Yesterday was my personal “Longest Day†at the range. In the morning I shot a CMP clinic (see General Discussion) and in the afternoon my wife and I meet for lunch in town and then headed back to try out some guns.
We’ve been trying to find her a defensive gun for quite awhile. The problem we’ve had is that she has very little hand strength and it’s been hard finding a gun that works for her. She has great difficulty working the slide and most automatics, and finds the trigger pull on double action revolvers to be to heavy for her.
Recently, we’ve found a couple of good possibilities in the HK P7M8 and the Sig 239. We picked these after she was able to try them at the range by borrowing them from other shooters. We thought these two were worth a second look because she was able to successfully load, work the action and handle the controls of both pistols. She also liked shooting them and how they each felt in her hand and especially liked the accuracy of the P7M8.
We managed to pretty much stumble on good deals on both pistols, so we wound up buying one of each before we knew which one she'd choose. The pistols have been waiting all winter and we finally got to the range yesterday to try them out.
In the end, it wasn't much of a contest. We knew it was a shoot out between the P7 and the Sig, but the contest was pretty much over before it even started. She struggled and struggled with the P7 and finally gave up on it. The squeeze cocker just requires too much hand strength from her. She can get the gun cocked, but just barely and not consistently, and it uncocks in her hand after every shot. This is the second P7 we've owned, and she had the same problem with both. (We bought the first one before we had the Sig and traded it up for a nicer P7 later, partially just to see if the problem was just with that firstspecific gun. Nope).
We don’t know for sure why she was able to shoot a borrowed P7M8 at the range but has had so many problems since then, but we finally decided it doesn’t really matter. It’s just not the gun for her. The only thing I can think of is that our pistols were both IE codes (1985 production), and the one she borrowed was newer and possibly something has changed in the newer guns that made them easier for her to shot. In any event, she’s lost confidence in the P7, so trying a newer one would be moot.
She’s happy with the Sig. She handles it just fine and even though she has to get used to the DA/SA pull, it should work better for her then the P7M8. She did have one failure to fire where the mag hadn't been firmly seated and the first round never got chambered. I later did the same thing so we both learned to FIRMLY slam the mag home. I think the aftermarket Houge grips extend too far down and had something to do with the problem. If it happens again, I'll trim the grips.
We had a couple surprises as well. She borrowed another shooter's pristine 1950's vintage S&W Model 10 .38 and found that she really liked it. She usually has problems with the double action pull on revolvers, but she pulled through the Smith's trigger with no problems. The gun fit her hands well and she thought the balance was "perfect." Her first single-action shot went right into the "C-in-C" target at 25 yards, from a two handed standing position. She wasn't quite as accurate shooting double action, but she didn't have any problems with the pull at all. The owner wouldn’t sell us the gun, so now I have to find her one just like it.
She then impressed the heck out of the other shooters by borrowing my S&W 28-2 (which she’d never fired before) and putting four of her first six shots into a "C-in-C" target at 25 yards. She had to fire single-action because the gun was to big for her and she couldn't get the right leverage for the DA pull, but she was still shooting from the standing position at 25 yards, and
I was also suitably impressed.
When the other shooters left, we were able to move up to about 10 yards and that’s when we wrung out the P7 and the Sig, and a couple others as well.
She also tried my EG Makarov, and while she handled it OK, she was indifferent to it and didn't like the recoil.
Right when she was getting tired and was ready to stop, I had her try my custom CZ 75, pretty much on a lark. I wasn't sure if she'd like it or if it would be "too big for her," but I figured it was worth a shot. She was able to work the controls and rack the action with no problems and, when she got into her stance, she started spitting the bullets out into a nice group on the paper plate target. I'd only loaded 10 rounds, because I knew she was getting tired and wanted to quit, but when I saw the smile on her face, I quickly loaded two more 15 round mags.
I moved her back from the seven yard line where she’d fired the first mag, to about yards for the second mag and then 15 yards for the third mag. She kept all the rounds on the paper plates and, while her groups spread out a little as she backed up, she kept all the shots pretty nicely centered in the plates.
I’d thought the gun would be too heavy for her, but she liked how the weight helped absorb the recoil. She actually shot the CZ the best and I think enjoyed it the most. Unfortunately, I think it’s a little large and heavy for her for CCW use, but we’re going to have her try it at some IDPA practice nights soon. I told her I'd share my CZ with her, but she couldn't take it over completely like she did with my Ruger .22 because it's my favorite gun as well. Hmmmnnnnn... Maybe another CZ is in the future....
She's becoming quite a good shot and is much better than she was even a year ago and a far cry from the mildly anti-gunner she was when we first started dating.
I just thought I'd share our experiences. I was surprised by how things turned out and that's something I'll keep in mind as an instructor and when people ask me for advice on what gun to get. Sometimes, no matter what seems like it will work ahead of time, you just can't tell until you try it. And, sometimes, people will like guns that you just wouldn't think "fit" them, like my wife and the CZ.
