Wife wants to carry

[BoldCourageousWoman]

I carry a Ruger LCP. 380. I love the way it feels when I hold it, and it's concealability. It is not fun to shoot! It is so short that I can't hold it tightly enough and the pad between my thumb and forefinger takes all of the recoil rather than my arms. I enjoy shooting hubby's Glock 26, but don't want to carry a. Double stack mag. I am looking at the M&P Shield 9mm and the new Springfield X-DS 9mm that should be out later this year. Try before you buy was excellent advice!

 

[Nelg]

I carry a Ruger LCP. 380. I love the way it feels when I hold it, and it's concealability. It is not fun to shoot! It is so short that I can't hold it tightly enough and the pad between my thumb and forefinger takes all of the recoil rather than my arms. I enjoy shooting hubby's Glock 26, but don't want to carry a. Double stack mag. I am looking at the M&P Shield 9mm and the new Springfield X-DS 9mm that should be out later this year. Try before you buy was excellent advice!

Hogue makes a nice grip for the Ruger LCP. You have to remove the pin in the handle and replace it with the one that comes with the grip. It does come in pink as well if you can talk your hubby into it.

 

[pleiades]

I'm not sure how she did it, but my friend managed to get her husband to buy her a Springfield XDM 9mm subcompact for their 10 year anniversary! After messing with it, I want one too!

 

[Nelg]

The XD subcompact come with two mags a 9 and 13 round. This is a nice option. CC with the 9 round and keep the 13 round for backup.

 

[CountryGunner]

If your wife has small hands, I found that the Glock 26 Gen 4 felt more comfortable in my hand than the Glock 26 Gen 3. Being able to switch out for the flush backstrap on the Gen 4 was a better fit for me.

My wife originally carried a Ruger LCP but it was so uncomfortable for her to shoot (bruising on her lower thumb) that she didn't feel comfortable with it in general. She ended up purchasing a Glock 26 gen 4 and absolutely loves it. When we shoot she always ends up putting way more rounds in that gun than any other.

 

[kludge]

Getting her out and trying as many things as possible has already been covered very well, and some of the same recommendations that I would have made, so I'll just take a minute to talk about this...

She doesn't want to have to unload a clip to stop someone who is attacking.

As distasteful as the need to shoot someone is to the normal human brain, we all need to face some realities when we start, or before we start, carrying

On TV, the good guys (usually cops) get hit by a bullet and survive until the ambulance arrives, while the good guys take out the bad guys with a single well placed shot and they fall over dead.

In the REAL WORLD, most people survive getting shot with handguns, and cops (and others) train to shoot until the bad guy stops being bad or goes down.

In the REAL WORLD, cops miss about 70-80% of the shots they take so, using those averages you'll get one hit with a 5-shot revolver... another good reason to keep shooting.

In the REAL WORLD, targets don't stand still and let you shoot at them, or give pause and think about what they are doing, like on TV, but thankfully the targets usually do a good job of running away when the shooting starts -- the evidence that guns are used 1 to 2 MILLION times every year in the US for self defense bears this out. Even then, you might get a whole second between the time you yell "STOP!" and the time you have to decide to pull the trigger.

The bigger problem is the ones that don't run away and are not like normal human beings who respond to fear or pain or both. And unless you're really good or really lucky, they are not going to go down on the first shot, regardless of the handgun chosen. They are not going to negotiate a peaceful ending when you pull out your pistol. No lawful deterrent has worked on them throughout their criminal lives. Your life means nothing to them and they know the odds of survival are on their side. They don't pull a gun or a knife on you and give your their demands and wait for you to comply; it will be a fight before you knew that there was going to be a fight. Gladly such attacks are rare and somewhat random (for people who don't go looking for bad places or situations), yet "it happens to someone every day." Awareness, Time, and Distance become your most critical allies to avoid or survive such a conflict. And then your Willingness to do anything and everything possible to survive and win the fight is your greatest weapon. Training helps too, since "your body can not go where the mind has not been" applies to both mindset and training equally.