My wife and I are trying to find the right handgun for her, and I thought maybe some of you would have a suggestion.  She is small of stature and has small hands. She currently is shooting either a Kahr T9 or a S&W 39.  She shoots both of these extremely well but feels that they are too heavy to carry CCW.

We purchsed the Kahr for class work and times spent putting a lot of bullets down range but this pistol is making her hands sore after an extended period of shooting.

What do you think? Should we be thinking about a 1911 in 9mm for range work and a tubberware Kahr for carry?

Any and all help will be gladly excepted.

Thanks and a Merry Christmas to one and all.

ONG & "The Tweeter."

Most suggest that the gun you practice with should be the one you carry.

Gloves might be handy for practice as well.

Them little guns with narrow backstraps are murder on my hands.  I would rather shoot my .44 mag snubby then some of them little 9's and .380's out there as it hurts less.  I did shoot a gun the other day that was a single stack nine that was a joy to shoot, a sig 239.  I never thought I would enjoy such a gun, but it was NICE, but it may be a little heavy for her to carry.

My suggestion is Sig 239 in 9mm or .40

or for super light days ...

S&W 340PD .357

I'm a fan of the Walther PPK myself.

While I can hold the H&K SOCCOM pistol comfortably (really!) in my hands there are times when something small is just right.

One thought there, though.  If you do get the PPK get it in something other than .380 ACP.  It is a small pistol.  And because it's small the recoil is more easily transmitted than other pistol.  Shooting my Glock 17 with +P ammo doesn't seem to have the same amount of recoil my PPK has.

Makarov cheap all around, utterly reliable, most importantly easily maintained, accurate and potent enough.

Bulgy

Polish

2/3 down page.  Good seller bought 3 guns from them.
Another Polish supplier here.
Hungarian

Stick with a Kahr... maybe one of the plastic ones if weight is a factor. Go around it a sand/file off any rough edges (my MK40 had a sharp slide release which I had to dehorn). Problem solved.

Have her check out a Glock in 9mm. Might work for her.

My Wife won't CCW, but she chose a Glock 17 (full size) as her first gun. She had shot one and likes how it feels and handles. So for CCW, your Wife might like the smaller sized Glocks that are more concealable.

Quoted: Have her check out a Glock in 9mm. Might work for her. My Wife won't CCW, but she chose a Glock 17 (full size) as her first gun. She had shot one and likes how it feels and handles. So for CCW, your Wife might like the smaller sized Glocks that are more concealable.

A friend is going to bring some Glocks over (in varing sizes) for her to try. Looking into getting the Kahr dehorned.

Thanks for the thougts, and have a Merry Christmas.

Thanks and a Merry Christmas to you as well.

Let us know what your Wife decides after trying out several solutions.

Depending on the hand strength of your wife, a blowback design could be a bad call.  My wife hated the Makarov I gave her.  She ended up shooting my Glock 23 pretty damn well though.  It seems that straight blowback pistols rely on a stiff spring to hold chamber locked.  Sometimes this is too much for them to overcome easily.

I'm sure others will have much better advice for you.

Steve L.

I'm often asked what I suggest as a CCW.  I recommend the Glock 26.  The main reason is you're getting a quality weapon with maximum concealability.  Additionally, you can drop the 26's mag out and replace it with a 17's mag and have a HUGE capacity if you were to go on a road trip or something.  It is what I do.  I also suggest the scherer finger extension for the 26's mag.  It makes a dramatic difference in contolling the weapon.