“Small hands and women shooters”

[Tallball]

My wife has badly damaged hands and wrists. It is very difficult for her to absorb much recoil or rack the slide on anything. She does just fine with 32 H&R magnum revolvers. They are simple to operate and she feels confident with them.

 

[JFrank]

I lost count where shooters brought their girlfriends/wives to the range to try different pistols while the guys are talking about which compact pistols are better suited, the girlfriends/wives shoot the full size 1911s/Glocks and go, "I like this". When we stop to think about it, many male shooters like shooting full size 1911s/Glocks so why wouldn't anyone else regardless of gender.


I was pleasantly surprised to see how many female shooters with smaller hands liked to shoot full size 1911. And when we asked, "Aren't you bothered by the recoil?", they give us the, "You are crazy" look.

Now, when girlfriends/wives are shooting different 9mm/40S&W/45ACP pistols, I stay quiet and firmly recommend others to do the same and let the female shooters make their own choice based on how accurate and fast they can comfortably shoot each pistol. In the past 20 years I have taught people to shoot, majority of female shooters ended up choosing 40S&W and 45ACP pistols, even for carry.

When a neighbor's girlfriend whose work got robbed at gun point wanted a carry pistol, we had her shoot various caliber pistols and we figured she may choose a 9mm compact but after shooting my Glock 23 with factory ammunition, she immediately said that was the pistol she wanted. It was also the pistol she shot the most accurate.

Just to add a tid bit, my same Daughter also shoots a 300 Weatherby mag hunting in Montana , slightly lower than my center hit but still gets the job done for a first time beyond a hundred yards up hill and over the hood of a truck. She burned a hole through 1/4 steel plate at 200 yards ( notice the finger in the hole)
Proud Papa....

 

[JFrank]

Her husband’s 3006 is so old you can here it rot on a quiet night. I’ll still drop any critter. This is our setup, look closely in the second picture you can see her target way up the driveway.
BTW y’all might want to call before ya stop by. Lol

 

[94045]

Just to add a tid bit, my same Daughter also shoots a 300 Weatherby mag hunting in Montana , slightly lower than my center hit but still gets the job done for a first time beyond a hundred yards up hill and over the hood of a truck. She burned a hole through 1/4 steel plate at 200 yards ( notice the finger in the hole)
Proud Papa....

I shutter from here. .404 Jeffery or .470 NE is fine. A .300 Wby is something I would just as soon avoid (I had one and learned to tolerate it. I don't miss it).

 

[JFrank]

I shutter from here. .404 Jeffery or .470 NE is fine. A .300 Wby is something I would just as soon avoid (I had one and learned to tolerate it. I don't miss it).

She actually prefers it over her 7 mag

 

[Antihero]

My wife has badly damaged hands and wrists. It is very difficult for her to absorb much recoil or rack the slide on anything. She does just fine with 32 H&R magnum revolvers. They are simple to operate and she feels confident with them.

Impossible! These sorts of people just don't exist, even though you and I have known them.

 

[Meeks36]

My stepmother was 5 foot even. And she loved my dad's colt delta elite 10mm. It was a whole lotta gun for a little lady. And she would flat out, out shoot any of us using that thing.

 

[94045]

Did I mention my Lil' Sister's 4' 10" Friend that carries a Kimber Custom Lightweight 1911 in .45 ACP carries 230 gr +P....

 

[kmw1954]

My wife just started shooting a couple of years ago. She refuses to touch let alone fire my S&W Model 64 revolver. After shooting a few times and going to the gun shows she bought her first gun. Springfield XD Mod 2 4.0 in 9mm. 9 months later she bought an XD Mod 2 45acp. So go figure. She doesn't like my metal full size Witness 45acp because she doesn't like the weight.

 

[ms6852]

I retired from the Army and my wife would not listen to me, but listens to the college student working partime at the store. Against my advice she bought the 642 airweight model and only shot it once. She than bought the PPQ Walther which I was thoroughly impressed with as it was my first "plastic gun" as I enjoy 1911's than adjusted the grips to fit her hand by making them smaller and than buying a slip on rubber grip which makes the grip "fat" her words. She's only fired it once. The only upside is I have two more guns that I never would have bought. She now carries a Rossi revolver when she travels out of town that her dad gave her. She can bypass millions of nerves and step on the one that drives me crazy consistently.

 

[danez71]

Because these assumptions are from people that don't have small hands and don't understand the issue. The issue is trigger reach and not how many fingers fit on a grip.

