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Ruger LCP .380 for the wife?

8K views 28 replies 17 participants last post by  Chip1wa 
#1 ·
Hey guys,

I just recently traded my wife's S&W 442 J frame airweight for another gun. She never shot it and the recoil scared her to death. Not to mention, I am just not a "revolver" person. My local gun range has a Ruger LCP in .380 for under $300. Do you think this would be any better for my wife than the snubby was? OR should I get her a heavier, larger revolver? Heck, maybe even a shot gun. She does not have her CCW and may or may not ever get it. I'm almost thinking a shotgun for her to have around the house would be best.

Thoughts on recoil of the small 380's, I have never shot one so I dunno. Accuracy? Feasibility of carry for the wife?

Thanks for any input you can give me. I don't have a huge budget for this, but I want her to have something. Currently I just leave my 9mm at home with her during the day, but I'd like my gun to be with me, ya know.
 
#3 ·
Kinda what I thought. Maybe I should look at compact 9mm's?
 
#29 ·
LCP isn't a tame gun in the least. It's not fun to shoot.

Check out a PM9.

My 65 year old Mom sorta commandeered it from me.

Dirty
 
#4 ·
None of us will be able to pick a gun for her. Your best bet is to get her to a range with rentals and try as many as you can. Lightweight snubs, tiny .380s, and pocket 9mms are expert's guns, and hard for people who don't parctice to learn to shoot.
 
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#5 ·
Good points indeed. Just looking for some people to weigh in on what their wifes carry. Right now Academy has a Mossberg 12 gauge for $169 and that is looking good to me. Point and shoot, no aiming needed.
 
#6 ·
My wife has and carries the LCP. It is a very small pistol so it does have a bit of recoil. Heck, all handguns have recoil, it's just something that
hand gunners need to deal with. Since she has smaller hands, the LCP is a good pistol for her. She now wants a Ruger LCR to compliment her LCP.

My wife likes her LCP, she shoots it better than my larger S&W 9mm.

There are drawbacks to them. Small size, 6 round magazine and being a semi-auto, has a stiff slide. I think your wife needs to shoot more often to grow accustomed to recoil.
 
#8 ·
More good points. Guess I'll take her to the range and let her fire away. Knowing her, she'll choose the full size 1911 in .45!
 
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#10 ·
SWMBO carries a Glock 26 with several custom features as her primary. She was carrying a Tomcat as a BUG, but just switched to a Seecamp .25. She has stolen my S&W model 40 as her diaper bag gun because she likes the grip safety. Her house gun is an AR I built her last year just the way she wanted it. She hasn't found a house shotgun she likes yet, but she has been shooting a short single shot 20ga I have in the safe.

Some of the mods on her AR are not what I prefer on my ARs, and I wish her BUG was bigger, and I'd like her to pick a repeating shotgun of some kind, but she has them the way she likes them.

And even that SBS needs aiming at house distances. Right now I have a 3" #2 load in it and it's easy to miss COM at the width of my house. Shooting that gun was when we identified that she's cross dominant. She shoots the shotgun and AR lefty now.
 
#11 ·
If she is not going to be carrying why get her a small pocket pistol with punishing re-coil. Let her try some heavier guns at the range for home defense. Such as a p95 Ruger 9mm. The shot gun is a good choice for the home. Look for a automatic so all she has to do is pull the trigger. I would get a 20 gauge with a short barrel. She can practice with low brass target loads. Very little re-coil and not very loud. Then move up gradually to some buck shot. That would be my plan.
 
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#12 · (Edited)
Like shoes, try 'em all on

She wants a gun that fits her hand in a caliber she can control. She will need to handle them for herself, but will probably eliminate all the double stacks including those with interchangeable back straps. FWIW the baby GLOCK and XD are quite snappy and very susceptible to malfunctions with slightest amount of limp-wristing.

