There is no such thing as a man’s gun or a woman’s gun. A woman should choose a gun she likes and can shoot well, regardless of what any husband, boyfriend, father, brother, instructor, gun salesperson, or woman friend thinks about it. That said, it is true that most women have smaller hands and less hand and arm strength than most men. It’s because of this strength issue that we find ourselves often recommending certain handguns to women or to men.
My recommendations are not intended to put women in a box and infer they should pick one of the guns in this list. The list is derived from my 20 years in the business of helping women learn to shoot and qualify for a License to Carry. It’s a list of guns that have often been chosen and have worked well for the women I’ve had the privilege of advising. The numbers do not represent a ranking. Number 10 is just as good as Number 2, for example.
Small Frame Revolver
My wife carries a Smith & Wesson Model 60 LadySmith .38 Special. It’s a pricey gun that I lucked upon through a trade-in when I owned a gun store. If money isn’t an object, this is a fine revolver for any lady who wants to carry a revolver. More affordable options that will fill this role are the Taurus 856 or Taurus 609.
These are all .38 Specials. I’m a fan of .327 Federal Magnum for a carry revolver. Taurus has one when you can find it in stock, and Ruger has one in its SP101 model. Charter Arms makes some nice carry-size .38 Special revolvers, some with pretty colors (if you are into that).
- Pros: Easy to Use
- Cons: Limited Capacity
- Cost: Upper End $800–$900, Lower End $300–$400
Smith & Wesson Equalizer
The Equalizer follows on the heels of Smith & Wesson’s popular EZ-Rack Shield. It is 6.75 inches long, 4.5 inches high, 1.04 inches wide, and weighs 22.9 ounces. It is a double stack 9mm which ships with 10, 13, and 15-round magazines.
The slide is cut for optics, which allows the user to mount the most popular micro red dots. The trigger has a clean break at just a little over 5 pounds with a fast reset. The barrel is 3.675 inches long, which provides a nice sight radius for use with iron sights. The sights are white three-dot models. The front and rear sight are both drift-adjustable.
The Equalizer features a grip texture and pattern that are designed to give you more control when firing and more comfort when carrying. An ambidextrous manual safety is an available option. The mag release button can be turned around for left-hand shooting. The slide is easy to rack due to reduced spring tension and deep cut serrations.
People who struggle with slide operation will find this gun much to their liking. A supplied Uplula magazine loader makes loading magazines a breeze. This gun could be a life changer for people who know they should be shooting and carrying a gun regularly, but struggle with operating the slide.
- Pros: Easy to use, optics-ready, 10–15 round capacity
- Cons: Can’t think of any
- Cost: Around $500
Smith & Wesson CSX
Smith & Wesson’s CSX is a little gun that doesn’t know it’s little. The individual parts, such as the sights, slide lock, magazine release, and safety, feel strong and function perfectly for the role they play. The thumb safety, slide lock, and magazine release snap into and out of place precisely and with no hint of looseness.
The slide serrations, front and back, are small to go with the small height of the slide, but they are deep cut enough to provide a secure grip. Cocking handles (small protrusions on each side at the rear of the slide) are there to assist. This gun is not unpleasant to rack. An opening at the rear of the ejection port serves as a loaded chamber indicator.
The sights are dovetail mounted, drift adjustable, and have a bright single dot up front and two dots in the rear. Anti-glare serrations on top of the slide add to the overall coolness of the gun. The slide lock and frame safety are ambidextrous, and the magazine release is reversible. The trigger has a blade safety, which when depressed results in a nice, flat trigger face. The single-action trigger breaks at just a little over 5 pounds.
The CSX is packaged with two magazines (10 and 12-round), and an extra palm swell that allows you to adjust the gun to fit your hands. Although the CSX doesn’t have a grip safety, it was designed to be carried cocked and locked. This is safe because the thumb safety is precise and secure, and there’s a trigger safety.
