Pistol for a Wife

[Columbo]

Just be careful and educate her BST heft and weight in a gun is not necessarily a bad thing. It will reduce felt recoil and her perceptions of how pleasant or unpleasant a particular caliber can be. A 38spl in an airweight is a whole lot different than a 38 in a 6” barreled N frame smith.

There is great truth to this. That’s the tradeoff with carry. My experience with ladies is that they prefer lighter and smaller, especially for an on-person carry (as opposed to a handbag carry). But the recoil snappiness is greater. Some ladies tolerate that better than others.

For the alloy frame models, an improved grip can go a long way to mitigate felt recoil and muzzle rise. A competent trigger job smooths out the heavier trigger on the J-frames. And on the later S&Ws, if it has one, be sure to disable/remove the lock.

I also prefer the heavier trigger springing on these for the less experienced, as it almost acts as a pseudo safety. You have to really mean it to squeeze one off. No 3 lb. ‘slip’ discharges.

But we are talking about a calm practice environment, where there is plenty of time to ponder and whine about those things. Most ladies love the 22 at the line all day long. But that’s not a safe real-world carry.

In a danger situation, recoil and trigger quibbles at the range will not factor so much. No safeties to fiddle with, no slides to manage. Five, for SURE, and in a caliber with stopping power. FTF? Just keep squeezing them off.

Women are better shots and tougher than a lot of the men, IMO.

 

[OkieStubble]

There is great truth to this. That’s the tradeoff with carry. My experience with ladies is that they prefer lighter and smaller, especially for an on-person carry (as opposed to a handbag carry). But the recoil snappiness is greater. Some ladies tolerate that better than others.

For the alloy frame models, an improved grip can go a long way to mitigate felt recoil and muzzle rise. A competent trigger job smooths out the heavier trigger on the J-frames. And on the later S&Ws, if it has one, be sure to disable/remove the lock.

I also prefer the heavier trigger springing on these for the less experienced, as it almost acts as a pseudo safety. You have to really mean it to squeeze one off. No 3 lb. ‘slip’ discharges.

But we are talking about a calm practice environment, where there is plenty of time to ponder and whine about those things. Most ladies love the 22 at the line all day long. But that’s not a safe real-world carry.

In a danger situation, recoil and trigger quibbles at the range will not factor so much. No safeties to fiddle with, no slides to manage. Five, for SURE, and in a caliber with stopping power. FTF? Just keep squeezing them off.

Women are better shots and tougher than a lot of the men, IMO.

Good post. My wife seems to do a better job, controlling her Ruger LCP II and Glock 43 better with her small skinny hands then I do shooting them with the ham hocks I have for hands.

 

[OkieStubble]

I love that gun, and don’t know anyone who has shot it that doesn’t. Great pistol.

I haven't ever shot it and I think it's a great gun!

 

[Earcutter]

I haven't ever shot it and I think it's a great gun!

I knew I liked you for some reason.

Right now I’m drooling over Springfield’s EMP4 CCC. It’s another scaled down 1911 but in 9mm.

I’ve got buddy in KC keeping an eye out while I’m scoping out good old Capital City. But I’m not holding out too much hope.

 

[OkieStubble]

I knew I liked you for some reason.

Right now I’m drooling over Springfield’s EMP4 CCC. It’s another scaled down 1911 but in 9mm.

I’ve got buddy in KC keeping an eye out while I’m scoping out good old Capital City. But I’m not holding out too much hope.

Is the only part of the CCC's contour, the bottom back portion of the grip?

 

[Earcutter]

Is the only part of the CCC's contour, the bottom back portion of the grip?

Pretty much. But I love that piece missing.

 

[sixgun_symphony]

.32 Colt New Police is the same cartridge as .32 S&W Long. This is a good handgun for people with small hands and are recoil shy.

 

[tbhoff]

Somehow my anti-gun (politically, but loves shooting) wife who is almost the same size as yours shoots my beretta 92fs as well as I do (not saying much though). She does prefer the .22 beretta neos though, and I've found that is a great handgun to introduce new people to shooting (although I prefer to use a single action revolver for that purpose).

 

[xiletero]

Walther PPQ
The smaller the gun, the more it's chances to malfunction. Small guns are hard to fire well....

Some meat head told my m in law to buy a small SW light 357 snub revolver...., now that is a nasty gun to shoot. No wonder she wanted to sell it (reaching 70 )....

 

[novitiate]

My wife is slowly moving towards getting her CCW. Ease of use, recoil, & ammo availability have been my main concerns. Am seriously considering a revolver in .327 Magnum as it chambers .32 S&W short/long & .32 H&R Magnum also. Her being able to practice with low power ammo and build up her skill set then ease into Magnums seems like a good idea. The S&W 632 is built on the J-frame and 6 rounds and rounds that fit it are available everywhere -

.32 S&W Long, .32 H&R Magnum, .327 Magnum -

 

[Columbo]

My wife is slowly moving towards getting her CCW. Ease of use, recoil, & ammo availability have been my main concerns. Am seriously considering a revolver in .327 Magnum as it chambers .32 S&W short/long & .32 H&R Magnum also. Her being able to practice with low power ammo and build up her skill set then ease into Magnums seems like a good idea. The S&W 632 is built on the J-frame and 6 rounds and rounds that fit it are available everywhere -

.32 S&W Long, .32 H&R Magnum, .327 Magnum -

Make sure whatever S&W you buy for PD/HD has no lock.

