What would you recommend for your wife? A derringer or a Detonic?

[Uzi4u2]

My wife has very small hands. She has a hard time holding a Beretta 92f or a Glock. She has a harder time moving the slide back. Are there any semi autos out there, that are designed for women with smaller hands which also has an easier slide pull?

[AZAK]

Beretta 86 tip up barrel. Or if you want smaller Beretta 950; and that is small, as in really small.

This will remove racking the slide from the equation, problem solved.

I have the 950, great little pistol; so well made it does not even have an extractor! And mine has never had any issues. (OK it is 25 acp which some would say is an issue in and of itself.) These are pretty inexpensive on places like gunbroker.
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=178005757

I personally have zero hands on experience with the 86, but it has intrigued me for some time now. Not too expensive on places like gunbroker.
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=178035560

[aarondhgraham]

A derringer just is not the way to go,,,
Hammer pull is really heavy,,,
Trigger pull is worse.

I personally would recommend an Airweight J-Frame revolver,,,
But this is in the semi-auto forum so I'll refrain. ;)

I can't recommend a specific semi,,,
I can however caution you against a derringer,,,
Granted, it beats a sharp stick or a rock, but not by much.

.

[Bill DeShivs]

A good generic answer to your question is "Keltec P32."

[Coltman 77]

If pressed for one handgun choice, I'd suggest a 9mm Walther PPS for your wife.

However, the best thing you can do is sign her up for some handgun training and safety courses (the NRA runs them all the time).

After that, go to a range that rents pistols and let her shoot as many as she can.

Let your better half choose her pistol. (With some guidance, of course. :D)

Do not go below a 9mm or .38 Special +P in caliber size though.

Stick with proven service calibers.

Good luck. Please get back to us and let us know what you decide. :)

[ShipWreck]

I have prev taken my 72 year old mother shooting (she was 70 at the time). She had issues with pulling the slide back. We tried several rentals and also the ones I owned at the time.

We discovered that the USP and the USP compact have slides that are easy to pull back. The grip on the USP is a bit too blocky for the avg woman, but the USP compact in 9mm isn't bad. Recoil isn't bad either.

My mom ended up buying a Bersa 380, after shooting one and trying the slide. It was much cheaper than the HK. Although, its still super tough to find 380 ammo right now.

But take a look at the Bersa 380s and the HK USPc in 9mm.

[threegun]

Go with a snub nose 38 special revolver. Lots of power, small size, and easy to load and fire.

[RickB]

Although it's counter-intuitive, I wouldn't recommend a small gun for someone with small hands. The problem is, small guns are often very light for their chambering, and making them smaller just makes them harder to control. I'd look at something in 9mm, maybe a single stack mag, but with a full-length grip. Both the Beretta and Glock are very bulky for 9mm. Maybe not by coincidence, when helping a smallish gal shop for a gun, she liked the HK USP in 9.

[OJ]

I was delighted and relieved when my wife finally decided she could bring herself to use a handgun for personal defense after an elderly lady here used one to defend herself against a serial rapist and her shooting brought him to justice because he bled out enough to pass out driving away from the scene - bringing him to the attention of LOE.

We spent an afternoon at the range with pistols and revolvers for her to try and she made the decision to go with a Ruger GP100 357 magnum - loaded with 38 Special 158 gr +P ammo. - heavier handguns do "soak up" recoil and she shot that one very well - as she does everything IMO.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/kmastf/REVOLVERS/GP100.jpg

She could have chosen this one but liked the Ruger better - OK with me -

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/kmastf/REVOLVERS/P3160001.jpg

She wasn't at all attracted to my Colt's government model 45 ACP pistols (or any autoloaders) so I didn't have to buy any new guns - women are truly different which is one of God's better decisions - ;)

[Claims Rep.]

The GP100 is an excellent choice. That handgun will last her a lifetime. Well done.

[EdInk]

A j-frame or Kahr.

[Hoss Fly]

ANYTHING but a derringer :barf:

[dsa1115]

I don't think either of the options you mentioned are good for your wife. Why not a revolver?

[zombieslayer]

If she can handle the recoil, I'd say get her an airweight j-frame or a Ruger LCR. My mom carries a 642 and she's petite. Small revolvers take practice to become proficient. LCR's have been going for good prices lately and have a nice trigger. If a little thinner gun is needed, I'd have to suggest an LCP or a KelTec p3at or P32. These three are easy to work with once broken in and loosened up a bit. My girlfriend is 4'10" and can only conceal a P32 with most clothing. She's very thin and has tiny hands. Fwiw- in my experience most guns loosen up a bit with use and are easier to rack slides, load mags, ect.

[brabham78]

I'd first ask you - what will her gun be used for? Concealed carry? Home defense? Shooting range? Some of the larger gun mentioned by the members here would make excellent home defense/range guns.

If concealment is a factor, I have a few recommendations ,for what it's worth. I agree with some of the members when they suggest a revolver. Although most of my semi autos come very close, nothing functions as simply and reliably as a modern DAO revolver. For a woman, a light weight magnum might be a little harsh, but .38 Special (or +P) is a good round, and easy to shoot, even out of a light weight snubbie. Smith & Wesson 442 or 642, Ruger LCR, Charter Arms Off Duty might be worth a look.

