Girlfriend wants to get CHL!! Please suggest some guns and carry rigs...

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joey93turbo

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I had a small victory today, my girlfriend said she'd like to get her CHL! This might not be that big to some people, but this girl almost cried when she saw the P220 at 5 o'clock when I bent over the first time we hung out (I was in my room and I thought she'd already seen it and didn't care).

She's a VERY small girl, about 5'3/100lbs, tiny frame, etc. I want to get her a gun chambered in a decent caliber, I don't know that I trust the .380 of my Kel-Tec. It's going to take ALOT of training to get her into the right mindset to actually be able to pull the trigger on someone. I can scare the hell outta her pretty easily :evil:. I'm very happy she's wanting to go through with this though. It'll make me worry alot less when she's walking out of her store at 11pm to her car.

First step is selecting a gun so she can learn to shoot it accurately. She loves my P3AT but as I said, I don't trust it to stop. I was thinking maybe a sub-compact Glock?

The other thing is, where is she going to carry it? Places like work she has to leave her purse unsecured in the backroom, and if she ever needed it during work it wouldn't be on her person. She likes the idea of IWB like I carry my P220 but as I said, she's a very small girl. I still won't rule out the IWB possibility though, she has a very nice ass that might help :neener:

What do you guys think?
 
Congrats!

Has she fired anything yet? You say that she likes the P3AT, but is that from firing or just handling?

Subcompact Glocks will be easier for her to conceal, but the downside is more snappy recoil.

I would not discount the .380 as a possible choice. If she shoots well with one and can conceal it, that's the biggest part of the battle. Shot placement overrules caliber anyway.
 
She has fired my P220, P226 in .40, and the P3AT. She really enjoys shooting the P3AT, although she's not that accurate with any of the guns just due to lack of experience. She's only been shooting once or twice.

I honestly don't think with her adrenaline pumping she'd be able to focus on shot placement. It's difficult to train for high adrenaline situations cause people usually resort to their instincts. Hopefully good training will overcome that.

Do you guys think she'd be able to conceal a subcompact glock with her frame IWB?
 
I knew a woman that size who handled a 44 mag very well ! She has to pick the gun . She might have learn to dress around the gun but there are handbags etc made fro the carrying woman.
 
A) she needs to find the gun that works for her.
B) Same goes for caliber. Sure, the .380 is a mouse gun, but it sure beats using her keys or compliance.
C) don't rule out wheel guns. There are some seriously nice .357mag 5 and 6 shooters out there that would be a good choice for an inexperienced shooter
D) how experienced is she? An autoloader is a bad choice if someone doesn't have the training to clear a jam, asses a malfunction, or remember to manipulate a safety.
 
Just my 2 cents.......

Please don't try to pick a gun for her. Take her to a gun show, or gun shop and encourage her to handle every handgun she can pick up. Before long she will decide that some of them feel much better to her than others. Narrow things down from there. If she's fired your .40, then the caliber decision should be made by her, and what caliber she's comfortable with. If the "feel" of the gun isn't comfortable to her, she won't like handling it, much less shooting it. A well placed shot from a .32 is more effective than a miss from a .45 ;)
 
I just bought her a Prada purse for X-Mas, she's one of those girly girls who won't carry a purse/bag unless it looks good.

That's a very good point about clearing jams, maybe a small revolver in .357 would be perfect. How concealable are they compared to a subcompact Glock or something?
 
Jayb said:
Just my 2 cents.......

Please don't try to pick a gun for her. Take her to a gun show, or gun shop and encourage her to handle every handgun she can pick up. Before long she will decide that some of them feel much better to her than others. Narrow things down from there. If she's fired your .40, then the caliber decision should be made by her, and what caliber she's comfortable with. If the "feel" of the gun isn't comfortable to her, she won't like handling it, much less shooting it. A well placed shot from a .32 is more effective than a miss from a .45 ;)
Click to expand...

We're going to Northwest Armory tomorrow to handle some guns and figure out what fits best in her hands.
 
The BABY GLOCKS, and most Glocks as well.. are chick magnets. only problem with them is that some women have little strength to operate the slide.

I guess you could always load it for her. A Ruger SP-101 might be another
option. Handles recoil better than the Smiths and cheaper by far.

354359.JPG
 
Introduce her to S&W J frames and various other brands of similar size. She doesn't have to shoot magnums, but with some models that is a future option, when she is ready.

They are small, reliable, easily concealed, and easy to operate..

May be just what the doctor ordered.
 
Joey93turbo,
Quoting you Sir:
"I still won't rule out the IWB possibility though, she has a very nice ass that might help"

I will try to help. Can you post a picture of the ass?

