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Easiest pistol to operate/strip/clean for women

I have a walther pps that is small and fits well in my back pocket or would fit in my wife's purse if she chose to carry it.
 
I have a walther pps that is small and fits well in my back pocket or would fit in my wife's purse if she chose to carry it.

Nice pistols, but in my experience they have a rather stiff recoil spring that can make them difficult or awkward to rack for smaller/weaker people, a rather complex safety mechanism, they're difficult to strip...

Good for someone with more experience, not so much for beginners, IMO.
 
I have a walther pps that is small and fits well in my back pocket or would fit in my wife's purse if she chose to carry it.

Nice pistols, but in my experience they have a rather stiff recoil spring that can make them difficult or awkward to rack for smaller/weaker people, a rather complex safety mechanism, they're difficult to strip...

Good for someone with more experience, not so much for beginners, IMO.

In addition to Hansel's post, the PPS is also a bit larger than the PPK or PPK/S previously suggested (9mm vs. .380) making it a bit tougher fit for a woman's hand. Also, the field strip is not as easy and OP was looking for this.
 
Agreed they are a bit larger but having small hands myself I find the PPS a good fit as a CCW, as for the take down I think this is one of those YMMV things. I also have a North American Arms .22LR mini revolver that is perfect for the front pocket, I wouldn't want it as a primary weapon but as a weapon of last resort I'd use it for sure.
 
Ease of use is primarily a technique thing. A lot of women have trouble running revolvers because DA triggers aren't always light.

Making an auto work for a woman is all technique. Instead of pulling back with one hand. Use the strong hand, wrap the weak hand on the slide. Face gun sideways, push hands 'together'. Total body strength involved, racks gun easily.
 
100% of the comments in this thread, so far, are by men. We may have a lack of actual reality here. A bunch of guys discussing what women want in handguns is sort of like a bunch of guys discussing what sort of pipes and cigars women want to smoke.

Seems a bit out of touch to me. I think they all want a .22 caliber Remington Jet. Prove me wrong!
 
30-50 years ago wheelguns were a bit more reliable, these days, no.

If a wheelgun has a malfunction it tends to be the You're Now Dead kind because the gun totally ceases to function. If an auto has a malf rip the mag, work the slide, reinsert mag (or new mag, even better) and keep up the fight.

Glocks can run 5-30,000 rounds flawlessly unless the ammo's bad. Even 100 years ago, the Army test 1911 ran 6,000 rounds straight without a malfunction of any type.

Revolvers tend to bind up or experience fouling sooner than that.

A Glock 19, S&W M&P9, or similar is about the most idiotproof piece out there with a good capacity, easy to use and extremely high reliability rate. With a modicum of training and any sort of will, you can run one easily. Having taught fellow servicemembers (not gun people) to run a Beretta 92 within an hour..... it's NOT that hard. If a girl can drive a car, she can shoot an automatic, and they're not "too hard" to use. It's training and willpower unless they're physically disabled.
 
Go to youtube and look for limalife. She is a little bitty woman that carries, shoots, and cleans full size 1911.

Google cornered cat as well, it is a pretty good website run by a lady.
 
Girls with Guns reminds me of this old song.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7jJugMsdQY&feature=related[/YOUTUBE]
 
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After contemplating the question for some time, I have come to the conclusion that the best way to find out is to take said woman to the range and let her fire a range of weapons. There was a gun shop near Fort Stewart that rented out handguns, and trying out a Glock is what convinced me to buy my first handgun. I believe if you asked, nearly any reputable store would be glad to let you take a weapon down while looking at it. In all honesty, stripping a semi-auto should be quite similar in difficulty for both a man and a woman. Proper training could likely teach a child to do it.

Then you simply have to deal with finding a weapon that fits into your hand and fires comfortably. Both semi-autos and revolvers would have weapons that do that. After firing one or two of each type, the lady should be able to make up her own mind.
 
In all honesty, stripping a semi-auto should be quite similar in difficulty for both a man and a woman.

Although this may be true for men and women not all guns strip down the same way. Some need tools and a lot of time. Others require forearms Popeye would be proud of. The Walther PPK series really is a good choice for women and meets the OP requirements.

Check out this video Walther PPK Field Strip.
 
Should that decision not be left up to the woman that plans to carry and use the gun?
Just like men, ALL women are different.\
Some small, some big, some weak, some strong.
I knew women that carried a 22 and others that carry a 44magnum.
I do not think as a man, we should be deciding what "fits" them best any more than I would want a woman to pick out my car (or gun for that matter).
It is a PERSONAL choice, based on the person needing the gun.

