So... anyone here have ideas about a firearms/shooting techniques to try for a female late-boomer who is recovering from rotator cuff repair on her shooting shoulder? Somewhat recoil-sensitive in the past, but probably more so after she is cleared by the doctor.
Up to now she is enthusiastic about a 9mm 4" 1911 and a Ruger SR22... an odd combo, eh, what?
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This is my wife. She’s got a lot of potential, but doesn’t have the passion for it like I do. She has just enough that she will progress, but any less, and it’d be a struggle.She’s aware and actually a great shooter but she lacks the passion for it.
She watched me shoot my first IDPA match, and was not enticed by what she saw. The second time, I nudged her into the match, and she had a great time, and was sold, and we will both shoot again next Saturday.
This may be a great avenue for some women to get more involved, unless they’re timid, which my wife is not.
She’s made GREAT progress over the last three years, and I’m proud of her.
My wife is a very small asian woman. She is also active duty so a 320 with thumb safety is about to be common in our house. Sometimes you have to learn to shoot whats issued, thankfully for me I am a fan of the 320.
This is an interesting sidebar. I’ve lost count of the number of women I’ve met across a scale from marginally postive/meh on guns to flat-out anti gun, who dig edged things; knives, swords, you name it.Originally Posted by Duke
Even my wife, who grudgingly admits that firearms have real utility (in my hands) goes ape for a good blade. She has as respectable a stash as I do—mostly gifts from me or my dad—and once saw the contents of her purse featured in national media because it had all this diva stuff, in addition to multiple quality knives and flashlights.
If I’m cleaning a firearm, she pretty much just ignores it and lets me do my thing, but any time a knife comes out she wants to see what it is. The other day, I’m dinking around with a Spyderco Civilian, and she’s peering over my shoulder saying "you’re such a badass" and actually meaning it. I’m thinKing "this knife is encouraging the warm and fuzzies, and a 642 centennial is the ring of Sauron on a black horse? Takes all kinds to fill a world..."
I’m just glad that she’s found tools to actually EDC, all the time (knives, first aid stuff, lumens). Plus I get to coonfinger her lionsteel collection...
”But in the end all of these ideas just manufacture new criminals when the problem isn't a lack of criminals.” -JRB
What about the Smith & Wesson Shield 380EZ? The easy rack slide and low recoil make this an attractive option for my mother who can rack the slide on a G19 or 17 but not particularly with authority.
I'm thinking similarly about this G48. OTOH my wife and tiny handed DILs have done decently with standard frame Glocks. But their faces light up holding a G42 and G43. The light remains shooting the 42 but flickers shooting the 43.
I find the 48 noticeably easier than the 43 recoil wise but it remains to be seen how they find it.
“Remember, being healthy is basically just dying as slowly as possible,” Ricky Gervais
My wife has a P226 and P250 .380.
She really likes her P226 and can hold all rounds in the black on a B8 at 7 yards on her own pace, but can have trouble racking the slide and her lack of regular practice means that she forgets to decock habitually.
She has the P250 .380 as a CCW option (purse carry) for this reason. It's about an ideal service-sized pistol for those with reduced hand strength.....old man gun, ladies gun , whatever. Forget your local liberal slacktivist club, I guess getting triggered and virtue signalling over this stuff is even cool on P-F.com these days.
Last edited by TGS; 02-10-2019 at 06:48 AM.
"Are you ready? Okay. Let's roll."- Last words of Todd Beamer
Add me into the camp of those who think having a separate category of "girl guns" is silly. People are individuals, their firearm selections should be as well.
Her favorite pistol is a 1911 steel frame Government model in .45 (Although due to ammo costs she mostly shoots her 9mm Walther P99 these days; but the 1911 is definitely more liked. One of these days I really need to come up with the money to build a proper reloading setup...) She also likes her Mossberg 590 shotgun. Carbine-wise, she has started to really prefer her Colt 6920 over her AK; the lighter recoil of the .223 over the 7.62x39mm being one factor. A large factor is probably the lighter weight of the AR.
The first gun my wife fell in love with, was a 1911/45. She lifts and has very strong hands, so recoil control for her wasn’t an issue, in terms of mentally being afraid of the recoil. But this was in the context of a range gun; when it came to having a gun to carry, she ended up with a M11 A-1. She didn’t like the idea of having to address the 1911 thumb safety in an oh shit moment, so she liked the long DA pull acting as a safety of sorts.
