Possible a new shooter and much much more.

Whiskeyhotel2020

Whiskeyhotel2020

Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2020
Messages
355
Location
Minnesota
I know there's a post like this about guys buying their gals guns,however that thread is closed and it's not me wanting it is her decision. I thought I would see if there are any women out there that would be willing to chime in as she goes through this process of hers. It is actually a lot more fun and exciting than trying to surprise her with one I hope she likes.

Ok a little back story. I have several handguns all of which I would feel comfortable having her try (albeit one a naa 22 mag dubbed pew pew). She has shot a Glock 21 gen 4 a govt. model 1911 a sig p365xl and a Smith and Wesson model 13 loaded with .38 specials. She shot all of them rather well. She took a liking to the Glock 21. Shooting has always intrigued her but she hadn't took the plunge until last spring when her and I started dating.

She's been on the web lately looking up lists of handguns for beginners and lists for women's first handguns. She wants to take a permit to carry course and get her permit. Ok so maybe this post is to showcase the most amazing women that picked me to be with, seriously though she's great.

I had her shoot the handguns that she wanted but then explained to her why I was having her shoot the ones I picked for her to try. She didn't argue just asked reasonable and logical questions and then listened to the answers. I told her that when it comes time for her to buy a handgun I would go with to help the best I can.

She has found a Beretta APX 9 on Armslist for $350 and is thinking of picking one up. I have no experience with this weapon so any feedback would be appreciated. I plan on just sitting back and watching her go through this process, because I may just learn a thing or two also. I will offer advice or share what knowledge I have with her, keeping in mind this is her moment and I don't want to sully it by trying to push her into something that will discourage her from enjoying our world.

I will be looking for a couple matches to take her so she can see how awesome the firearms community is.
 
my sister in law likes my brother’s naa mini 22wmr because she says that it is small enough to fit (me: bury) in her purse and safer with its single action. nothing against naa, i often deep carry a last-resort bugout1 with cv revision grips, but as a one and done ccw with its tiny oem grips…? i have tried my gentle best to advise but she won’t budge…
 
Whiskeyhotel2020 said:
She has found a Beretta APX 9
Click to expand...

JohnKSa said:
The Beretta APX is discontinued and never really caught on in the first place. That doesn't make it a terrible choice, but it's something to consider.
Click to expand...

Whiskeyhotel2020 said:
Why did it not catch on? Ergonomics, poor marketing, or was it Beretta's Chevette?
Click to expand...
Because it was replaced with the APX A1. Essentially the same gun with with changes to things the public didn't care for with the initial model.

https://www.beretta.com/en-us/apx-striker-family/

I think they are a good choice, especially for those with small hands that may want a full size gun, but I'd pick the current production APX A1 over the original model, since it is the gun Beretta will support going forward, and I suspect holster availability will be better in the future for the A1 model.
 
One thing I always notice on these "get gun for small woman/child/etc" threads is you'll get a lot of recommendations for guns with short grips like the Glock G26, HK P30SK, S&W M&P Subcompact, etc (I'm sure from folks with large hands that don't understand the issue). Sure, I suppose if you're going to conceal it, a G26 is easier to conceal than a G34, but the trigger reach is the issue with folks with small hands, not grip height.

A G26 will have the same trigger reach as a G34/G17/G19. The only advantage the G26 will give is concealment. If she can't reach the trigger comfortably on a G17 (a gun that will typically be easier to shoot well than a G26), the vertically shorter G26 isn't going to help with trigger reach.
 
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I have the original APX 9mm Centurion and it's always loaded & ready at home now. I've run a few thousand rounds through it with zero malfunctions, FMJ and HP various brands/weights. I haven't handled the new APXA1 version and am not interested in a full size version and was never impressed with the APX Carry.
 
Having her try as many as possible to find the one(s) that fit and fire the best is always a great beginning. Trying to impart what gun works best for you, over to her, often leads to frustration on her part.

A lot of guys push .380’s, often because they are small, light and feel less imposing. To me these guns are lousy first guns, as they kick above their weight and aren’t easy to hit with so confidence suffers. For me, starting a new shooter out with a .22 for learning, then stepping up to a mid sized 9mm for purchase, seems to work very well.

There are several striker fired ( Glock 48 thin or 19 double stack, the M&P 9mm line with safety or without) , a 1911 like the SA Ronin 4.25” or similar is a great shooter in 9mm, DA-SA the CZ 75 compact has a bit of a trigger reach, but they fit the hands nicely and shoot well, etc. (One can go on for days offering up suggestions so I’ll stop.)

Maybe a gift certificate for a gun of her choosing, and a series of lessons to help her get familiarized, would be a great route to take. :)

Whatever you choose, good luck to you both. :thumbup:

Stay safe.
 
