Considering picking up a firearm for the little lady

[XDM45]

My wife isn't into guns, she's tried both mine, and wants to try a revolver, thinking maybe she'd like that. My plan is to take her to Bill's, let her rent a few guns and then go from there.

Yeah brought a neighbor to Bills last week as he wanted to try a lc9 out, he ended up getting turned off on it after using it though and bought a 24/7.
Problem is with range guns is often times they are well used and dont always perform the best in my experience

If a well-used gun doesn't perform than it's one of two things:

1) The fault of the owner for not maintaining it.
2) A flawed design and/or build - (including lower-quality parts).

If a gun only performs well when it's new, it's not a gun I'd want.

[jwdominick]

My wife isn't into guns, she's tried both mine, and wants to try a revolver, thinking maybe she'd like that. My plan is to take her to Bill's, let her rent a few guns and then go from there.

Yeah brought a neighbor to Bills last week as he wanted to try a lc9 out, he ended up getting turned off on it after using it though and bought a 24/7.
Problem is with range guns is often times they are well used and dont always perform the best in my experience

If a well-used gun doesn't perform than it's one of two things:

1) The fault of the owner for not maintaining it.
2) A flawed design and/or build - (including lower-quality parts).

If a gun only performs well when it's new, it's not a gun I'd want.

Guess that's true, didnt look into it much myself. He just had at least on ftf per mag and that wasnt something he was comfortable with, could have been the ammo too. the counter guy said the gun was wore out something about 10k+ rounds or something, I wasnt really listening

[matthew.allen]

I have seen a number of new shooters, and particularly new women shooters, end up being turned off to shooting by well meaning friends or family members. If you really want to give her the best chance to enjoy a gun, and ultimately shooting, help her make the best decision she can. Share your opinions, but recognize that they are YOUR opinions. Seek out an instructor or gun shop that you trust to help her pick something out, it will be ultimately worth it, and above all remember that it is up to her to decide what gun/guns are best for her, and how shooting will fit into her life.

[XDM45]

I think choosing a gun is a very personal thing for which everyone has their own reasons why they choose what they do.

For some people, they want a certain make, model, feature, caliber, style, and these are usually fans of a certain gun, type or manufacturer. Often times, collectors fall into this area. Nothing wrong with that, they just have a different purpose and certain goals than others who may purchase a gun for plinking, hunting, defense, etc. Certainly it's not ONLY collectors who are like this, so don't think it's exclusionary by any means. For example, I'm not a collector, but I don't want 10 different calibers either, so if I buy another semi-=auto, it'd be in a .45ACP caliber so I can use the same ammo as in my XDm.

For other people, they have a very specific purpose in mind. In my own case, as mentioned in a post long ago, I purchased my Ruger Mark III 22/45 for practicing with a 45 grip while shooting low-cost cheap ammo. I bought my Springfield XDm .45ACP with the 4.5" barrel for self-defense (personal and home). I bough both of them at the same time at Bill's in Robbinsdale. Along with the above, the deciding factors for me are the ease of takedown for cleaning on the XDm, the reliability, the feel of the grip, balance, weight, etc.

I told my wife that if/when she ever wants to get her own gun, it's up to her. I'll be there to advise her, but it's really her call. There's no point getting a gun she hates, so it's up to her to pick it out, handle it, shoot it, etc. If she wants a pretty one or likes one that feels this way vs. that way, etc, cool. It's up to her. She thinks she would live a revolver, so that's ok with me. Whatever she wants. Even if she wanted a Glock, that's fine by me too even though *I* can't stand Glocks, if she were to like one and want it, I don't have a problem with that.

[Evad]

I have seen a number of new shooters, and particularly new women shooters, end up being turned off to shooting by well meaning friends or family members. If you really want to give her the best chance to enjoy a gun, and ultimately shooting, help her make the best decision she can. Share your opinions, but recognize that they are YOUR opinions. Seek out an instructor or gun shop that you trust to help her pick something out, it will be ultimately worth it, and above all remember that it is up to her to decide what gun/guns are best for her, and how shooting will fit into her life.

Agreed. My GF is slowly moving from "why would you want that in the house???" to "ok, I sort of like this one". Early on she was of the mindset that guns are ONLY to hunt with or for cops. I assured her I truly hoped mine would only hurt paper targets...but I would rather have the option of a little extra safety. She has kept a pretty open mind and it's going well. I only have two, so I brought her to Arnzen on opening weekend. The staff there was AWESOME and she held quite a few. I was there and only answered caliber questions and some basics. Mostly I just encouraged her to hold ones and see what felt good as a starting point. Ok...I did give a little crap when she said she likes the G27 and how it felt since at home she said mine was not good Another HUGE benefit of the staff there was they reiterated the basics of safety. It's good to hear it from someone besides a husband/boyfriend/father/etc. Someone else is going to teach her to shoot. I am NOT qualified and even if I was the lessons from a professional will be accepted faster, even if they are the exact same lessons.

We are taking our PTC together this January when classes kick back in. She is currently thinking it is just for the learning experience and she is looking for something for home and range use (she does seem quite excited to shoot and has been asking me regularly to take her). I suggested a few small safes for home and offered to purchase one for her when the time comes. I won't be surprised to see her carry since she was asking about purse carry vs. body carry. Baby steps...I just want her to move at a comfortable pace for her.

[XDM45]

I have seen a number of new shooters, and particularly new women shooters, end up being turned off to shooting by well meaning friends or family members. If you really want to give her the best chance to enjoy a gun, and ultimately shooting, help her make the best decision she can. Share your opinions, but recognize that they are YOUR opinions. Seek out an instructor or gun shop that you trust to help her pick something out, it will be ultimately worth it, and above all remember that it is up to her to decide what gun/guns are best for her, and how shooting will fit into her life.