Rob
We’ve been trying to find her a defensive gun for quite awhile. The problem we’ve had is that she has very little hand strength and it’s been hard finding a gun that works for her. She has great difficulty working the slide and most automatics, and finds the trigger pull on double action revolvers to be to heavy for her.
Recently, we’ve found a couple of good possibilities in the HK P7M8 and the Sig 239. We picked these after she was able to try them at the range by borrowing them from other shooters. We thought these two were worth a second look because she was able to successfully load, work the action and handle the controls of both pistols. She also liked shooting them and how they each felt in her hand and especially liked the accuracy of the P7M8.
We managed to pretty much stumble on good deals on both pistols, so we wound up buying one of each before we knew which one she'd choose. The pistols have been waiting all winter and we finally got to the range yesterday to try them out.
In the end, it wasn't much of a contest. We knew it was a shoot out between the P7 and the Sig, but the contest was pretty much over before it even started. She struggled and struggled with the P7 and finally gave up on it. The squeeze cocker just requires too much hand strength from her. She can get the gun cocked, but just barely and not consistently, and it uncocks in her hand after every shot. This is the second P7 we've owned, and she had the same problem with both. (We bought the first one before we had the Sig and traded it up for a nicer P7 later, partially just to see if the problem was just with that firstspecific gun. Nope).
We don’t know for sure why she was able to shoot a borrowed P7M8 at the range but has had so many problems since then, but we finally decided it doesn’t really matter. It’s just not the gun for her. The only thing I can think of is that our pistols were both IE codes (1985 production), and the one she borrowed was newer and possibly something has changed in the newer guns that made them easier for her to shot. In any event, she’s lost confidence in the P7, so trying a newer one would be moot.
She’s happy with the Sig. She handles it just fine and even though she has to get used to the DA/SA pull, it should work better for her then the P7M8. She did have one failure to fire where the mag hadn't been firmly seated and the first round never got chambered. I later did the same thing so we both learned to FIRMLY slam the mag home. I think the aftermarket Houge grips extend too far down and had something to do with the problem. If it happens again, I'll trim the grips.
We had a couple surprises as well. She borrowed another shooter's pristine 1950's vintage S&W Model 10 .38 and found that she really liked it. She usually has problems with the double action pull on revolvers, but she pulled through the Smith's trigger with no problems. The gun fit her hands well and she thought the balance was "perfect." Her first single-action shot went right into the "C-in-C" target at 25 yards, from a two handed standing position. She wasn't quite as accurate shooting double action, but she didn't have any problems with the pull at all. The owner wouldn’t sell us the gun, so now I have to find her one just like it.
She then impressed the heck out of the other shooters by borrowing my S&W 28-2 (which she’d never fired before) and putting four of her first six shots into a "C-in-C" target at 25 yards. She had to fire single-action because the gun was to big for her and she couldn't get the right leverage for the DA pull, but she was still shooting from the standing position at 25 yards, and
I was also suitably impressed.
When the other shooters left, we were able to move up to about 10 yards and that’s when we wrung out the P7 and the Sig, and a couple others as well.
She also tried my EG Makarov, and while she handled it OK, she was indifferent to it and didn't like the recoil.
Right when she was getting tired and was ready to stop, I had her try my custom CZ 75, pretty much on a lark. I wasn't sure if she'd like it or if it would be "too big for her," but I figured it was worth a shot. She was able to work the controls and rack the action with no problems and, when she got into her stance, she started spitting the bullets out into a nice group on the paper plate target. I'd only loaded 10 rounds, because I knew she was getting tired and wanted to quit, but when I saw the smile on her face, I quickly loaded two more 15 round mags.
I moved her back from the seven yard line where she’d fired the first mag, to about yards for the second mag and then 15 yards for the third mag. She kept all the rounds on the paper plates and, while her groups spread out a little as she backed up, she kept all the shots pretty nicely centered in the plates.
I’d thought the gun would be too heavy for her, but she liked how the weight helped absorb the recoil. She actually shot the CZ the best and I think enjoyed it the most. Unfortunately, I think it’s a little large and heavy for her for CCW use, but we’re going to have her try it at some IDPA practice nights soon. I told her I'd share my CZ with her, but she couldn't take it over completely like she did with my Ruger .22 because it's my favorite gun as well. Hmmmnnnnn... Maybe another CZ is in the future....
She's becoming quite a good shot and is much better than she was even a year ago and a far cry from the mildly anti-gunner she was when we first started dating.
I just thought I'd share our experiences. I was surprised by how things turned out and that's something I'll keep in mind as an instructor and when people ask me for advice on what gun to get. Sometimes, no matter what seems like it will work ahead of time, you just can't tell until you try it. And, sometimes, people will like guns that you just wouldn't think "fit" them, like my wife and the CZ.
Rob