I must admit, I wasn’t sure I would be comfortable with this at first, However, after several shooting sessions, and a thorough understanding of how the action and safeties work, I became comfortable with it. It is a 19.5-ounce pistol that’s only 6.1 inches long, which makes it easy to carry. Because of its metal frame construction, it is also comfortable to shoot.
- Pros: Well-made, ambidextrous, easy to operate, 10–12 round capacity
- Cons: No optics cut
- Cost: $500–$600
Smith & Wesson Shield Plus in .30 Super Carry
The Shield has been around for several years and is one of the best-selling handguns of all time. The Shield Plus is like a Shield on steroids. The outward dimensions are essentially the same, but the Shield Plus uses a double-stack magazine. To make this work, the caliber is smaller. Not a lot smaller, but small enough that with .30 Super Carry ammunition, a Shield Plus will hold 17 rounds.
Currently, defensive ammunition in .30 Super Carry is available from Federal, Speer, and Remington. Ballistic comparisons show the cartridge to be more powerful than .380 and not quite as powerful as 9mm. The small difference in 9mm muzzle energy, expansion size, and penetration is easily made up for in the Shield when you consider 17 rounds on board versus 9 rounds for the 9mm Shield.
That extra capacity can mean a lot. It certainly gives me a comfort level. As far as recoil goes, I can’t tell much difference. I am a regular user of my .30 Super Carry Shield Plus. I really like the idea of a 17-round Shield that weighs 19.3 ounces, and tapes out at 6.1 inches long, 4.6 inches high, and 1.1 inches wide.
- Pros: Familiar Shield format, optics-ready, 17-round capacity
- Cons: New Caliber
- Cost: $400–$600
Mossberg MC2C
The MC2C is just under 7 inches long, 5 inches high, and 1.04 inches at its widest point. The width is .95 inch everywhere forward of the slide lock. It weighs 20.2 ounces empty, and 29 ounces loaded. The Mossberg carries 14 rounds with the standard magazine and 16 rounds with the extended magazine. To me, it’s a big deal to be able to carry 14 rounds in a gun the size of any number of single-stack nines.
The sights are dovetail mounted and come standard in a low-profile, snag-free, white 3-Dot configuration or with TruGlo Tritium Pro Night Sights as an option. Texturing on the sides, as well as front strap and back strap, are just aggressive enough to be effective without hurting your hand. There’s a textured pad on both sides of the frame where your trigger finger should index and a Picatinny rail forward of the trigger guard.
The trigger guard is large enough for gloves and curves up slightly at the rear to facilitate a high grip. The beavertail at the back of the frame facilitates a high, tight grip, and helps mitigate recoil. There is a rounded treatment at the front and top of the slide for easy holstering.
The trigger has a wide, flat profile with an integrated blade safety. Trigger pull is right at 6 pounds. The MC2C ships with a 13-round flush magazine and a 15-round extended magazine, both made from a coated steel that offers low friction and long-term wear-resistance. It’s fun to shoot, and it is a confidence builder.
When I was testing the gun, four regular shooters and two guest shooters put it through its paces, and everybody enjoyed shooting the gun. Accuracy was a delight. For many months, the MC2C has been my daily carry pistol, only to be displaced when I need to test something new.
- Pros: Very nice grip, rounded carry treatment, good trigger, 13 or 15-round capacity
- Cons: No optics cut
- Cost: Around $400
Ruger Max 9
The Ruger Max 9 is an 18.9-ounce gun that is 6 inches long and 4.5 inches high with its extended magazine that holds 12 rounds. A 10-round, flush-fit magazine is also included in the package. The grip offers plenty of hand purchase thanks to a sandpaper-like texture all around. It is one of the better grips I’ve experienced on a small gun.
The slide is cut for a red dot sight, and it is also tapered with rounded edges to make for easy holstering. Front and rear sights are both adjustable. The front sight is a fiber-optic and the rear sight is all black. Slide serrations exist front and rear. You can get the Max 9 with or without a frame safety. The trigger has a blade safety. I enjoyed shooting the Max 9 and found it reasonably accurate for personal protection.
