Please recommend a good handgun

[Charlotte M. Corday]

I need the advice of an expert. Two nights ago, in nearby community, a high school football coach and his teenage son were murdered by a home invader. In the wake of this, I have finally decided to buy a gun and take a class in how to use it.

Here's what I am looking for in a handgun:

1. Easy to use, but not easy to discharge accidentally.

2. Powerful enough to stop an attacker, but not difficult for a small woman to handle.

What would you suggest?

[archy]

I can charge my in-line Winchester and shoot it 6 months or even a year later...no kidding. All BP wheelguns have in my experience gotten dryfire prone in a few weeks

It's my understanding that one of the reasons that Bill Hickok, one of the early gunfighters who used front-loader handguns, was such a certain and practiced shot was because every morning, his custom was to walk out to the edge of town and carefully fire off one of his Colt's revolvers in practice, clean and reload it, then repeat the procedure with his other one. Every day.

He thereby faced whatever problems the day might bring with a pair of handguns he was well acquainted with, indeed, and which he knew were freshly charged that morning. He accordingly had about as much confidence in his equipment as could have been had then.

-archy-/-

[HP8753]

small .38 cal double action revolver.

[Travis McGee]

Good point, but this is a fairly typical topic for a lurker to post. But we're right, we should be skeptical.

[Djarum]

There is no such thing as a one-shot stop handgun! The shooter must hit the CNS for instant incapacitation.

In order to be FORCED to collapse an attacker must lose at least 20 percent of his total blood volume (unless the bullet damages his brain or cervical spinal cord). This will take several seconds to occur, even with a direct hit to the aorta or vena cava with a large caliber bullet.
-The Myth of Energy Transfer

[GummyIII]

I have a Taurus .357 5 shot....light and easy to carry as well. I have a holster purse with a special place for it, easy to access through the middle that is held by velcro. Love it.

[TheLurkerX]

Sweet handgun. And all I can say about the Mossberg 500 series is mmmmmmmm.....Mossberg. :)

[wardaddy]

Nice gun Bigun.

[wardaddy]

Don't feel bad Vinnie, I know next to nothing period actually...lol

[wardaddy]

Didn't he start out with the Paterson exposed trigger?...in .36...man, you had to be a crack shot.

I should do that myself....wake my neighbors up smartly.

"There's poor wardaddy, at the end of his drive pretending he's someone's Huckleberry every morning"

Actually, in Bill Hickok's line of work, I think it was wise.

I usually purge mine after no more than two weeks and my caps and powder are a lot better than what he had to work with....I bet he had someone drill out those nipples though...make sure that flash got thru....bet he nip-primed as well.

I read where WBTS cavalry would carry 7-10 sashed pistols and fire off and toos them then come back and retrieve them if they carried the field.

[Boot Hill]

"Easy to use [and] not difficult for a small woman to handle."

So I take it then, that this is totally out of the question?

The Paris Gun, 1918
This rail-mounted gun was 112 feet long and weighed
138 tons. Its 400 lb. powder charge could hurl a 265
lb shell with 15 lb of explosive to a range of 81 miles.
During the 170 second trajectory the shell reached a
maximum altitude of 25 miles. Bore diameter varied
by how many shots had been fired through the barrel,
but began life at 8.25 inches. Current e-bay price is...

--Boot Hill

[MarkL]

Trouble is, your friend seems to enjoy shooting guns.

This lady just wants one for home defense.

Actually, she really didn't like guns at all when I first convinced her to try shooting. She started with a Ruger Mk2 pistol, and found that she actually enjoyed shooting. From there, she tried a 38 special, and when she was comfortable with that, she moved on to light loads in my S&W 625-5 (.45ACP). Later, she moved on to larger, heavier loads, and while she doesn't enjoy shooting the really heavy loads, she does get a kick out of it every now and then.

The point is, that with training, anyone can deal with heavy loads. And in response to your point, many people who only want to get a gun for protection, find out that they've got an aptitutde for shooting, and really enjoy it.

Mark

[OKSooner]

Oh cool, a gun thread. For your first handgun, you'll never go wrong with either a .38 special or .357 magnum that fits your hand. My wife has small hands, and she shoots a Ruger SP101 with a 3-inch barrel. (Most people buy this particular model with the 2-inch barrel, but we liked the balance and pointability of the 3-inch barrel better. There are other reasons to prefer a longer barrel, but there's nothing really wrong with the usual 2-inch barrel like you'd see on a snub nose .38, IMO.) A revolver doesn't throw your brass all over the range, and it's simple and elegant. .38's and .357's are generally easy to shoot with reasonable loads. Buy one of these, then get into autos with your 3rd or 4th gun. You can always buy more, and you'll probably start having so much fun that you will. Just MHO...

[Hammerhead]

yeh, I guess you're right. still, I recommend a heavier snub nose .357 with hot loads.

[budwiesest]

How would you compare the kick from a 4" 357 mag. to a 38 special snub-nose? I shot the snub-nose many years ago and it 'bout locked up my wrist (I was 12 at the time).

[dbwz]

I'm a small-handed woman also, so I sympathize with your plight. :-)

Small-frame .38 caliber revolver would be a good choice. Revolvers are simple to use and understand, and the grips can be customized.

If you're going to look at semi-automatics, I can tell you that most of the 9mm's and 45's I've held are just too big for my hands. The only ones that came close were the 9mm Springfield XD and a .45 Glock 36 that had been sent out to a company called Robar to reduce the grip size. Kel-Tec has a line of smaller pistols that you might be interested in.

[Hammerhead]

I think you imagination has grown over the years wrt to the .38 'kick'.