My wife and daughters do not get on forums and share thier opinions, so I'll have to share for them.
You don't say anything about your wife's physical stature, but my wife and middle daughter are extreme opposites. My wife is 5'4" and medium sized hands for a woman, but much smaller than mine. My daughter is 5'11" with hands almost as large as mine. My wife likes her SigP365 and my Ruger EC9s, and little else over the last 30yrs of trying to find something besides her snub .38 that she loves.
My daughter doesn't like any of those. She likes my G20, but it's too big for her to conceal.
She's headed towards a G43x when she gets her $saved up, but at the moment she has a SCCY CpX2.
Both of them have tried every pistol I own from the Spectrum .380 to my G20 and none of them were ideal.
I said all that to say: She really needs to feel as many as she can in her hand and actually shoot as many as possible.
She may shoot an APX better than she shoots a P365, but can she conceal it the way she wants? Which is more important to her?
These are decisions and comprises that only she can work out.
 
Riomouse911 said:
Maybe a gift certificate for a gun of her choosing, and a series of lessons to help her get familiarized, would be a great route to take. :)
Click to expand...

I must be slipping cause I should've thought of that. That's a great idea thank you. I would have started her on a .22 but first I don't have one anymore and when I brought it up she was a little upset. Mostly because she has already been shooting the big guns. Then she asked the magic question... Why?
Once I explained to her that it's because if she ends up with a flinch it's going to be really hard to break that and her shooting would suffer. Also ammo is cheaper. She smiled at me and said oh ok.

I've always had more fun instructing new shooters when I get to bring them to the range. I enjoy watching them go from shotgun patterns to shooting groups and the way they react when they see positive results.
 
hso said:
they don't want to bother having the inevitable talking down to that occurs.
Click to expand...

That is unfortunate but I get it. I really hope that that can change. I know a few women instructors that are really good at what they do and really they have insight that we don't on things stuff that pertains to this topic and many more but perhaps I'll start a thread on that subject another day. This post is to try help my very significant other enjoy the wonderful world of boomsticks.
 
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OK, here I am. :)

I got my first gun at age 67 (not a typo). Prior to that I had never even shot a squirtgun. I went to an introductory class where it turned out I was one of only two participants who had never shot a gun before, with the result that the class moved faster than I would have liked, but everything turned out for the best, and I felt amazingly empowered afterwards. After some talking and manipulating of blue guns it was time to shoot. We shot a .22, a .38 revolver, a 9mm, a 40 and a 45. Accuracy was pretty good with the .22, the revolver, and the 45, but the 9mm and the 40 were all over the place. Also I completely could not get the hang of the uplula (sp?).

I read that article at I think Buckeye something about stopping power of different rounds and the .357 Magnum was way ahead of all the others. That plus the fact that a revolver does not need an uplula and does not have to be disassembled to be cleaned made me decide I would get a revolver. (I am very not mechanical.) In my mind I thought I would first get proficient with .38 spl and then move up to .357 Magnum, so I wanted one capable of the latter. Later watching various youtube gun videos of people shooting both rounds out of the same revolver I observed that normal people (i.e. not Hickock45) took much longer between shots with the .357's due to the additional time for the barrel to return to the starting position, so I decided to stick with .38 spl. But by then I already had my gun.

I was living in L.A. at the time so concealability wasn't a factor (basically impossible to get a carry permit unless you're a celebrity or maybe a diamond dealer who carries around a lot of valuables). The gun store guy first showed me an SP101. I could not complete the trigger pull on it. I had anyway read that a longer barrel is more accurate so I asked to see some with a 4" barrel. The choices were a GP100 and a Smith 686. The GP100 they had was a slightly fancier version with a wood grip that felt very good in my hand. I did not like the factory grip on the Smith, I perceived it as kind of skinny and also I didn't like the grooves. I should interject here that despite being something of a munchkin and not having long fingers, I do have rather large palms. I had also read up a bit on revolvers and knew that the 686 came in a 7-shot version which I thought would be advantageous. I couldn't decide. The next time I came in I persuaded the clerk to let me take the 686 and the GP100 at the same time, so I could alternate shooting them to better compare them (because shooting a lot of one and then switching would have resulted in trying the second one with a hand that was already tired). Turned out I was significantly more accurate with the 686, so I told him I want the 7-shot version. He wasn't familiar with it but it was on the California "roster" and anyway you had to wait 30 days to buy a handgun so it didn't matter that they had to order me one. Meanwhile I researched grips and decided I would probably like the Hogue grooveless better (Actually I think someone here recommended it.), so I also got that.

So that was how I made the decision for my first gun.