- Pros: Ruger’s rugged reliability, lightweight, small, cut for red dot sight
- Cons: Can’t think of any
- Cost: Under $400
SCCY DVG-1
SCCY was building micro pistols with double-stack magazines long before the current crop of micro-nines became so popular. If you’re familiar at all with the SCCY CPX Series pistols, the DVG-1 has some interesting differences. The DVG-1 is striker-fired. The CPX series pistols are hammer-fired.
While the DVG-1 has an advertised 5.5-pound trigger pull, the CPX guns have a 10-pound trigger pull. The trigger on the DVG-1 is straight, and the CPX trigger is curved. The DVG-1 has front and rear slide serrations. The CPX slides only have rear serrations. Also, the DVG-1 has a reduced grip circumference compared to the CPX grip. It measures 5.5 inches at its widest point, compared to 6 inches on the CPX models.
The DVG-1’s machining is flawless. Its fit is tight and smooth. Everything about it says quality, yet it’s a gun that retails below $300. That’s with two magazines and a trigger lock. Also, with each of the magazines you have, the choice of a flat base plate or one that is extended with a slight pinky-finger curve. You may be tempted to use the flat base plate for carrying, but trust me, when you shoot the gun, you’re going to want the extended base plate.
The sights on the DVG-1 are three-dot sights, easy to see. But if you want to change them, any aftermarket Glock-pattern sight will fit the DVG-1. More and more manufacturers are adopting the Glock pattern sights, and it was a smart move on the part of SCCY to follow that trend. I’ve shot my DVG-1 extensively and found it to be carry-pistol-accurate and trouble-free.
- Pros: Inexpensive, yet well-made; easy carry; nice trigger; 12+1 capacity
- Cons: No optics cut
- Cost: Under $300
SIG Sauer P365XL
Of the guns listed here, the SIG Sauer P365XL is the one that can be found in my daily carry holster most often. The P365XL packs 12+1 or 15+1 capacity in a micro-compact. The P365XL is highly concealable in size, while maintaining the comfort and shootability of a full-size pistol.
The P365XL comes standard with an extended slide, 3.7-inch barrel, a grip module with extended beavertail, and integrated magwell. The XL features a crisp, clean, P365 trigger pull with a flat profile trigger that breaks at 90 degrees. Also standard are the signature XRay3 Day/Night sights with a rear sight plate assembly that allows direct mounting of the new SIG Romeo Zero or the RMSc reflex optics. SIG is like the BMW or Mercedes of gun manufacturers — you can feel and experience that quality every time you shoot a SIG gun, including this one.
- Pros: It’s a SIG, with SIG quality built-in; optics-ready
- Cons: Perhaps price
- Cost: $800–$900 depending upon options
Glock 43X
Glocks are well-made and a pleasure to shoot. The G43X is one of those micro-nines that started with the frame of a single-stack nine but was modified slightly to handle a larger magazine with more rounds. The gun ships with two 10-round magazines.
There’s a reason why the G43X feels so comfortable and doesn’t beat the shooter up with recoil. The action components of the G43X are so close in size to the action components of the popular mid-size G19, it’s difficult to feel any difference while shooting. The grip circumference is similar, the trigger reach is almost the same, and the sights are identical.
Slide serrations on the G43X are vertical — five in the back and three in front. The trigger guard is raised in the back where it joins the grip. That’s to facilitate the high grip we all want. The front strap is mildly checkered, as is the back strap. There’s a small ledge on the grip where your thumb rests. My medium-sized hands fit the grip nicely.
- Pros: Feels nice, shoots nice, Glock reliability and simplicity
- Cons: Can’t think of any
- Cost: Around $500
Springfield Hellcat Pro
At 21 ounces, with a footprint of 6.6 inches in length, 4.8 inches in height, and 1-inch wide, the Springfield Hellcat Pro is smaller than most of the mid-size carry guns. Springfield’s engineers managed this without sacrificing the features shooters demand. The frame has an adaptive grip texture that feels secure without hurting your hands. The finish on the grip is interesting because it wraps around the grip and makes the front and back strap feel as though they were checkered. Springfield calls it Adaptive Grip Texture. It’s made up of staggered pyramid shapes that are flattened on top, interspersed with shorter ones that are pointed on top.
