 with 1 7/8" barrel. A little heavy (all SS 357 mag) but the grip felt right, she understands the double action revolver concept without any further explaination (her words follow and I didn't correct her this time... "push the button, the thing swings out, drop the bullets in the holes and close the thing. pull the trigger and it shoots. that's easy").

Next step is take her tot he range with it. She has shot it before with light 38 rounds and didn't have a recoil problem. I'm NOT going to have her shoot it with 357 for a very long time if ever.

If she shoots it well, I'll be looking into an LCR or an airweight. I would give her the Model 60 but I think after a few days of carrying it she'd start to complain about the weight and leave it at home. Sitting in the dresser drawer isn't going to do her any good.

Jeff

 

[Junglebob]

Same considerations for my wife. Great thread. She does not like my 1911 in the least. The Shield she likes well enough but racking the slide is hard for her (and she's not fond of that thing that goes up the bottom - It's called magazine dear. change subject, talk it another day. Whichever one of the ladies suggested positve encouragement was spot on...). She liked the 22/45 but thought it too big to carry with her. She does not like any of my single actions (too big and heavy).

She did like my Smith Model 60 with 1 7/8" barrel. A little heavy (all SS 357 mag) but the grip felt right, she understands the double action revolver concept without any further explaination (her words follow and I didn't correct her this time... "push the button, the thing swings out, drop the bullets in the holes and close the thing. pull the trigger and it shoots. that's easy").

Next step is take her tot he range with it. She has shot it before with light 38 rounds and didn't have a recoil problem. I'm NOT going to have her shoot it with 357 for a very long time if ever.

If she shoots it well, I'll be looking into an LCR or an airweight. I would give her the Model 60 but I think after a few days of carrying it she'd start to complain about the weight and leave it at home. Sitting in the dresser drawer isn't going to do her any good.

Jeff

The S&W 60 is about the weight of a Taurus 85 so I suppose the felt recoil would be about the same. I guess we may go to that range I mentioned earlier that rents handguns and has the LCR and Taurus 85 to rent and have her try both. I think and LCR .38 being so much lighter might have more recoil than she'd like.