Good carry piece for girl[space...]friend

[MidniteFlame]

I always suggest that if someone is new to guns,"male or female" and wants to suddenly carry, go with a revolver. There is never any confusion about how to operate it in a tense or critical situation. You pull the trigger and it goes bang.
Midnite

 

[JimmyMac]

PPK

 

[JimmyMac]

Get her something with a 4 inch barrel. Anything smaller - she may as well throw a rock.

 

[GeauxLSU]

PPK

Get her something with a 4 inch barrel. Anything smaller - she may as well throw a rock.

PPK has a 3.3" barrel.

 

[Labowski]

That's a tad subjective.

I primarily carry 9 as well, but I have a few .380's that I really like as well. My wife shot my G43, but much preferred the G42 because of size and weight. She also shot it really well. I'd say that's a pretty good fit.

I'm a woman with small hands. I hate them.

 

[Sigo]

My wife has a 38 snubnose, but after a day at the range realized how slow they are for reload. I know the chance of having to reload is slim, but she recognized it as a fault. She keeps it as our her house gun, but wanted something different for carry. I took her to a big box store to handle and try the trigger on every small frame handgun. She did not like the Ruger's trigger pull. Then we went to a range that had rentals for the guns she found interesting. She did not like 9mm. She said they kicked too much and she had a problem with muzzle flip. She liked 380s and settled on the Sig Saur P238. I have to admit, I like it too. So much that I have considered getting one for those times when my XDs is just a little too bulky for my taste.

 

[Flashover16]

A lot of what to recommend depends on how she is going to carry the weapon.
In the true pocket size mini 380's personally I would recommend the Sig 238 (down side for some is it should be carried cocked and locked) as in like a 1911 but its a sweet shooter, easy on the shooters hand and is extremely smooth weapon, or the Kahr 380.
now if she can utilize a slightly larger weapon then MY say is look strongly at the bersa thunder, fairly inexpensive , about as reliable as anything out there and is DA/SA and a external thumb safety.
IF she can carry a Bersa sized weapon then she could also look at the smaller singles tacked 9 MM , but then again that would increase recoil.
take her out and rent as many as you can find and let her decide.

 

[Bear44]

Have her shoot as many guns as she can and then let her decide what she is comfortable with. And then she needs to practice some more with it.

I'm confused as to why she would consider getting a permit before shooting or even owning a gun though. You don't have to have a permit to own a gun, but yes you do to bring it out in public. She being threatened or something?

It can take weeks or even months to get the permit. It makes sense that if she has decided to carry that the first action she takes is applying for the GWL.

 

[Flashover16]

Get her something with a 4 inch barrel. Anything smaller - she may as well throw a rock.

absolutely!!
I have friends over all the time and when we get to drinking they line up and let me take turns shooting them with my Sig 238 , all it does is leave a tiny red mark on their skin!
come on now --really??

 

[Bear44]

Like others have said, take her to a range where she can shoot several different models, so call ahead and make sure they have a variety of 380s. Make sure one of them is the Glock 42. An excellent weapon, but she will have to learn how to rack the slide effectively and practice it. The recoil spring is pretty stiff.