Gun For Wife

[David S.]

My wife is recoil sensitive and, if she has to shoot a "real defensive caliber", she likes is the Glock 17 OK, but it's borderline. It's heavy enough to absorb recoil, but light enough to hold in a shooting position. She does not like the Glock 19 because, for whatever reason, she perceives an unacceptable amount of recoil. The P226 is too heavy and she isn't strong enough (arthritis) for the initial DA trigger.

She loves her some .22's though. She really enjoys the Buckmark and the Noisy Cricket (Beretta 21A). I could see a Walther P22 or similar joining the lineup soon. Unfortunately I've had bad luck with .22 Conversion kits.

[iakdrago]

Update to the original thread. Some expected/unexpected consequences. My wife loved the M&P Shield. She was actually more accurate with it in single shot, as well as in double taps (the range that we went to does not allow rapid fire...). She liked shooting it more than the full size gun. In her words, she felt that that because of it's size she could control it better. The surprising part was that it went beyond her "feeling" that it was better. She actually was more accurate in both slow and "double tap" fire. She loved the gun so much, she did not even want to try any other guns that we had lined up. Now, she is excited to go shooting with me.

My thoughts. I'm ecstatic that my wife now wants to shoot more, and has found a gun that she WANTS to shoot, and is proficient at shooting. Personally, i've never shot the Shield before, but i also found the gun to be accurate--on par with my full size gun. The recoil was definitely snappier, but controllable. Reloads were a pain in the ass, as i kept pinching my palm with the magazine. The trigger was surprisingly heavy--but good.

Overall, i'm extremely happy that my wife found a gun that she likes to shoot, and now wants to make shooting a part of our routine. In her own words "i could not wait for your turn to be up, so that i could shoot my gun." I could not be happier.