Otherwise, you should remove it with the larger loads and/or the non-steel frames. It's my only caveat with the newer ones. It's a 10 minute job, but will void the warranty if returned to S&W for service missing it. Save the removed cam in the bag with the keys. If you are nervous about opening up the action, have a gunsmith do it. That is also the perfect time to get a trigger job on it.

 

[jar_]

I've never found any difference in performance or reliability between S&W's with or without the lock.

 

[Columbo]

I've never found any difference in performance or reliability between S&W's with or without the lock.

Why even take the chance? There's enough out there to give pause. I'm not going to trust S&W's PR , who surrendered to the deal. It's ten minutes to a virtually guaranteed discharge.

The very last thing you want is a defensive firearm that is locked on the second round. Very ugly.

 

[novitiate]

Make sure whatever S&W you buy for PD/HD has no lock.

Otherwise, you should remove it with the larger loads and/or the non-steel frames. It's my only caveat with the newer ones. It's a 10 minute job, but will void the warranty if returned to S&W for service missing it. Save the removed cam in the bag with the keys. If you are nervous about opening up the action, have a gunsmith do it. That is also the perfect time to get a trigger job on it.

The pic I posted is for a 632 chambered in that round. It does not have the lock hole above the cyl. release.

Is the lock in another spot?

 

[jar_]

Why even take the chance? There's enough out there to give pause. I'm not going to trust S&W's PR , who surrendered to the deal. It's ten minutes to a virtually guaranteed discharge.

The very last thing you want is a defensive firearm that is locked on the second round. Very ugly.

But again, some of us like evidence. And I've never found ANY evidence that the S&W (or Taurus) locks have miraculously spontaneously locked themselves.

Why fret over something what ain't never happened?

Frankly, I applaud S&W for offering the internal lock.

 

[ColtRevolver]

I only have one lock Smith. I have fired 4k or so hot rounds through it. It hasn't self locked yet. With that said, I wouldn't buy a gun with a lock if a lock free model was available.

 

[Columbo]

But again, some of us like evidence. And I've never found ANY evidence that the S&W (or Taurus) locks have miraculously spontaneously locked themselves.

Why fret over something what ain't never happened?

Frankly, I applaud S&W for offering the internal lock.

Nope. We'll agree to disagree on this one, jar_. I have personally seen these lock up on larger caliber +P loads, which are the usual personal defense and LE loads on these. And I'm not the only one who has had it happen. Maybe it doesn't happen so much on the standard pressure practice loads. But you won't be firing practice loads in a PD encounter.

The stories about these simplistic cam locks are very well known. Most notably on the light alloy frames. It's an inherently stupid design. Once the design tension of the lock cylinder spring is exceeded, the locking cam can swing closed. And that spring is directly in the same plane as the recoil forces. Even a 1% lockup rate is 1% too much. Just remove the damn cam. It's not worth the risk.

This is not a safety. It's a lock. And it requires a key to release the action once it engages. There was never ANY reason for this contraption to have ever been put on a S&W action. And S&W didn't even design it. It's a third-party design. And it has no place whatsoever on a defensive firearm.

You can ask one hundred gunsmiths. They will all tell you the exact same thing. The original Smith & Wesson action, whether open or enclosed hammer, is one of the most perfect actions ever devised.

Its inherent design safeguards make an additional locking cam completely unnecessary. The secondary hammer pawl makes it absolutely impossible for the hammer to ever touch the firing pin. You can throw the gun off a third story roof. This gun will simply not discharge unless you squeeze the trigger all the way through. And it's a heavy trigger.

Perhaps for a recreational firearm, a kiddie lock might make marginal sense. But for a life and death defensive or duty firearm, a cam-based locking pin running under the hammer assembly is just one more thing to malfunction under heavy recoil.

And because it is so ridiculously easy to remove the locking cam, anyone tolerating that flaw on a defensive weapon should just trade it in on a can of pepper spray. It is literally a 10 minute fix.

It was one on the most stupid things Smith & Wesson ever agreed to. Weakness. And it nearly drove them out of business.

If you want to protect Junior, put a trigger lock on it, or stow it in a safe. But don't compromise the original design with nonsense like this.

I feel that strongly about it. So we will agree to disagree.

I can't speak to the Taurus guns.

 

[Columbo]

The pic I posted is for a 632 chambered in that round. It does not have the lock hole above the cyl. release.

Is the lock in another spot?

If you don't have the lock cylinder above the release, you are good to go. S&W is increasingly offering updated models without that infernal lock. Keep it simple. These are otherwise very solid actions.

 

[ColtRevolver]

More than just Smith's have locks. I have had a Springfield 1911 and a couple of Rossi M92s with locks.

 

[OkieStubble]

More than just Smith's have locks. I have had a Springfield 1911 and a couple of Rossi M92s with locks.

I learned something. i actually seen a Rossi with a lock. Didn't know Springfield was doing it?