Now that I have that out of my system.........

If you're determined to have a semi auto, and want one with a slide that's easy to work manually? There are probably several that fit that requirement. I do have one of them in my collection. I have quite a few semi automatics, and the Bersa .380 CC (Concealed Carry) has by far the lightest feeling slide spring I've ever seen on a semi auto. My Ruger LCP .380 feels quite stiff in comparison. Its a sub-$300 gun and will never be mistaken as a high-end weapon, but it's as reliable as any semi auto I own, regardless of price. And by the way, this $300 gun has the finest feeling double & single action trigger pull of any semi auto I own (or have ever fired), even at 3x the price. Go figure huh?

Take your wife to the gun shops and let her try them all on for size - test out the slide actions, shoot em' if she can, and let her decide.

Derringer? My vote is a solid - NO.

[dmazur]

My wife used to carry an AMT Backup in .380ACP. It had a horrible trigger, and the slide wasn't all that easy to pull back. Recoil was kind of sharp, but she managed to qualify with it.

A few years later, she got a Colt Officer's Model in .45ACP. Practice and hand exercises made it possible for her to master this thing, which isn't easy for some smaller-framed shooters.

Her first problem was trying to hang onto the slide to rack it, which didn't take too long.

Second problem was recoil, which also didn't take very long, provided I didn't give her any +P's ( :) )

Third problem was manually locking the slide back and field-stripping. This isn't necessary if someone else does this for you, but she wanted to do it herself. This was what required the hand exercises to develop better grip strength.

Shorter slides, in the same caliber, generally require stronger recoil springs. As a result, compact pistols are sometimes a bad choice for folks with small hands.

[Skans]

I'm never sure how to advise people who are not strong enough to pull an average slide back. You want to tell them to just use a revolver.....BUT, the trigger on a revolver usually is much harder to pull than on most semi-auto guns. So, I guess what I'd do in this case is just take her to a gunshop with a large selection of autos and revolvers and see which ones she can even operate, before you buy anything.

[zcowey]

kel tec produces a wide line of extremely light polymer pistols that are reliable enough... check out the p-32 or p-11

[cougar gt-e]

My mom was living alone in the big city and her condo association was getting robbed. She wanted a gun for protection, but was afraid of them -- nearly as much as she was of getting robbed.:rolleyes:

She couldn't grasp all the complex controls of a semi-auto, so we got her a S&W revolver in 38 special with a 4 in barrel. She was able to pull the trigger, but was afraid she couldn't actually shoot someone. I told her that should the need ever come about, to just yell "STOP!" as loud as she could and shoot the cement floor. Loaded it with Glaser safety slugs (the bb loaded ones) so it wouldn't do much collateral damage.

Few criminals will continue on after that and the noise would get the neighbors dialing 911 pretty quick. She never had a need of it, never fired it and oddly the "crime wave" ended shortly after she got the gun. Maybe the crooks could tell there was a 5' tall 93 pound stick of dynamite waiting for them?

[azredhawk44]

Difficulty with racking the slide:

When people have difficulty in racking the slide on an auto, it's usually from attempting to keep the frame-hand stationary and using the slide-hand to do all the work.

People with weaker-than-average hands/forearms/wrists will have trouble with that.

For those people, it is easier to "punch" the frame forward while pulling the slide backwards. It helps to get two hands doing the work rather than just one.

[Skans]

FWIW, I think that some (not all) of the people who are inexperienced with handguns and have problems racking the slide have a fear that the slide moving a "bullet" into the chamber could cause it to go off. Thus, they handle it like they are handling nitroglycerine, not like they do when they are grabbing a door handle to swing open an 80lb door.

If you can turn an ignition key, you can rack most slides.
If you can pull open an all glass "store-front" door, you can rack a slide.
If you can shut most car doors, you can rack a slide
If you can lift an Iron, you can rack a slide.
If you can work a wheelchair, you can rack a slide.

[OJ]

Skans
Senior Member


Join Date: November 20, 2008
Posts: 2,590 I'm never sure how to advise people who are not strong enough to pull an average slide back.

I've found it helpful to have students with that problem to place their left hand over the slide - thumb towards the hammer, and rack the slide by pushing hands together - uses pectoral muscles which are usually stronger than just arm muscles used for the pulling action -

An old surgeon's point of view - ;)

[brabham78]

OJ Quote: "I've found it helpful to have students with that problem to place their left hand over the slide - thumb towards the hammer, and rack the slide by pushing hands together - uses pectoral muscles which are usually stronger than just arm muscles used for the pulling action"
................................................

OJ, that's how I taught my daughter to do it. From that point on, she could manually cycle any semi auto I handed her.

[Kreyzhorse]

What would you recommend for your wife? A derringer or a Detonic?

What, a derringer or a Detonic? You don't like your wife much do you? :)

Seriously, I'd look at a snub nose revolver like a S&W Airweight. Another good choice would be a Ruger LCP.

[seeker_two]

Seriously, I'd look at a snub nose revolver like a S&W Airweight. Another good choice would be a Ruger LCP.

I'd add the Ruger LCR to the list....for a snub .38SPL, it has a great trigger. I'd also recommend that she get the .357MAG version....the extra weight will make it easier to shoot without being too heavy for CCW....