hand gun
hello everyone ,
looking to buy a good ladies hand gun. need help first time buyer[:I]
I'm moving this over from the "Want Ads" to the "Ask the Experts" forum. Please tell us more, such as what is it for? Self defense? Target shooting? Do you want a revolver or semi-auto? Is your wife large or small and can she handle large calibers?
looking to buy a good ladies hand gun. need help first time buyer[:I]
I'm moving this over from the "Want Ads" to the "Ask the Experts" forum. Please tell us more, such as what is it for? Self defense? Target shooting? Do you want a revolver or semi-auto? Is your wife large or small and can she handle large calibers?
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Any help please0 -
Welcome.
From the moniker PaulaT, I assume this is the lady.
It depends on what your intended purpose is. For a first timer, a revolver is probably best, but depending on what you plan to use it for will determine the caliber and the type and size of the revolver.0 -
If its for recreational (ie purely fun) shooting, I'd suggest a full sized .22 automatic, such as the Ruger MkIII.
For home defense (or defense AND recreational shooting), I'd suggest a .357 magnum or .38 special revolver. Smith and Wesson model 66 is a really excellent choice, though there are many other models that could work too. Note that a .357 magnum revolver will also run .38 special ammunition just fine. .38 rounds are both less expensive, and offer less noise and recoil, and make good practice rounds.
If its for concealed carry, the issue becomes a lot more complicated.
Where (on your person) do you intend to carry it? How much hand strength do you have? Can you physically rack the slide on an automatic pistol? How much practice are you going to put into this?
Many authorities suggest a snubnose .38 revolver as a good concealed carry weapon for a woman, though in my opinion a 9mm (or other) automatic could also work well, FOR THE RIGHT WOMAN..0 -
My carry is a Bersa Thunder .380, with four spare magazines. I would actually prefer my Ruger P85, with 15 round magazines rather than 7 round magazines, but that is big, bulky, and too heavy for me anymore. I've got bad joints, and needed something lighter. So I read all the good reports on the Kel-Tec 9mm, and got one. And traded it on the Bersa before I'd even fired one round. It's light sure. But almost impossible for me to rack the slide to get a round in the chamber - so what happens if I get a stovepipe? Slide release took both thumbs to operate. Trigger pull is miserable and pinched my finger so I could not pull it more than three times. And then I found the bad reviews. So swapped it for the Bersa and have been pleased as can be with it. Good right out of the box, feeds any ammo I put thru it, no jams, failure to feed, nothing. I think very highly of it. Small for small hands too. 0 -
As a general rule, I don't reccommend automatic pistols to women because of the need to jack back the slide of an automatic, so stick with a revolver. Less bells and whistles to remember during times of stress too.
Taurus (or Smith) makes a fine five shot titanium .38 revolver that is light in weight if you want to carry it.0 -
quote:Originally posted by p3skyking
As a general rule, I don't reccommend automatic pistols to women because of the need to jack back the slide of an automatic, so stick with a revolver. Less bells and whistles to remember during times of stress too.
Taurus (or Smith) makes a fine five shot titanium .38 revolver that is light in weight if you want to carry it.
You only need to jack the slide to chamber a round (and that's not difficult with a Bersa), then put it on safe to lower the hammer, put it back on fire, top your magazine off to 7 rounds, and carry with the first round double action, ready to fire. Nothing to it. A Bersa then has 8 rounds ready vs 5, and is much simpler and faster to reload. I do carry mine on safe, but automatically take it off safe when I draw - the result of training and practice. You remember the bells and whistles by practice. A lot of women carry a Bersa, and the ones I've talked to really like it. Personally I would not carry a revolver, unless that was my only option. Spare magazines take up less room then speedloaders too. I also find that firing accurately double action with a revolver takes a whole lot of concentration, I'll recommend a Bersa for a woman any day - along with practice. Ultimate decision is the woman's tho, I've know of some that carry a 1911 - which would be my personal choice, if I could pack the weight anymore.0 -
quote:Originally posted by theoldesarge
You only need to jack the slide to chamber a round (and that's not difficult with a Bersa), then put it on safe to lower the hammer, put it back on fire, top your magazine off to 7 rounds, and carry with the first round double action, ready to fire. Nothing to it. A Bersa then has 8 rounds ready vs 5, and is much simpler and faster to reload. I do carry mine on safe, but automatically take it off safe when I draw - the result of training and practice. You remember the bells and whistles by practice. A lot of women carry a Bersa, and the ones I've talked to really like it. Personally I would not carry a revolver, unless that was my only option. Spare magazines take up less room then speedloaders too. I also find that firing accurately double action with a revolver takes a whole lot of concentration, I'll recommend a Bersa for a woman any day - along with practice. Ultimate decision is the woman's tho, I've know of some that carry a 1911 - which would be my personal choice, if I could pack the weight anymore.
