A 22lr is a poor choice for a self defense round but a hit with a 22 is better than a miss with something else. The only pistol I've been able to get my wife to shoot well is a Ruger 22, so our plan for her to take the boys to the back of the closet let the theeves take possessions that can be replaced, but if someone walks into the closet let them have 10 rounds dead center.
I've had other women be comfortable with my 9x18 Makarov. A nice Makarov would be a inexpensive but reliable and accurate choice. I'd like for my wife to work her way up to it.
A Sig 380 is certainly a nice choice, as are several of the LadySmith pistols.
One of these days I'd like for my wife to shoot one of the new Berretta Storm 9mm Carbines. I'd put a flashlight on it and store it in the back of the same closet.
I guess the advice for women shooters should really be the same as for men, In self defense weapons use the most powerful gun you can shoot quickly and hit with..........DJ

gringo is right ....get her out to the range for some practice! my wife has her dads old colt snubbie ....... he was a cop here in town when i was dating her an she inherited the colt when he passed away......i reload .38 spl for her an goes out to shoot with me every so often...she likes the idea that her dad carried the piece now she has it to shoot.......

I'd try the Bersa thunder .380. Thats what I have for my wife and she loves it. I actually like it also. I carry a fullsize 1911 and its nice to take the bersa somedays. Its been very accurate out to 15-20 yds spreads fast at that point. Its on the ligt side for power but usually it how good you shoot what you have and not how big it is.Do you have any pistol ranges around you that rent pistol to shoot? It would be good to find one and usually they can give you blanket price to shoot a few different models. Let us know what you come up with. Ron

Most small frame autos are a bad choice for the novice female shooter, grips are small, recoil is sharp & they are complicated for a new shooter. Get her a good 3"-4" mid frame .357 (a 3" S&W M65 is perfect) & have her shoot mild 148gr wadcutters. Recoil is little more than a .22lr, it's a simpler. less intimidating weapon to opperate. If she eventually reaches a very proficient level, she can shoot mags for SD. If not, nothing wrong w/ the old 158gr SWCLHP "FBI" load, a better stopper than any .380.

I would recommend a Taurus 608.
Its their small frame 357 but has a larger grip on it, enough for another finger to fit on it.

Plus it is ported so it would be much more pleasant to shoot and you could use 38's in it.

I highly advise against anykind of semi-automatic for home defense.
When you are in the dark and have someone in your house, you do not want to be fumbling for safeties and magazines etc.
Plus there is less to go wrong with a revolver.

That said, I have a S&W 586 in my house with SJSP 357's in it.
Here criminal, criminal, criminal....

-Spencer

Home defence = pump action every time! Take her clay pigeon shooting with one and get the coach to train her...that way she'll associate the pump with a game and competition rather than a devastating defence weapon.

The chick cop on CSI Miami shoots a Lady Smith.

I agree with fred338 a mid size revolver in 38 or 357 is a great choice. I would prefer one in stainless loaded with a good plus p 38.

I have taught a lot of women to shoot.Most do not paractice a lot and do not handle their guns a lot. They seem to take to mid size revolvers with decent 38 loads over 357 loads and simi autos. Easy to use and understand easy to get into action. ( I know that there are the exceptions)

A good stainless revolver can lay around where ever for years loaded and you well pick it up and it well fire.

My wife likes our S&W 642, stainless 5 shot 38SP revolver with shrouded hammer that can also be cocked single action. Very simple straight-forward piece.

I never recommend a long gun as a primary HD weapon, especially for the novice. Yes it's easier to teach to get hits but much harder to handle tactically. Try moving down your hallway & then turning 180deg to engage a target, or operate a flashlight or open & close doors, etc. As a backup weapon, oh yeah, my first choice for the wife sitting in the BR waiting for police to arrive.

My wife has perhaps the weakest arms/upper body known to womankind (she struggles to work the slide), but can get 5 shots in the 8 ring of a standard torso target at 10 yards with a .40 Glock...not exactly light recoiling, but VERY effective.

BUT, to get her to practice more than 5 shots in a session, we stick to the .38's in a S&W model 66...which is a medium frame stainless .357 for the non-S&W aficiondo's out there. Not as effective, but good enough!