Her strong hands allowed her to manipulate the DA trigger, even though she was using an ‘incorrect grip’ with her strong hand, to allow proper finger placement on the trigger. If her finger was just .25” longer, she’d have been able to use proper grip and have ideal finger placement on the trigger, even though she had the thin, Sig short reach trigger on the gun. She shot pretty well like this for quite a while, before I realized what she’d been doing. At this point, we began searching for a new gun, that offered better trigger finger ergos.
After an exhausting search, we ran across a used P30sk V1, and a V3, so she dry fired both of them, and decided she liked the LEM better, so we ordered her a new one. Her finger rested on the trigger perfectly, all the way forward, and the super light pre travel on the LEM allowed her to easily manipulate the trigger back to the wall. I’m convinced that this is the perfect gun for her, and she’s very happy with it.
I think this may apply to other people as well. Most double stacks will create trigger reach issues, so the LEM can help.
My wife actually cut two guys several years ago.
When we met, she worked with dogs professionally, doing both training and daycare, her best money coming from wealthy private clients that hired her to house sit as part of caring for their dogs. It was truly impressive to watch her run a full field with as many as 100 dogs at once; sheer command presence through patience and constant doggie OODA resets...y'all'd like her, she's my Khaleesi.
Before she got her CCW and her first pistol, I got her a *Delica and asked her to commit to carrying it. I asked her to intentionally and smoothly, draw and open it at least 3x a day (10-300 being even better). She always had to grab scissors in her job to open boxes, bags, etc, so I further encouraged using the Delica for those tasks (when it wouldn't scare a coworker, of course) to build familiarity. I told her that it wouldn't take long for it to become reflexive enough that if, God forbid, something so horrible was happening that she found herself in a fight or flight moment, she'd still have to decisions to make, but she'd probably be making them with an open and locked blade in her hand.
For training, we covered solely X-cuts; hands or teeth, whatever the threat might be, she'd slash furious X's at it until it was the right time to run or get stabby. She ended up opening and using it all the time, carried it religiously.
Fast forward a few months and she goes for Mexican food with her lifelong friend (who, we must note, is going through yet another shit show stage and needed consolation after her abortion that afternoon). After dinner, they went to the little neighborhood bar across the street where Shit Show immediately starts getting drunk and flirty with a couple of strangers. Wife finishes her bottle of beer and heads to the ladies room. She returns to find a fresh beer waiting and declines it, she doesn't drink anything she didn't maintain control of...and they'd paid her tab...nope, time to go.
SS wants to go back to their hotel room and needs to be reminded just why this is such a bad idea, especially that evening. SS switches to crying mode and my lady is guiding her to her Jeep when the two guys follow them into the parking lot. SS now goes aggressive, yelling and insulting the guys. That's when BG1 slapped SS, and again. BG2 takes a step towards Kahleesi, reaches for her and gets cut across his left forearm with the first move of her X. She said it was a good cut, too, lots of blood, him backing up and yowling while holding it with his right hand. BG1 was turned slightly away from her and as his hand came back to chamber another slap for SS, Kahleesi took a step forward and made the same cut along the back of his right arm, she's not sure if she got more deltoid or tricep, but she remembers it being an even better cut. She shoved SS through her open door and climbed over her to drive away.
Later she would tell me that she didn't even remember drawing the knife, it was just there. It wasn't the reaching hands that triggered her either, it was his eyes she tells me. For days afterword, she'd give a little shiver and say; I can still feel him looking at me, it was so ugly it makes me feel dirty. Keep this part in mind if your lady love ever has to go full Kahleesi, she probably won't come home in the mood for a steak and a hearty romp.
*Delica tidbit: she'd switched to a waved Delica for a while and gave her original to another lady student from our EMT class (which is where we met). She told me she wanted to switch back and a friend was at Blade Show at that moment. I texted him and asked him to pick one up if he saw a good deal. An hour later he sends me a pic of him shaking hands with Michael Janich as MJ presents him with a Delica. And that's the knife that was in her pocket that night. Still her favorite knife, too. I shared a different board with Mr. Janich years ago and he enjoyed this story very, very much.
Anyway, guns: She likes a G19/X300 for bedside and will generally grab her S&W 351c over her G42 these days, but she loves them both.
You mess with this Lioness or her loved ones, you're gonna get shot in the face repeatedly.
Last edited by Gun Mutt; 02-10-2019 at 11:20 AM.
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