Women and DA Revolvers

[Raissermesser]

Never thought about this, but today we were looking at someone's antique S&W .32 DA, and while looking at it, a woman attempted to pull the trigger - and couldn't. She had to use her middle finger instead of her index finger, and there was considerable barrel wobble.

I showed her that she could **** it with her thumb, and of course that worked much better, but it got me thinking: If she couldn't pull the trigger on that little DA, how would most women fair?

This is a serious question, and not sexist one bit. I've never pulled the trigger of a semi-automatic pistol, but by the nature of the critter assume that it would be easier than a DA. Would that make it easier for someone with weak fingers to use than a DA? And if they couldn't handle a DA, how well would they handle recoil?

Not a pistol person, I don't know, but while we talk about calibers and such, I don't recall mention of possible difficulty in even firing a revolver.

 

[ColtRevolver]

Depends on the pistol. A DA/SA pistol with a hammer like the older Smiths may prove difficult for those with weaker hands. On the other side of the coin, one of the easiest would be a SA pistol with a hammer like a 1911 that you c ock.....That word got filtered...lol

 

[freebird0064]

Another thought, semi auto pistols require hand strength to pull the slide to charge and **** the weapon. A person with weak hands man or woman might have trouble with either type.
Trigger pull is heavier when shooting a DA compared to a SA because the cocking action is being done through the trigger.

 

[simon1]

^^^Like he said, depends. The smaller the pistol the more leverage is needed to operate the action in DA mode. Also, how slick the action is has a lot to do with it. My full sized Smith action is as slick at the proverbial snot on a doorknob. SWMBO has no problem with it, and she weighs all of 100 pounds...soaking wet.

As for recoil...also depends. An old 32 S&W caliber is pretty mild. Full-house loads in a .44 Mag....

As for a semi...the 1911 is famous for the triggers that can be done on them. The combat tupperware ones are pretty easy, but most stock ones have a terrible trigger compared to a good DA revolver, not to mention what a good action job on a 1911 can do.

 

[Acmemfg]

Many Glocks have what?? 5 lb. pull and 1/4” travel? Something like that?

 

[simon1]

Ooops, my ^^^ post above was meant for ColtRevolver.

Many Glocks have what?? 5 lb. pull and 1/4” travel? Something like that?

Now let's keep this in perspective here. A 5 lb. pull is much less than a 12 lb. DA revolver pull.

I put some aftermarket parts in my Block and it worked well with trigger pull and reset. But then you have the racking the slide thing for someone with weak hands, but there are techniques to help with that.

Would I take it over my slick Smith DA revolver or my 1911? Oh hell no.



Ewwww...that's a visual I can't unremember.

 

[Acmemfg]

During football season, University of South Carolina fans are going to get frustrated here on this site.

 

[Salty O'Rourke]

Dew knot trussed yore spelt chequer two fined awl missed steaks.

 

[OkieStubble]

Dew knot trussed yore spelt chequer two fined awl missed steaks.

Lol'd.

 

[OtherMoe]

American Rifleman did a couple articles on ladies and their preference in pistols. The results were not exactly what most men would think.

The American Rifleman Ladies Pistol Project

 

[Ad Astra]

Surprising number of women have problems racking autos ... and let's face it: they are way stronger than us in many ways!


AA

 

[Mako72]

Wow. Exact opposite of my wife. She grew up hunting with rifles, but had a jack wagon Ex ho thought he should teach women to shoot with a .44. When we met she was so anti-gun it wasn’t even funny.

Back about ‘95-96’, I bought her a Wather P-22. After a couple months of seeing how fun it was she wanted a revolver. Bought her a GP-100 4” 38/357. She liked shooting single action, but found the double a bit much. I broke it down, slicked it up, and dropped in some trigger springs a couple lbs lighter. She loves it. She now has... a Sig P226, a Ruger P-85, 357 Marlin, Wathler G-22, and a 9mm AR Pistol which she loves. All have been tuned a little lighter, but not much.

