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Old September 2, 2012, 08:45 PM   #1
TunnelRat
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Another Wife Thread ;)

Hey all,
So here I am, with my own "wife gun" thread. Here goes.

My wife loves shooting rifle, specifically 22 though she'll shoot the 223 if she has a decent pad on the stock. However the first thing she ever shot was pistol with me on a S&W M&P. She did pretty well but the gun was a little long for her rather small hands and she'd tend to let the barrel tip. Eventually she decided she didn't want to carry, which was fine with me, so we sold that gun for the Ruger 10/22 that she really wanted and uses weekly.

That said I still would like her to be somewhat proficient with a pistol for home defense. I shoot mostly DA/SA. That doesn't work for her as she honestly doesn't shoot enough to train for the DA trigger pull. She was decent with the M&P in the past so I figure a striker fired pistol might be a better option.

Today I brought her to the gun store and had her try a few different options to see what she liked the best. It basically came down to the Glock 19 and the Ruger SR9c. To be up front I'd probably rather see her with the Glock 19 as I am familiar with Glocks. The SR9c seems to be a well put together gun, but I have read some reports on here that give me pause and I'm not a huge fan of mechanical safeties. Of course the Glock 19 she likes is the Gen 4 because of the smaller grip, and there are still some erratic ejection reports with those. She says she would be okay with either one.

Any thoughts on reliability of a Ruger SR9c versus a Glock 19? Again this would be a home defense/range gun for her.

-TR
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Old September 2, 2012, 09:05 PM   #2
idek
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I don't mean to miss the point of your topic, but if she enjoys shooting rifles and isn't so keen on shooting pistols and isn't going to carry anyway, would you ever consider a pistol caliber carbine?
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Old September 2, 2012, 09:13 PM   #3
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Quote:
I don't mean to miss the point of your topic, but if she enjoys shooting rifles and isn't so keen on shooting pistols and isn't going to carry anyway, would you ever consider a pistol caliber carbine?
Wow, I'm a complete idiot . TBH I really didn't think about it. How maneuverable is something like that in a house? I don't expect her to go clearing rooms but still. If it's relatively short you might have just hit the nail on the head.
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Old September 2, 2012, 09:28 PM   #4
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I can not speak on Glock's. I have never owned one but I have shot plenty of them. As for the SR9c, I love mine and have had no reliability issues with it. It happens to be my wife's favorite of the hand guns that she has fired. Actually her first time firing a gun in 10 years was with with my SR9c and after 3 rounds she was shooting 9 and 10 rings all afternoon. The manual safety is not an issue, I leave it off and have never had it accidentally knocked on. My only gripe, and this is a very personal thing, is that it is not available with factory night sights. However I will be ordering a set of Meprolight's for it soon. Otherwise I find it hard to fault the gun in any area.
Did you show your wife an M&P9c the compact is usually a good choice for woman and people with small hands. It's also a very good option. Also have her look at the FNH FNS-9.
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Old September 2, 2012, 09:30 PM   #5
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Quote:
Did you show your wife an M&P9c the compact is usually a good choice for woman and people with small hands.
I did. She's not a huge fan of it for some reason. She also likes the trigger on the Glocks and SR9cs much better.

Thanks for your comments on the SR9c! I think she probably prefers that one. My only concern was the small size and the recoil it might have. But your wife found yours very controllable?
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Old September 2, 2012, 09:37 PM   #6
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Quote:
I don't mean to miss the point of your topic, but if she enjoys shooting rifles and isn't so keen on shooting pistols and isn't going to carry anyway, would you ever consider a pistol caliber carbine?
I used to have a CX4 Beretta carbine before. It has more recoil than a 223. So, be aware of this if ya go for pistol caliber carbines. I mean, its not bad. But, the first time I fired one, I was surprised at the recoil - thinking it would be less since it is a rifle. Just pointing this out, since its for a female
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Old September 2, 2012, 09:42 PM   #7
idek
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Quote:
How maneuverable is something like that in a house?
I checked on a few 9mm carbines: beretta, kel-tec, and hi-point, and they are all listed between 29" and 31" in overall length. By comparison, a standard Ruger 10/22 with an 18.5" barrel is 37" overall.

The chamber of those 9mm carbines are right above the pistol grip (as they would be with a pistol), instead of in front of the grip as it is on the 10/22. The barrels are also a couple inches shorter. These differences account for the shorter length.

