My friend has a H&K P7M8 in 9mm, A little pricey but that to me would be a great safe first gun.. A lot of people use them for a carry gun..

  later,
   hawkin

Frank if you are buying and $ is no object - can I be you mom too?

Frankly Frank, I would strongly suggest a good lightweight revolver for her, if it's to be used in a defensive sitiation.

While "we" men typically prefer the auto's, a woman is generally not capable of operating a slide in a hurry, especially during a stressful encounter.

I would give the highest consideration to one of the new Taurus titanium revolvers, in 357.  This would give her the ability to learn with the lighter 38 loads, and work up to the 357's.

I would NEVER allow my wife to carry anything but a double action revolver for protection, since her life may very well require instant accessibility and use.  Operating a slide and/or safety takes precious time!

ditto what anti said.  i have one of the taurus ultra light models and it's wonderful, kinda cute too!

And cute is very important in today's fashion conscious society...  [:D]

you know us womenz.  gotta match all our accessories:  shoes, purses, earrings, guns.

S&W preban snubby. Any of them in .38 special.

I would personally opt for a slightly shorter model, because it would be more difficult for a perp to grab it away...

Get good ole' mom the Desert Eagle .50AE, and then when she complains about the recoil, muzzle blast, heft etc - just offer to trade her your Jennings J-22 straight up![;)]

P.S. It takes a grizzled old gun trader (read: horse thief) to try and swindle old mom!

That reminds me of the movie: "STOP, or my Mom will shoot!"

I know womenz who love my Model 19 Glock.  Now if they would only luv me.........

First, rule out all the calibers you'd rather not have her carry to have her life depend on (.22, .32, etc.)

Then I'd say start with a .38 revolver and look at those.  

My wife desired to carry and we started with the .38's but she really desired a semi-auto.  We tried out many models and quickly ruled out double-stacked mags with her hand size.  After handling a S&W 3913LS (pre-S&W sellout), we thought that might be the one, but it turned out she really disliked the SA-DA transition.  We found the Kahr K9 and after test shooting it, she was hooked.

My girlfriend owns and uses a Glock 26 (don't let my screen name fool ya, I begrudgingly became a Glock fan after owning many H&K's, a Kimber Gold Match, a pair of Springfield V-10’s, Berettas and several other toys first!).  

After trying all the rest, including several medium and small-framed revolvers, she picked it out of the selection I took to the range and called it hers.  

Her least favorite is a small revolver as it is too difficult to control during firing, too top heavy and too fat in the middle (all her words).

My mother carries a S&W Sigma (don’t yell, I bought it pre-stupid) and a Beretta.  I tell you guys it’s a sight to see that little 77-year-old lady snatch the slide on that Beretta and jam a fresh mag!  Go Ma!!

GN30
[P]

My favorite sm. frame revolver is Taurus's Model 85 .38 with the 3" barrel.  We have 3 in our immediate family (all 3" barrel lengths) and we are tickled w/ the performance and accuracy they've shown us.  The 3" barrel variant was discontinued a few years ago but I picked up a new Taurus brochure and they have it listed again.

My father has the SS version which has a high polish to it and is very sweet looking, it almost resembles a true nickel finish.  I really think the 3" barrel length of the Model 85 is a good choice for anyone.  It is really fun gun to shoot and the accuracy we've experienced has been terrific.

Those are my 2 cents on this subject, good luck.

Geez, you're a bad son, Frank!  When my mom decided she wanted to have a gun around the house, I taught her myself.

First of all, let me tell you about my mom - she's lively and funny, but has zero tolerance for any kind of bullshit.  Once in a mall parking lot some young punk thought this 60 year old lady would be easy pickin's for a purse snatching.  But he didn't figure that she was all warmed up from just playing 3 sets of tennis and would not release her bag so easily.  While this little tug-o-war ensued, she lost her patience with this scumbag and started using his head as a tennis ball.  She wailed on his noggin so hard it actually broke her new, expensive Kawasaki Graphite racket.  (Nice follow through, Mom!) Well, that really pissed her off, so she got in her Buick Le Sabre and nailed the guy just as he was getting up!  She slammed it into reverse planning to leave skid marks on his head, but he dove between two cars and hobbled away using parked cars as cover until he got into the mall.  So if she was going to start packin' two things crossed my mind -

1) She had to learn the right way first time through, and -

2) God help anyone who pisses her off!!

I basically took one of everything I had out to the local outdoor range.  We went on a weekday so few people would be there, and brought some lunch and pretty much made a picnic out of it.  The atmosphere was nice and relaxed, and we just about had the whole place to ourselves.

It only took a few minutes to run her through basic safety and functioning, then I let her shoot.  I couldn't believe it!!  She hit everything!!!  The range had some swinging steel targets and pepper poppers, and she just mowed 'em all down!!!

I'd let her shoot 20 or 30 rounds, then show her a new gun and let her try it out.  Then she started making requests - "My friend Jane says she has something called a Clock nine milly meter."

"Ok, Mom, I have a Glock 17, here's how you work it."  BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM and the pepper poppers were down. Sheeeee-it!!  My mom is deadly!!!  

She says "Oh, I like this one.  I think I'll keep it."  Then she spots me shooting a factory nickel 4" Colt Python.  "That's pretty.  What is it?"  So I give it to her with a $40 box of factory magnum hollowpoints.  BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM - reload - BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM and the targets fall.  "Oh, I like this one.  I think I'll keep it."

By the end of the day, my mom knew how to shoot revolvers and pistols, and could easily hit what she aimed at.  I had no problems with her having guns around her house, knowing that she could protect herself.  And I talked her into taking an S&W J-Frame instead of a $600 or $800 pistol.

Every so often she bugs me about shooting and I take her out to the range for some trigger time.  Of course, she expects me to supply all the guns and ammo, but considering everything she's done for me my entire life it's a small price to pay,  Besides, she brings the food.

I'm such a good son, aren't I?  [:D]

I saw a few KelTecs at the gunshow once that had different colored grips. The guy had one on display with purple grips nest to a Nokia with a purple face plate. Believe it or not it looked pretty cool. I don't think the bad guy will take you seriously if you busted out that combo on him though. "Freeze, or I'll shoot and call the cops on your ass" she says while holding a purple phone and matching handgun. [:D]

So ARlady, is it blued for casual and stainless for evening wear? [;)]

True, True... I love the Keltec! I saw it and they told me it came in pink. Believe me I am not all about "pink" but like Gunmonkey said that day .. "it would really piss someone off to be shot by a sissy pink gun". After I fired it, they said they would try to find one in Yellow, which is a must, but I haven't heard back on that yet. Would definately like it for a carry gun, but my Glock 19 is my fave..

FrankSquid---

Smith&Wesson 649 Bodyguard.

.38/.357
Stainless
25+oz.

good size/weight/power
SA/DA

Perfect.

If Mom doesn't like it...talk to me!  I will!

Not only that but the porting is a safety issue and if it was a Close Quarter defense instance that she needed to use the weapon she could very well injure herself by getting burned.


John