One of the things that I find irritating is that when a guy who doesn’t know a whole bunch about guns wants to buy his wife or girlfriend a gun… it’s always in tiny calibers. The mentality is that “She’s just a girl.”
A rifle will be a .243 and a pistol will be .380 or a 9mm or even smaller. Come on guys. Get real. A woman, especially a red blooded American woman, can handle any gun that she wants to handle.
My wife can shoot the hell out of her 12 gauge pump, and a .45 1911. My little Sis-In-Law rocked out with my AK and my 7mm Rem Mag, and she’s all hair and eyelashes. Are these women special or other wise incredible? Well, yes, they are amazing gals… but they are not Xena Clones or anything… but the reason they can handle these guns is that they want to. Give them more credit. Taken them shooting more often. Managing bigger guns is all about Will and a little experience to show them that they can. Work them up to a bigger gun, but don’t buy them something puny because “she’s just a girl.”
One wonders is it only on this subject do these guys fall back on “She’s just a girl.” If so what are these ladies doing with them?
George, Caryn says that you are her hero.
I taught her to handle a handgun with my S&W 629.
Started with specials and worked up to magnums.
Her first “very own” handgun was a GP100.
She got rid of it because it didnt buck hard enough.
After I got my 1911 and she got used to firing it, she wanted her own.
She got rid of her 20 gauge because it didnt buck enough.
I just bought her a Marlin 1895 SBL .45-70.
She has a Benelli 121 M1 next to her side of the bed.
She loves firing my M44 Nagant.
She carries a Taurus M445 .44 special snubby in addition to her compact 1911.
She likes shooting my Savage .300 win mag off the bench.
Her current fave rifles are FR8 .308s.
She is a special woman, who feels cheated if she doesnt leave the range a touch sore.
She looks at it as therapy.
I see men buying S&W airweight .357s because they are small, light, and cute..
I see men buying their wives blowback .380s that they have issues working the slide on.
I have seen men buy their wives tomcat .22s.
I wonder sometimes, do they think their wives are less important than they are.
The men armed with Glock 22s and 1911s… their wives armed with .22s, .25s, .32s, .380s.
There is a place for pocket pistols in small calibers… but it isnt always for a woman because it is small.
Jim
Dead on Ogre. My ex-wife started her shooting career with a Charter Pitbull Pug. 4″ 25 yard groups with Corbon 165’s by the end of her first range session. She also loved my .270 WBY after cutting her teeth on a 6mm. And that for a 5′ 7″ 140# woman.
Wife # 2 will be starting with a Makarov mainly because she has tiny hands (size 5 ring) and sustained multiple fractures when her wrist was crushed between a pick up and a stationary object; I really don’t know how much recoil that wrist can support. I think that men who buy tiny calibers for their ladies because it’s for a woman fear losing some of their machismo and masculinity if she shoots with the big boys. If you think just because she’s a woman she should pack something tiny, I have to question what you are packing in your jockeys.
I know of one instance in which a woman prefers a full size steel 1911 because the weight of it and the lower slide velocity of the .45 acp in standard loads, and boom instead of the crack! is easier on her than a .380 in a blow back light weight pistol with hot defense loads. An instructor told me once that guys will often try to foist a firearm with too small a grip on a woman. He said that in a couple of instances getting her a magazine with an extension or the getting her the same a similar model in the same caliber with a larger grip made the difference. Also having a female double stuff the hearing protection, (plugs & muffs) with full coverage goggles reduces the flinch factor when moving up from the .22 lr in pistol training.
Women can handle “physical recoil” just as well as a man and possibly more so. The reason being that the same features that make women more flexible should help with recoil.
However, the gun MUST FIT correctly!
To use a handgun example: Try imagining a gun with a grip so big, that to place your finger on the trigger, your thumb, not your palm, is behind the grip. Not only does this hurt your thumb (by creating permanent joint injury) but it torques the hell out of your wrist. Ouch.
Remember, the front sight, rear sight and the pivot point of your wrist must form a straight line when viewed from above.
BTW, science has discovered that straight women have less tolerance of loud noise (and music) than straight men and lesbians.
So muzzle blast tends to bother women more than men.
I think the grip fit here is probably one of the most important points. I can handle a lot of recoil, and actually want a bunch of recoil.
As well as my husband knows me, he cannot buy me a handgun, unless we have gone hands on shopping already. It doesn’t matter how well he knows me, knows what I like, He doesn’t have a model of my hand to see that it fits properly. I am VERY picky when it comes to hand to grip fit, some would say overly picky, ( I know it annoys the gun shop guys)That I can start to pick up a gun and know that those grips wont work for me.
I learned to shoot on a 629, until the grips were changed, I couldn’t get my hand around it. Once smaller grips were put on, I could shoot it better, and handle the recoil better than most of the boys.
We aren’t a bunch of delicate flowers, our lives aren’t worthless than a man’s. We deserve to have a gun to protect ourselves, and not just one to piss the BG off.
When mom wanted to join in the shooting fun(we’re always shooting at my sisters house on holidays/bd’s) we got her a little Taurus Tracker in .22. Not because she’s just a girl, but it fit her hand and she can handle the recoil with her bad wrists. She has shot my 9mm and my sisters .38, but can not rack the slide herself and after a few rounds her wrists start hurting.
My sister on the other hand can run anything from wadcutter target loads to full house +P defensive loads through her .38 all day long. A girl all of 5’3″.
My wife chose a S&W Model 457 as her pistol. That’s a pretty light gun for the .45ACP cartridge. At first she wasn’t sure, but after I had the action worked on and put some better grips on it she was sold.
I think the key is that a woman needs a chance to try different guns and make her own choice.
Having a Proper grip is everything when it comes to mangaing recoil. I have taught more than one member of the fairer sex how to shoot a DE .50 in a single session. All were grining ear to ear by the end.
My wife’s absolute favorite (currently) rifle? A Moisin 91/59 in 7.62x54R and brother, she can flat shoot the thing.
I carry a .380 and am a guy, what are you saying???
Hey, don’t ask, don’t tell… Kidding…
I think there is a lot of merit in starting a female with a small caliber, low recoiling round, but that is more cultural than physical. It is good advice for any novice shooter, but something along the lines of a .22lr is about as can really help knock back the intimidation factor. For as PC as we’ve gotten as a society, it is funny that “guns are scary and not for girls” is absolutely acceptable among the liberated thinker types.