9mm's seem to be well received by the women I have worked with as well...but only in full sized pistols, not compact models. Make SURE the grip is big enough to get her whole hand onto, or it is a lost cause IMHO.

My girls (16, 18, 19) shoot my CZ 83 in 32 ACP as well as a friend's PPK very well. They have a harder time shooting a revolver in double action (don't we all?) as accurately. I think the best ballistics compromise is the Makarov.

I think a .410 pump would be the way to go .Easy to pick up the fundermentals.Hey remember she aint going lookin for the bad guys if you have a break& enter.Youve done the rigth thing teaching her to back off to a safe location in the house.Trust me at close range looking down the barrel of a .22 is like looking down a 4inch drain pipe. If your on the wrong end So a .410 would be like a storm water pipe.Just remember he/she who pulls the trigger has to live with what they've done.Trust me I'm an old rice paddy grunt!I got paid to pull triggers &over 30 yaers later I'm still suffering.

I've had my wife practicing with a Taurus mid-frame 5-shot .44 S&W special.

At close range, it makes a nice big hole, and doesn't have a lot of recoil or flash. I take her shooting pine-cones down in the woods. We'll pick up a few, line 'em up on a log, and shoot 'em down. She likes it, and it gives her something to practice with.

She says she's not sure about actually *using* it if someone were to break in though... but at least she knows how to operate it and is comfortable with it in her hands.

I tell mine not to ever just "point" a gun at someone. If you're going to aim it at 'em, go ahead and pull the trigger.

My $.02.

Personal protection is just that. It is a personal idea of one's worth to themselves, family and sociity. For anyone, it can't be pushed upon but has to be their own idea as to something they want to do.

(Truth time) I can't think of a worse thing than for a male to pick out a firearm for a female that is uneducated in the use of firearms. Typically their hands are too small or fingers are too short and finger strength is less to comfortably shoot a firearm that a male wouldn't have much problems with.
Forget the caliber. Fit, comfort and ease of operation is the most important thing. If they are not comfortable with it, forget it.

The most important thing. Professional training. Unless you are a Professional Instructor, don't even think you can train your S/O by taking them out and plinking. If they are worth your concern on this then it's worth the effort and the money will be well spent to do it right. Seek out a credited instructor that can take them from basic firearm safety through personal defense. Not only the shooting part but the legalities also. Great idea, you go too and make it a family thing. I'm always open for and seek added instruction.
Personally I'd seek a civilian instructor and not one with LE experience. Reason is that most instructors will teach the way they have been trained and civilian training and law enforcement training are usually mutualy exclusive. We usually don't wear body armor. They do and the tactics differ.
Many community colleges offer courses.

Sorry I ramble but this is an important thing to me.

Don

In late June my wife and I took the NRA basic pistol course and the personal protection course. I am a novice (with handguns) and my wife had never touched one. She borrowed a Ruger 9mm from one of the instructors and by the end of the weekend handled it well.

Last night we went shopping for her very own weapon. Frustrating for me, how little she retained from a month ago. She is all set at 9mm for the caliber, then it was looking at all the brands and models. You would have thought she had never touched a handgun before. At the end of the night she liked the Glock 19. Seemed to fit her hand, she could handle the action and I think the gun is simple enough that even she can operate it. We're going to close the deal later in the week, and then it will be the weekly...I repeat.... weekly trip to the range. Hopefully our marriage will survive this. Sheeeezzzzzzeeeee...

quote:

Hopefully our marriage will survive this.

Keep it fun and it will. Make it a chore and the shooting practice will end quickly...no suggestions on the marriage there.

Don't look at the pistol as a end all final purchase. Most people change their preference with some experience, so let her have her way and shoot a lot, then go browse pistols again. Who know, you might inherit a G19! That's a plus!

Besides, the G19 (despite the Glock haters refrain about plastic pistols and kaboom) is a fine personal protection pistol for man or woman. I need to convince my wife that we 'need' one for her. She likes my G22, shoots it well, but can't tolerate more than 5 rounds at a time.

Good luck!