She also has no problem running most of my pistols or rifle, including my AR and AK, with now problems. She doesn’t like them as much as her tuned for her guns, but has no problem making them run.

 

[Bhugo]

My wife has trouble racking my autos. She does fine with my 642.

 

[OkieStubble]

Wow. Exact opposite of my wife. She grew up hunting with rifles, but had a jack wagon Ex ho thought he should teach women to shoot with a .44. When we met she was so anti-gun it wasn’t even funny.

Back about ‘95-96’, I bought her a Wather P-22. After a couple months of seeing how fun it was she wanted a revolver. Bought her a GP-100 4” 38/357. She liked shooting single action, but found the double a bit much. I broke it down, slicked it up, and dropped in some trigger springs a couple lbs lighter. She loves it. She now has... a Sig P226, a Ruger P-85, 357 Marlin, Wathler G-22, and a 9mm AR Pistol which she loves. All have been tuned a little lighter, but not much.

She also has no problem running most of my pistols or rifle, including my AR and AK, with now problems. She doesn’t like them as much as her tuned for her guns, but has no problem making them run.

It's great to see you back in the Firearms Forum @Mako72, long time time no see!

 

[Mako72]

It's great to see you back in the Firearms Forum @Mako72, long time time no see!

Thanks partner!

This last year has seen me taking charge at work, working lots lots of hours, and really dragging my butt. Shaving has been going well, and unfortunately, as a consequence, my participation here has suffered. But trying to get back at it!

 

[Badgerstate36]

Id say it depends on the user. My wife doesnt have the strongest hands in the world and can barely rack the slide on my Walther PPQ, I dont know that she could pull the trigger on a DA revolver while staying on target.
She could easily shoot it SA but in a high stress situation, you may not have the time to pull the hammer back and its not as if youre going to carry the gun like that.
IMO, thats one of the main disadvantages of a revolver.

 

[Commander Quan]

My wife and Sister in Law have both shot my DA only 642. I don't think they necessarily enjoyed it but they fired all 5 rounds.
One firearms instructor I took a class with brought up the fact about smaller women having issues working the slide on a semi auto, and had them practice holding the slide and pushing the receiver away from them using almost straight arms and twisting their shoulders as opposed to pulling the slide back, and it seamed to help.

 

[bberg100]

I have several semi's in the store that have been traded in for revolvers by women who couldn't work the slide or wrist strength was insufficient to ensure reliable operation. They pick up Ruger LCRs almost universally. The LCR has the lightest, smoothest trigger in any of the pocket revolvers. The women we deal with seem to be more practical than the guys, they just want something that goes bang 100% of the time with no malfunctions or "confusing" controls.

Dry firing a bit every evening will strengthen the finger and range time will develop the skill to stay on target.

 

[simon1]

Dry firing a bit every evening will strengthen the finger and range time will develop the skill to stay on target.

When I started using a DA revolver they made us shoot so much my entire hand would cramp up on the way back from the range.

 

[machinisttx]

My mother(nearly 60) has rheumatoid arthritis among other ailments. She's not a large woman at 5' tall and has never had a bit of trouble with any revolver she's ever been handed. She was carrying a S&W 642 for a while and shot it just fine. She shot it even better after I worked the action over. I think the pull was around ten pounds of hot butter when I got done, and it still had the original, unmolested mainspring in it. Swapping or lightening the mainspring in a J frame S&W is asking for reliability problems.... Now she's carrying one of the little ruger 9mm's. She hasn't asked me to work on it and dad hasn't asked me to work on his, so they must be pretty decent from the factory.

My wife is 4'6" and can shoot even my N frame S&W's(with light loads) better than I can. She does have trouble with small autoloaders just due to the grip strength required to rack the slide on some of them. That said, she does pretty well with her Keltec P11, and shoots it pretty well despite the staplegun like trigger. She has no trouble at all with her CZ75.

Most women can handle most handguns if someone shows them a method of manipulation that works for them. It should also be taken into account that women's hands don't have as much meat in the palm or at the base of the thumb and consequently often need larger handgun stocks than might be anticipated for proper fit.