Purse/ccw pistol for wife

[BuckKlier]

A lady friend of mime bought a Bersa 380, after talking to her I bought one too, and so did another male friend, they are not too heavy with an alloy frame about 21oz. This has become my main carry gun, it shoots great! It looks like a Walther PPK.

[Seismic Sam]

A lady friend of mime bought a Bersa 380, after talking to her I bought one too, and so did another male friend, they are not too heavy with an alloy frame about 21oz. This has become my main carry gun, it shoots great! It looks like a Walther PPK.

Yes, but I hear a guy saying it's great instead of a woman who bought one. Just because she bought one doesn't mean she think's it's terrific. Maybe it's in the original box along with 4 pairs of shoe she bought that looked good but she never wound up wearing.....

[tman]

My wife has carried a Bersa Thunder, an XD Sub-compact, and a Kimber Ultra Carry II. She just bought a S&W Shield, after trying that, an XDs, and a Walther PPS.

The Kimber and the Shield will be her go-to's.

As an aside, at my last carry class, one of the students brought her air-weight .38. She was in PAIN before we were done with the shooting exercise. (Her husband thought it was a good gun for her.) That is now up for sale and she'll get something she wants.

[Seismic Sam]

Thank you for the illustration, tman - seen it all to often...

[Hmac]

IMHO, the Airweight is concealable, but it's strictly a last ditch back-up gun or a "not-great-but-better-than-nothing" gun. It is a painful gun to shoot for me, and I'm not typically recoil-sensitive. The Shield is well-proportioned. I looked hard at it, so has my wife, but both of us believe that there's no need nor any place for a manual safety on a modern self-defense firearm. The safety was the main reason she ditched the old Colt Mustang she'd been carrying since about 1985, along with the answer to the question "if you can grip a 9mm as comfortably as a .380, why carry the .380?" Once a good-quality single-stack 9mm hit the market, her problem was solved since a woman's purse will accommodate a single stack 9mm as easily as any .380 on the market. I thought the PPS was cute, but I don't carry a purse and preferred my P229 then PPQ. I changed my mind when I started using a holster shirt.

[OldmanFCSA]

Please explain to me WHY a woman would want a Purse Gun for protection.

Why - with most assaults on women being stealing of their purses, trying to access the gun would be futile, and gun would be lost to be used on someone else.

Why don't we (instructors - husbands - friends) teach personal carry options on-the-body ?
Be able to retain the firearm if your purse is stolen, or if you are thrown to the ground, or ................
Then be able to access it for proper usage as need is required.

[Hmac]

Please explain to me WHY a woman would want a Purse Gun for protection.

Ease of carry, of course. Women often dont want clothing style choices dictated by the fact that they're carrying a gun.

[OldmanFCSA]

Please explain to me WHY a woman would want a Purse Gun for protection.

Ease of carry, of course. Women often dont want clothing style choices dictated by the fact that they're carrying a gun.

Only works while carrying the purse.
If they set it down, or its stolen, it does them no good.
Like a truck gun, only good while in the truck, not much good in the parking lot.

[wrench]

Why don't we (instructors - husbands - friends) teach personal carry options on-the-body ?

We do.
We teach lots of women to shoot, and it's surprising which firearms they like. Often the little cute one they picked up and said, "Ooooo, I like this one", is the first one they'll set down when they get a chance to shoot it. The airweight S&W is a common offender. Some women like them, most don't.
Getting a firearm that fits is the first hurdle, too big or too small is like shoes that don't fit-it's never going to be comfortable.

[OldmanFCSA]

Why don't we (instructors - husbands - friends) teach personal carry options on-the-body ?

We do.
We teach lots of women to shoot, and it's surprising which firearms they like. Often the little cute one they picked up and said, "Ooooo, I like this one", is the first one they'll set down when they get a chance to shoot it. The airweight S&W is a common offender. Some women like them, most don't.
Getting a firearm that fits is the first hurdle, too big or too small is like shoes that don't fit-it's never going to be comfortable.

THANK YOU !!!!!
What "on-the-body" options do you teach?
I too believe women should try several guns to find the one that will be best for them. Not what we think they should use. Husbands/Boy-friends are the worst instructors.

[Hmac]

Please explain to me WHY a woman would want a Purse Gun for protection.

Ease of carry, of course. Women often dont want clothing style choices dictated by the fact that they're carrying a gun.

Only works while carrying the purse.
If they set it down, or its stolen, it does them no good.
Like a truck gun, only good while in the truck, not much good in the parking lot.

Of course. I'm not justifying it. You asked for an explanation. That's the explanation.

[OldmanFCSA]

Hmac,

THANK YOU for responding. I truly understand the reasoning and the ease of having a "purse gun".

I'm not attacking anyone here - just wondering the hows and whys choices for women carrying.
(I must be affected by lack of sleep for how my posts are being questioned = SORRY !! My legs are causing me more problems again.)

[farmerj]

Please explain to me WHY a woman would want a Purse Gun for protection.

Why - with most assaults on women being stealing of their purses, trying to access the gun would be futile, and gun would be lost to be used on someone else.

Why don't we (instructors - husbands - friends) teach personal carry options on-the-body ?
Be able to retain the firearm if your purse is stolen, or if you are thrown to the ground, or ................
Then be able to access it for proper usage as need is required.

Never taken the NRA "Personal Protection Outside the Home" class have you?

[Hmac]

Hmac,

THANK YOU for responding. I truly understand the reasoning and the ease of having a "purse gun".

I'm not attacking anyone here - just wondering the hows and whys choices for women carrying.
(I must be affected by lack of sleep for how my posts are being questioned = SORRY !! My legs are causing me more problems again.)

No, I understand the question and didn't see it as an attack. My wife is a tough, smart lady and has taken more firearms courses than most people on this board. Her carry choices in any given circumstance may or may not include carry in a purse but they are weighed with full knowledge, compromises and all. I may disagree, but they're her choices.

[Seismic Sam]

Ditto on the gun in the purse - lay it down,or if it gets snatched, and your protection is gone.

One thing that is overlooked is the shoulder holster, and for guys this doesn't work very well. Relative to arm length, men's rib cages are pretty broad, and reaching all the way over to the other side is damn near impossible for me. Women, on the other hand, have rib cages that are much narrower than their arm length, so they can easily reach across to grab the gun. In addition, women have the misdirection option that they can and do use on men every day of their lives, and they can dress however they want to make men look at certain places. Add a Victoria's Secret bra to a blouse with the right number of buttons undone, and a woman could have a DE 50 in a shoulder holster and no guy would EVER see it. Seriously!