So my gf was terrified of guns about 2 years ago. Ive slowly immersed her into the gun scene (slightly). This time last year i convinced her to go with me the gun show, she was terrified to touch any of the guns there because she seemed to be paranoid that the one shed touch would be loaded and would magically go off if she touched it. I warmed her up by letting her shoot an old school .22 lr remington rifle which terrified her (it started off with me holding the gun and letting her pull the trigger, yeah that bad). She has slowly progressed from shooting the .22 on her own, to shooting my lcp and now finally even shooting the kimber on occasion. She still needs a LOT more range time and training before carrying, but is wanting a ccw gun, ive thrown the idea at her of a revolver, mostly .38 special snubs (with the lighter "womens" grain ammo), and even .22 mags (and yeah i know the ammos difficult to come by now). She has difficulty racking the slide on both an lcp and 1911 so i figured a point and click gun like a revolver would be the best idea, Although shes still scared of the kick. Any ideas or suggestions?....ill probably be getting her the gun for christmas.

talk to Sandy O'neal over at ERGC. She caters to the female crowd without any alpha males hovering over her and scaring her. After that, see if her preference chages. She might like the auto loaders after a day with Sandy. As far as racking the slide....I taught my 13 year old daughter how to do it with some of mine. Tell her to hold the slide, palm down over the top and "push" the lower part of the gun forward instead of trying to "pull" the upper slide rearward. Works every time....

Wow, you are very loving.

She is lucky to have you.

I am female and had similar fears because of being raised in two countries where guns were banned. Yes, the brain wash is intense. Not as bad as that, though.

I prefer steel guns because it has less kick and feels more solid in the hand. I bought an Ortigies Werger 32 acp and loved it because it was so much fun to shoot and the safety was a squeeze cocker mechanism. I would not recomend them for CCW because being a C&R gun the sights are really small and can make it more challenging to shoot. And even though dealy accurate the point of aim can be a little off center as it is common with older guns.

This 32 acp steel fixed barrel no safety lever gun was the one that made shooting the most fun, easy and pleasant experience for me.
A fear breaker and confidence builder for sure.

Mind you my first gun was an HK P30l LEM .40 - I now hate the .40 caliber, at least on a polymer frame.
My favorite is .45 and .380 on a steel gun.

Steel, fixed barrel would be my suggestion.

if you can't find that combo in your price range here are my other favorites:

CZ - have not tried the Rami but love the SP01 Compact.

Hk USP 9 Compact ( I have not tried the VP9 but have read great reviews and some women are starting to shoot after trying it - can be found new for $550 online )

FEG SMC .380 - I love this gun because it fits my hand perfectly and feel very manageable for a lady. it is very accurate being steel and aluminum frame and a fixed barrel. I inicially was leaning towards this as my CCW burt progressed and changed my mind,

Even though I hate polymer, my favorite gun at the moment and choice for CCW is the HK USP 9 Compact due to very manageable recoil and extremely accurate: gives me tons of confiddence as an inexperienced novice shooter and does make me feel more accurate than I actually am. And it has perfect grip fit for my hands.

I would say have her try as many different grips as possible - fit in the hand is very important for handling it confidently.
Try different calibers in steel, fixed barrel plataforms. She may surprize you and like the .45 - I was surprized I did.

I also did not expect I was going to like the HK USP 9 Compact and that is now my choice for CCW.

Let her try as many different guns as possible. I find it is a very personal choice and decision.

Maybe you can just aim at getting her a fun training gun for Christmas and let her progress naturally in case she feels she has to stick with a gun that may not suit her for CCW just because you gave it to her at a memorable holiday.

And thanks for the input ricochet, the feg smc is another good option i didnt even think of. And similar to a ppk from what ive seen (which is a plus in my book). And if i got her any HK shed have to constantly be worrying about me steeling it :tongue:. Ill take her looking again this weekend hopefuly. Thanks for the input!

jogan, shes getting the hang of it slowly but surely, her fear is that she feels if she was nervous and trembling due to someone breaking in (she lives by herself) that she wouldnt be able to rack it, and shes scared to keep a round chambered due to the round "magically" going off. But thats definitely a good idea, i would love for her to have another woman's take on the whole gun scene, so ill pay Ms O'neal a visit sometime. Thanks for the input.

good ideas for mt gf's first ccw?

Me and my fiancé seem to go through the same things..she doesn't "want" a revolver but doesn't trust herself with most semi's..she wants a Browning HiPower..but only for range gun not ccw..

The following statement is only my opinion and about as far from fact as possible..but if her problem is working the slide..a couple guns come to mind that I find very easy to manipulate (remember I'm I guy so take it however u want)..HK VP9 very easy and has a flared rear end to aid in racking (and an awesome trigger)..CZ P07 also very easy to manipulate but not as much real estate on slide to grab onto..

If she doesn't mind the recoil from ur LCP then I think just about any revolver should be fine choice with the different loads available..I just can't get my fiancé to try 1....what's a guy to do??


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poff09 said:

I think just about any revolver should be fine choice with the different loads available..I just can't get my fiancé to try 1....what's a guy to do??

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Tell her another lady on the gun forum said she should try a Chiappa Rhino revolver.

Jorgan's absolutely right about slide technique. Also, remind her these are durable guns and not to fear aggressively racking the slide back. One super easy slide is on the Walther PK380. For revolvers, an easy double action trigger is the Ruger LCR.

