Advice for first firearm for a female shooter w/kids at home?

[Bear44]

If she has little or no shooting experience, do not start her out on a center-fire handgun. Begin her training with a 22lr. A flinch developed from starting with to powerful of a weapon can be extremely difficult to overcome. Teach her proper technique on the 22lr and let her put several hundred rounds through it before moving her to center-fire. If you do that the transition will be easy for her. If she then starts to flinch with the center-fire it will be very short lived and she will have a good handle on the weapon within a few mags.

As others have said, let her shoot several different center-fire before making a decision on what to buy, but if one of the final candidates has a 22lr conversion available, like the Glock, encourage her to select that one and get a conversion at the same time or very shortly after you get the gun. She'll shoot a lot more if the ammo is cheap and the recoil is not punishing. There is no substitute for rounds down range. If she shoots 5 rounds of 22 for every round of SD ammo, she'll probably shoot about 5 times as much as she would otherwise.

A long gun is always better for SD, but with kids in the house she needs to be able to secure the weapon while still having fast access to it. A handgun in a nightstand safe beats the hell out of a long gun that is secured in a less convenient way. In a perfect world, she has both so she can grab the handgun fast to defend herself while retrieving the long gun.

As for selection of the long gun, it's hard to beat a light weight AR. Fast and deadly with 30 rounds available before having to worry about a reload. You can also minimize issues of over penetration by selecting varmint loads, like the 55 grain Hornady V-Max or 55 grain Federal Ballistic Tip for HD. I don't like shotguns because they are low capacity and are very slow to reload.

Just my thoughts.

 

[MRH]

If she isn't the type to train with it enough to learn the ins and outs of it, get her a lightweight snub nose revolver. Teach her how to load it, shoot it, and draw it. They are pretty fool proof and people used them for over a century, successfully, with little to no training.

If she will train, the suggestion of rentals seems like a good start.

 

[letusbuyyourcar]

Training, Training and more Training.

Take to a range that has rentals and let her decide. Trust me...

Beat me to it. You can't pick a gun for your wife any better than you could pick out a new bra. I assume you live near a range/shop with rental or loaner/demo guns. Take her there and let HER decide what works best. I went through a Hi Power, a P11, a PF9 and a P32 before I got to the one my wife liked.

 

[mikey357]

4 inch barreled Smith and Wesson K-Frame revolver.

Winner, winner, Chicken Dinner!!!... ....mikey357

 

[bulletpaluza]

Worst advice in the world is to get a women a revolver.

 

[GeauxLSU]

Worst advice in the world is to get a women a revolver.

 

[MilSpec308]

I recommend KitchenAid. In all seriousness, I would say a revolver 357mag(I prefer this because you can load 38spl, 38spl +p & 357mag) because of the ammo options. Training is always top priority, but until shes comfortable with firearms, theres much less hassle with a revolver(no jams, fte etc.,) and all she needs to do is aim & squeeze

 

[bulletpaluza]

Here is why if want to know.

1St a loaded center fire automatic pistol has the same ease of use as a loaded revolver.
2) women are not stupid ****ers and explaining the manual of arms of an automatic pistol vs the manual of arms of a revolver is irrelevant there is the same amount to know just different operations.
3) By putting a revolver in her hands you have just limited her to 5-6 rounds with no ability to reload efficiently. So if you are going to completely take away reloading why not put a pistol in her hands the has 15-18 rounds if it's justhe going to end up being a throw away at the sound of a click.
4) Revolvers especially the small ones guy like to force on chicks absolutely suck to hold. They have way more felt recoil and flames often are blinding in the daylight let alone at night in the dark.

I could keep going with my list. The only way I would give a women a revolver is if that is what SHE chose as her favorite but I have got a fair share of women carrying and shooting and none has ever chose a revolver to to get as her carry or home protection gun even with my dumbed down hand loads.

Bottom line is like I said above if she never wants to learn any thing about the only pistol she is going to own with the exception of how to pull it out of a drwar and shoot it at a bad guy then why wouldn't you want 15-18 rounds over 5 or 6 rounds if it's just going to be a throw away on empty. [/QUOTE]

 

[MMatt30]

Here is why if want to know.

Bottom line is like I said above if she never wants to learn any thing about the only pistol she is going to own with the exception of how to pull it out of a drwar and shoot it at a bad guy then why wouldn't you want 15-18 rounds over 5 or 6 rounds if it's just going to be a throw away on empty.

Bottom line, 5-6 for sure beats 15-18 maybes. My wife is not interested enough to train and learn how to properly run a semi auto. When it jams, and it will because she limp wrists it, she is in the same place she would be after firing 6 rounds. She also doesn't have the strength to manipulate the slide nor the knowledge to clear a malfunction.

 

[MilSpec308]

Here is why if want to know.

1St a loaded center fire automatic pistol has the same ease of use as a loaded revolver.
2) women are not stupid ****ers and explaining the manual of arms of an automatic pistol vs the manual of arms of a revolver is irrelevant there is the same amount to know just different operations.
3) By putting a revolver in her hands you have just limited her to 5-6 rounds with no ability to reload efficiently. So if you are going to completely take away reloading why not put a pistol in her hands the has 15-18 rounds if it's justhe going to end up being a throw away at the sound of a click.
4) Revolvers especially the small ones guy like to force on chicks absolutely suck to hold. They have way more felt recoil and flames often are blinding in the daylight let alone at night in the dark.

I could keep going with my list. The only way I would give a women a revolver is if that is what SHE chose as her favorite but I have got a fair share of women carrying and shooting and none has ever chose a revolver to to get as her carry or home protection gun even with my dumbed down hand loads. Clearing a semi auto pistol if its failure under true extreme stress(not pistol course stress) is tough even for experienced shooters.

Bottom line is like I said above if she never wants to learn any thing about the only pistol she is going to own with the exception of how to pull it out of a drwar and shoot it at a bad guy then why wouldn't you want 15-18 rounds over 5 or 6 rounds if it's just going to be a throw away on empty.

[/QUOTE]
what happens in that slim chance she gets a FTE or FTF and doesnt know what to do? not youve got a loaded paper weight an no means to defense.