I guess you could see how easy it is to maneuver with the 10/22 and assume those other guns would be a bit easier yet.
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Old September 3, 2012, 12:01 PM   #8
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Had the Keltec sub2000 in 9mm and it would be a great house gun. Very maneuverable.
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Old September 3, 2012, 08:56 PM   #9
GaryOlson
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She likes rifles; get her a rifle. The Henry Lever Action Youth .22 is 33" long and holds 12 rounds.
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Old September 4, 2012, 11:50 AM   #10
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Pistol caliber carbines will be in the 29-36 inch range so it should be easier to move around a house than it is with a short barreled shot gun, most HD shot guns,excluding pistol grip only(a really bad idea)types are in the 40 inch area.
If she likes rifles let her look and the carbines and see if that is right for her.
My wife's favorite rifle is my Uzi carbine with the 16 inch barrel.
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Old September 4, 2012, 12:44 PM   #11
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Quote:
She likes rifles; get her a rifle. The Henry Lever Action Youth .22 is 33" long and holds 12 rounds.
Why in the world would he want to get her a 12 round lever action .22 when she already has and enjoys shooting a Ruger 10/22 semi-auto that will chug through 25 round mags without even thinking about it?
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Old September 4, 2012, 01:14 PM   #12
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If it's strictly for home protection, I'd probably say the Glock 19. If it were going to be for carry or both, then I might be inclined to say the SR9c
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Old September 4, 2012, 02:26 PM   #13
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Didn't you used to have a PPQ? Did she ever fire that? That would seem like a great choice to me. I know you had a P99 at some point, that would work too.
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Old September 4, 2012, 03:12 PM   #14
TunnelRat
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Quote:
She likes rifles; get her a rifle. The Henry Lever Action Youth .22 is 33" long and holds 12 rounds.
I appreciate the thought but the Ruger 10/22 already has that base covered.

Quote:
Didn't you used to have a PPQ? Did she ever fire that?
She did actually. She felt the trigger was too light, and more so the really short reset kind of scared her as she'd end up doing inadvertent double taps. But that is a good option.

Quote:
I know you had a P99 at some point, that would work too.
Still has the issue of the long DA pull. She knows she's flinching when she does it just hard to get out of it.

We're going to try and get out and shoot the two pistols at some point this week.
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Old September 4, 2012, 03:32 PM   #15
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Browning Hi-Power?

Low recoil, 13 round mags, single action trigger means no long da pull.
Easy for small hands to grip and operate.
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Old September 5, 2012, 06:40 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LarryFlew
Had the Keltec sub2000 in 9mm and it would be a great house gun. Very maneuverable.
X2. I have also shot a Sub2000 in .40 smith. It is an awesomely fun gun to shoot. Ours takes Glock 23 / bigger glock mags. You can fold the gun in half for easy storage then snap it into place.

It is a decently compact "rifle" that you could easily maneuver within tight spaces. I would definitely check this out.

edit: to put everything into perspective...

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Old September 6, 2012, 11:07 AM   #17
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Finally got to the range to try these out.

Was very impressed with the SR9c. I hadn't shot one before that day. The trigger is impressive for a striker fired gun. Clean break, not too heavy. I was a bit concerned given it's size that the recoil might be a bit too much for her. Was pleasantly surprised. She had no issue with it and was able to get consecutive shots without trouble while I was able to dump all 10 rds of the small mag into a head target at 7 yds firing as quickly as possible. Seems well put together. The safety is a bit of a concern, but the trigger is a bit light so I guess I can understand the rationale. It's easy enough to operate with a thumb that I can see disengaging on the draw. It really fit her hand well and it's "cute", which is a plus .

The Glock did not go so well. She had issues with limp wristing that didn't result in malfunctions but brass to the face that made her not too happy (which was not a problem with the Ruger). She also seemed to have a hell of a time hitting with it as opposed to the Ruger. The grip seems a bit thick for her hands too. In shooting it myself I notice I was shooting a tad high, but that was because I haven't shot one in a while and they point a bit high for me naturally so I wasn't angling my wrists enough. I have to say that next to the SR9c the trigger is a bit of a downer.

I think for now we might go with the SR9c. She likes it the most and this is her gun after all. And tbh I like it too , so much so that I might borrow it from her on occasion.
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Old September 7, 2012, 08:32 AM   #18
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As I'm sure you know, I had an SR9c. It shot great. My issues with it were well-documented on this site so I won't get into that.

My comment, based on my experiences, would be to have her try a P2000sk in LEM if I were you. You mentioned her not liking the short reset on the PPQ, nor a long double action first pull. It worked out perfectly for me, so maybe she would like it as well.

You could have her fire one of your P2000s in single-action mode as a rough approximation to find out if there was any interest. The SR9c is certainly not a bad choice either, but I know you share my love of H&K, and this could be an opportunity
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Old September 7, 2012, 09:11 AM   #19
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SR9c is a great gun. Far more happy customers than the few who did not like it. These videos from Hickock 45 (a Glock guy) makes the SR9c look real good:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT1q1C_PnIY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5JRZX8_TpM
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Old September 7, 2012, 10:42 AM   #20
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I have both and my preference is she Ruger, but for the wife it is the Glock.
The reason the Glock is better for her is because she is not a gun person and doesn’t train much. So swiping the safety off on he Ruger is not second nature for her. If it gets swiped on by accident she might as well be unarmed in a stressful situation.
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Old September 7, 2012, 03:05 PM   #21
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My Hi-Point 9mm carbine is a neat gun, several hundred rds without a failure, it's part of my HD plan .. recoil is very easy to deal with ...
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