To check fit, align the gun with the forearm and check trigger reach. For a single action you need enough trigger finger to reach the center of the pad of the first joint. For a traditional double action you need enough trigger finger to reach the outside edge of the trigger with the crease of the first joint (power crease) in order to have enough leverage to pull it.

To better manage recoil use a tight grip with the strong hand, the lock the gun in with isometric tension by pushing forward with the strong hand and pulling back with the weak hand per Massad Ayoob's Stressfire Series, Handgun. I highly recommend that tape - worth every penny.

Weight and grip material are also a significant factors in felt recoil. For revolvers, an all steel S&W 3" model 60 or Ruger SP101 3" with cushy Pachmayr Decelerator grips is better than the 442 with hard grips. A K-frame S&W is even better if it fits her hand and concealment is not an issue.

If you are looking at .380 ACP semi's look at something around 25 + ounces and 3" + of barrel. The Bersa has already been recommended. If the budget permits, look at a Sig P238.

As to the .45 1911, that is not a far fetched as one may think if she starts with mild loads and light bullets - think 185 grain SWC. The gun is heavy, grip circumference reasonably small and the trigger reach short. I had a 5'0" lady on my pistol team in the 90's who shot one with aplomb.
 
#13 ·
Just got myself a 380 LCP and I'm ready to sell it! much too snappy to be fun to shoot and I want to shoot it once in a while. I have the Ruger SP101 in the 327 Fed. Magnum and, while that is a heavy load, the 32 H&R magnum handles very nicely and won't break her wrist! She might even try the N.A. Arms Guardian in 380 ( about 18 ozs.) or 32 ACP. I hear the 32 NAA is quite the thing and is better than a 380(?) ! Not sure how available the NAA 32 slug is, but it sounds like a winner. You might try the Glock 26 or S&W's M&P 9mm Compact: It handles well, is good for CCW, and the recoil is not bad at all. She just needs to try some out and go from there. Good luck!:wink:
 
#14 ·
Just got myself a 380 LCP and I'm ready to sell it! much too snappy to be fun to shoot and I want to shoot it once in a while.
I was ready to sell my LCP shortly after I got it too. Don't sell it just yet though!

Once I figured out a good hold on the grip that suited both the gun and my hands, all was well. The LCP is a pussycat now.

In my case, I never could get a firm 2-handed hold on the grip. I like to shoot with both hands normally for most plinking exercises, for comfort if nothing else. Unfortunately, the LCP just hurt too much shooting with both hands because I couldn't control it properly. Stung my hands like heck.

Try shooting it one-handed only maybe? It worked for me. I'm being honest here in saying it went from my least comfortable gun to shoot to my most comfortable, all thanks to a different hold on the grip.

---

To the OP--don't rule out the LCP for your wife! Let her give it a try and see what she thinks. I find the recoil to be relatively mild now.
 
#17 ·
My wife and I are new to firearms and carrying. Initially, we had planned on getting her a Ruger 380. However, we decided to wait on the Ruger LC9. We did get he a Judge for home :smile:
 
#18 ·
ARNOLDPUNK: THINK I'LL GIVE THE ONE HANDED METHOD A TRY. SEEMS LIKE IT SHOULDN'T BE BETTER THAN TWO HANDS, BUT IT SEEMS TO WORK FOR YOU! THANKS FOR THE TIP!
PHILLY BOY IN CINCINNATI:danceban:
 
#20 ·
If it is going to be a house gun for her consider a large frame revolver. My wife's favorite gun is a large frame 4" Taurus 607 seven shot 357 revolver loaded with 38 +p gold dots. The gun is heavy enough that the recoil is very mild and she shoots it a lot better than the 38 special Colt Detective Special that she thought she wanted until she shot it and decided the recoil was too much.
 
#25 ·
ARNOLDPUNK: I took your advice today and, by golly, it worked much better than a two handed hold! I don't know the physics involved, but the bite was at least 90-95 % less than with two hands. So, I just might hold on to my LCP after all--- thanks to you!:danceban:
PHILLY BOY in CINCINNATI.
 
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