Seriously, the weapon needs to be relatively light, if she is going to carry it on her body always, everyday. I like a good lightweight J-frame .38 Smith, such as the 342PD. For a holster, have a look at this:

http://www.gunblast.com/Kangaroo.htm

Jeff Quinn
gunblast.com
 
CZF said:
The BABY GLOCKS, and most Glocks as well.. are chick magnets. only problem with them is that some women have little strength to operate the slide.

I guess you could always load it for her. A Ruger SP-101 might be another
option. Handles recoil better than the Smiths and cheaper by far.

[
Click to expand...


A child can operate the slide on any automatic if properly done.
Reach across the pistol with your off-hand, palm down. Grip the slide firmly, push a little with your grip hand, and pull to the rear with the top hand.
 
mete said:
I knew a woman that size who handled a 44 mag very well ! She has to pick the gun . She might have learn to dress around the gun but there are handbags etc made fro the carrying woman.
Click to expand...

+1. I used to shoot with a very small woman who told me her favorite handgun was a 1911. :D Bottom line is, take her to a gun shop with a good selection and let her find what she likes. Also, check it out before hand and make sure that the guys behind the counter know what they're talking about and that they won't try to push her around. There are too many opinionated morons who sell guns and talk to women like they're small children when they come to look at handguns (BTW, I work at a gun shop and unfortunately we have a guy like this). As for a concealment rig, check out this combatcarry thread for ideas. Personally, I HIGHLY recommend Gary Brommelund. I just bought a pair of holsters and belts from him. They haven't arrived yet (hopefully today) but he couldn't have been more pleasant and professional to do business with. Best of luck to you and your girlfriend.
 
first, don't assume anyting. don't try to fit her into something that doesn't work for her. you also have to be careful not to accidentally influence her. a flipant remark about 9mm being for pansies to you friends might put her off. remember, she's knew to this and she'll take everything you say as the word of an expert so you need to tell her that you are not. like they've said, take her to the range and have her handle and shoot alot of different guns. let her pick what's best for her. be honest about the strengths and weaknesses of each gun. tell her that 9mm MIGHT be a little weaker than .45 but it's no deal breaker. if she ends up with a .22 single shot derringer, so be it. if that's what she is comfortable with and can hit with and most importantly will carry ALWAYS then that's the gun for her. there are several myths about guns for ladies and one of them is that the gun should be physically small. obviously the smaller it is the better it conceals but larger guns are easier to control. as a rule of thumb, one should pick the largest gun in the largest caliber that one can reasonably hit with. the thing that frustrates me the most is this attitude that many people in the gun world have that a female can't handle the things that us big, bad guys can. this is hogwash. any female who is not physically handicapped can manipulate an automatic's slide. any female can train to the level of proficiency necessary to clear the extremely rare malfunction from a modern auto pistol. matter of fact they will usually learn much faster than us stubborn males and they'll often exceed our abilities. anyway, let her pick. she'll probably have to experiment alot. my lady is trying a belly band right now but often carries iwb in more casual situations. the problem females often have with iwb is they like to wear much shorter shirts than guys. she will have to compromise a little in her mode of dress but with some practice she should be able to wear pretty much anything she wants. anyway, my lady is a pretty small girl, too and she carries a glock model 23 or 27 depending on her mood. and, yeah, she loves shooting the m1a

 
Joey ~

First, congrats to you and to her. May she stick with it, and have lots of fun over the years at the range!

Second, what others have said about letting her pick her own gun. They're right. If you are more knowledgeable than she is, you can use that knowledge to (gently!) steer her away from poor quality guns and toward guns which are more reliable -- but other than that, unless she asks for your opinion, try to let her make her own decisions including her own mistakes. That's part of the learning process (and who knows? something that's a mistake for you might be the cat's pajamas for her ...)

Unless it bothers her, don't worry too much about whether she's able to pull back the slide on a semi-auto. I have never met a healthy woman who was unable to manipulate any slide, once she was shown how to do it. If she's got a problem with it, post here again and I'll try to walk you through the steps to teaching her how.

Specific guns she might want to look at are the baby Glocks (G26 in 9mm, G27 in .40). I've carried my G26 IWB, appendix, in a Blade-Tech tuckable holster, for five or six years now and have never had any real trouble hiding it under women's clothes -- but I'm short but curvy, which is a different problem from truly petite. I do know a couple of petite women who carry a G26 or G27. Your girl would have to try it to see if it could work for her of course, but don't just rule stuff out until she does because you never know.

If she likes the Glocks but is worried about safety, or likes them except for the grip angle, you might also suggest she try the subcompact XD-9. It's basically a Glock for people who don't like Glocks. :)

She could also look at the Kahr P9, PM9, or CW9. These guns are all very suited to small hands, having a fairly short reach between backstrap & trigger, and are generally reliable. They are flatter & thinner than the Glocks, which usually means more concealable. Downside (from my perspective) is that they have a long, smooth but heavy trigger pull which can be daunting for a beginner. OTOH, that long, heavy DA pull does add a measure of safety. It all depends on what she prefers.

