Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns For the wife.... 380 vs 9mm

So she's carrying it, then?

I would try a light load with 148gr wadcutters in a heavier revolver.

Light and DA can be tough place to start but she shouldn't be bothered by the recoil of 148's. If she is I'd get her a 22LR.




Dave

LCR in .327 would keep the platform and give practice options from .32S&W up with carry loads of .327 Magnum, in addition to having 6 in the cylinder instead of 5.

I had my wife shoot several guns with the intent of her picking one she was comfortable with.

A Ruger lcp380
Kahr cw9
Smith 642

Oddly enough she picked up my Glock 30

And said that felt the best in her hand..she shot it and said she liked it. Proceeded to shoot another 150 rounds through it and I haven't gotten it back since

I went round with same thing for my wife Found that most 380s were so uncomfortable due to alloy franes. Wife ended up hating her ppk clone and I got her a SW airweight for ease of use- but she hates it for the same reason. It is super uncomfortable to shoot and she couldn't hit with it.

I went without her and bought her a smallish polymer Walther pk380 and she has raved about the thing ever since. Easiest slide to rack and softest recoil of any center fire I ever felt- by a longshot. 80 year old Dad's arthritic hands had no pain or problem whatsoever with it saying it was easier to rack than the Buckmark and and I agree. Wife is not a big gun nut but really enjoys shooting it (which was huge for me) and is darn good with it. The polymer soaks up recoil as does the little weight of the slide. The ergo's of Walther grips are famous. Hard to beat fro a smallish hand. Not a very expensive thing either. At least have her take a look at one and rack the slide etc...

My wife, and both daughters are very proficient with pistols.

Wife has a G17 at the house. She decided to start carrying CCW due to two incidents that occurred in her very close proximity last year.

Taurus had rebates on their G2 Millenium 9mm last year. Up to three per household. Well, I bought three of them. She and one daughter took an NRA sponsored CCW refresher course.

Although not required in AZ, they both went through the classes to obtain a CCW in AZ.

The G2 in 9mm fits their hands just right. With 9mm +P 115 grain hollow points the recoil is not overbearing for them. The pistol is accurate enough for self defense.

The ammo that I have chosen for them ? Barnes +P 115 grn 9mm Tac-XPD. I'm looking at using the Federal HST 124 ammo. Testing on these show that the standard ammo is actually better than the +P version.

At any rate, I feel that they're well protected. The pistols are small enough for concealment in a CCW designed purse.

Was a great choice for our family.

yup.

How does the 5.7 recoil? Or the 22 tcm, and there is a Glock conversion.

On another note I shot one of those Rhino revolvers, it doesn't recoil like a normal revolver. Ugly as sin and rather expensive though.

My wife carries a Sig 225 9mm or a Smith 360.

My thought too. Let her decide what she likes.

If she can handle a 380 try a Beretta 84 or a Browning BDA (same gun) in 380 it's a 13 +1 gun and she'll have plenty of rounds and should be easier for her to handle.

A fortune cookie might say that somebody who is cajoled into doing something they don't want to do will find a reason to not like any option. Load the existing gun with the lightest 148 grain wadcutter load that won't get the bullet stuck in the barrel and consider 10 rounds a year to be adequate until you can figure out a way to make her think shooting is fun. Buying more stuff for a disinclined person makes it look like you are wasting money. The best scenario is when they try something you already have and steal it from you because it's fun.

My wife would like an LCP but I suspect her hands would regret it.

For those of you who have shot both, how does the LCP recoil compare to the LC9S?

Read up on the Beretta 84 safety issue before going there for a defensive pistol. In a nutshell, the lever will move away from fire and click into a clear and distinct detent, but still not be on safe. It will fire if the trigger is pulled. OK for a range toy, but too messy for the already messy potential of a DGU.

Watch Ammoquest on Youtube for his .380 gel tests. The 90gr XTP appears to be the only projectile designed for the caliber that consistently works well. This is backed up by tests that, if I remember right, were published by Lucky Gunner and show it to be the most consistent and best meets the FBI criteria in gel. If you're willing to contemplate loading your own ammo for defensive use, you can of course load these to the velocity range that gives good results in 9mm cases.

I want to like the Browning, but the fit and finish aren't nearly what they should be for a $600 pistol. The Al-frame 22s are much nicer and cost less.

Rimfires are more likely to have primer-related ammo reliability issues than centerfires. But 22WMR is better than screaming.

The FN 5-7 has minimal recoil, but is a big pistol. USP45-big.

My wife is also very recoil sensitive and it took forever to decide on a pistol that worked for her. The best thing we did was go to an indoor range that had a large rental case and tried almost every common type of semi auto and revolver out there. We even took a note pad to write our thoughts down on. For shooting comfort she liked a GP100 with light 38 loads the best, for carrying a ppk or bersa size 380. She ended up deciding on a sig 232. I think the biggest help to the whole situation was she got to shoot and decided what she liked.

As far as the practicing aspect, and gaining familiarity, making the practice fun is what is important. Finding shooters that are about the same skill level, or adding in goofy type games makes all the difference.

The safety on the Beretta 84 is no big deal. The gun is basically a DA/SA, gun. just like a LOT of other guns. With 13 rounds you have a lot of firepower. It's the type of gun recoil sensitive people can handle. Either it fits a particular lady or it doesn't. If it fit's her and she'll keep it with her it's worthwhile. Buy descent bullets, there are a few different ones out there.

Just a thought, but can you reload some rounds that are reduced in power even more for her to practice with and load it with the real thing for emergencies? Kind of like SR4759 loads for centerfire rifles???

my wife has a Kahr P380 that she shoots OK with, I wanted to move her up to the 9mm, however one big problem is loading the pistol. Pulling the slide all the way back can be a problem for some people on some pistols.

I have never been a big fan of the FN 5.7 but I have to wonder if its not a CCW how easy one of those would be to load i.e. "rack the slide". I am sure it would be better than a 22 long rifle.

I was thinking of recommending that too. Back when I was a kid, that was the handgun I drooled over in the Gun Digest. For some reason, I never actually bought one. Likely for the obvious reason that handguns that size became available in 9mm not long after my handgun-buying days started. But in this particular case, it might make very good sense.

They are importing the double stack 84s again, for $700-800 street price without night sights....