Agreed. My GF is slowly moving from "why would you want that in the house???" to "ok, I sort of like this one". Early on she was of the mindset that guns are ONLY to hunt with or for cops. I assured her I truly hoped mine would only hurt paper targets...but I would rather have the option of a little extra safety. She has kept a pretty open mind and it's going well. I only have two, so I brought her to Arnzen on opening weekend. The staff there was AWESOME and she held quite a few. I was there and only answered caliber questions and some basics. Mostly I just encouraged her to hold ones and see what felt good as a starting point. Ok...I did give a little crap when she said she likes the G27 and how it felt since at home she said mine was not good Another HUGE benefit of the staff there was they reiterated the basics of safety. It's good to hear it from someone besides a husband/boyfriend/father/etc. Someone else is going to teach her to shoot. I am NOT qualified and even if I was the lessons from a professional will be accepted faster, even if they are the exact same lessons.

We are taking our PTC together this January when classes kick back in. She is currently thinking it is just for the learning experience and she is looking for something for home and range use (she does seem quite excited to shoot and has been asking me regularly to take her). I suggested a few small safes for home and offered to purchase one for her when the time comes. I won't be surprised to see her carry since she was asking about purse carry vs. body carry. Baby steps...I just want her to move at a comfortable pace for her.

Sounds like you're doing it the right way. Kudos for that, and also for supporting a local business like Arnzen Arms.

[Don L]

There's a female P2C instructor in WI who tells a story about how her well meaning husband wanted to buy her a gun for Mothers Day. She asked him "Would you go out and buy me a pair of shoes?" Then she asked "What size shoe do I wear?" He just shrugged his shoulders. She added "What kinds of shoes do I like?" He shrugged his shoulders again.Then she said "There's two things that I"ll pick out and buy for myself-shoes and guns."

At the range I see the results of well-meaning folks buying guns for other folks. The results aren't good a fair amount of the time, and now you've got a used gun. The same holds true for folks buying guns for themselves without "test driving" that particular model.

Just my $0.02

[The Lance]

I got my future wife a glock 26 because I love her and anything short of a glock wasn't good enough.

typical glock owner response

Actually I originally bought her a diamondback db9 and that gun was crap. So we went up to a glock for reliability reasons and because she knows I carry one(19 Gen 4)
She loves it and if anything happens she can always grab my mags.


We do need to figure out a good carry method for her though as its in her purse. All the carry purses aren't a coach so it doesn't work.

[JustPlainT]

We do need to figure out a good carry method for her though as its in her purse. All the carry purses aren't a coach so it doesn't work.

Are either of you any good with sewing/stitching?

Find a soft holster like a IWB or a pocket liner type holster, then sew it into the side so that when the purse is opened, the gun is always in the same location.

You can easily turn any purse into a "carry purse" with this method. Adjust holster type to match where it will be sewn and what kind of purse it is.

[Ivan45]

Check out the Sig 1911-22. Bill's north has one to rent, and last I checked there's still one for sale, as well as a few Mosquitos in different finishes, even a pink framed one. Keep in mind, most of the semi-auto .22s only like CCI mini-mags, which are a bit more expensive, but worth it.

[jwdominick]

So looks like the general consensus is to let her pick it out. I think I will take her to Bills in the very near future to handle a few and see what she is comfortable holding onto. Then see how she does in the range with what she picked out. If she doesn't like shooting it, we can try another...A safety course is absolutely on the agenda as well. I sure hope she picks it up and likes it. Will be nice to have a hobby other than drinking we can do together

[XDM45]

So looks like the general consensus is to let her pick it out. I think I will take her to Bills in the very near future to handle a few and see what she is comfortable holding onto. Then see how she does in the range with what she picked out. If she doesn't like shooting it, we can try another...A safety course is absolutely on the agenda as well. I sure hope she picks it up and likes it. Will be nice to have a hobby other than drinking we can do together

Yeah, looks like it.

I'm sure many gun store employees wish more women picked out their own guns because I'm sure every employee has a story (or several of them) about an unhappy gun owner or two who was convinced by someone else that "XYZ is a good gun to get."

I think too many people are like religious fanatics proselytizing their own message from their own bias not for the benefit of the recipient of their words to help that person, but really for their own validation or agenda. Sometimes the subject is religion, other times it's sports, sex, politics, or even guns. There's a thousand different guns and a thousand different reasons for each one, and for each person a different reason. It's good to listen to each other for advice and take into account each person's personal opinion(s) and experience(s), but filter out the bias. Look strictly at the technical details of any gun regarding any advice form other people or websites, and trust your own experience(s) for yourself. (For example, such as the feel of a particular gun and how well it works for you when you hold it and fire it.)

[Speeter]

ive got a walther p22, and i love it. never had an issue with it and i probably have well over 5000 rounds through it between me and my friends. Definately wouldnt be a bad starter weapon especially if she has some reservations about shooting.

[Ironbear]

You may be surprised what the "little lady" picks.

My wife took the Intro to Firearms for Women course out at Oakdale. Afterwards she handed me a piece of paper. I asked her what it was, and she said she wrote down her favorite guns from range day. On the list...

AR-15
Glock 19

[plink]

+1 to starting out in .22
+1 to letting her pick the gun (as long as reviews on it aren't horrible)
If she expresses any interest in learning from an instructor instead of you for ANY reason, then +1 to that too.