Probably beating a dead horse here as I'm sure this has been discussed over and over.... But...
Wife is finally thinking CCW. She's a competent shooter with her .45 1911.
She doesn't like small guns, didn't have good luck with a snub .38 this weekend.
She's starting her CCW search with a blank slate, revolver/auto, caliber, carry method.
We'd like to compile a list of at least half dozen hand guns to find and rent at local ranges. What are your suggestions?
There's a series of pretty decent opinions on here, so I won't echo them.
Fact of the matter, if you CC long enough, you start to get a gun collection for a reason. There are a lot of different values that people have in general that dictate the type of pistol and the methods in which they carry. That being said, women have the short end of the stick I would say. It's a hard market that doesn't really satisfy women todays standard of dressing, with all the leggings and skin tight clothing etc. However that is really indicative to how they "normally dress" and body type. Much like a male but sometimes to a greater degree.
I'll use my wife in this example. She is petite, about 99lbs with low body fat....which usually means smaller breast. She loves all those stupid yoga pants and in the summer she is wearing these daisy dukes. Its absolutely hard to for her to carry a pistol in a appendix carry and keep the same style of dressing. She has all type of holsters and methods of concealing. She knows the has a better tactical advantage against potential threats with an appendix carry but, its rarely viable depending on how she's dressing and the time of year. Even wearing what women refer to as "flowy" blouses, although looser, due to her low body fat, still goes flat to her stomach area and will show the printing of a gun, and a bra holster is pretty much out of the question. So back strapping is one of her primary methods. Thankfully she knows purse carry is out of the question unless its a super last resort.
The other issue is I created a little monster and she only carries CC guns in .45 acp. There really is a limited amount of super small .45s on the market that really fit to her body. Notice that I didn't say fit her hand or anything like that. She has reached a level of proficiency where she can train herself to use most non magnum pistols effectively, its a matter of concealment size for her.
Over all, there's quite a few factors in the wind here to consider, and although you are looking into an entry level experience for her, I personally feel there will be some plug and play for different ways and reasons in regards to concealed carry depending how far down the rabbit hole she decided to go with it. I'm always looking into the market to see how much progression womens specific CCW gear and weapons come out, its been a slow up hill movement in that regard. Some of the better products that she has tested out an has used as been dean adams and can-can. However when we go hunting, she just open carries a fullsize 1911 in a safariland holster.
