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

[bulletpaluza]

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.

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.[/QUOTE]

If we are talking slim chances what happens when the cylinder sucks up a piece of clothing and jams. Or you have a primer bulge that locks the revolver down. Revolvers have malfunctions too. Limp wristing is a horrible excuse to not get a women an automatic. There are tons of great pistols that you can limp wrist the **** out of and not cause a malfunction. A Ruger P85 is one of them. Also not being strong enough to manipulate a slide is a super sad excuse. You just have not tought her the right way to rack a pistol.(my wife is 5'3'' and can rack any pistol you put in front of her and she isnt some HEwomen beast either.) Going back to the Ruger P85 that is a very easy pistol for a none trained or as you call "WEAK" person to manipulate.

 

[greg vess]

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.[/QUOTE]
I concur! My wife is not strong enough to rack the slide on a semi auto. I had to get her a SR22 to play with and get familiar with shooting. She struggles even with a 380. That limits a lot of options in the case. Men are more apt to really get involved with the working of a semi handgun. It's not that the female race is stupid it's their attention span on the idea of really putting in the time to get comfortable with it. Like I said before most ladies can't rack the slide on a 45 acp. Also it's like a previous member stated if the second round jams you can have 400 rounds in it and in a high stress environment you're left with basically a street sweeper the equivalent of a broom. A revolver will always fire and most likely scare any other would be attackers off. If she feels comfortable with the gun then six shots should cover most situations unless you drop her in the middle of a Rodney King riot.
I feel the same way about leading a damsel straight to a semi gun. Wrong move. Only if she is totally dedicated to putting in the work to make clearing FTF or FTE a absolute priority then and only then should a semi be recommended. I know LEO's that don't practice those problems as much as they should. It's not a question of will she need eighteen shots rather that will that gun pop every time she squeezes the trigger.
Very rarely are home break ins done by more that two or three guys. I would rather have a gun in her hands that will shoot three times reliably than one that has eighteen rounds with a high probability of a FTE or FTF.
I have been shooting since before I was ten and I feel completely comfortable entering a encounter with a semi gun but even now my go to gun is a .357 six shooter with two speed loaders on hand full of self defense hollow points. It will work every time all the time. If I shoot it what ever I shoot at is down and I can with out a doubt go to the next target.
Even United States armed forces teach a double tap with a 9mm which just limited your effective target acquisition to nine. Only three more shots and that's a maybe.

 

[MilSpec308]

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.

If we are talking slim chances what happens when the cylinder sucks up a piece of clothing and jams. Or you have a primer bulge that locks the revolver down. Revolvers have malfunctions too. Limp wristing is a horrible excuse to not get a women an automatic. There are tons of great pistols that you can limp wrist the **** out of and not cause a malfunction. A Ruger P85 is one of them. Also not being strong enough to manipulate a slide is a super sad excuse. You just have not tought her the right way to rack a pistol.(my wife is 5'3'' and can rack any pistol you put in front of her and she isnt some HEwomen beast either.) Going back to the Ruger P85 that is a very easy pistol for a none trained or as you call "WEAK" person to manipulate.[/QUOTE]
racking a pistol slide and clearing a fte/ftf are 2 different scenarios. One youre just pulling the slide back to load a round. The other, in most cases requires you to drop the mag, clear the ftf/fte, reinsert the mag and chamber another round. Doing that under stress when somebody just kicked in your door and the only thing separating your wife from and person willing to kill her, is seconds. Granted yes, anything can happen to each firearm, though Ive personally never seen clothing get wrapped up in the cylinder. Bulged primers is a posibility but again, it will require manipulation on both sides, under extreme stress to clear(this isnt a strength issue, as much as it is a training and proficiency issue). Limp wristing a revolver does nothing as compared to a semi auto pistol. Not once did I bring up strength. In fact, I clearly stated this being more of a proficiency/training and comfort issue. Most women, are not gun toting, hard core training individuals.

