Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Handguns for Recoil Sensitive Women?

How about the .30 super carry. EZ slide and low recoil.

A steel frame .357 loaded with light .38 Spcl loads. (Think: S&W 66, Ruger GP100 or SP101, etc.) The weight of the gun helps negate recoil, and lightly loaded .38 Specials don't produce much recoil to begin with. My mom started shooting in her 70's and had zero hand strength. An automatic of any flavor was not an option for her. My daughters at the time were small and not into recoil. I let them shoot .22's until they said they wanted something bigger. The kids each decided on SP101's. Mom opted for a 3" GP 100. Nobody ever griped about recoil.

Here's my mom and my eldest probably 10-12 years ago:

Like I said earlier: they ALL love the GP100.

😁

Heavy gun and light recoil.

Push over punch.

If you can get her on a 22, a light loaded 45 might get her used to recoil.
A gentle buck isn't painful or intimidating, after awhile it's fun.
Maybe then she won't fear the sharper recoil of carry guns.


My wife despises the G19, but loves a Government Model gun shooting hardball.
And enjoys Ruger S/A 45 Colts. In levels up toward the top of SAA loads.


45s are her favorite, but she has never shot any little light ones.

Another woman? One that ain't afraid of guns?

5 minute crash course for my then girlfriend.
Some cast 38s in my Python shooting at a snowball.
She didn't want to, but did. Emptied it, ask if I had more ammo.

Married 27 years!😁

Your friend is not exactly unarmed packing a .22 revolver. Bad guys don’t want to get shot. They are looking for a victim, not a fight. Avoid the little dinky ones and get a mid sized gun. Have her get comfortable and confident with it. Eventually, she’ll be able to upsize it. In the meantime she’ll be no one to trifle with!

Edited to add: I’ve owned a Smith M&P Compact .22LR. It wasn’t a target gun but was very reliable and fun to shoot. I don’t think no booger man would want to go up against it.

I started my wife with my Ruger 22lr 22/45. She liked it but said it was not powerful enough. Next she tried my Glock 43, She liked the size but it was too snappy for her. A full size Glock 22 was a failure for her also, to snappy/powerful. I then converted one of my Glock 22 from 40 cal to 9 mm. She likes it as it is big enough that she can control it and it has a big magazine capacity. Load it monday and shoot til sunday. She shoots that pistol well and will take care of business when she needs to do so. I added a stream light weapon light which she really though was helpful. That is what worked for me. I did not have 380 pistol to let her try and we did not bother with the 38 S&W 649. Due to recoil and lack of capacity.

A steel frame 38 or 327 would be my choice.

You could load as wild or mild as you want then. I'd probably lean towards a 38 and shoot either Mackays 38 shorts or 38 target wadcutters.

It's been my experience that women who aren't really "gun people" prefer a revolver by a wide margin

A lot of wives won't take self defense seriously because their husbands are around, and they feel secure with him. They are too lazy and unmotivated to master a firearm. Don't even bother trying to find "the perfect gun" in that case.

My wife actually will ask me to take her to the range to practice. Seldom do I have to bring it up. She enjoys shooting and wants to keep her skills up.

Maybe a little bigger 9mm? My wife has gone through a glock 42, lcp, g19.

Her probably favorite to shoot is our m&p compact 22lr. If anything, that would be a great gun just for her to shoot, possibly even carry.

Once my wife shot my full size m&p 2.0 9mm, she had to have it. She carries it in her purse.

If you are contemplating a 22lr, I would look at the m&p compact.

The larger 9mm was the answer for my wife. She is not carrying the gun concealed but wanted it for the defense when i worked 4-12 shift for 8 years. She has kept up with her training and has confidence with that platform. Bad guys should beware.

I just went thru this with my wife. She has had access for years but little interest. Stated she wanted a revolver because despite the 25 years of instruction “she doesn’t get semiautos”.

We went shopping and despite my recs she went with a Ruger LCR in 38. After shooting it she doesn’t like it. I went and bought a LCR in 22lr which will be here in a couple of days. Better that gun than no gun…

FWIW, in my very limited experience 1) a grip that feels comfortable and 2) a reasonable trigger pull will often mitigate or erase female misgivings about recoil and noise. There’s nothing like a 13 lb. double action trigger pull to put off someone with limited hand strength. And recoil always feels more formidable if a grip just doesn’t fit a smaller hand.

Lots of good options in 38 special, 32H&R, 327, etc…. I have a CZ 83 in 380 acp that is a real hoot and very little recoil. It’s bigger than most would want a 380 to be, but the recoil is negligible. Price is right too.

Beretta 84 in 380 is not a bad choice. Semi auto Rugers in 22 LR. Smith and wesson in 38 smith and Wesson.

Hd the same issue with my wife. Got her a Ruger LCR in .327 and she didn’t like 32 H&R in it. I traded it for a Ruger Bearcat for her. She loves that one, but not great for self defense.

That’s what I was gonna suggest.

Hosted a CCW training class at my house. All three of the lady students loved my SP101 327. They shot it very well loaded with 32 H&R.