Kimber Micro .380ACP

Back in late February my wife and me were at at a gun show in Florida. (Little did we know then that it was going to be the last one for a while.) She was looking for a small frame semi-auto that she could carry in her purse. We had looked at the Sig P238's previously and a few Kimber Micro's separately at the LGS's at home. This was her first opportunity to compare them side by side. She really took a shining to the Kimber.. she liked the way it fit and filled her hand. Me.. being a revolver guy had purchased a LCR22WMR thinking that would fill the bill..(boy was I wrong). She enjoys shooting it but it wasn't something that she wanted to carry.. or fit into her purse. At the same time (much to my surprise) a Glock 43X caught my eye . We spent April in North Carolina where we were able to get out to a major chain where we could go look at some again. She handled them again and even a P938 and a Micro 9. This trip fortified her decision on Micro 238. At that same time I met and fell for the Sig P365XL. We decided to table it it until we arrived back home in May.

Fast forward to May...we arrive home to uncertainty and most everything closed due to the pandemic. We live in a small community and the smaller gun dealers are closed indefinitely and the larger one in our nearest large town is doing business over the phone or by appointment only. We order up the guns (a Kimber Micro .380 for her and a Sig P365XL for me) to review and make our appointment. We arrive and go into a, accessible from the outside training room, of the store where they have staged the firearms for perusal and purchase. They have the NICS computers and cash registers set up on each side of the room on tables with plexiglass panels with pass thru openings, two masked cashiers and two masked customers allowed at a time. We viewed and inspected the guns and decided to make the purchase. The whole process took less than an hour to complete and we were on our way back home with guns and ammo. A surreal way of doing business.

I really like my Sig P365XL and have a separate thread about it...but I have come to really like this little Kimber Micro .380. The simplicity of the build, it's ease of operation and the mild recoil are all very appealing to me. It's going to be the one I going to pocket carry when my apparel dictates it.

12Bravo20 said:

The nice thing about these pistols (380 and 9mm) is that they are pretty easy to operate/rack for people with small and/or weak hands and easy to shoot, especially the 380 version.

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She fits both those categories. An interesting observation here. She primarily wanted that size of a gun so it fits in her purse easily. She's not willing to change her fashion sense to accommodate gun size even though she is aware of purses specifically made for that purpose. I can appreciate that take. Observing and discussing her selection process has been an interesting and enlightening journey.

12Bravo20 said:

And my hat off to you for letting your wife choose her own pistol. I see too many guys picking the pistol for their wife/girlfriend.

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A few years back I purchased an LCR22WMR as a plinker for me, and with the possibility she might take to it as her own. She enjoys shooting it and is very capable with it, but that's where here relationship with it ends. It's not the type she wants as a carry gun. If I've learned anything in our +50 years of marriage it is that we're both independent thinkers capable of making decisions on what we want and don't want. That being said, she doesn't buy any tools for me unless I rip a page out of a catalog and conversely I don't try to second guess what and why she likes in a gun.