There is a thumb rest high on the grip that guides your hand into the proper position. The beavertail is extended, which aids in reducing felt recoil. The slide has front and rear serrations to aid the shooter when racking the slide.
The Hellcat Pro comes out of the box ready for an optic. It also has great sights installed. The front sight is a large luminescent tritium dot, and the rear sight is a tactical U-shaped notch. The trigger guard is undercut to give the shooter a high grip. The trigger has a flat front surface with a blade safety. The Hellcat Pro’s trigger pull averaged 7 pounds. There was about .5-inch take-up and a very smooth break.
The Hellcat Pro, like every Springfield I’ve ever shot, is very accurate. Any shooter with basic skills can do well with it. As mentioned above, the frame is designed to be held in a manner that delivers accurate shots.
- Pros: Springfield quality, excellent grip, 15+1 capacity, optics-ready
- Cons: None that I can think of
- Cost: $500–$600
Wrap-up
These guns aren’t pink. The guns featured in this round up would be as welcome in a man’s holster as they would be in a woman’s holster. However, in my opinion, any one of these guns will work well for a woman who wants to be well-armed with a gun she can manage easier. I’m sure many of our readers can think of other guns that should also be on this list, so let’s hear from you. Limiting my list to 10 was the most difficult part about this assignment.
Hammerless five shot steel S&W in .38 +P. Short barrel. Good purse gun. No horns. No levers. Very noisy.
Hammerless, five-shot steel S&W in .38 +P. Short barrel. Easily concealed. Good purse gun. No horns. No levers. Very noisy.
@ Richard Behrens: How many GSW victims have you actually laid eyes on? Me, too many to count. I would ask you, how many times have you faced incoming fire? Have you ever had to draw a weapon on another human being? Me? BT, DT. I was a medic in the Army doing SAR/Recon overseas 50 some years ago. It is not like in the movies. Neither is being a nurse in a busy ER. Fewer than half the people who were shot with the calibers I mentioned succumbed to their wounds. Too many times the ones who did die, still managed to kill their shooter before they died. Many of the shooters were beaten to death by the shootee.
And if you think your family members will respond differently than 90+% of the people who have been involved in a firefight, you are wrong. Physiologic changes take place as the Sympathetic Nervous System takes over. Your perception of time and space is altered. Your heart rate and respiratory rate increase causing the weapon in your hand to rise and fall, and you will not be aware of it. You develop tunnel vision and it is almost impossible to acquire the sights and the target at the same time. This makes shot placement very difficult. Now, speaking as a vet, after several episodes of this, you can kinda get a handle on this, the sympathetic nervous system tells itself that it can relax a bit, making it easier to handle the situation. Doesn’t happen the first time, or the second.
And in most police shootings, fewer than a fourth of the shots even hit the target. Multiple studies have shown that. I have had friends on the Police Pistol team involved in a shooting who hit their target with fewer than half the rounds fired and only about a third of those were mortal wounds. This was a shooting where several officers were confronted with a known killer at less than 10 feet. They all had high cap mags and they emptied their mags. These guys could outshoot most shooters on the street and they still struck the guy with fewer than half their shots.
A little history lesson here, back in 1899 the US Army lost a lot of soldiers who carried the .38 Long Colt as their issued side arm. They were shooting Moro warriors multiple times who were undeterred from killing our guys before succumbing to their wounds. The Army determined that the .38 Long Colt was more dangerous to the US soldier than it was to the enemy.
