Posted: 6/28/2011 4:16:03 PM EDT
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The wife has been looking for a purse gun. Something simple, "small", lightweight, and non toylike.
Any thoughts on a S&W 642 airweight 38 special? http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product4_750001_750051_764961_-1_757768_757767_757751_ProductDisplayErrorView_Y |
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All I have to say is make sure she tries one first. Tiny sight radius and heavy DAO pull are not conducive to "hittability" with snubbies. And any hotter .38 loads that actually start to perform somewhere even close to spitting distance of 9x19, even .380 out of an auto out of that short a barrel, with a little loss to the cylinder gap too... she will not like practicing with them. Hell, I wouldn't like practicing with them. And I'm a guy who takes 100 12ga slugs to the range at one sitting. Try a G26... try LOTS of stuff, whatever you can rent, beg, or borrow. If she's already used a snub nosed .38 and liked it, ignore me. It's just that the old CCW advice of "Woman automatically = .38 snubbie" is tired, old and not really all that true. Go into a hunt for her CCW piece with no preconceptions. Some women find 9mm sharp and unpleasant, but a .45acp is a big soft push. It's whatever from the ranks of the trusted brands works in her hands in an effective caliber (for me, this is .380 on up...) where she can work all the controls, (and slide if an auto), and then from those choices it's which ones she tolerates the recoil, and it has good hitabillity for her. Comfort with the gun will breed confidence, and with confidence will come the desire to practice. Which really is not some special formula for a woman, it's the formula for picking a handgun for anyone. Of course, if she's used .38 snubbies in the past, did well with them, and likes them, ignore me.
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| I have on if you and your wife would like to try it depending where you live, it its one of the hardest handguns to shoot because of its small size, light weight, and heavy trigger. The recoil is pretty stout even with 148gr match wad cutters. The ruger LCR has quite a bit better trigger pull by comparison. |
| My wife wanted a gun. We looked at 9 different handguns. She settled on a Lady Smith and Wesson in 357mag. It fits her hand perfectly. She can handle the 357 mag pretty well and the 38spec +P with out a problem. To top it off the rosewood grips are real pretty. Her words. |
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My wife is not a gun advocate. She's intimidated by them, but she knows they have value with regards to self defense. A couple years ago, I took her to Cabela's to get her a gun of her own even though she didn't want one. She is not strong enough to rack the slide on any semi-autos bigger than a 32, and that wasn't enough stopping power for me. She ended up with a S&W 637 (a 642 with a conventional hammer). She doesn't carry it (it's a home defense gun), so I wanted an external hammer to avoid the long DA pull when time allows. She shoots it just fine, even with +P loads. I even put a pink laser grip on it, and she's very accurate with it. This spring, she ran into a diamondback while walking the dogs on our property (we no longer live in WI). Let's just say that the buzzards ate snake that day...
I think the airweights are very good purse guns, but personal preference does vary. Before spending the money, I'd suggest having her shoot one with +P loads to see how she likes it. |