Handgun for my wife

[vietdoc67usmc]

Hi all,
My wife was a pretty fair shot until she developed peripheral nerve damage and can no longer hold our Glock .45 or our Colt .357Mag on target long enough to form a decent pattern. Am looking for a smaller, lighter semi automatic weapon with less recoil but enough pop to hurt a bad person bad enough to ruin his day. Am looking, among others at, .380acp but have no experience with its firing characteristics other than what the book tells me.

Grateful for any info you might provide.

Frank

[TXDMERC73]

get her a Beretta Tomcat .32 acp , the good thing about that pistol is that she wont have to rack the slide. there is a button that pops the barrel open and put the round in the barrel and close it makes it easy for a woman to use . a .32 acp doesnt kick as much as a .380 and the .32 is a fair enough firepower with 65 gr Hydrashoks.

[S&W 10mm]

A Walther PPK/PPK/S might be perfect. Its not real light but it is just right i'd say. .380 is basically a 9mm shortened. It has got plenty of firepower and I bet that you can keep good groups with it up to 15 yards i'd say. It is more of a close quarters gun but self defense 99% of the time is. .380 I bet will be pretty easy to find ammo for versus a .32 or .25. I wouldnt mind carrying a .22 mag, you just better be damn sure your accurate with those shots.

[XD45]

The problem is finding a smaller caliber gun that isn't tiny. Most 32's and 380's are so small that they jump around in your hand as much if not more as a full sized duty caliber gun.

Perhaps a jframe in 22winmag? Not semi but should be decent sized grip for her if nothing else.

If you get a 380 ammo could be a problem, thats been the hardest caliber to find for me in this whole mess.

[Seventy4Blazer]

beretta chetah would be nice i think.

[38SnubFan]

I'm going to put a vote in for a lightweight J-Frame in .38 Spl. Light enough to be held easily, decent stopping power for SD, and since it's a revolver, there's no worries about whether or not she can rack the slide without hurting her hand.

My wife suffered a wrist injury recently that's still healing. She likes my Taurus 24/7 PRO DS in .45, but the .38 snubbie she carries I know she can shoot and hold comfortably.

Best bet (as always): Take her somewhere she can rent some different models and let her decide what's going to work for her.

[XD45]

Have you thought about reloading? A powderpuff 9mm, or even 45acp should be more than manageable.

[S&W 10mm]

Have you thought about reloading? A powderpuff 9mm, or even 45acp should be more than manageable.

Never even thought about that. +1

[str8shooter]

Is it the weight of the .357 mag, the recoil, or a little of both? The next (probably obvious) follow up question is, can it also shoot .38 specials.

If she can handle the weight of the gun, and it can shoot .38's, I'd suggest trying .38 wadcutters. A kinder, gentler round, but makes for good groups on the range. Then something like Corbon high velocity JHP .38 spl for a carry round, if not 357 mags.

[PA Rifleman]

Hi all,
My wife was a pretty fair shot until she developed peripheral nerve damage and can no longer hold our Glock .45 or our Colt .357Mag on target long enough to form a decent pattern. Am looking for a smaller, lighter semi automatic weapon with less recoil but enough pop to hurt a bad person bad enough to ruin his day. Am looking, among others at, .380acp but have no experience with its firing characteristics other than what the book tells me.

Grateful for any info you might provide.

Frank

Less recoil=lighter bullet in heaver gun. Consider reloads with light bullets, or maybe a smaller cartridge in an existing platform she's familiar with. For example, she would already know how to operate a Glock 17 or 34, both in 9mmx19. Both would have substantially less recoil that the 45 ACP models, plus the the same or longer sight radius. Antiterrorist groups have been using Glock 34's (nee 17L) for years. Before that, the SAS was using longslide Browning Hi Power Competition models.

Glocks on Wiki (link).
Browning Hi Power on Wiki (link).

I have several PPKs, all in 380 ACP. They are all blowback, and have a very sharp recoil sensation. The PPK slide also has a tendency to tear off the top layer of skin on my right hand, seen below. I've long since accustomed myself to it, but she might find it objectionable.



I see you're in the soviet republik of NJ, this may limit your selections & capacity.