Let’s consider the ballistics of the .38 LC. It fired a 150 grain slug traveling at a velocity of 770 ft/s with ME of 198 ft/lb. Look at the energy of the round. Now let’s compare those numbers to some modern cartridges frequently used in concealed carry weapons. The Hornady 32 Auto 60 grain XTP .32 ACP has a MV of 1,000 ft/s and ME of 133 ft/lb. This is from a 4 inch barrel. A shorter barrel will not attain that velocity or ME. And what about the vaunted .380 ACP? The Hornady BLACK® 380 Auto 90 gr XTP® has a MV of 1,000 ft/s and ME of 200 ft/lb., again with a 4” barrel. Any weapon with a shorter barrel will not meet, let alone exceed, these numbers.
Just looking at the numbers, it would appear that, energy-wise, neither of these is an improvement over the .38 Long Colt, which led to the death of many American fighting men who needed a weapon that delivered, (but did not.) But these are modern loads made by Hornady, and are still no better than the woefully inadequate .38 Long Colt.
I do not understand how anyone could (would) recommend these rounds for self-defense when they are no better than a colossally proven failure, a round that was more dangerous to the shooter than the shootee. That was the opinion of the Army in 1899.
Now, do you feel that it is better to send someone out with a weapon that historically has a less than 50% chance of stopping the attacker because they feel like they can handle that weapon better when faced with this evidence? There are times when shooting someone increases your chance of dying, IF you don’t put them down with one shot. Sometimes NOT having a gun is the safer option.
In my mind, anyone who thinks that way is culpable for what happens to the person who carries an inadequate weapon. You will have to live with that. Sleep well with that knowledge. Speaking of sleeping well, it took me years after I got out of the Army before I ever slept well.
I rarely comment on these articles whether I find them truly good or not but I felt compelled to for this article. I have a 34 year old daughter, 21 year old grand daughter, 15 year old grand daughter and my girlfriend all of which are under 120 pounds and from 5’1” to 5’3” tall. So I feel I have some knowledge of what generally works for a women’s handgun.
The title is “Top 10 Defensive Guns for Women” but there are barely 3 guns here that are decent recommendations for women. I say that since the “Lady Smith” is not a good hand gun for most women. The rest of the “choices” seem more of what the author likes and carries. Generally women struggle with 9mm traveling from a 3” barrel from a 20 to 25 ounce (or less) light weight package. This leaves the S&W Equalizer, Sig P365XLbut the rest of these pocket pistols are not a good choice for most women. My 21 YO granddaughter carries a Walther PK380, my GF a Sig Sauer P365-380 and my daughter carries a Walther P22 and sometimes a P365 Macro. This is in contrast to what the BO the retired ER nurse says. Any gun is 100% better than no gun at all. If we were to abide by BO rationale women should not carry Pepper Spray or stun guns. The main goal – idea is to make a consciences decision to not be a victim. Then find the tool that best suites you and train, train, train. I also have a future daughter in law who recently bought a very nice looking Kimber 9mm pocket gun that I like but she struggles greatly to manipulate the slide, the recoil scares her and now it is a paper weight.
When assigned an article to write a top ten anything, there will naturally be lots of good guns left out. I didn’t write about the NRA’s experience, I wrote about my experience as an instructor and gun store owner. There will never be total agreement. For example Debbie likes the Taurus 738, but I find it a rather hot little gun too shoot. Nurse Bo’s reflections on caliber effectiveness based on years of work in the healthcare industry are spot on but a retired cop wrote several years ago of his experience on the job in which a small, hispanic female was shot 5 times in the chest with a .45 ACP from close range and was conscious, sitting on a park bench waiting for help to arrive when he discovered her fifteen minutes after the shooting. She totally recovered. Same cop found one dead guy who had been shot once with a .22. No matter what you shoot, you must be able to shoot it accurately. Most important thing. Let the woman pick her own gun but be prepared to offer her logical reasons why she might be picking a bad one.
The only issue I have here is with the choice of calibers that some have mentioned. As a retired ER nurse who has seen myriads of GSW victims, I have seen what calibers work as deterrent and what do not. I am somewhat mystified how some people know what will work even though they have NEVER seen their chosen round in action. It also mystifies me that people who have NEVER seen anyone with ANY GSW, knows SO much more about the dynamics of such than those of us who spent decades in the ER, seeing and treating hundreds of GSW patients.
