Most will have a selection of arms to rent. Being that you’re female, expect the male chauvanist pig attitude from a lot of gun shop employees.
Depending on what area you’re in, you can find some good folks that can help you out. Might want to also talk to some of the ladies at the Second Amendment Sisters group.
If you’re near the eastern panhandle of West Virginia, look us up at the link in my sig line. My wife can take you to the range and help you pick a gun.
I hesitate to give advice leaning one way or another for various reasons. You need to find what feels good in your hand and what you can handle live fire. Also, men will usually try to steer you to cutsy little pink POS pistols in .22 or .380. Avoid that. Look at the full spectrum and don’t go cheap.
Remember, what you put into a gun is the exact amount you value your family and yourself. Look for good quality and ask lots of questions. Don’t just go with the gun of the week on the internet.
Yeah, don’t let some jerk steer the diminutive little lady....
It’s arrogant, mysoginistic and very dangerous.
A woman can easily handle .40 and .45 handguns. You just need an empathetic ear and someone knowledgeable and competent.
I’m a guy, grew up around guns...all of them but, a few years back I wanted to get back into shooting for sport and realizing there exists among us those who mean to disarm me and enable the guy who comes after him to become a tyrant.
I went to a range and had my mind set on a particular arm. Well, I ran into a LEO who convinced me to look at Kimber.
He had done some things to test the Kimber TacII for reliability and dependability such as shoot every manufactuerer and junk surplus ammo through it before cleaning it.
He shot over 4,000 rounds through it before he cleaned it. That was three months of weekends and then he set it aside for another month, as he had acquired another weapon and found himself interested in it.
A month later he picked the Kimber up and realized how filthy it was. He did not want spend a lot of time cleaning it so he took it to the range and cold fired it cleaning the bore and scraping off the goo from the slide. Still, he dissambled the gun afterwards and dropped the parts, save grips into a pan of Break Free, an extremely strong solvent.
He reassembled the gun with full confidence that no matter what he could count on his arm performing should his depend on it and under any circumstance including dropping a gun into mud and depending on it to fire despite being fouled, as most other guns would be.
I bought one and replicated the test. Hated to do that to a gun but, had know.
I had one failure in 3,000. It squibed and was easily solved.
I have two Kimbers in .45. Their mags carry .45 Jacketed Hollow Points, 230 grain by Hornady and I have 19 mags to back them up.
You won’t know how many bullets will be required to save your life or that of your loved ones untill it’s over.
I would feel stupid if I needed to fire 100 rounds but, I’d feel stupid because I would be alive.
Very imoortant!!!!
You must spend money on a competent trainor. You need to made aware of stances and gripping your arm, breathing and focus.
Tbey will help you understand the reasons for each grip and stance.
They should be able to help you discover which ones you prefer and then run you through scenarios so you understand what grips and stance feel like in various conditions.
I could go into a variety if subjects but, you need training to save your life.
Just because you have a weapon does not mean you know how to use it.
You need to understand basic principles and a good trainer will get into the psychology of shooting.
You need to commit to life saving but, need to be aware of the emotional consequence.
I am comitted to protecting my life and those I love and pray I never have to. But, having been in many fights when younger I accept the world is populated by bullies, thugs, kuhrayzees and outright evil.
I hope never to cross their path and when possible but when given no choice to act on them “NOW!”.
Spend the money on training. It will give you confidence and knowledge.
Then shoot your gun whenever possible at a range.
Interesting. My wife and daughter are taking a handgun course next week. One night of classroom and one night of range time. I initially pulled out a Beretta Model 84 and a Model 85 for them to get the feel of. They're compact FS92s basically, but for 380 ACP. What we found out was that even with those moderate weapons, two problems: 1)they had difficulty in racking the slide, and 2)hand loading rounds into the magazine. In the end they didn't like them.
They finally said, "We want to see the other guns." They immediately were drawn to two of them. A S&W Model 10 38 SP+P and a S&W Model 686 357 Magnum. Turns out they can handle them (dry) much more easily and they feel very comfortable with them.. They're going to the range with them (using 38 SPs). (My daughter chose the larger 357, btw).