Sarge,
I don't own a lightweight revolver so I'm not pushing what I carry.
My recommendation is based on 18 years of REAL retail sales and service with hundreds of first time women gun buyers who buy, shoot, and then report back THEIR impressions.
Most do not have the upper body strength to rack a slide back and it's hard on their soft hands.
Most don't need reloads because the loud noise makes them flinch and they only will shoot a couple of times.
Most forget to disengage the safety or leave a round in the chamber when taking out the magazine.
Most say they are too heavy.
The only automatic that I would recommend is a Taurus or Beretta tip up .22. The Taurus incorporates a mag safety so they can leave a round in the barrel while making it kidproof by removing the mag.
A first time gun buyer is like a first time car buyer. You don't start them off with a 'Vette when they are learning to drive.
KISS0 -
quote:Originally posted by p3skyking
quote:Originally posted by theoldesarge
You only need to jack the slide to chamber a round (and that's not difficult with a Bersa), then put it on safe to lower the hammer, put it back on fire, top your magazine off to 7 rounds, and carry with the first round double action, ready to fire. Nothing to it. A Bersa then has 8 rounds ready vs 5, and is much simpler and faster to reload. I do carry mine on safe, but automatically take it off safe when I draw - the result of training and practice. You remember the bells and whistles by practice. A lot of women carry a Bersa, and the ones I've talked to really like it. Personally I would not carry a revolver, unless that was my only option. Spare magazines take up less room then speedloaders too. I also find that firing accurately double action with a revolver takes a whole lot of concentration, I'll recommend a Bersa for a woman any day - along with practice. Ultimate decision is the woman's tho, I've know of some that carry a 1911 - which would be my personal choice, if I could pack the weight anymore.
Sarge,
I don't own a lightweight revolver so I'm not pushing what I carry.
My recommendation is based on 18 years of REAL retail sales and service with hundreds of first time women gun buyers who buy, shoot, and then report back THEIR impressions.
Most do not have the upper body strength to rack a slide back and it's hard on their soft hands.
Most don't need reloads because the loud noise makes them flinch and they only will shoot a couple of times.
Most forget to disengage the safety or leave a round in the chamber when taking out the magazine.
Most say they are too heavy.
The only automatic that I would recommend is a Taurus or Beretta tip up .22. The Taurus incorporates a mag safety so they can leave a round in the barrel while making it kidproof by removing the mag.
A first time gun buyer is like a first time car buyer. You don't start them off with a 'Vette when they are learning to drive.
KISS
+1
JIM............0 -
My daily carry is a .380 Bersa Thunder. I have a .357 revolver, but it is too bulky to want to carry daily. The Bersa I KNOW I will carry every single day, and do. I carry it because I have confidence in it. The Kel-Tec 9mm I traded in for it, did not instill any confidence at all on many levels.
I'm a grown man, and have no problems racking the slide on my P85, or any 1911 I've seen. But found it almost impossible to rack the slide on that Kel-Tec; yet my dau-in-law can, with no problem. She is not a huge women, and it didn't bother 'her' soft hands. So I would say the women who complained about that were sold a bad choice.
If they flinch because of the noise and only shoot a couple of times, it sounds like they have no hearing protection. They also need a competent individual to instruct them, which it sounds like they also did not have.
Forgetting to disengage the safety, or to leave around in the chamber, also sounds like a lack of a competent instructor.
Too heavy for what? To carry? Or to hold and shoot? I have bad joints, I find it very uncomfortable anymore to wear a belt, so wear suspenders. Lack of a belt makes it inconvenient to carry, and weight on the suspenders makes them dig in to my shoulders causing pain. I already live with daily pain, so don't need to add more. Howewever, I wear a vest to carry. The wide shoulder straps distribute the weight so I can actually carry my P85, with a 15 round magazine loaded, and 3 spare magazines comfortably enough. But that is big and bulky. I can carry the Bersa and 4 spare 7 round magazines, and never even notice.
