“Easy Button” home defense long arm for small female

[Borderland]

the more I think the best solution may be the APC9

I try to minimize my reliance on hope as much as possible when it comes to the lives of my family.

Unless you advocate the use of a 12 ga shotgun you haven't minimized your reliance on hope.

[Totem Polar]

For the scenario described here, I would place a high priority on a firearm that could be kept fully loaded without a safety to disengage.

I gotta return to this for a sec, because I’m not sure of a suitable long arm that fits the bill. Unless we consider cruiser ready to be fully loaded. What am I missing?

[Wake27]

Unless you advocate the use of a 12 ga shotgun you haven't minimized your reliance on hope.

31 rounds of 75gr gold dot would disagree. Especially considering that she’s got some time behind that gun as well.


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[Mark D]

I'm going to suggest going in another direction...

SP101 with light .38 loads and a small grip , preferably a Crimson Trace if you can find one that fits her hands.

The SP101 is on the roster of CA-approved handguns, and is about as easy to load, unload, check, and maintain as you can get.
And pretty much bullet proof. (Pardon the pun).

[nalesq]

When you want to screw with the PCC shooters at a USPSA match, you have an unloaded start, and all sorts of chaos is generally observed. Keep in mind this is with presumably skilled or semi-skilled shooters participating in a match. For an inexperienced shooter, in the heat of an emergency, I can only imagine it would be an even bigger cluster.

For the scenario described here, I would place a high priority on a firearm that could be kept fully loaded without a safety to disengage.

I think this illustrates the biggest problem with shoulder fired weapons for non dedicated personnel, assuming the weapon will be kept either in cruiser ready or chambered with the safety engaged. Unless the user is trained to automatically work the charging handle as soon as she picks up the weapon and can operate the safety appropriately, there is a high likelihood she won’t do it properly under stress.

Then there is the problem of being trained to put the weapon back into a safe condition once the situation has been resolved favorably. (Which, most of the time, will mean just putting the gun away and going back to bed, or whatever.)

This is one of the reasons that I am a big fan of DAO revolvers for non-dedicated folks, even though shoulder fired weapons are easier to actually shoot.




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[GearFondler]

I’ve always started brand new handgunners with one round in a magazine. Nobody has ever danced around with a gun or dropped it, but better safe than sorry, and everyone has appreciated being told that the first time is only a single round. FWIW.

Damn that's smart, and obvious now that you mention it... Definitely going to file that one away for the future.
I took my elderly MIL out shooting last year and it was "exciting" to say the least. 20 years ago she was good to go but now, not so much... Immediately after firing the first round from her Colt .38 she started to turn around toward us, gun extended, finger still on the trigger. I caught her before she flagged anyone and gently corrected her. Yeeesh.

[S Jenks]

It’s expensive, but what about a braced MP5 clone?

Cruiser ready with either bolt forward or locked back is easy to charge/slap, the Magpul ESK makes running the safety almost as easy as an AR. 30 rounds on tap, reliable, excellent iron sights for inside-the-home distances. Recoil feels like a .22 and you don’t get the blast of a 5.56 when it’s time for training. People will point out the complex manual of arms when reloading but mag changes aren’t the highest priority when preparing one for home defense.

[Hambo]

I try to minimize my reliance on hope as much as possible when it comes to the lives of my family.

That's a really good plan.

[Borderland]

31 rounds of 75gr gold dot would disagree. Especially considering that she’s got some time behind that gun as well.


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I think the OP was asking for opinions about how to get his wife to learn to shoot and enjoy it.

FWIW, I always start new shooters out with a 22 rifle. Apparently a lot of other people here agree.

Did you miss the fact that the OP is in Cali?

[JRB]

I’m not sure which part of this best meets criteria for worst gun store advice ever.

/sidebar
One of my Soldiers traded his Granddad's 2nd run Colt Detective Special with vintage leather for a polymer Taurus Raging Bull.

Words like 'Fucktard' and 'Unforgivable sin' were used if memory serves.. it's a bit hazy because I was pretty upset. To the store's credit they gave him a fair trade price for the Colt which provided him a holster and a decent chunk of ammo too.

Ever since I heard about Hipoint’s .380 Carbine, I’ve thought that it would be an excellent home defense starter weapon, especially for a smaller framed person.

I really wanted to try one first before I bought one for my own elderly mother, but I was morbidly curious despite Hi Point's reputation. A friend has a 995 9mm carbine that runs like a champ on basically any ammo you can find, so it has appeal for the low cost/low recoil aspect. I'm sure .380 out of a carbine is relatively quiet for an unsuppressed firearm. The redball 20 round mags for the 9mm carbine are reputed to work in the .380 as well.