Pistols for the ladies

[Gun Mutt]

Do you have any opportunity to let her shoot one? If you were local to me, I’d hook you up.

After seeing pics of some of your collection, I'd make a serious road trip for a range day!

[Notorious E.O.C.]

Do you have any opportunity to let her shoot one? If you were local to me, I’d hook you up.

Sadly, no. I haven't found anyone who owns one here in Bluegrassistan, and the only place that stocks them has fairly limited hours. Which may be best for my savings account.

[theJanitor]

I think my sister is going the MP9/RMR route, after trying out my brother's g19/RMR. Also, racking the slide with an optic is WAY easier

[Bergeron]

It’s interesting being considered as the “gun person” in my acquaintance/friend group when the topic of women introducing themselves to guns occurs. When it happens to me, I always try to point to women who are content creators and SMEs such as corneredcat and VFTP. I think I can mainly provide value in being able to put hands on books and guns in private settings and proving hardware-oriented information without trying to make a sale.

My mother and sister got interested through the sport shooting side of the house, but I find that most women who I talk to are focused on mainly self defense. I try to talk up flashlights and OC as much as I do the guns.

The hand strength thing is one of my favorite parts of corneredcat because it comes up often- I often worry that new shooters are so ready to believe that operating a slide is strength versus technique and it feels great to be able to whip the old phone out and directly navigate to pictures and discussion of technique. The big lack in my personal arsenal is a mid-size locked breech .380- I wish there was a 42x.

I also wish there were more .22 conversions for the small little 9s and .380s. I always make a pitch for shooting as a hobby, and convincing someone that not only should they spend additional money on training, a holster, belt, and quality defensive ammo, making the pitch for a whole other gun is difficult.

Sometimes I think about getting a bob tailed, short-triggered, thin-gripped aluminum 9x19 Commander, some light loads and just handing the whole thing over on loan like a library book.

[gato naranja]

Sometimes I think about getting a bob tailed, short-triggered, thin-gripped aluminum 9x19 Commander, some light loads and just handing the whole thing over on loan like a library book.

Interesting. I won't go into the long, boring history of how it happened, but - other than MAYBE the bobtail part - I am coming around to this way of thinking. I will say, however, that an awful lot of women do seem to take a shine to the very thing you describe when they try one out (my wife included, though her fingers are long enough to use a "standard" trigger).

One of the ranges we frequent ended up putting multiple 9mm 1911s in the rental section because women were basically waiting in line to use the first one they offered.

gn

[Gun Mutt]

I said in the ladies knife thread; my work has so often had me in close, trusted proximity to women that I've been blessed to leave a heartwarming trail of armed (probably semi-armed in most cases) women. These are my observations of those wonderful, smart, funny and hardworking women:

Most will never get the competition bug.

Few will go through a quality class.

Of those that owned a pistol (even those that carried regularly), the vast majority owned only the one pistol.

Sure, there's @Tamara, @Stephanie B, @Heidi Smith, my wife...but IME, they're the exceptions that prove the rule. My wife is 5'3" of elfen hellcat and a 100rd range session is just about her top end. She's run 200+rds through her G42 in one long range session and she paid dearly for the experience for several days...just physics.

I'm paraphrasing Chuck Whitlock here, again from the ladies knife thread: Is it present and will she use it? If I can get two yeses here, then the rest of their answer is great with me.

Because of my experiences above, I'm an absolutely unabashed shill for the G42 and the .22 LCR/j-frame. If they can carry one safely, produce it on demand and shoot a hand sized mag/cylinder dump at 3yds, which I think Claude Werner would approve of for men or women, then they're aces in my book. If they choose to further add a double stack w/WML on their bedside, I'll get genuinely giddy.

[Sauer Koch]

If on her person, since women's clothing seems to omit useful beltloops, she uses DCC clips to secure to whatever pants she's wearing. Previously, she'd use a modified JMCK holster with a velcro'd spring clip to secure onto her pants.

FYI, the UltiClip is pretty awesome. My wife didn’t care for having to use a belt to be able to carry her P30sk in her Kydex holster. I ran across the UltiClip on YT, and it seemed like a fix for her issue. I bought one from Tier 1 Concealed, when I bought my holster, just to see what they were like.
My previous holster was from Muddy River Tactical, and due to their great CS, quality holsters, and extremely quick ship time, I spoke with Kevin the owner, and explained my situation with the clip, and asked if he’d be willing to build her another IWB using the UltiClip, and he said sure! He got the clip on Thursday, called me on Friday for payment since it was a verbal special order, and I had the holster in my hands on Tuesday!

For those who want to carry a smaller gun without a belt, these are great. They clamp down with some serious pressure, and even with yoga pants, my wife tested it, and the clip maintained a hold on her pants, and the gun came out of the kydex perfectly.
Just wanted to share.