My wife is just starting to get into shooting, so I took her to the range to try out a bunch of 9mm's.
What better day than Valentines Day, happens to be Ladies Night at the range. I'm kind of new to shooting and had never handled these models before either. Previous handgunning limited to 1911's and SAA's. Took my mother too, she is living with us and would have to be able to use it too.

We shot a Glock 19, Sig 228, SA XD9, and a Ruger 95 in that order, as far as I could tell they were all stock
Ammo for all was Sellier & Bellot 115 gr FMJ

Glock- one fte, accuracy was good, overall a pretty good gun. Wifey said it didn't feel right.

SigSauer- WOW. Incredible gun, accuracy was great, ergonomics were superb. Had real confidence in it. It was my wifes favorite too.

Springfield- You could say that this was kind of a letdown after the Sig. Accuracy was nonexistent. One FTE one FTF. It frankly felt like it was poorly fitted and was being held together with hope and warm wishes. The trigger and I did not get along resulting in firing twice without meaning too- thank God for muzzle discipline.

Ruger- Nice gun. Locked up tight good accuracy. Better ergonomics than the glock. My mom's favorite.

I bought six boxes of ammo for the night. We put 3-6 mags through each gun. The springfield only had 3 mags put through it (with two failureshe

The top one in the second pic is the P239, a good choice for the smaller handed shooter.  The P228 is a fantastic piece.  Good choice!

i have a ruger p95 and a reasonable amount of experience with the sig p226.  between the two i think the ruger is easier to use but slightly less comfortable.  it is lighter and personally i think the slide is easier to rack.  so if your mother is old and doesn't have a whole lot of upper body muscle mass that might be a consideration.  while i am not a huge fan of slide mounted safeties/decockers, the fact that the levers on the p95 are large make it much easier to deal with.  also the up side is that you can always get the ruger for your mom for less than $350 new and less than $275 used.  so you can always buy her that and buy your wife the sig--especially a cpo/cdnn pistol and still be out the exact same amount as the new sig.

If you were shooting rental guns, I wouldn't put too much stock into FTEs, FTFs, etc.  I suspect those guns NEVER get cleaned.  The Glock is probably one of the most rented guns, hence the dirtiest.

I'll make you a good deal on a P95.  It is a good gun, but I prefer my Sig.  Need the money to fund the purchase of either a G19 or a Sig in 9 MM.  Shoot me an IM if you are interested.

edited to add: I agree w/ what aaronrb204 said about the P95.  It is probably easier to handle and manipulate than my Sig.  You might consider a revolver for her instead.  Can't get any simpler to operate , easy to determine whether it is loaded, extremely reliable.

I have never owned a Sig, and until I went home for Thanksgiving I had never shot one. I shoot long arms well, always have sucked at handguns.

We went to the new state of the art range with some rubber backboard computer generated simulator.

The guy wanted me to test drive it, my 1911 had JHP, and only FMJ was allowed. He pulled out his P226 and layed it on the deck and ran the simulation.

A kid shot up a classroom and all the kids poured out in the hallway and ran towards me. The kid exited the room from my left, stepped into the hallway sideways, I put one in his neck, he turned and backed up behind a bank of lockers and I put another one in him right below the first.

I was really surprised at how well this handgun shot, and how well I shot this handgun.

New female shooters + Glocks= Limp wrist

Quoted: ...A kid shot up a classroom and all the kids poured out in the hallway and ran towards me. The kid exited the room from my left, stepped into the hallway sideways, I put one in his neck, he turned and backed up behind a bank of lockers and I put another one in him right below the first...

that's kind of disturbing. sounds exciting too where in WA is tihs place? or is it in some other state?

Quoted: Quoted: ...A kid shot up a classroom and all the kids poured out in the hallway and ran towards me. The kid exited the room from my left, stepped into the hallway sideways, I put one in his neck, he turned and backed up behind a bank of lockers and I put another one in him right below the first... that's kind of disturbing. sounds exciting too where in WA is tihs place? or is it in some other state?

In Ohio. And it was kinda disturbing.

He gave me a quick 2 second setup, "You are going to a school to pick up your kid, legally carrying and hear gunshots". Then he turned and started the sequence.





My first thought was, "OH great, some teacher is going to see me with a gun after the shots and draw on me", "Do I have to shoot a teacher"?