There are some calibers that, when people choose them, they are more at risk if those weapons are deployed than if they were unarmed. The local cops where I was working referred to these calibers as The Last Bad Choice Of Dead People Everywhere. These calibers are .22, .25 ACP, .32 ACP, and .380 ACP. The rationale for the label of these poorly performing calibers was people who used these guns, by and large, were killed by the people from whom they thought they were defending themselves. Had some of these victims had not had a weapon, they probably would still be alive. There is something about shooting someone and essentially just pissing them off to the point that they kill the shooter. That is a HUGE FAIL. Had they not had a weapon, the situation may not have escalated to the point of the shooter being the first casualty. If a weapon is deployed and the shooter dies before the shootee, that is IF the shootee succumbs to the injury, that is not a WIN.
It is not much different from what the US Army was going through before they adopted the 1911, in that the .38 Long Colt was not stopping the Moros after being shot multiple times. Critics of my point say that the Moros were on drugs. How is that different from many thugs roaming the street today? Those calibers have a poor record for dispatching the shootee, and if the shootee is on drugs and all it does is piss him off, like the Moros, what chance does the shooter have? That would be NONE.
My career in healthcare spanned a 45 year period, beginning in 1971 until I retired completely in 2016. I have seen myriads of GSW victims in many calibers. I have yet to find any proponent of these calibers who has even seen ANYONE shot with these calibers but somehow they intuit that these calibers work. I have asked for data from multiple proponents of these calibers but received nothing but derision and condescension, telling me what I had to offer was purely anecdotal. That was still more than they could provide, which was nothing more than uninformed opinion.
If anyone is choosing a weapon for self-defense, the first consideration should be, IF you have to shoot an assailant, it must be sufficient to disable or deter the assailant from continuing the attack. IF it does not do this, that is a FAIL, and in a big way.
There are those who deride anyone who carries with an empty chamber, and most of them have never had to draw on another human being or been on the receiving end of incoming rounds. They have never been there but they know, just know what they will do in that situation. Some of these same people also believe that a round, that a number of us in healthcare and LE have seen FAIL, will work for them, in spite of what we have seen.
There are times when bringing weapon to bear is not the best choice, and using an inadequate weapon is NEVER a good choice, especially if it leads to the shooter being killed by the shootee and the shootee survives to go to prison.
After reading the NRA article about what women actually want in guns, and the Sig P238/938 was at the top of the list, I have to say the P938 seems to ignore the laws of physics in both easily rackability in a 9mm, in recoil, and accuracy. If you want to compare recoil, try a Ruger SP101, 2.25″ barrel in .357 mag. It twist the wrist to the point of pain, with every shot. I also learned that a man telling a woman what gun is best for her, is probably to most dangerous thing a man can do in this sport. I once told my wife they now make pink and purple revolvers, and she should go try them. Her response was: When it come to guns she wasn’t interested in fashion statements, she wanted something that would intimidate! 😉
@Steven J, the first one I reccommended to my wife years ago was the Ruger LC9S Pro. Aside from it being annoying to field strip I thought that might be just about perfect for her. She got it, and I ran her through drills and lots of rounds. She just wasn’t very good with it. She just never could make it work for her. I can shoot it decently but it is TINY compared to my huge hand. I can basically palm it and it disapears. My ring finger barely fits the bottom edge of the grip. It fit her hand size wise just great but she couldn’t hit very well with it at all. She came home one day and tossed a box at me and said “here, clean this up and make it ready to run, please”. It was a Hellcat. I was a bit annoyed, she paid too much for it and hadn’t said anything about going gun shopping… but I field stripped it, cleaned it up. We stepped outside, loaded it, and boom… she was hitting what she aimed at and did so rather quickly. So the Ruger just sits locked away and never used. All of our grown daughters are petiite 110lbs or less and 5’5″ or shorter and none of them like it either. Go figure.