I'm goin' with Wink on this one. CZ 83! 12 rounds in .32 or .380 ACP. Nothing wrong with the Mak, but in real world ballistics, no factory load offers any appreciable advantage. If you handload, you can get a little more out of it because of the slightly higher pressure rating of the cartridge and occasionally CZ will do a run of CZ 83s in 9 X 18 Mak. with polygonal bores. The CZ 83 is a world class pistol that is very affordable. Large enough for extended comfortable shooting and very accurate. This may help get your wife to shoot more and become proficient with it. There are other great pistols in .380, but none better than the CZ. It also has a manual safety and in my experience, women seem more comfortable with the concept of having a safety lever than a pistol with a decocker that forces them to learn transition from DA to SA.

I'm not big on Glocks because they omit a very necessary step in making their slides. They don't relieve the ejection port. So, when brass ejects, it hits the slide as it ejects that scars brass. The Ka-Boom issue is restricted to .40 S&W pistols and reloaded ammo, not the 9mm. The best one they make IMO is the 26. The dual recoil spring system and lower velocities because of the 3.6" barrels make them very shootable. Get the ejection port relieved, add a 3.5 connector and Pearce magazine extension and you have one of the worlds best carry pistols.

If the 9mm doesn't intimidate a women and 28 ounces isn't too heavy for her purse, the best on the planet is the CZ P-01 with the NATO spec that it alone has achieved for reliability. Not the SIG, Glock, or Beretta. 3.8" barrel and it will outshoot many with longer ones. I just sold mine to my brother who had been carrying a Kel-Tec DAO with about an 18 pound trigger. Yeah, I miss it, but not as much as I would miss my brother if he emptied the Kel-Tec and failed to get a solid hit. I couldn't get him to go buy another pistol at the gunshop, but he believed enough in my evaluation of the P-01, that he wanted to buy it. This pistol would shoot 1" groups at 50' with a good number of my handloads. It was also more accurate than my shooting partners Sig P-228, but it does have a decoker. In this case, CZ's are unique because they decock to half cock making the first DA pull about half as long as most and easily mastered.

Nothing wrong with a .357 Magnum revolver. I keep a tuned 3" Ruger SP-101 for this reason. I shoot .357 Magnums in it. My wife can shoot it with .38 Specials and I keep shotshells handy since I live in Rattler country. No matter which mid frame revolver you buy, get one chambered in .357 Magnum and then you have all the options. The medium velocity 125 grain Golden Saber is easy to master once a comfort level has been reached with .38 Special.

CDH- I agree with you 100% about keeping it fun. It is going to try my patience....

I'll let you know how long the Glock lasts.

My friend just bought a S&W Airweight 38 Spl+P 5 shooter for his wife's carry gun. Light as a feather...she loves it.

Hello the campfire:
At the risk of sounding dumber than I sound most times, I need to say something on this subject, being married and all.
A man far wiser than I said that a man should not try to teach his wife to dirve or shoot. Maot of us are not trained teachers. I have taught so I know a litel about this subject.
Idid try to teach my wife about shooting. Her family hated guns, she put up with them for my sake but has never been one to enjoy shooting.
I recognisd quickly that our marrage would be over before it began if I tried to teach her. Never mind that I had taught numerous people to shoot skeet, punch little holes in paper and to handle hand guns.
My mother, God rest her soul took my bride out one afternoon and taught her the basics. And did not get into a cat fight with her. Whild my wife still does not shoot for fun, she can take care of her self if she needs to. She can handle a gun safely. Thats as much as I can ask.
My mother told me when I was a young man to never underestimate the ability of a woman to hit what she shoots at. A woman points her finger to make a point. If you hand them a gun, it becomes the finger and she will hit what she points at. It is easy to over come that if you try, and she won't hit any better that a guy.
My mother was a NRA certified rifle and pistol instructer, and taught a number of women to shoot, and a few policemen, who could not beleive she could out shoot them.
She usually had only two or three shells in her .38 She said the thats all she could find and why would she need more than one? The first was usually a rat shot for snakes. The second was hard ball and the third was a hollow point and what she could pick up.
She did not hesatate to pull her "rod" if she needed to, and the sherriff, her close friend, knew to call ahead before he came down the drive after dark.
Another hint she had was to get a chrome or nickle plated revolver or pistol because it looked bigger from the business end.
Good Luck
Judge Sharpe

DAmn, after reading over my last post, I find that I had oldtimer finger disfunction. sorry about that.
Judge Sharpe