I would like to add that I think a DA revolver is the best gun to learn on because the long heavy trigger pull makes flinching pretty much impossible, so the new shooter will not get into bad habits. Also if you do G-d forbid have to use it in a situaion when you're still a newbie, you don't have to worry about stress making you too nervous to work the slide, or holding it just enough wrong so it doesn't shoot. Later with more practice these points might go away.

I now thankfully live in Arizona. My current carry gun is a Colt King Cobra 3", which fits my hand like it was made for me, and has a lighter trigger than the Smiths, better for my aging hands. I still like a revolver for my original reasons, plus I don't hear well and can't run, so an enounter on the street might be very up close and personal, a revolver shoots just fine pressed right into BG. For home defense I have an AR, this was inspired by the riots of 2020 -- my house is well hardened, I figure a run-of-the-mill robber would pick an easier target after seeing it would take a lot of time and noise to break in here, so I wanted something suitable for a mob.

One more tip: New shooters should learn to shoot one-handed with either hand, from the beginning. If BG shoots you in your strong-side arm you need to be able to stay in the fight. Similarly, with an AR you should be able to shoot off either shoulder, to get more of an advantage depending on where you / BG / and cover or concealment are. Neither of these are difficult to learn if you do it at the beginning, but if you spend years building muscle memory of only using your strong side you then have to unlearn.

Back to the initial selection, I agree with everyone who said go to gun stores, let her see what fits her hand best, and then try shooting those at a range.

Hope that helps. :)
 
JTQ said:
One thing I always notice on these "get gun for small woman/child/etc" threads is you'll get a lot of recommendations for guns with short grips like the Glock G26, HK P30SK, S&W M&P Subcompact, etc (I'm sure from folks with large hands that don't understand the issue). Sure, I suppose if you're going to conceal it, a G26 is easier to conceal than a G34, but the trigger reach is the issue with folks with small hands, not grip height.

A G26 will have the same trigger reach as a G34/G17/G19. The only advantage the G26 will give is concealment. If she can't reach the trigger comfortably on a G17 (a gun that will typically be easier to shoot well than a G26), the vertically shorter G26 isn't going to help with trigger reach.
Click to expand...
Personally I can't stand short and especially not skinny grips.

~ OLNS, now 4' 11½" thanks to osteoporosis.
 
old lady new shooter said:
OK, here I am. :)

I got my first gun at age 67 (not a typo). Prior to that I had never even shot a squirtgun. I went to an introductory class where it turned out I was one of only two participants who had never shot a gun before, with the result that the class moved faster than I would have liked, but everything turned out for the best, and I felt amazingly empowered afterwards. After some talking and manipulating of blue guns it was time to shoot. We shot a .22, a .38 revolver, a 9mm, a 40 and a 45. Accuracy was pretty good with the .22, the revolver, and the 45, but the 9mm and the 40 were all over the place. Also I completely could not get the hang of the uplula (sp?).

I read that article at I think Buckeye something about stopping power of different rounds and the .357 Magnum was way ahead of all the others. That plus the fact that a revolver does not need an uplula and does not have to be disassembled to be cleaned made me decide I would get a revolver. (I am very not mechanical.) In my mind I thought I would first get proficient with .38 spl and then move up to .357 Magnum, so I wanted one capable of the latter. Later watching various youtube gun videos of people shooting both rounds out of the same revolver I observed that normal people (i.e. not Hickock45) took much longer between shots with the .357's due to the additional time for the barrel to return to the starting position, so I decided to stick with .38 spl. But by then I already had my gun.

I was living in L.A. at the time so concealability wasn't a factor (basically impossible to get a carry permit unless you're a celebrity or maybe a diamond dealer who carries around a lot of valuables). The gun store guy first showed me an SP101. I could not complete the trigger pull on it. I had anyway read that a longer barrel is more accurate so I asked to see some with a 4" barrel. The choices were a GP100 and a Smith 686. The GP100 they had was a slightly fancier version with a wood grip that felt very good in my hand. I did not like the factory grip on the Smith, I perceived it as kind of skinny and also I didn't like the grooves. I should interject here that despite being something of a munchkin and not having long fingers, I do have rather large palms. I had also read up a bit on revolvers and knew that the 686 came in a 7-shot version which I thought would be advantageous. I couldn't decide. The next time I came in I persuaded the clerk to let me take the 686 and the GP100 at the same time, so I could alternate shooting them to better compare them (because shooting a lot of one and then switching would have resulted in trying the second one with a hand that was already tired). Turned out I was significantly more accurate with the 686, so I told him I want the 7-shot version. He wasn't familiar with it but it was on the California "roster" and anyway you had to wait 30 days to buy a handgun so it didn't matter that they had to order me one. Meanwhile I researched grips and decided I would probably like the Hogue grooveless better (Actually I think someone here recommended it.), so I also got that.

