Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns I'm open for suggestions

The wife has befriended a lady that moved to our area last fall, to escape California. She wants a gun, but has never fired/held a gun in her lifetime, and she's 55.

My wife mentioned that we have a range and that I could help her but letting her shoot several guns to see what she may, may not like.

I'm just not sure how to begin with a 55 year old woman that has never touched a gun, or that I want to? She wants to learn, but she doesn't want to spend much time trying to learn.

Maybe something like a Ruger LCR 22lr might be the best option for her to start with. She gardens a lot, has a 2 dozen chickens etc, so I think the little revolver in 22 won't slow her down, as she's outside a large part of the day.

I'd like a check on my line of thinking, thanks.

No idea about her hand strength.

LCR 22 if the trigger pull is workable for her.

Try the LCR in .357 (for the extra weight) loaded with LIGHT 38 loads if the 22's trigger is to heavy.

Let her try as many as you can. Time shooting will tell more than my internet expertise.

What does she want a gun for? Does she need to or plan to carry it all the time?

If she’s shooting skunks around the barnyard and maybe a home intruder I’d get her fixed up with a 20ga shotgun. If she needs or wants a handgun it’s hard to beat a Ruger MK2,3, or whatever they are for learning the basics. But she’s going to need to put the time in and practice if she wants to be proficient with a handgun of any kind.

She doesn't know, she wants one for home, I don't think she intends to carry one off her property. Maybe a 20ga might be the idea. I don't think she knows what she wants one for, and talking to her about it is like talking to most women about anything. You have to peel away 20 layers of crap to get the real point.

She's a tough lady currently. She's working a 1/2 acre garden, all by hand, plus a few green houses. Yeah, if I can just pin down exactly what she envisions.

Well she was smart enough to leave California was she smart enough to dump their stupid liberalism? Willing to trade fresh vegetables for shooting lessons? Or fresh eggs? Pay for her own ammo? Post her pic maybe you can get a percentage on any deals...mb

I think you're on the right track using a 22 DA revolver as a starting point. I had one or another High Standard Sentinel around here for years and they are great for that purpose.

That doesn't sound serious enough to me. I am hesitant to devote much time to those types. From a recommendation standpoint, I would look at the Ruger 10/22 to start.

If she only wants it for the house a S&W M64 4" would work. Have a gunsmith install a reduced power rebound spring and load it with 148gr wadcutters. She can practice shooting DA by placing a fired case on top of it and learn a smooth DA pull.

A 20 ga double barrel would work for home use.

Start her out with something with low recoil and low muzzle blast, and ear pro. easy targets, close in, the more success she has the more she will enjoy shooting, and the more she will practice, I have taught more than a few middle aged women to shoot a hand gun. start with teaching them to be safe, then dry fire, you will be amazed how much they enjoy shooting. Rio7

We get eggs from her all the time, just picked up 2 dozen yesterday. She made us Osso Buco a few weeks ago. She's married, but her husband just lost his leg.

I bet.

LOL

I knew an old Ozark gal that lived alone at the end of a forest service road in the middle of several hundred thousand acres of the Mark Twain National Forest. She kept some chickens, a few goats, a hog for butchering every year, a sway backed old horse and a little vegetable garden. There are hawks, owls, grey fox, bobcats, coyotes, feral hogs, black bears and the conservation department has verified mountain lion sightings in the area for years. And meth heads... there is always the odd chance that some chitheads are going to be looking for a secluded place to cook meth or get high and party and come upon her place at the turn around of the dead end forest service road.

I don't know what long guns the lady had, but I never saw her without her holstered nine shot H&R .22 LR revolver. The handgun is a top break with what looks to be a 6" barrel and holds nine shots of Long Rifle .22 shells. Every time I would see the old gal that revolver was in what looked like one of those Hunter style leather holsters on an old leather belt hanging on her side. I asked her one day if she had trouble keeping varmints off her chickens and she patted that H&R and simply said, "nope." My guess is anything threatened her or her stock several Mini Mag hollowpoints sorted that out pretty quick. I used to bowhunt back on the ridge behind her place and parked at the turn around in front of her house. I would ask her if she needed me to bring anything from town next time I came and occasionally she would give me a little list of necessaries. Once in awhile I'd bring her a 100 rd. count box of Mini Mags. When I was lucky enough to kill a deer back there I always left her some backstrap or a rear quarter. She actually loved the front quarters for the crockpot. She always appreciated that. She passed away several years ago. The house and barn are still there, empty now. I think the USFS bought the property as they had been trying to get it from her for years. I miss seeing her whenever I go back in there nowadays.

That's cool, thanks for sharing.

Red dot, scope?

Tough one.

Depends on the user and what you want to spend.

Cheap red dots eat batteries.

I have a Burris FFIII that I'm not using we can try out, it won't overpower the rifle. I still like scopes but you try to find one that comes in under 2 pounds these days to put on a little lever action. A 2.5x leupold is about the only one I can think of.

I've always started new shooters with a 22lr rifle. After they get the hang of that I introduce them to handguns with a full-size 22lr pistol with a decent trigger. They usually love the 22lr pistol and want to stick with it for a few outings.

I use AR500 targets. Most folks like the instant feedback

Later I introduce them to an AR15 with either a scope or RDS. Then a 1911. Then a G19. Then a full-size revolver. And on an on.

I never put them behind anything with recoil until they've done a lot of shooting. I always go with heavy hunting rifles and downloaded ammo (308w launching a 125gr @2650fps) - sometimes I've added lead shot to a synthetic stock to get the weight up. Later the shot comes out. And later I turn the velocity up to 3000fps.

Just some ideas while I ramble.

PS. My 13yr old grandson wants to shoot my 45-70 guide gun (405gr1800fps), the free recoil is twice that of a typical 30-06. I'm tempted.....

Ruger LCR in 327 Fed Mag. Shoots 4 other cartridges as well. Start small, work up to 32 HR Mag, go full out with 327 Fed Mag when well versed. Bullets from 70gr-130gr. A real speed demon. Muzzle blast is a product of small short barrel revolvers and pistols, get use to it.