My wife and I took CCW classes together, and she thought that it would be fun to shoot on a legue,( I son't like bowling). So we joined a thurs night pistol legue, She enjoys it a lot! Now she shoots with the best of them, (some who shoot at Camp Perry). She shoots a 22 for target, a 40S&W, and carries a 38 Tarus ultralight +p 38 spl. she likes the Tarus because it's light and fits her hand well. She complains that it's not very accurate, compared to the 22 target pistol. She did carry a 32acp for a while but diden't like tryig to find the safty.
Mike

I agree with NOT trying to pick a gun. My girlfriend can't pull the slide on either of my Kimbers, but, she could flip the safety off,if she could remember where it was. I think the recoil, if she shot either one, would keep her from every hitting anything, with either.

In a crisis situation, the most dangerous gun is the one that's the easiest to use. I know she could pick up a revolver, and pull the trigger. Another choice would be a Sig, double action first shot, or something like it, with no external safety. CZ's too. However, the person has to be able to hold the gun, and that's a big if with most guns.

The problem with guns is they require practice to retain recoil tolerance, and noise tolerance. What caliber your wife can handle is determined by how much practice she puts in. Also, always have a 22 target pistol or rifle around, so the person can go back, and see how much they are flinching.

I'd try and pick low pressure, low recoil rounds, since a hit with one, is better then a miss with another. I guess, using that logic, the best choice for my girlfriend would be a 22 lr revolver should could hold and fire.

I also like the idea of a stainless gun, or light metal, to make the barrel look bigger, and, to not have to worry about rust.

Most bad guys don't like getting shot, and even a 22lr is better then a sharp stick.

GS

A well balanced revolver in .38special is a great place to start. I did with my wife and she advanced and learned very fast.

For personal protection, the revolver for a woman, or at least my woman is a must as she lacks the hand strength to work the slide, or clear a jam if one happens.

A 686 S&W 4" or 6" barrel works great.

TH

Ain't that the trout! One caveat, the 3" model 65 Lady Smith, especially a fifth generation is about as close as I have ever come to combat revolver perfection. Even if I did buy it for my wife! Purely for me? It would be a 686 with a 6" tube. Purely for carry or a womans security, the 3" 65, because you can't get a 3" barrel on a 686 and the 2 1/2" uses a short ejector rod that doesn't allow for speedy extraction.

I would go with any good .357 magnum.Practice with +P+ 38 Special. Daughters carry these and
have no problem....4t1 mag

KLN357 you're sure right about the 686. I started my wife with the 4" and in no time she was putting 6 rounds into a playing card size target at 15 yards. Excellent revolver.

TH

For Combat revolvers, I am sold on 3-4" barrels with 6 shot cylinders. I wish Smith would put a 3" tube on the 686, but if you can carry it with a 4", you're better armed than most. Stainless K-Frame Smiths aren't as weak as some believe and as far as I know the 65 LS is the only one with a 3" barrel except the 66 Hi-Viz model that was available a few years back.

Sounds like your wife is plenty capable of taking care of herself and may be time to transition to DA shooting. I like all brands, but, for combat, Smiths are the best.

My wife does not have the strength in her hands to work the slide of an Automatic, and I really like the idea of her having a little more ammo to use in an life or death situation so we compromised, I bought her a Beretta .380 auto in the Cheeta model very unique feature the barrel tips up to drop one round in closes and locks with a full clip in place at all times, a simple squeeze of the double action trigger and she rocks and rolls till empty, I even enjoy the little gun, ( It is a blow back action and due to that it is a bit different to deal with to unload the weapon you can remove the clip and jack the action but if there is a round in the chamber it will NOT STRIP IT as the action is as stated a blow back action you have to tip the barrel and drop the round out, also a safety feature with out a clip the gun is inoperable.)

What about a Taurus .22 Magnum revolver? They come in different barrel lengths and hold 8 rounds. I've seen good reports about the .22 Mag as a defensive round -- much better than a .22 LR.

My wife has the smallest hands with the bonest of fingers, and has shot every handgun I own. While still dating I got my H&K P9S we went straight to the range. Showed me that she can shoot. She talked my out of my Glock 19 the day I brought it home.
Aint much with a shot gun or scoped rifle over .22, but hand her the AUG or H&k 91 and she will tear it up.