So that was how I made the decision for my first gun.

I would like to add that I think a DA revolver is the best gun to learn on because the long heavy trigger pull makes flinching pretty much impossible, so the new shooter will not get into bad habits. Also if you do G-d forbid have to use it in a situaion when you're still a newbie, you don't have to worry about stress making you too nervous to work the slide, or holding it just enough wrong so it doesn't shoot. Later with more practice these points might go away.

I now thankfully live in Arizona. My current carry gun is a Colt King Cobra 3", which fits my hand like it was made for me, and has a lighter trigger than the Smiths, better for my aging hands. I still like a revolver for my original reasons, plus I don't hear well and can't run, so an enounter on the street might be very up close and personal, a revolver shoots just fine pressed right into BG. For home defense I have an AR, this was inspired by the riots of 2020 -- my house is well hardened, I figure a run-of-the-mill robber would pick an easier target after seeing it would take a lot of time and noise to break in here, so I wanted something suitable for a mob.

One more tip: New shooters should learn to shoot one-handed with either hand, from the beginning. If BG shoots you in your strong-side arm you need to be able to stay in the fight. Similarly, with an AR you should be able to shoot off either shoulder, to get more of an advantage depending on where you / BG / and cover or concealment are. Neither of these are difficult to learn if you do it at the beginning, but if you spend years building muscle memory of only using your strong side you then have to unlearn.

Back to the initial selection, I agree with everyone who said go to gun stores, let her see what fits her hand best, and then try shooting those at a range.

Hope that helps. :)
Click to expand...
Absolutely thank you so much.
 
Speaking for my daughter...

She's 6'1" and strong, but doesn't like recoil. She shoots 38 special and 9mm (and anything weaker) just fine, but doesn't prefer to shoot anything spicier.

Like any human being, a handgun has to fit her hands well for her to shoot it easily. She has big strong musician hands, so this means larger than average grips as opposed to smaller, but the idea is the same as for smaller women.

She can have any of my handguns that she wants whenever she moves off campus or graduates. She's shot all of the ones she might be interested in. In the end she's more confident with revolvers, so I put some special grips on a S&W Model 64 for her, and she's pleased. It's waiting for her whenever she's ready.

I think the important things for her were shooting a lot of different handguns, and getting grips that fit her just right.

full&d=1622748225.jpg
 
old lady new shooter said:
One more tip: New shooters should learn to shoot one-handed with either hand, from the beginning. If BG shoots you in your strong-side arm you need to be able to stay in the fight. Similarly, with an AR you should be able to shoot off either shoulder, to get more of an advantage depending on where you / BG / and cover or concealment are. Neither of these are difficult to learn if you do it at the beginning, but if you spend years building muscle memory of only using your strong side you then have to unlearn.
Click to expand...

@Whiskeyhotel2020 and all:

I forgot one important point related to this. Probably the first thing to do when learning to shoot is to learn which eye is dominant. Have her hold out her thumb in front of her such that with both eyes open it blocks some object a ways away, then without moving her thumb close each eye separately. The eye that sees the same thing as with both eyes open is the dominant one.

I bring this up because the first time I tried shooting with my left hand (I am right-handed and right-eye dominant and had been shooting with my left eye closed), it seemed easier to use my left eye, to make the experience more symmetrical to right-handed shooting. Haha, the round landed on the outermost border of the printed part of the target. After changing to the right eye, the shots landed similar to where the right-hand only ones had hit.

Of course, if a person is able to shoot a handgun with both eyes open, this problem goes away, but I have some vision issues and I see two sets of sights if I try to do that. On my AR I have a red dot, it was a little difficult to get used to the idea of keeping both eyes open, but it's a different process because you are looking at the target, not at your sights. Now I love it and if I could have a quality red dot on my revolver I would do it in a heartbeat. :)

Hope that helps. :)
 
@ old lady new shooter.

Sorry I was having a hard time typing on my phone and it was not cooperating to add a quote.

You are absolutely correct that should be the first thing to check for and often the one step that is over looked. At least for me. I assume that because they are not five years old they know this information before hand. And we all know what happens when we assume right? Thank you for that reminder.
 
Whiskeyhotel2020 said:
@ old lady new shooter.

Sorry I was having a hard time typing on my phone and it was not cooperating to add a quote.

You are absolutely correct that should be the first thing to check for and often the one step that is over looked. At least for me. I assume that because they are not five years old they know this information before hand. And we all know what happens when we assume right? Thank you for that reminder.
Click to expand...
:thumbup:
 
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