What do women carry?

[Pezhead]

I'll probably get in trouble for this. Do we need to add a women's catagory? I know they can participate anywhere & I encourage it. I like it when women are interested in guns & shooting.

[meltedeyes]

The 13th is a crap shoot for me right now. That being said, as far as I know, most of Oct. is open for us.

But I like tt3's idea of a group getting together and people who know more than me can show/explain things and help overcome her fear.

[meltedeyes]

I'll probably get in trouble for this. Do we need to add a women's catagory? I know they can participate anywhere & I encourage it. I like it when women are interested in guns & shooting.

I for one would encourage a 'woman's only' section. even if there is no other reason than to warn other women away from creepy shooting partners. I'm doing a poor job at convincing her about carrying, maybe other women would be able to. (hell, someone more knowledgeable, eloquent, or charismatic than a standard slug could probably do better than me.


To go back to the original question, is the general consensus that what a woman would carry is more dependent on what she likes rather than a specific model/style?

[Pezhead]

I would agree. Try as many different types & sizes that you can. It's also fun fun to shoot other types of guns too.
I think one of the gun publications had an article about women carrying. Because of the different body type they have different needs. I think some of the holster makers offer ones designed for women.

[tt3]

Ok, just brainstorming here, but what about one evening I start brewing in the garage, set up a table and chairs and folks bring their varieties if they want to and do kind of a "meet and greet" with the different pistols? Then depending on what the ladies like they/we can arrange meeting at the range?
This is selfish of me since this way I don't need to find a sitter, my wife and I can swap duties, I get a batch brewed and meet some other like minded folks here.
I'm probably biting off more than I can chew, but mostly just thinking/typing out loud/publicly.

[westberg]

My wife and I both agree (I think, I'll have to ask her first as to what I agree to. ) that for carry the simpler the better or what ever your very comfortable with and I think that does go for any carry gun. For her this is a up close and personal, she would be less likely then a lot of men here on the forum to become involved with something happening not directed at her i.e. possible rape or some crime in progress. I will ask my wife tonight, we're doing the tactical class at Bill's why she likes the guns she has.

Ron

[westberg]

tt3 that sounds like a great idea.

Ron

[meltedeyes]

I like the sounds of that. Hell, even if the GF doesn't like the idea/can't make it, I'll still come over to help brew.

[joelr]

We're trying to settle on a gun for my wife after she takes her class and looking at as many options as we can, what do other women carry? And in what rigs?
Cornered cat gives a good starting point, but we're looking for more info. Is there a forum out there for women? We both obviously want to get a good fitting one.
(The Bersa was hard for her to reach the magazine release with one hand.)

This is great, when I first met and married her she insisted "NO handguns in the house"
Ain't growth and change grand.

Varies dramatically, for obvious reasons.

Generally -- and there are tons of exceptions -- women are less willing than men to change their style of dress to accommodate carry. I've had more than one young, attractive woman student say something like, "I'm in good shape, and I like to wear clothes that show that." The first one I gave a 642 (yes, unloaded; and we did have the obvious safety lecture) and a set of Thunderwear to, and had her slip it all on in the bathroom when we were on the next break.

I then posed it to the class as a problem, and had her stand up and ask folks where they thought she might be able to carry without changing her style of dress too much. (She enjoyed it; very cute, and didn't mind other folks noticing that.) A fair number of jaws dropped when she drew the 642 from what looked like far too tight jeans.)

On the other hand, several of the woman realtors who took TCCarry eventually went for shoulder holsters. (Their main concern was being attacked while at open houses or in strange neighborhoods while showing places. Since they were already wearing the realtor jacket, they had several options, and shoulder holsters generally work better for women then for men for the obvious reasons.)

My wife carries a KelTec P3AT in an Uncle Mike's pocket holster, which is about as flexible an arrangement as there is.

As to what your wife should/shouldn't do, well, it's up to her, but the first question I think she needs to look at is how she dresses, and what changes (if any) she's comfortable in making to that. If she finds that she likes, say, wearing any kind of covering garment, she's got all sorts of options around the belt; if non-tight trousers are something she's happy with, a pocket holster gets easy.

Free advice: try a lot of different things, and be prepared to be surprised what does and doesn't work. Part of the problem is going to be the adjustment period -- for almost everybody, the first few weeks of carrying are fairly stressful, as the sensation is that you're a great big gun with a person strapped to it.

[Squib Joe]

I can't tell you what most women use as a carry gun, but I can tell you what most women buy ...

J-Frame Revolvers
Kahrs
Glock 26s
Beretta Tomcats
Walther PPKs

[tt3]

Free advice: try a lot of different things, and be prepared to be surprised what does and doesn't work. Part of the problem is going to be the adjustment period -- for almost everybody, the first few weeks of carrying are fairly stressful, as the sensation is that you're a great big gun with a person strapped to it.

Therein lies the rub. How to try many different things, especially holsters, without purchasing, especially fitting a gun with it. Not sure what store policy is, but...

J-Frame Revolvers
Kahrs
Glock 26s
Beretta Tomcats
Walther PPKs

Nice to see the top three of our list are there. Thanks!

[EAJuggalo]

I'm sure there are enough accumulated holsters amongst those here to give you many different options to try. All you would have to do is ask, I have no problems letting people try any of the three holsters I have, all of which will fit a G26.

[sparky]

A lot of times a woman's gun choice isn't just how to carry it but also what fits our hands. I carry either a baby XD40 or a .38 pocket snubby with the choice mostly being just because of very small hands (yeah, the phrase "height challenged" comes to mind). Anyway, a lot of the guns sold as being ok for small hands are still just a tad too big to comfortably get a good hold of or to easily reach the trigger. Always plenty of ........er.......places to tuck 'em away. Just my own $0.02.

Sparky

[tt3]

It looks like we may be able to hit Bills North Thursday around 6:30 or 7. Anyone want to join us, let me know, if you see me there (I'm most noticeable, just ask HammAR. I have a handlebar mustache over my goatee...) we'll probably be looking at the guns before we line up to shoot.
Right now we're planning on renting the Kahr pm9 and a S&W .38 to see how they shoot.
We've also lined up everything for this Saturday, so after that we'll be seriously looking for a carry sidearm. We looked at the beretta tomcat tonight and its not much smaller than the pm9, so if she can handle the pm 9...

Any thoughts on having the laser sight or not? That would be the tipping point for the .38

[Rem700]

The slide on the smaller autos is sometimes an issue with hand strength when trying to rack the slide.
Remember its her decision as to what she likes and dislikes not yours.

Oh and 1911s never seem to go out of style