If there was a "best for woman gun", it would sit in the gun case in the store and when a woman came in she would be directed to it. It would be the only gun available for a woman because it is "best" for her" based on us guy;s picking it out.
We seem to think of women as dainty when it comes to guns and she just can not control the recoil, not strong enough to pull the trigger, not enough strength to field strip..., now does that not sound just plain silly?
I have known some bad *** women that were tough as nails.
Stereotypes can be quite deceptive and in cases like this, do work for the women, like the one that beat the crap out of the guy that tried to snatch her purse, then held him until police arrived.
What you "see" is not always what you "get". The surprise of a woman defending herself is a great thing in my book and when the guy gets beat down by a cute little chick, they usually have something to think about for a while and leave the next one alone.
Best gun for a woman-
Whatever she likes,
feels comfortable with,
can shoot accurately
can conceal...,
let HER take HER pick
 
Hey waynejitsu. That's true, but at the same time why bother posting at all if you feel that way. If you think about it all faces are different, but we post about shave techniques. All noses smell things uniquely, but we post about fragrances. So on and so on. The OP asked and we answered. No more, no less. That is what a forum is all about. The OP will read through the posts and hopefully glean one idea or pearl of wisdom that will assist in the decision making process.
 
Hey waynejitsu. That's true, but at the same time why bother posting at all if you feel that way. If you think about it all faces are different, but we post about shave techniques. All noses smell things uniquely, but we post about fragrances. So on and so on. The OP asked and we answered. No more, no less. That is what a forum is all about. The OP will read through the posts and hopefully glean one idea or pearl of wisdom that will assist in the decision making process.

I agree. If the OPs SWMBO is anything like mine; we have talked about her carrying and she's ok with the idea. But she doesn't really want to spend hours researching the pros & cons of every model out there. What she would be more inclined to go along with is if I narrowed it down to 2-3 models and had her handle/fire each. If she, for instance, finds she really likes a .38 revolver then I might recommend she try a couple other calibers, different grip, and so on. Asking for advice here doesn't mean anybody is stereotyping or has a problem with it being her decision.

So far I have found this thread interesting and appreciate the different suggestions.
 
Hey waynejitsu. That's true, but at the same time why bother posting at all if you feel that way. If you think about it all faces are different, but we post about shave techniques. All noses smell things uniquely, but we post about fragrances. So on and so on. The OP asked and we answered. No more, no less. That is what a forum is all about. The OP will read through the posts and hopefully glean one idea or pearl of wisdom that will assist in the decision making process.

EXACTLY!! I Agree:)

We did not get a woman to pick out our razor, why would we, as men, feel so superior as to pick out a woman's gun we do no know anything about.
Her size
Her weight
Her strength
Her experience.

Example, when picking one of my first guns (for CCW), I had a Colt 6" 357 Magnum.
My best friend recommended a Colt 45acp. I "thought" semi-auto, not reliable for personal protection (this was 30 years ago), I did have a target gun that was semi-auto that never MF'ed, FTE, etc, so, I thought about it and got a Colt 45 (Officers model, series 80, his was a 70)
I sent it off to have it customized and now it is "my baby". You squeeze the trigger, it fires and hits what you want it to hit.

My point is "personal opinion" is great, but do not buy anything based solely on it. That is "the" reason there are so many models and as a great example, how many examples are there of a Colt 45? How many companies are now making them? how many variations are there?
Why?
To "fit" the persons need's buying the gun.

Items like razors and guns, IMO, should really be picked out by the person that will be using it.
Do you know how many razors I have in my closet? Birthday, Christmas, etc and the manufacture knows this and sells a ton of them at that time of year, even though many hate them, the person receiving it says thank you, then in the closet it goes, or under the socks, underwear, etc.

Maybe we should start a thread on where you keep all your unwanted razors, LOL!!!

It is just a personal item (like a gun) and the person using it should have the final say in what they want.

Just my opinion..., like everyone else's:)

At most, we should do a pro/con, but that usually just get people more confused.

As an example, not long ago (see how many posts I have, LOL!!), I started to DE shave. EVERYONE had an "opinion" on what razor I should get
 
As I pointed out earlier, the OP never told us what she was looking for as far as CC, Target, Self Defense, etc.

What he did ask was for a pistol that was easy to Operate, Strip and Clean.

It seems obvious that he's asking for suggestions, and it's up to the woman to decide from there. How can a person decide what they want if they don't have any idea what their choices are in the first place right?

What I see is all sorts of talk of what's more effective to use in self defense, or CC, or now, whether we should even offer advice to a woman! Most of this thread is on a completely different tangent from what was asked!

Just inserting a reality check here, don't mean to sound like a troll. :)
 
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