Good budget entry level handgun for my wife

[presence]

Ruger LC9 http://www.ruger.com/products/lc9/models.html

 

[tod evans]

I understand the "newer" PK's are not as well made as the older ones, I don't know, never shot one...

The pistols I grew up with (60's-70's) were the PPK and the 1911.

Both of these have proven to be completely serviceable weapons....Between us 6 kids and my father we ran countless bricks through both without a hitch.

Even today if I've got to pack a pistol I'd rather carry the smaller PPK just because of the weight difference.....Now if we're "supposing" about a war type scenario then of course the 1911 would be what I'd grab just because I'm comfortable with it.

I'm sure there are hundreds if not more of vastly superior weapons on the market today and rest assured I'm not qualified to critique one of them....I tend to subscribe to the "if it's not broken-don't fix it" adage....

Do NOT ever trust your life to a PPK if you can avoid it. I had a PPK/S and even has a gunsmith all through it. It is NOT a reliable pistol AT ALL. I have heard countless other stories of poor reliability. Mine was so bad I gave it to one of my friends - he has hundreds of firearms and this would not be used for anything important.

If you want that sort of 380, the Mauser HSc or SIG 230 are far and away more reliable. My father has a beautiful HSc and its reliability is sterling.

That all said, if you insist on going with 380, a choice I am strongly against, then you should roll your own ammo and load right up to SAAMI maximums... or at high as the gun will reliably feed. A super hot 380 will perform somewhere in the 9mm Parabellum range - very anemic.

If you are going for a semi, then I strongly recommend 38 Super, 40 Smith loaded as hot as it will go, or .45 ACP. The Super has ballistics very comparable to 357 mag. If you have a 10mm frame, you can put a .40 slide and barrel on, say, a 1911, load the 40 "long" and get 1560 fps with a 130 gr. slug - that is SMOKIN' hot. The 40 Smith brass is actually stronger than that of 10mm and will take the pressures.

Also, when looking for a gun for self-defense, look for one that has a very low barrel centerline. High centerline pistols will roll more when recoiling. The H&K P7 is perhaps the lowest centerline pistol out there and it is noticeable when shooting. One of the highest is the lousy Beretta 92, which is nothing more than a re-styled Walther P-38. Lousy gun and $$ to boot. They roll like crazy and are therefore harder to get back on target - a VERY bad characteristic in a self-defense weapon. I am no fan of Glocks, but in this respect they are well designed with a very low centerline.

 

[sam1952]

ha, this reminds me of a story I'll share. I wanted to buy my wife a hand gun that she was comfortable using. I went to the LGS and found a really sweet Ruger sp101. I was so happy when I went home and gave it to her. She held that hunk of steel in her hand and said "I don't like it". back to the LGS and in the case was a used Lady Smith in .38/.357. Traded in the Ruger I just bought and back home with the Lady Smith. She held it in her hand and said, "yeah, I like this". Now whether it was the "Lady" in the name or it really fit her hand better, (I'm sure S&W did research when developing that gun).
Bottom line was she had a weapon she felt comfortable with and could understand how to load it and make it go bang.

Oh, to answer some questions before the're asked she had no interest in shooting or learning about my semi's. She also would not go with me to pick one out. But the end result was sucessful.

To tell the truth I liked shooting that gun too. I have now passed it down to my 24yo daughter this past Christmas. She has her CCP in hand now and next step is her firearm saftey classes.

 

[presence]

Over my shoulder, She says...

What's a Lady Smith?

She says...

Pretty stinkin' nice, but can I get it in curly maple?

 

[shane77m]

That was a good review.

 

[opal]

Over my shoulder, She says...

What's a Lady Smith?

She says...

Pretty stinkin' nice, but can I get it in curly maple?

is that the same as this one?
I think this is the one I want

 

[Koz]

I just bought my wife a Ruger LCR, it has the smoothest trigger pull of any .38 we tried.

BUT, this is for her concealed carry gun. She says if she is in the house she is grabbing a shotgun and loading it with 00 buck. She says she feels more comfortable with a shotgun and she knows she is gonna hit whatever she is aiming at. Plus I think the 00 buck will do more damage. If you put 2 or 3 00 buck loads in someone they are not walking away.

Just my wife's 2 cents.

Plus, you can get a new remington 870 for about $320.