Best Semiauto Handguns for Women 2019

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 2/14/2019 | J Wilson

[w1n1]

Women are the largest growing demographic of handgun owners for self-defense. More women than ever are also starting to carry concealed pistols for protection, and also attending beginner classes to learn how to operate a firearm.
However, the struggle to find the right firearm can be difficult. Gun manufacturers design most of their handguns with men in mind because that’s the biggest demographic of handgun owners, but that is slowly starting to change.
Some semiauto pistols stand out as excellent choices for women looking for their first firearm. While we’ve stuck to 9mms for the purposes of this article, there are other options if a .22 pistol is more your speed. But while .45s are another option, we prefer the 9mm for its lower recoil. Let’s dive in and look at our five favorite semiautomatic pistols for women.

THE EAA WITNESS PAVONA
The European American Armory, or EAA for short, introduced the Witness Pavona a few years ago. It was becoming apparent that an increasing number of women were buying guns for self-defense. EAA saw it as an untapped market, so they decided to offer semiautomatic handguns for women.
The Witness Pavona could have easily been a rebranded “Witness Compact” with a pretty finish. But instead, they made something women could use with ease. Of course, the first thing most people notice is the multitude of colors and unique finishes the Pavona frames have. This includes blue, pink, purple and black.

The Pavona is medium in size and chambered in .380 ACP, 9mm and .40 S&W. The capacity for the .380 ACP and the 9mm variants is 13 rounds, but the .40 S&W holds just nine rounds. However, this is one of the biggest semiautomatic handguns for women, so another benefit is recoil management. The .380 ACP from this handgun has almost no recoil, so it is comfortable for even the most petite shooters to fire.

THE WALTHER CCP
The Walther CCP is one of Walther’s newest pistols. The Concealed Carry Pistol was built to be easy to use by shooters of any size or strength level. Also, the CCP is a compact firearm that Walther chambered in 9mm. The CCP is fed by an eight-round single-stack magazine. It has a polymer frame and is strike-fired. It features a manual safety on the frame and uses a wide set of three dot sights. The Walther CCP is a compact firearm, but it is not a pocket pistol. It offers an appropriately sized grip that fills women’s hands. They comfortably checkered the grip, too, and it features a forward Picatinny rail for a light or laser. And it has a convenient open trigger guard for use with gloves.

THE SIG P938
Sig designed the P938 around the old-school 1911 design. However, the P938 and the standard 1911 have zero parts in common. In fact, the P938 is entirely different from the 1911. Also, the 9mm handgun is single-action only. This makes it small enough to easily fit in a pocket or inside a waistband holster. As a single-action weapon, it has a manual safety that Sig placed identically to a standard 1911. Sweeping the safety off is easy to do naturally with the thumb in a firing grip. Although the P938 is based on the older P238, the company beefed it up to the 9mm cartridge. Most shooters consider the 9mm cartridge more powerful than the .380 ACP cartridge.
The ballistic advantages of the 9mm include penetration, velocity and projectile expansion. The 1911 design is naturally quite thin. Additionally, the Sig P938 is a single-stack pistol that comes with two magazines. One magazine is a six-round magazine that fits flush inside the pistol grip. This magazine keeps the weapon as compact as possible. Read the rest of Best Handguns for Women.

[an amused spectator]

Scrub the Glock from that list.

Glock, Smith & Wesson, Beretta and Colt supply firearms to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Let the LAPD be the ONLY customer of the those four enemies of freedom - or let Glock, Smith & Wesson, Beretta and Colt prove that they're American companies by cutting off supplies to the Los Angeles Police Department.

[SJSAMPLE]

Glock has done more for recreational and personal defense handgun shooting than any manufacturer in history. The Glock Shooting Sports Foundation (GSSF) has sponsored more training and competitions than any other manfuacturer, and Glock supports civilian shooters with it’s Blue Label program, offering $$$ in discounts to members.

I’ll stick with Glock.

[an amused spectator]

Turn in your guns to Occasional Cortex, then, willing peasant... :-)

[budj]

Easy

[Redleg Duke]

I have a P938. I need to have the trigger smoothed, but other than that, it is a superb firearm.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I own one of the first .40 Glocks.
Very well made.

[jjotto]

Isn’t the S&W MP the biggest seller in this general category?

[Migraine]

For my wife it’s a Beretta Bobcat (21-A) in .22 LR. She has trouble racking a semi-auto; but w/ the Bobcat, the barrel flips open for easy insertion of the first round.

Its safety lever is built along the lines of the classic 1911, and not difficult to operate at all.

[real saxophonist]

'w1n1' has never been with a woman.

HAHAHAHA! 8~)

[mosaicwolf]

Mine carries a new SIG P-365. 10+1 9mm and very compact.

[Mr. Mohasky]

Gen-5 Glock 26 for the wifey.

[762X51]

I’m old school. I think the most ideal CCW is a DA/SA auto or a DA revolver. While there are a lot of women that have extensive training with certain handguns the vast majority just shove whatever handgun their husbands buy them into their purses. Single action autos and striker fired autos are the worst thing you can give an untrained individual. I usually carry concealed either a Ruger LCR in .38 or 9mm or a 9mm DA/SA or DAO autopistol. Open carry is another matter entirely.

[jaydubya2]

Wow! that's real. 100 rounds for $199.

https://www.battlefieldvegas.com/weapon/machine-guns/mini-gun/

[Chauncey Gardiner]

+1 for the Beretta tomcat/bobcats

[wardaddy]

Unless she’s a Recon Rangerette get her a wheelgun

[SJSAMPLE]

WTF are you talking about?

[SJSAMPLE]

Why are the ejected cases blue? That’s the color of TRAINING or INERT munitions.

[Mase]

For later....

[MHGinTN]

Sadly, Bersa no longer offers their 32 acp Thunder tool. That is one of the best purse pistols for EDC.