Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns pistol for small hands

My girlfriend has been thinking about home defence.
I let her try a Sig 9mm and she had a difficult time racking the slide.
I am thinking a J frame with 3 inch barrel?
whelennut

Smith & Wesson 3" 60-15 with a 12-13 pound trigger return spring would make a dandy house gun. There are lots of different grips and light recoiling .38s for practice.

You may also want to try a Kahr P or CW9 but small autos need big springs to make them work...

Bob

My wife's 3" model 60 with Wolff replacement springs and a tritium front sight I picked up on here is uber. Fits small and not so small hands really well. The replacement springs and a little stoning made it so DA trigger pull is nice and easy, and that thing shoots really well too.

Ruger SP101 - almost like they're made with the female hand in mind.

My daughter tried my S&W 640 but ended up liking my 1911 commander best. Once I showed her how to rack the slide, she was completely comfortable with it. If it were up to me I would have gone the other way but some hands on use and a little instruction led her to made the decision that best suited her.

I got Nomex undies, so here I go............

The Bersa .380 Thunder double stack.
15 + 1.

Easy to operate, decent trigger, decent sights and easy to rack.

Kahr P9, if a woman can operate a Automobile then she can rack the slide on a 9mm. It is all about training and practice

Shield works for a 2 year-old.

I found my Kahr CW9 to be user friendly, but the trigger pull is l-o-o-o-o-n-g. I like your idea of a revolver for home defense. I liked my SW 357 because it gave me the option of shooting 38's and it was heavy enough to control the recoil.

The sp101's held and shot don't hold a birthday candle to my (wifes) mod 60.

Kahr.

101% correct...but unless they have a trigger finger that can bend a steel pipe the DA pull is way way too much for most men let alone women.

Bob

My wife has fairly small hands and likes her 3" Model 60 pro just fine. Another vote goes to the shield for an auto.

That's true with the stock grips. Put the Hogues grips on it and it's a whole different story.

My petite wife has tried a Ruger 4" Security Six with Hogue grips, an SP101, w/Houges, a couple different Hi-Powers, a couple different 1911's, a Kahr K9, a 2.5" S&W 19, and a S&W 3" m60as - along with various rimfires.

For home defense, she prefers and shoots well with the Security Six. For home and carry, she prefers the 3" 60as, and shoots it almost as well. She doesn't care for any of the centerfire autos, but tolerates the HP the most. She always liked the K9 the least - which is understandable for a few reasons.

If I were making a suggestion to for a petite woman to try a Kahr for home defense, I would suggest the TP9 because of it's longer slide. I haven't shot one, so I don't know - but the longer and heavier slide might be acceptable to some who are put off by the smaller Kahrs.

Ive been trying to get my wife to use my 3"model 60.
She has a Kahr p380 but she has wrist problems and tend to
have limp wrist issues wit it.

38 double action revolver, brand is not as important as long as it goes bang and she can control it.

4" K frame. Get grips that fit her hand.
You did state home defense and not concealed carry.

Have the ladies read this:

http://www.corneredcat.com/article/running-the-gun/rack-the-slide/

Whelennut---the following may sound snarky but isn't intended to:

DocRocket and I recently completed the revolver course at Thunder Ranch and I can't speak for him, but at the end of the course the muscles in my hands and forearms were much more fatigued than they've been after shooting similar # of rounds thru autoloaders. I think that even the most ardent revolver fan will admit that it takes more practice (live and dry fire) to master the double action trigger pull than the single action auto trigger pull. Therefore it's my belief (and I could be wrong) that if your girlfriend doesn't have the hand/forearm strength to rack the slide of a Sig, she won't have the strength to master the revolver's trigger as it will take FAR more repetition than the auto. Take your finest revolver, hold it in your strong (or support) hand and pull the trigger double action as fast as you can as many times as you can---it doesn't take long for fatigue to set in you hand and forearm muscles. My guess is that it takes MORE (not less) hand and forearm strength to shoot a revolver well than a SA Auto (of course, I could be wrong).

Having said that, I'm not suggesting that you not get her a revolver; personally I love revolvers---I'm suggesting that you reasoning may not be accurate. I would suggest that you:
1. Work with her on racking the slide by pushing the frame with her strong hand and not by pulling the slide with her support hand.
2. Have her rapidly dry fire your revolver as fast as she can and she if she still likes it.
3. Failing #1 & #2, get a new girlfriend. :-)

JMO-YMMV