Short Version:
Do you know about obscure guns? I think my wife wants a pistol that doesn’t exist! For months we are looking for a compact sa/da pistol with a decocker that is soft shooting in .380 or .32acp. One with a slide that is extremely easy to manipulate.
Long Version:
Oh man, I feel like a chump admitting this. Especially with that other thread going. I did what everyone else seems to know what not to do. Years ago, my wife became interested in shooting. I got her a lightweight snubby and insisted she use it. She hated it and we got in a big fight about it and she refused to come to the range for years. Yeah, I was *that* guy.
Anyway, fast forward to 2015 and she found her way into a Ruger SR22. She loves that little gun. She shoots up all my our .22lr ammo as fast as I can get it. When we go camping, she is off on her own plinking beer cans before I even finish my coffee.
Now, she’s looking for a centerfire pistol. A little bit of background, she is a small person with small hands even for a woman.
These are HER requirements. I’ll explain why.
1. She wants a smaller sized gun, but NOT a pocket pistol. The most comfortable size for her is around the size of a Bersa Thunder, or Beretta Cheetah with a single stack. She managed larger full sized guns but they are not as comfortable and not what she wants.
2. She wants a pistol with easy slide manipulation. With technique, she did manage to rack the blowback pistols we saw, but she did struggle and it was unpleasant for her and also slow. The ideal pistol has a slide that she can easily and quickly manipulate.
3. She absolutely requires a hammer fired gun and strongly would prefer a sa/da gun like her sr22.
I can’t explain it, I prefer striker fired guns but she does not. She likes to actually see the hammer. She likes to thumb the hammer when she holsters it. She feels comfortable having a DA pull when the gun isn’t in use. We did try DAO guns she didn’t like them either. Her finger gets tired working that heavy trigger every shot. She deal with one DA shot and can shoot the SA well. Oh.. and it must have a decocker.
4. She wants a centerfire caliber smaller than 9mm. We’re mostly looking at .380 but .32acp is not off the table. She wants less than 9mm in her smaller pistol for all the same reasons someone with larger hands would like a 9mm in a larger pistol.
5. It would be a bonus, but not required, if the gun had classic good looks. She loved the looks of the Beretta Cheetah and the Sig p380 .
OK total Goldilocks but here is what we tried that was outside the requirements:
* Sig p380: Loved the gun, but she would “never, ever, ever” carry it condition 1. So despite all the great things about this great pistol it was decided against it.
* Glock 42: Nice shooter, but didn’t like striker. (Please, no offense meant to those that prefer them).
* Ruger SP101 4”: DA trigger strained her finger after a while at the range. Doesn’t want to have to rely on thumb cocking.
* Beretta Cheeta & Bersa Thunder in 380. Thought the cheetah was the most beautiful gun she saw in her life, but the slide on both these guns was too difficult to manipulate. Because of that they were rejected before she even got to shoot them. Are these in .32 much easier to rack?
* Walther PK380. This pistol was such a disappointment. When we found out about this pistol we eagerly drove to our gun shop. So excited, sounded like the perfect pistol. Sadly, holding it in hand it felt like “a piece of crap” (her words) and the way the safety worked was horrifying! To decock the gun you had to put the gun on safe then pull the trigger on a live round to drop the hammer. She really wanted to like this gun but that “safety” seemed straight up dangerous!
Sorry for the long ass post! Any suggestions for pistols to seek out and try would be greatly appreciated.
Do you know about obscure guns? I think my wife wants a pistol that doesn’t exist! For months we are looking for a compact sa/da pistol with a decocker that is soft shooting in .380 or .32acp. One with a slide that is extremely easy to manipulate.
Long Version:
Oh man, I feel like a chump admitting this. Especially with that other thread going. I did what everyone else seems to know what not to do. Years ago, my wife became interested in shooting. I got her a lightweight snubby and insisted she use it. She hated it and we got in a big fight about it and she refused to come to the range for years. Yeah, I was *that* guy.
Anyway, fast forward to 2015 and she found her way into a Ruger SR22. She loves that little gun. She shoots up all my our .22lr ammo as fast as I can get it. When we go camping, she is off on her own plinking beer cans before I even finish my coffee.
Now, she’s looking for a centerfire pistol. A little bit of background, she is a small person with small hands even for a woman.
These are HER requirements. I’ll explain why.
1. She wants a smaller sized gun, but NOT a pocket pistol. The most comfortable size for her is around the size of a Bersa Thunder, or Beretta Cheetah with a single stack. She managed larger full sized guns but they are not as comfortable and not what she wants.
2. She wants a pistol with easy slide manipulation. With technique, she did manage to rack the blowback pistols we saw, but she did struggle and it was unpleasant for her and also slow. The ideal pistol has a slide that she can easily and quickly manipulate.
3. She absolutely requires a hammer fired gun and strongly would prefer a sa/da gun like her sr22.
I can’t explain it, I prefer striker fired guns but she does not. She likes to actually see the hammer. She likes to thumb the hammer when she holsters it. She feels comfortable having a DA pull when the gun isn’t in use. We did try DAO guns she didn’t like them either. Her finger gets tired working that heavy trigger every shot. She deal with one DA shot and can shoot the SA well. Oh.. and it must have a decocker.
4. She wants a centerfire caliber smaller than 9mm. We’re mostly looking at .380 but .32acp is not off the table. She wants less than 9mm in her smaller pistol for all the same reasons someone with larger hands would like a 9mm in a larger pistol.
5. It would be a bonus, but not required, if the gun had classic good looks. She loved the looks of the Beretta Cheetah and the Sig p380 .
OK total Goldilocks but here is what we tried that was outside the requirements:
* Sig p380: Loved the gun, but she would “never, ever, ever” carry it condition 1. So despite all the great things about this great pistol it was decided against it.
* Glock 42: Nice shooter, but didn’t like striker. (Please, no offense meant to those that prefer them).
* Ruger SP101 4”: DA trigger strained her finger after a while at the range. Doesn’t want to have to rely on thumb cocking.
* Beretta Cheeta & Bersa Thunder in 380. Thought the cheetah was the most beautiful gun she saw in her life, but the slide on both these guns was too difficult to manipulate. Because of that they were rejected before she even got to shoot them. Are these in .32 much easier to rack?
* Walther PK380. This pistol was such a disappointment. When we found out about this pistol we eagerly drove to our gun shop. So excited, sounded like the perfect pistol. Sadly, holding it in hand it felt like “a piece of crap” (her words) and the way the safety worked was horrifying! To decock the gun you had to put the gun on safe then pull the trigger on a live round to drop the hammer. She really wanted to like this gun but that “safety” seemed straight up dangerous!
Sorry for the long ass post! Any suggestions for pistols to seek out and try would be greatly appreciated.
