Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Handgun for My Daughter

My daughter, who is 25, wants a handgun for home protection (she's not married, and no kids are around). She has a good amount of experience with handguns. After a good deal of thought, I believe a .38 shooting +P's would be perfect. She strongly prefers a revolver, rather than an auto, due to the revolver's simplicity and reliability, and I agree with this idea. I'm thinking something like a Ruger LCRX, or a Smith 442, would be the ticket. Thoughts (other than an auto)?

I’d get a S&W revolver with 3” barrel. I believe it’s a model 60. I have one in my safe. To lazy to dig it out.

You said " home protection " so why have a short-barreled revolver if concealment isn't an issue. A better choice would be a S&W K-frame such as a 15, 19, 66, etc. with a 4" barrel.

RS

Was thinking smaller frame for a woman. But nothing wrong with a 4”.

^^^This^^^

Less recoil and easier to aim than a j frame.

I bought 2 police trade model 10's for my daughters this year.
10 and 16, they won't be taking them soon, and I paid a bit too much,
But they keep going up in value.

Any decent swc is going to be nasty to be shot with, and the loads get better from there.

The heavy barreled guns are really nice to shoot, and grip styles and shapes are available
to make anyone happy.

6" K-frame with a tritium front based on your OP.

The first thing I though was a Ruger SP101 in 38 or 357 shooting 38 special loads and a set of Hogue grips.
The extra mass makes them a bit easier to get extra shots off and a set of grips sized a bit smaller will likely help control.

Let her choose what fits!

Good luck!

RipSnort has it right, a 4" K-frame in 38 Special or if a 357 Magnum is selected, the medium velocity Remington 125gr medium velocity Golden Sabre is a very controllable load.

A 4" model 10 or 64 sounds perfect for home protection. Maybe something different for CC.

Make sure she shoots whatever she plans to buy first. For me personally i hate shooting the lightweight j frames with the stock grips. The metal piece going up the middle of the grip beats the web between my thumb and first finger and is quite uncomfortable to me after a few shots of even mid level 38 and forget about 357! I actually prefer to shoot my 44 Super Redhawk and Taurus Tracker over these little j frames. I do however love my SP 101's in 38, 357, and 327 Fed mag. I know better grips can be had for the j frames, but in my experiences with newer shooters, especially females is that once a particular gun "hurts to shoot" or "kicks to much" they will always remember that and will be hesitant to use it and struggle with shooting it accurately going forward, regardless of grip upgrades etc.

Should also add that i recently went through a similar situation as the OP with my sister. Wife and i had her shoot the following from my collection over a few weeks:

Smith 637 38
Smith Bodyguard 38
Glock 19,26, 43 9mm
Ruger lcp 380
Ruger Lcr 38
Ruger lc9s 9mm
Ruger sp101 38
Taurus g2c 9mm
Sig p365 9mm
Smith shield 9mm
Smith shield ez 380.

She disliked all the revolvers we tried and ended up liking the shield ez the best, manipulated and shot it well and went and purchased one. My wife also has hated every revolver she has had in her hands, snubbies the worst. She usually carries either a Shield EZ or a Purple taurus g2c. Not a huge fan of the 380 as a defensive round but wife shoots the Ez extremely well and my sis is getting there with continuing practice, so shot placement with quality ammo should do the job.

Small, lightweight revolvers suck for occasional shooters. For that reason, the guns usually end up in the nightstand drawer and rarely see the light of day, much less a shooting range. Bigger revolvers are somewhat better, but still not great for rapid fire.

You nailed it. On the gun and the ammo.

More people need to know about that round.

Home protection:

Ruger LCRX3" in .357 Magnum...reason is it weighs a little more than the .38 Special as the frame is steel instead of aluminum. Load it with whatever she feels comfortable shooting. Excellent grips and the DA trigger pull is much better than the S&W J-frames...

Any 3" S&W K-frame with a round butt. Model 10, 13, 64 or 65... The round butt has more grip options for those with smaller hands. Have an action job done with a 13# trigger return spring and teach her how to shoot double action. (These will be used guns)

Ruger GP-100 3" or 4".... Excellent sights and can be easily changed out including night sights. Lots of grip options and usually a very good DA trigger pull... This would be my #1 choice...

Bob

Since she will not be carrying, but will likely keep it in her nightstand, the 3 or 4-inch barrel does sound like a better choice. They are definitely easier to shoot more accurately. I'll have to look around to see what is available for a reasonable price, but it seems that the longer barrels cost a good bit more than the snubbies..

First off, don't make the all too common mistake of picking a revolver that's optimized for concealed carry if its mission is home defense. That's like choosing a backpacker's cooking set for your kitchen cooking needs. Makes no sense whatsoever. You don't want to be cooking your daily meals on a lightweight, portable, alcohol stove, and (for the same reason) you don't want to choose a lightweight, compact, five shot revolver for home defense. If it's for home defense, you can afford to be luxurious in your choice, and get an all-steel, mid-sized, revolver, like a K-Frame S&W or a mid-frame Ruger, with a four inch heavy barrel. These types of choices are many times easier to shoot well, enjoyable to shoot, and easier to manipulate than any revolver optimized for concealed carry.

Nope. Small frame revolvers are not designed for small framed people. They are designed to maximize all-day concealed carry (at the expense of shootability).

Since that's not an issue she needs to deal with, she has the luxury of choosing something easier to handle, like a mid-frame, all-steel, four inch barrel, revolver.

Davemen,
JMO---training is more important than equipment. "...a good amount of experience...."? Some people have 10 years experience, others have 1 years experience repeated 10 times...don't let simple range-time be a criteria for determining someone's ability to judge what's best. A revolver may be the way to go for her, however shooting it competently is not a matter of "simplicity"---it's considerably more difficult than an autoloader and reliability isn't a black and white issue (a stoppage with a reliever usually requires recourse to a gunsmith). I'm sure that you know that and have probably already taken that into consideration.

Getting involved with a group like "Babes with Bullets," or "Girl with a Gun" would be far more important than whatever piece of equipment you and she decide upon IMO. A lot, if not most of the shooting schools (Gunsite, Thunder Ranch, John Farnam, etc.) have women's only classes. I've learned the hard way that spouses and parents (irrespective of their shooting creds) are often the worst people to train and equip their children or significant other. Again, I'm sure that you already know that and have taken that into consideration.

I'm guessing that if you talk with any of the participants here on the campfire that have been behind the counter in a retail gun shop environment, they'll caution you about her picking a gun because it "feels" comfortable. "Handling" and "shooting" are different phenoms---and "comfort" changes when shooting. Letting a relatively new shooter pick a gun because if "feels" comfortable at the gun counter is like letting Stevie Wonder pick your home decor.

JMO-YMMV----however, were I buying a revolver for defense right now, the new S&W 19 Performance Center carry comp would be my choice---alittle pricey maybe, but a sweet package.

Good advice. Hasbeen