David – I think this article would have been more pertinent had you reviewed the NRA Ladies Pistol Project (LPP) which has gone through several iterations (and published articles based on those – the articles are available on the net). There have been several guns that women have decided were worth looking into – such as the Sig Sauer P238 and the Walther PDP. My wife purchased a P238 because it was compact, easy to rack, and easy to control – which is of vital importance because if you can’t control your pistol you won’t hit what you are aiming at, and a miss could end up killing you. An even more important development from Walther that really merits a mention is the PDP-F, a redesign of the PDP (which got excellent reviews from actual women) that refines the grip for smaller hands, reduces the racking force required by 20+%, and repositions the trigger to accommodate shorter fingers. Does this make it a woman’s gun? No, but it does make it ergonomically more attractive to a woman or a man with a smaller grip/shorter fingers. I find it a dramatic improvement for my hand size and it fits my wife’s hand very well. Please go look up the Ladies Pistol Project articles (and any similar women run trials) before writing other articles along this line.
The perfect one doesn’t exist. It’s the one that a particular woman wants, e.g., a Charter Arms Pink Lady, it she’s accomplished with handguns and wants something for up-close wet work.
Another excellent article both information wise and thought provoking.
I must say that I agree with David and his assessment of the .327 Fed. Cartridge and it’ effectiveness.
For some unknown reason I’ve always liked the .32 Caliber and suspected that if North American Arms had “One Upped” their. 32 NAA Cartridge by necking down the 9mm Parabellum case to .32 rather than the .380 ACP it would be a serious contender in the Compact/Sub-Compact realm. Squeezing the full potential out of the Hornady 100 Gr XTP or Speer 100 Gr Gold Dot.
I just wanted to thank you It’s good to know there is one other person who thinks well of the SCCY DVG 1 as I just
bought a DVG 1 RDR which is cut for an optical sight yes it cost a little more but I wanted one your article was informative
The S&W Equalizer and the EZ Rack Shield are a couple of guns most ladies and older gentlemen can rack.
Allen, I’m just wrapped up a review on the Ruger Security 380 which I hope gets posted here soon. Not only is it a viable option for ladies, I’m thinking seriously about making it my EDC. Arthritis seems to be getting worse every years and there are lots of 9mm slides I struggle with. I’m also working on a review for the Ruger LCP Max which is pretty incredible for putting 10 rounds or .380 in a gun the size of the .22 LCP II. But I’ll be very cautious about recommending it. I don’t see how you can say any little gun in .380 or 9mm has “practically no recoil.” To me those little mouse guns are like holding an M80 cherry bomb in your hand when you shoot them. Great to carry, but to shoot, not sure some one of small hands and stature could keep one on the target long enough to neutralize it.
I just wanted to thank you It’s good to know there is one other person who thinks well of the SCCY DVG 1 as I just
bought a DVG 1 RDR which is cut for an optical sight yes it cost a little more but I wanted one your article was informative as I would like nite sights now I know where to get them
Pretty good list, Mr. Freeman but I would like to point out that the S&W CSX is an aluminum alloy, not steel. I have a Shield Plus chambered in 9mm… wife just does NOT like it. Says the grip is too large front to back. Word of advice, never make a joke to your wife saying that well maybe the pistol thinks YOU’RE too large front to back. They don’t appreciate that even it’s not true. My wife is actually rather small… but she loves her Hellcat. Which I don’t care for. It seems to fit her hand and she does quite well with it and that’s all that really matters. For me, the Hellcat’s grip is too square… too Glock like but at least it has a normal grip angle unlike Glock’s unatural/awkward angle. Either way, carry what you’re comfortable and accurate with.
Although I believe it is no longer in production, the RUGER LC9S is a perfect “Lady Gun”. It is small, light, virtually no recoil, extremely accurate, easily concealable in a carry bag or on a small frame person. It also has an easily accessible thumb safety.