While the P3AT is an acceptable carry gun, I really wouldn't recommend the P3AT for learning to shoot. If she wants to carry that one, I'd recommend she learn to shoot on a bigger gun, then transfer her new skills to the P3AT. Or she could go the opposite direction and learn to shoot on the P32 which is nearly identical to the P3AT but is far less likely to make her develop a nasty flinch. In either case, I'm told there are improved sights available for the P3AT which is a darn good idea. You could ask THR moderator George Hill for more information about that.

Don't rule out revolvers; a .38 snubby might fill the bill. The titanium & other lightweights are easy to carry, but if she wants to go that route, insist she fires both the lightweight and the stainless or blued version before she buys anything! (If I had a dollar for every woman I'd met who thought she'd love a lightweight until she fired it, I could take a friend to lunch on the proceeds...)

Lots of others guns out there to look at. If you can, you might try to steer her away from any firearms which are simply too big for her hands to manipulate properly. Someone with poor gun fit can often make do, but dealing with a too-large grip is just a lot of unnecessary work for a beginner, and often results in safety violations as the new shooter struggles with basic gun manipulations. To assess fit, triple-check that the gun is unloaded, then have her put the crease of her distal joint (the joint closest to the end of her finger) on the face of the trigger. With the crease of her finger centered on the trigger, have her wrap the rest of her hand around the gun into a firing grip. If she cannot get the web of her hand centered behind the grip with her distal joint on the trigger, the gun is too large. Also check to see if she can reach (and use) all the levers & knobs without losing her firing grip. If she can find one that fits well, it will just make learning to shoot that much easier and more pleasurable.

Finally, as soon as you can, if you are able to take the time, I'd suggest getting her into a class. Check out FAS, a shooting school which is just an hour & a half up the road from you. They've got free 8-hour classes for beginners and have a fairly active women's study group that I'm involved with which is a lot of fun and would give her the opportunity to ask questions of other armed women.

HTH

pax
 
enfield said:
I suggest you let her pick out her own.
Click to expand...

Yes, I've been down this road also. My wife is 5'4" and 105 lbs. She limp wrists all the polymer pistols we tried, Glock, Springfield XD, and she even had trouble with my Sig P228. She eventually picked out her own S&W 642 snubbie .38 Spl revolver. Its light and easy to carry and most importantly simple to operate. She got one with the CT laser grips installed from the factory and loves it. And you won't have to worry if she can rack the slide.
 
A SIG 230/232 would be worth looking at too. Manageable, good size for her, and effective with the right ammo
 
Unfortunately her hands are too small for even the smallest SIG's. Much to my disappointment, cause SIG's are my favorite.

So we went to a gun shop yesterday. She held many guns including a Glock 26 and a compact Springfield 1911. I've been telling her of the advantages a small revolver would have in her case and she's been telling me the same thing I used to think about revolvers, they're not very cool. Well we get to the gun shop and after handling a few autoloaders I talk her into holding a Hammerless S&W Airweight in .38/.357. It was love at first feel! She really liked the way it fit in her hand and she didn't think they were that small. She also liked the fact that it'd be light enough to carry all day. We're going to the range Monday so she can shoot my S&W .357 with some .38's to decide if the trigger pull is too heavy. I also explained to her that the little Airweight is going to have more felt recoil than mine cause it's so light and has a shorter barrel but she doesn't think she'll mind. I also showed her CT lasergrips, I think she's in love. Another nice thing is that she can practice with .38's until she's ready for .357, and even if that time never comes .38's seem to have a pretty good track record anyway.

What do you guys think?
 
Looking online it doesn't look like they make an Airweight .357 mag. I wonder if she'd be willing to carry a bit more weight for the Model 340.
 
I just added a CZ 40 to my collection (second CZ, after the 75) and my g/f LOVES it.

Shoots perfectly, fits well in her hand, very little kick, excellent trigger, reliable. A bit large for carrying, but excellent all around.
 
"I talk her into holding a Hammerless S&W Airweight in .38/.357. It was love at first feel! She really liked the way it fit in her hand and she didn't think they were that small. She also liked the fact that it'd be light enough to carry all day."


One of my best friends just bought the airlite as his BUG (he's a LEO). I think the airweight is only a bit heavier. I hated his. It's all over the place. IMO, it's not a good carry gun. Very light and small, but man, that sucker jumps when fired. In a shtf situation, she may need to fire several rounds in quick succession, and this may not be a good weapon for that.
 
She needs to shoot a .38 airweight first! I hate shooting them and love shoot .44 mags. Steel snub 38s are only 21-23 oz or so...not real heavy anyway. Gunshow this weekend at the Expo center. "The Place To Shoot" in Delta park has rental guns.
 
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