Va boy said:

Also, remind her these are durable guns and not to fear aggressively racking the slide back.

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With all due respect, I dont think tht is the most likely female fear. She may actually be afraid of the slide violently hurting her.

If she is afraid and doesnt just feel weak to do it I would say put some thick gloves on and practice just racking the slide.

Maybe that will help her confidence - since her hands will feel protected.

I think women are more likely to fear the slide is going to bite back and take a chunk of their hands.

thats a good idea with the glove thing ricochet, and im going down to tgd today to take a look at some of the suggestions mentioned, thank you all again!

Had the same problem with my fiancé. She has a taurus 9mm and a walther P22 .22lr. She is scared of the 9mm and has trouble with the slide. I taught we her the hold on top and push technique and she is doing great with it. She is still having trouble with the bite back of racking the slide. She is scared of it biting her hand but is slowly working it out. I find the best thing to do is give her an empty gun and let her rack the slide all she wants on her own until she gets it. Whatever you do, don't get frustrated! The worst thing to do is make her feel she is doing something wrong. And don't shoot if she doesn't feel like it that day. If she wants to shoot she will feel more confident and not pressured.

She shoots the P22 like a champ but still closes her eyes and flinches when she shoots the 9mm. Talk about me feeling nervous lol. I found the standing behind her and holding the gun with her as she closes her eyes and shoots a mag has helped some.

Before you buy her a revolver, let her practice more with a semi auto. Your kimber's slide may be a little tough if it's a .45 and LCP slides are tiny but can be intimidating. My girl is more scared of my P238 slide than her taurus millineum slide which is larger. I'd say she needs to mess around with a low caliber mid sized gun to get more aquatinted with the idea of a semi auto. My fiancé doesn't like my G19 or P238 but is comfortable with her Taurus is what I found because of her small hands and the fear of slide bite.

A lot of rambling here but I hope you find something helpful in my jumbled post lol

Try to rent a g42 and walther p380, my wife enjoyed both and raves over her 42. If pulling the slide is an issue, perhaps a tip-up barrel like taurus pt22,pt25/beretta has a 22,25,32 in animal names-bobcat,tomcat,etc.

Only thing i can say about a snub nose is, and good thing you mentioned light loads, those airweights are no fun to shoot and the recoil may scare her off(they hurt)

I would recommend AGAINST snub nose revolvers unless shooting the .327 Federal made by Ruger. All steel gun, potent round but more manageable recoil, on par with .38 Special. .327 uses bullets as light as 85 gr or 100 grain depending on mfr.

Re: semi-autos, technique is everything, as Jogan stated, and using a locked-breech auto is easier than most blow backs due to their design. A S&W M&P should be easier to rack the slide than some blowback .380s. I have a Kahr P9 and CW9 and they are very easy to rack the slide. Kahr makes .380, 9x19, .40S&W, and .45ACP in small guns that are very concealable, easy to use, but recoil would be more than a standard S&W M&P 9 or Glock 19. Try the Glock in .380. Also try the Bersa in .380. Bersa is an all steel gun mostly, but they now manufacture polymer 9x19's. Bersa is good quality gun made in Argentina.

The main thing is she should try as many different guns and find the one with which she is most comfortable and can shoot accurately. Practice is all she needs. ERGC has a group of ladies called the Gun Goddesses and they will be able to provide a myriad of firearms for her to try out as well in a totally female atmosphere unless some guy shows up (and the rules state he has to wear a dress and a wig if he does. Any takers?) I think she would get much enjoyment from that and Sandy could provide some excellent one on one training. She and her husband also offer a Combat Focus training class, but that will be sometime in the future for your friend.

good ideas for mt gf's first ccw?

Depending on size desired: P238, P938, or M&P9C w/safety
As voted by the ladies in my house.

Another vote against the short barreled revolvers. Just sold my wife's .38. She hated it becasue of the recoil, but kept it 'cause it fit in a purse. She actually said my .357 w/ 6" barrel had less recoil even shooting full up .357 loads. YMMV, good luck.

Now, just for fun, imagine the recoil of a 357 in a lightweight frame. Believe it or not, t is actually worse than a 4" 500 S&W. I think even a bigger problem than the recoil of lightweight 38 snubbies is the lack of proper sights. I always felt like I had to point them down just to get on paper, which felt really weird.
If set on a j-frame, the 3" Model 60 is actually not bad in both regards since it's steel and has proper sights. Still quite small, but of course, larger and heavier, yet much more shootable.

Yep, a friend just sold a .38 with a light weight frame. That thing could sure surprise ya with +P loads. Agreed on the sights. The sights on the one we sold were fixed, but worked well for about 10-15 feet. Beyond that, and considering the 2-inch barrel, you were just making noise and hoping for a hit. A stand-off weapon it was not.

My cousin just purchased a S&W model 60 ladysmith. She hasn't shot full 357 rounds from it, but she loves shooting it with 38 special. I shot it several times and it shot great. It was obviously more than shooting 22mag, but easy enough still...especially with practice. His wife and mine have both shot my 9mm Springfield xd and the ladysmith is probably easier for them to shoot. Again, that's all with 38spl...obviously 357 is a different beast. I just didn't have any 357 the day I shot it. For what it's worth, I loved the model 60 ladysmith, but I'm also partial to S&W revolvers.

Pretty sure the lady smith is steel. Makes a big difference.