The Springfield Hellcat Pro did not impress me. The women I know who have one all complain about the stiffness of the slide. I own one and I agree with them.
Ruger security .380 wasn’t mentioned. Is there a fault to this very capable firearm that I’m not aware of? Every other review out there gives it very high marks. Just curious.. thanks
What about Walther CCP2 .380 or 9mm?
What about Walther CCP2 .380 or 9mm?
The golden rule when purchasing a firearm is the comfortable fit in your hand. If you are going to
enjoy shooting it with accuracy it must contour your hand My range is also a gun shop that sells a lot of firearms. I always emphasize this to first time buyers. Since I have a size 13 hand, I learned this the “costly” way. I now have nothing but full size guns.
I have tried many weapons for my wife. Either she cannot operate the slide or the trigger pull of the revolver makes it terribly inaccurate when she fires. Even the two .380s are too much and the Airweight is too much. I wonder if any can be modified by a good gun smith.
I personally think most women will fare well using a .38 special revolver as lots of women cannot rack most semi-auto’s. My wife as example. I bought her a SCCY 9mm in purple that she wanted but she hated it cuz she couldn’t rack it or install bullets into the clip. – she then got a Ruger .38 special revolver and loves it – same story with my neighbors wife. I personally think the .327 Federal revolver is the way to go as it can shoot .327 Federal, 32ACP, 32 Magnum in it which is ideal for a variety of situations and practice.
My wife has a Walther PPK. She is a petite Asian woman with small hands. That gun fits her hands perfectly.
.32 ACP is out of fashion but my Beretta Tomcat feels substantial in my hand, minuscule in my pocket, delivers the confidence of Beretta quality, and — to my eye anyway — is as pretty as an Italian movie starlet.
Walter PDP-F…
I got my wife a Walther PK-380 with laser sight. She loves it. Easy to rack and load not boule stack though but Carrie’s enough.
The Walther CCP M2+ in either 9mm or 380 ACP (if recoil issue is a problem). The soft recoil system makes racking very easy. I have trained many a ladies for CCW license from mid 20’s to 80’s. Bar none every lady who tried firing the CCP enjoyed the experience.
I completed my License to Carry course a few years ago. As a small woman novice carrier, I wanted a carry pistol that was light and easy to conceal without having to change my usual feminine attire. I tried the small Kel Tec pistol and liked it, however it was discontinued. I finally chose the Taurus TCP 738 which I could carry in waist band, garter holster or in a flash bang, the latter two which require much practice to draw quickly. The 6+1 is a bit limited, but I practice accuracy regularly and carry extra magazines. A drawback to this pistol… my trigger finger gets sore when firing more than 20 rounds when practicing which I wonder if I could ignore and which could reduce my accuracy.
I then bought an M&P Shield M2.0, but it turned out to be too heavy for me to carry except in waist band. Not good.
I recently bought a Glock42, much lighter than the Shield and an absolute dream to shoot. I’m still practicing shooting with it, incredibly accurate and have tested carrying it in garter holster and flash bang position at home… both which are proving viable.
There are challenges we small women and women in general face when choosing to carry. I, for one, do not wish to have to totally change my feminine style of dress, although am willing for a few modifications… which will suit the hot and humid climate in which I live!
You left out the 20 ga pump shotgun, for home defense. Stay safe.
I do not agree with Top 10 Defensive Guns for Women
BY DAVID FREEMAN PUBLISHED ON JUNE 13, 2023 IN FEMALE SHOOTERS.
How about letting a several Woman who are trained in Fire arms discuss it & write the next story on Top Defensive Guns for Woman.
Some of these Guns listed. are too Big & Heavy for a lot of Woman.
The original Sig & Hell Cat are nice but does a Woman need the XL or Pro Model??
I think most women would be better served with a .380. It is still powerful enough for her to defend herself, and the less recoil is better for women, allowing them to shoot more accurately, especially with a followup shot. And, as we all know, accuracy is more important than the size of the bullet.
Love the Glock 43x. What happened to the Walther PDP-F?