A .22 is better than nothing, but I would rather have a bag of rocks than have to depend on a .22 for reliably stopping someone. The Bersa has a magazine safety also. And the way to 'kidproof' a firearm is NOT by removing a magazine - it is by training the kid(s) in the proper use and safety of a firearm.
A first time gun buyer, just like a car buyer, has to have proper instruction before you turn them loose on their own. Sounds like a large percentage of the women you talk about didn't have proper instruction.
A .380 and a .38 Special are actually rated at about the same stopping power. But I wouldn't recommend a small frame .38 Special revolver to anyone but an experienced shooter, for self defense. You can Never, ever, count on five shots being enough, so you need to reload. You can teach someone to reload a .380 semi-automatic a lot easier and faster than you can to reload a revolver. I was a training NCO for at least three years of my military service, 20+ years, and for a time a NRA certified pistol, rifle, shotgun, instructor. I wouldn't want a revolver as a primary carry piece, and don't feel comfortable recommending one for any inexperienced individual. Double action shooting with a revolver needs a lot of practice to be good at it, and single action shooting is slow. My Bersa and my P85 are both double/single action, and the first round, double action, is 'always' a bit off, but the rest of the rounds will all go in about a double fist size area, rapid fire. And then I can drop the empty magazine, pop a loaded on in, and thumb the slide release, in a couple of seconds.
Proper instruction is the key.0 -
So now the difference in opinion.
The advantages of a .38 revolver are as follows:
a. Revolver is SIMPLE to use. No slide to rack. No magazine to load, fail, accidentally release, or accidentally fail to fully seat. No safety to accidentally forget to disengage or accidentally re-engage when the adrenaline is flowing and the chips are down.
Edit: You've got only four controls (trigger, cylinder release, ejector rod, and hammer), and some of the guns don't even have all four! Want to know if a revolver is loaded? Just glance at it. Open cylinder, insert rounds, close cylinder, pull trigger. It doesn't get any easier than that.
b. 38 special +P has better stopping power any .380. Its because the .38 can take heavier bullets than the .380 (ie up to 158 grain for common loads) leading to significantly better penetration. .380s all take lightweight 95 grain (or so) bullets, and the .380 round in general is known for poor penetration.
c. Revolver is simple to MAINTAIN. No "field strip" to learn for those who are not mechanically inclined. You basically crack it open, then swab it out. Short of physically disassembling it with tools, you CANNOT lose parts on a revolver or inactivate it by mistake!
d. As close to 100% reliability as you are going to get in any handgun. Lots of the small automatics (in fact, I'd go so far as to say MOST of them) are prone to jamming.
Its physically impossible to "limp wrist" a revolver. If you happen to get a dud round with a revolver you just pull the trigger again for a new round. With an auto you have to do some "tap rack bang" maneuver that isn't necessarily easy and requires quite a bit of training to do instinctively.
e. In theory, you can fire a revolver repeatedly from INSIDE a pocket or purse. (In practice. . .better not to do this).
Disadvantages to a revolver:
a. Smaller capacity (though IMO, I'll take 5 .38+Ps over 7 .380s any day, even from the same platform).
b. Potentially bigger/fatter than the smallest automatics.
c. DA trigger pull can be heavy. (Though this isn't necessarily a disadvantage. . .heavy trigger pull helps prevent negligent discharge).
Edit:
d. More power = more recoil.0 -
I recommend hitting the gun stores, shopping around as much as possible. And going to ranges that rent guns, shoot as much as possible.
Remember advice is like a fart. Everyone lets it out, some of it stinks, some of it doesn't. So take everything everyone at the gunstores and boards say with a grain of salt. Compile it and interpret it to what works best for you.
There are lots of assumptions and bad stereotypes concerning woman shooters and every swinging richard out there is willing to John Wayne it up for a little lady.
If your anywhere near by, I also recommend signing up for a "Babes with Bullets" class. Just google it and youtube it. I know one lady competitive shooter who goes, and always comes back a step ahead of where she was when she went.0 -
This is not the final word, in fact I'm not sure it's really accurate, and leaves considerable out, but is an interesting read anyway. http://www.chuckhawks.com/handgun_power_chart.htm
Carry something you have confidence in. I've never had a jam, failure to feed, misfire, with my Bersa right out of the boxc, regardless of what I've fired thru it. I have confidence in it.0
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