Anyone else buy firearms with your significant other in mind?

[SwissArmyDad]

We own an XD9 tactical, which my wife and I both use very well, and that is kept loaded 24/7 at our bedside. I'm looking to get a longgun that both of us can use for home defense, if needed, and have fun at the range with.

I had an 870 express for 10 years. Sold it, cuz I hardly ever got to the trap range, and she could shoot it, but it was no fun(recoil, weight, blast,etc) so she never wanted to take it shooting. Same story with a Yugo mauser. Sold it cuz it spent most of the time in the closet (impulse buy, I'm not a hunter)...She shoots the crap outa the XD by comparison. We have a lot of fun on date nights if we hit the range.

We've rented:

An AR15 (I had to pry it away from her..lol),
A saiga (she thought it was a bit heavy, but was surprised at the lack of recoil)
And we've shot my dad's 10/22 a lot, as well, (which she has a great time with, but I'm not sure what role it would serve other than popping paper, since most here recommend against using a .22 for home defense, etc.)

Building an AR fits my budget, fits both of us well, and seems to be fun @ the range, while being sufficiently powerful for home defense. I also like CMMG's .22 conversion, for when my kids are old enough to come with us.

I think the saiga and ruger are pretty good choices, too, though?

Any longgarms that seem to work for both of you, that I'm not thinking of?

 

[Olympus]

My wife is always on my mind when I buy guns. As in how am going to get another gun in the safe without her knowing? Or how good of a deal do I need to make this sound like in order for my wife to be okay with ANOTHER gun purchase?

 

[NewFrontierArmory]

We see a lot of customers come in after their wife / gf shoots an AR for the first time and they all of a sudden have permission to buy one! The women seem to love them.

The MP5 platform seems to be very good with women too. Basically anything thats pretty light and has little/no recoil seems to do well.

 

[Fred Fuller]

Anything for ST&T here, or is this a hardware question?

 

[SwissArmyDad]

My wife is always on my mind when I buy guns. As in how am going to get another gun in the safe without her knowing? Or how good of a deal do I need to make this sound like in order for my wife to be okay with ANOTHER gun purchase?

Haha, I completely understand this. Not an issue in our household, thankfully. I'm blessed with an understanding Kentucky woman. We simply are trying to live without credit cards, and as such, our discretionary budget only allows for a bit extra each month. (so I tend to think hard about such purchases)

 

[SwissArmyDad]

Anything for ST&T here, or is this a hardware question?

Yes, I guess that's probably true, sir!

Move as you see fit.

 

[Telekinesis]

Bought a little Bersa .380 for my soon to be fiancé because her hands were too small to grip my Sig (or any standard framed gun) comfortably and she liked how it felt in her hand. (I also had thoughts of using it as a deep cover CCW as she didn't want to carry.)

She cheated on me... with several different guys...

So I took her gun and sold it, and then took that plus the money for her engagement ring and bought a motorcycle



The moral of this story is that now I buy guns for me, without any thought about how anyone else could use them. If I find that I could use another deep CCW gun, I may buy a Bersa again, but it'll be a cold day in hell before I ever buy a gun based on how my SO feels about it. Waste of money in my opinion.

 

[SwissArmyDad]

sorry to hear about that, Telekinesis. Thanks for your perspective.

 

[Unistat]

Good Lord yes, and it's a pain let me tell you, because my wife is a lefty (handed, not politics!) I think that one of these days we are going to get a lefty specific bolt action rifle for her, maybe even a lefty AR someday.

All of them are technically divided up into "her" and "his" but really most our "ours."

Hers:
-Rem 1100 12 ga for trap/skeet (really hers, but I borrow once in a while)
-S&W 642 for carry (definitely hers)
-Marlin 795 .22lr for plinking (more ours)
-Springfield M6 Scout (nominally hers, but I really like to play with it, trunk gun)
-Bushmaster AR-15 (started as mine, but is migrating to her, especially as I put ambi parts on it)
Mine:
-Glock 23 (all mine, for carry)
-POF-USA P-308 (just for papa, baby)
-Mosin-Nagant (sporterized/scout bubba job, mine because she hates shooting it)
-Kel-Tec SU-16B (mine, but she likes it a lot, another trunk gun)
Ours:
-S&W 13-3 (ours, my wife really likes revolvers)
-Rem 870 12 ga (ours due to its home defense role)

As far as tactics and training, there is a steep learning curve, what with her being left handed. She has to spend quite a bit of time initially with each gun so she can figure out what is the best way for her to run them. Lots of dry fire practice there.

 

[Strykervet]

Sometimes. The 10/22 is THE range favorite of everyone. Could be the THE American small bore rifle. I love that thing myself too, and I feel no collection is complete without one (or something similar).

I do sort of get some firearms with my wife in mind. My SDM, carry, and target gear, no. I build that totally selfish, those are custom built for ME. But we want a suppressed .22 pistol. She wants a Ruger MkIII. I want a S&H integrally suppressed pistol, so match made in heaven. I got a snub nose, hoping she'd take to it (she did) but not worried if she didn't. I got a 649 vs. 640 for her, she likes the shrouded hammer and being able to fire SA --I'd almost rather have the 640 for a revolver like that. So I do take her wants and desires into mind. I also try to find stuff that she really enjoys (but that I may not like) because I know everyone is different. She'll have more fun with something she enjoys, and more confidence in something she carries that fits her criteria.

 

[Fred Fuller]

Moved to General...

 

[kludge]

Kel-Tec SU-16. Somewhat less expensive than an AR, and other ladies have shot mine and they like it.... however...

If there is a funner gun to shoot than the .30 Carbine, I don't know what it is. Great for home defense too.

 

[Freedom_fighter_in_IL]

Swiss, when moving up to long guns, you need to look at fit. Are you both the same size? Same arm length, same neck length? If not, what fits you perfectly and you shoot amazingly well, she may only be able to function with it. I would suggest if you do go to build an AR based firearm, that you definitely get one with a fully adjustable stock not only for length of pull but also for check weld. You would be completely shocked at how big a difference that makes in shooting.

Just to give you an example, Im built like a gorilla on steroids while the significant other is itty bitty. We actually look a bit comical when standing side by side. Her rifles look like handguns in my hands.

 

[SwissArmyDad]

She'll have more fun with something she enjoys, and more confidence in something she carries that fits her criteria

.

That's very important to me, that she have fun, because I haven't seen her have more fun than with the XD, and she's consequently the most confident with it than any handgun she's tried, by a long shot.

I definitely see a clear relationship there.

Oh, and I have to echo that the 10/22 is one of our favorites, too. Pure FUN.

Thanks so far for the comments.

 

[SwissArmyDad]

Freedomfighter, that's definitely one of the biggest things I like about the AR platform:
adjustability between users with respect to length of pull. (Granted a lot of weapons now have aftermarket AR-style stocks)

2nd on my list is that being a south-paw, I find it to be as user-friendly as she does.

 

[SwissArmyDad]

Moved to General...

Thank you.

 

[parsimonious_instead]

Yes, early in my collecting I bought a new Savage Mark II and a Ruger 10/22 in what would probably be deemed "youth" sizes so they could be fairly easily handled by a short-statured woman and/or her kids (or any eventual kids I might have).