I trained many civilian women in concealed weapons courses and made a few cogent observations about their choice of firearms. First I found that a number of them showed up with a gun that someone else who presumed they knew something about guns chose for them, such as Ruger LCP's and S&W Airweight revolvers. I saw women with sub compact guns on which they could not operate the slide or controls, and ultralight revolvers that they were ready to throw away because of the sting from recoil.
When training a new group of novices, I talked about how you choose a gun. My requirements are that it be center fire, that it fits your hand, that you can operate the controls, and that you can hit the target. With semi-autos, my test was that the student be able to fully rack the slide 10 times in succession. If they were unable to do that, they had the wrong gun.
I generally put out about 20 handguns for the students to handle and try. What was surprising to me was that most of the women chose intuitively a carry sized pistol or revolver rather than the micro guns. The general favorite seemed to be the SIG P320 Compact or the Glock 19-the actions were easier to operate, and you can certainly shoot better with a larger pistol. The SIG p365 came in close as well. Airweight revolvers, while easy to carry and look "cute", are uncomfortable to shoot with full power loads. Steel framed revolvers are another story and many of my female students did very well with them.
We tend to have misconceptions about what women want or need. (Mrs. Greener and I have been together for 43 years and she will attest to that fact). It is best to allow them to handle and shoot a variety and choose for themselves.
She was happy before with her .380...now she's talking 9mm and .40. At least 9 is cheaper than 380...40 is about the same, so I'll discourage that! (Although I can run that in my 10mm....might need to think about this more...)