 

[cmshoot]

A person that has a firearm and refuses or fails to train with it is more a danger to themself than they are to an attacker, in most cases.

Owning a firearm and not training is a placebo. Makes someone think that they are safe and capable when in fact they are not.

Simply owning or possessing a firearm does not make anyone safer.......anymore than owning a car makes you a NASCAR champion.

 

[MilSpec308]

A person that has a firearm and refuses or fails to train with it is more a danger to themself than they are to an attacker, in most cases.

Owning a firearm and not training is a placebo. Makes someone think that they are safe and capable when in fact they are not.

Simply owning or possessing a firearm does not make anyone safer.......anymore than owning a car makes you a NASCAR champion.

not everybody has the time or funds to get adequate training. Going to the range and shooting a couple boxes of ammo at a hanging target, isnt really "training". To become truly proficient with a firearm, you must train under stress. Unfortunately, that isnt cheap and stading in a lane indoors isnt training.

 

[bulletpaluza]

If we are talking slim chances what happens when the cylinder sucks up a piece of clothing and jams. Or you have a primer bulge that locks the revolver down. Revolvers have malfunctions too. Limp wristing is a horrible excuse to not get a women an automatic. There are tons of great pistols that you can limp wrist the **** out of and not cause a malfunction. A Ruger P85 is one of them. Also not being strong enough to manipulate a slide is a super sad excuse. You just have not tought her the right way to rack a pistol.(my wife is 5'3'' and can rack any pistol you put in front of her and she isnt some HEwomen beast either.) Going back to the Ruger P85 that is a very easy pistol for a none trained or as you call "WEAK" person to manipulate.

racking a pistol slide and clearing a fte/ftf are 2 different scenarios. One youre just pulling the slide back to load a round. The other, in most cases requires you to drop the mag, clear the ftf/fte, reinsert the mag and chamber another round. Doing that under stress when somebody just kicked in your door and the only thing separating your wife from and person willing to kill her, is seconds. Granted yes, anything can happen to each firearm, though Ive personally never seen clothing get wrapped up in the cylinder. Bulged primers is a posibility but again, it will require manipulation on both sides, under extreme stress to clear(this isnt a strength issue, as much as it is a training and proficiency issue). Limp wristing a revolver does nothing as compared to a semi auto pistol. Not once did I bring up strength. In fact, I clearly stated this being more of a proficiency/training and comfort issue. Most women, are not gun toting, hard core training individuals.[/QUOTE]


I was responding to you and another guy the other dude said weak. And some how these quotes are getting all screwed up in my posts. Maybe I need computer training haha

 

[potenza]

Baseball bat, and doubles as a ️ bat

 

[MMatt30]

You guys have made me see the folly of my ways. I'm going to get rid of my wife's home defense revolver and just arm her with her cell phone. 911 will protect her better than .38 Special will.

The wolves at the door thank you in advance.

 

[cmshoot]

Too many blanket statements. Because one guy's wife prefers a revolver, then all wives prefer revolvers! BS!

One person prefers a revolver because it's simple.....another hates them because of the long, heavy trigger pull, low capacity, and slower reloading.

One person prefers a semi-auto because of capacity, ease of reloading, and trigger pull......another hates them because the manual of arms is more difficult than a revolver.

Only good advice I've seen is to let her choose her own handgun by trying out many, and that she needs to train with it. The rest are mostly conjecture or blanket statements.

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

...I don't prefer striker fired semi autos over revolvers for
... any reasons other than

#1. number one-- better trigger pull.

and,

#2. number two better sights ( although some medium-frame revolvers with adjustable sights have good sights, meaning colored sights, with a red ramp up front and a white outline on the rear ).

Reliability isn't an issue with a medium sized 9mm from a quality company.

Rapid reloading doesn't mean squat to me. In either case the newbie is extremely unlikely to have a speed loader a magazine or any other extra ammo available. The fight will be decided in the first five rounds.