My wife needs a CCW.

[tomrkba]

Condescending? More the voice of experience!

But, some people think answers are condescending when the advice differs from their desire or preconceived notion. We are giving you what you NEED to hear, rather than what you want to hear.

There is a huge difference between "handling a handgun" and putting a thousand rounds through one in training and practice before deciding it is not right. Has she performed a variety of manipulations such as reloading it with speed strips and speed loaders, single handed reloads, draws from concealment, and single handed shooting to 25 yards? Likely not and she really needs to shoot a few rental revolvers before buying. If you don't, or won't, get that, then you're going to buy a bunch of guns in an effort to purchase good shooting technique.

Perhaps you need to learn the hard way.

 

[tomrkba]

RE: SP101

This revolver does just about everything wrong. It is fairly large but only holds five rounds. The stock grips (with the inserts) do not aid the shooter and are actually slippery. They also interfere with speedloaders and are a bit long for concealment. It does not fit in a pocket unless you are wearing bags. It is too heavy for pocket carry and moves around. Worse, the rear sight channel is not black and bright light messes with the eyes, resulting in a poor sight picture when shooting at speed. It gets really bad when you shoot while moving and eventually try to reload. This is a real world drill and an unmodified SP101 comes up short every time.

It does have Ruger's modular design that helps with maintenance and trigger work. The front sight is pinned so you can add a night sight. Making the gun right involves:

1) Trigger work from a good revolversmith.
2) Add a rear sight.
3) Add at least a front night sight.
4) Buy custom boot stocks from Herrets, Badger or other maker.
5) Chamfer the charge holes.
6) If needed: recrown barrel, even up the cylinder chamber throats, and cut the forcing cone. Possibly modify the trigger face.

Numbers five and six apply to any revolver. Number one could also apply, but try to find a gun with a good trigger out of the box. My Ruger Alaskan had a nice trigger that never needed work.

 

[The Bushmaster]

You guys need to stop picking out HER gun unless it's something YOU want in the first place.

With that said...Show her the Bersa Thunder in .380 ACP. It fits her criterial. Light, small, easy to learn, managable recoil, fits smaller hands, easy to purse carry and with Fiocchi Extrema ammunition will be quite effective.