Preach it... I agree.

I also think it's how we think of small hands that lends to bad suggestions because of different types of small hands.

For ex. My hands fit med glove in the palm fine but the fingers are too long 90% of the time. My hands are a good inch wider and look twice as thick as my niece... but her hands and fingers are longer by a good margin.

My index finger is shorter than my ring finger. Hers is the opposite.

She can reach any trigger. Me, not so much.

But if you just looked at our hands,,,, my hands look a lot bigger than hers.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

My wife's problem isn't the size of her hands...it's the strength of her hands/arms.

Grip is fine...holding a gun is fine...trigger operation is fine...shooting is fine.

In fact, all operations of semiautomatic handguns is fine EXCEPT racking the slide.

 

[Antihero]

My wife's problem isn't the size of her hands...it's the strength of her hands/arms.

Grip is fine...holding a gun is fine...trigger operation is fine...shooting is fine.

In fact, all operations of semiautomatic handguns is fine EXCEPT racking the slide.

I'm sorry to say that your wife doesn't exist, just like my mom didn't exist. None of these problems exist according to some.

But in a hypothetical situation where such a creature existed I would recommend having her try an auto with a hammer and cocking the hammer first to see if she can cock it. Or get her to try the PMR30 which is very light and requires little effort to cock.

Then maybe go to revolver land and see how's he likes that.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

I'm sorry to say that your wife doesn't exist, just like my mom didn't exist. None of these problems exist according to some.

But in a hypothetical situation where such a creature existed I would recommend having her try an auto with a hammer and cocking the hammer first to see if she can cock it. Or get her to try the PMR30 which is very light and requires little effort to cock.

Then maybe go to revolver land and see how's he likes that.

Her first pistol was the PPK/S. That's HER "Bond gun", and it's got a stiff slide operation...and safety operation, too. But she LOVES that gun and wouldn't give it up for anything, huge Bond fan that she is!

She's thinking about a Walther CCP, but we've got to get her to a gun show somewhere so she hand handle one to see what it's like.

 

[BSA1]

Why do people assume that small hands need small guns?
Or better yet why do women want who don’t shoot regularly want complicated auto loaders?
.

My wife small hands and weak wrists. Shooting has been painful for her for many years. She has had Carpal Tunnel surgery on both wrists. Only after she had surgery on her left rotator cuff did her pain diminish enough that she enjoys shooting.

She really surprised me a couple of years ago when she selected the S&W M&P 1.0 9mm with 4.25” barrel as polymer frame striker fire pistols are not something I am personally interested in. She learned to rack the slide by pushing forward on the frame rather than pulling the slide back and she has become my shooting partner.

Then in the early part of 2019 she decided to get her conceal carry license. I went way out on a limb and brought a M&P Shield 1.0 9mm for her as a gift. She loves it. She has no problem with chambering a round and she also prefers the smoother grips of the 1.0 series. The Shield surprised me with how soft the recoil is.

 

[bdickens]

One technique that works for some who lack upper body and/ or grip strength is to pull the arms in close to the chest and grab the slide overhand.

Grab that sucker! Hang on to it for dear life.

Now, yank it like you're trying to rip it off the frame. At the same time, punch the gun forward with your other hand like you're trying to punch a hole in a wall.

The keys are: 1)Simultaneously pulling and pushing in opposite directions. This splits the load so that neither hand does all the work. In fact, the pushing hand does the most. Some who use this technique only push and just hang on to the slide without pulling it.

2)Holding the gun close in where you are using your chest muscles instead of just your arms. Think about it. If you're going to push something heavy, do you try to do it at arm's length or do you get close? You get close.

3) Take charge! Who's the boss here, you or a little 2lb chunk of steel & plastic with some springs in it? Grab that slide and punch that frame forward like you mean business!


This article has a couple of embedded videos which demonstrate something very similar to what I am describing. Some of the details are different, but the concept is the same.
http://preparedgunowners.com/2016/0...th-weak-hands-can-easily-rack-a-pistol-slide/


Most - MOST - people can do this just fine. It might take a little practice for some to build up their strength, but there are very few who will not be able to no matter what.

 

[ms6852]

For you gentlemen and not gentlemen that have wives that are not able to rack a slide you may consider buying something like this. I know it's for a buck mark, but if the slides on your firearm have ridges and are about the same width size give or take a few millimeters this device could work. I tried it on my 911 and it worked.
https://www.brownells.com/handgun-p...ing-ring-for-browning-buckmark-prod87528.aspx