Carry weapon for wife, S&W .38 Special Airweight thoughts

[feef706]

Our CCW instructor had a Smith and Wesson Airweight 442 that he brought to the class and said it was his wifes carry weapon. My wife of course fell in love with it due to the weight of it. My only concern is the recoil. Ive never shot a .38 nor a smaller revolver so I'm looking for feedback. Other recommendations are welcome, preferably double action without the exposed hammer.

 

[Bay Ranger]

When my wife took the CCW class she was very uncomfortable with all that was necessary to load mags, chamber a round (rack the slide), clear a jam, etc. It so happened that her instructor had a .357 snub and he also had some .38s. He let her shoot it with .38 and she liked it much better. Fast forward: we wound up getting her the 642 and I had bought her Federal low recoil defense rounds for the 642. She likes that from all respects much better than the .380 that I had at the time, or my carry 9MM.

Bottom line: don't force her into something that you feel is the best weapon. If she wants the 442 get it for her. She will more likely carry/use something that she feels comfortable with and that she has chosen that something that you feel is the best for her. If it turns out that the 442 (or something similar) in not the right gun I'm sure you can re-sell it for little loss.

 

[Ken232]

have a friend that has several guns..9mm/38/40 cal bring them to the range and see what she likes...I use a Model 60 with 38+p as a backup now and its pretty sporty with those loads...with the low recoil loads handles really well...that usually helps

 

[feef706]

Thanks for the input. I am certainly not trying to force her in any direction. I think she is set on a revolver due to the reasons stated above. She has shot my .40S&W P99 which kicks pretty good. Her dad has a snubby revolver and she will shoot it before we buy her anything. I am still really interested in any feedback anyone has on the airweight models as she has her heart set on that after handling it.

 

[JohnAL]

The gun is fine as is any S&W I know of. If she is comfortable shooting it then that's what she should get.

 

[Fletch]

If she shot it more than just a few times and fell in love with it sounds like that's your answer. My wife hated the lightweight Ruger LCR .38. She is not recoil sensitive and carries a DB380 and a 9mm Walther PPS which she much prefers to the LCR. She even shoots my XDs 45 and says it is much more comfortable than the featherweight 38 revolver was.

 

[SAWMAN]

I trained women for quite some time and quickly found out that they: 1. absolutely hate the associated "stuff" you gotta do to effectively run a semi-auto. Mag change drills,FTF drills,FTE drills,loading the mags,the safety,hammer lower/drop levers,etc. 2. The super small semi-autos recoil. I'm talkin' the 380's in the small frame,light weight guns(KelTec P-3AT for example). 3. The high tech,light weight(<16oz)revo's chambered in 38Spec with ANY ammo. 4. The all steel snub guns using any ammo other than a light 38special load. A very few ladies can shoot a full power 38special or even a +P load,but not many. I'm talkin' shoot effectively, without the dry fire flinch. 5. The small revos or even the semi-autos with a super long(1/2"+)trigger pull thru, or a single action only revo with a 9lb+ trigger(especially with a long pull thru).

All of the ladies that I taught already had their CWP. Most of the ladies were <40 years old. They were of all different sizes and strength levels. By far most of the ladies could shoot most effectively a double action snubby with a trigger that had a good action job done. Some could master the small'ish semi-auto(Bersa,Walther's,etc).

If your thinking of picking up a 13oz 357Mag snub gun and stoking it with full power ammo......try it yourself first. I tell the guys this.....grab a revo and adjust your grip so that you can try to dry fire it with your "ring finger". If you can accomplish this,your lady can probably pull it thru with her trigger finger using her "normal" grip. --- SAWMAN

 

[feef706]

If she shot it more than just a few times and fell in love with it sounds like that's your answer. My wife hated the lightweight Ruger LCR .38. She is not recoil sensitive and carries a DB380 and a 9mm Walther PPS which she much prefers to the LCR. She even shoots my XDs 45 and says it is much more comfortable than the featherweight 38 revolver was.

Ok I guess I wasnt clear in my wording. The instructor brought the gun, along with about 20 others, none of which were actually fired. The only gun we fired was a semi-auto with paint marker rounds. She has never fired a revolver of anykind, she simply liked the feel and mostly the weight of the S&W. I feel she is in the same boat as many women with all the associated "stuff" surrounding semi-autos as SAWMAN mentioned below. Maybe I should shift my focus a little bit here.

What weapon does your spouse carry and fire effectivley?

 

[poff09]

Not as much power as ur prolly lookn for..but my girl loves her ruger sr22..im tryn to move her up caliber now..i have to remind her sometimes of all the "stuff" but for her its incredibly light weight with NO recoil..i just always remind her if ever n a situation where she needs to use just empty the entire clip into them..lol

 

[Ken232]

Airweights are fine guns...just remember..less weight=more felt recoil...other than that they are as dependable as any other

 

[feef706]

Not as much power as ur prolly lookn for..but my girl loves her ruger sr22..im tryn to move her up caliber now..i have to remind her sometimes of all the "stuff" but for her its incredibly light weight with NO recoil..i just always remind her if ever n a situation where she needs to use just empty the entire clip into them..lol

I am planning to pick up a P22 I just purchased from 2nd Amendment today after work so I intend to let my wife shoot it for sometime to build on her confidence with semi-auto.

Airweights are fine guns...just remember..less weight=more felt recoil...other than that they are as dependable as any other

Exactly my fear is why I asked the question. No doubts on the dependability of a revolver.

Thanks for all the feedback so far, much appreciated!

 

[Fletch]

Honestly I would look for a new instructor. Semi-auto with paint marker rounds? That's crap imo and I hope y'all didn't have to pay to much for that. She needs to shoot a bunch guns and see what is comfortable and what she hits with. I know that Capt. Ron at Iwillnotbeavictim.com has a lot of guns she can shoot and charges $60 per hour for private instruction at his own private range. Not a bad deal before putting money down on a gun. Some folks round here love to comment on Capt. Ron and he does have an enthusiastic and opinionated personality, but it didn't bother me. He did a great job teaching my wife and daughter-in-law how to shoot. The daughter-in-law actually had an irrational fear of handguns and now likes shooting them.
Maybe some others on here know of other instructors with a nice collection that will let their students actually shoot them to help in their purchasing decision as well. That's the key to me. They need to shoot a lot of guns and more than just a round or two out of each.

My wife shoots both her DB380 & PPS 9mm effectively. The RO at Styx River was surprised watching her shoot a fist sized group one handed at 10 yards with the DB380. He said 75% of all shooters he sees can't do that with a pocket pistol. He was even more shocked to see her do it with the other hand. She's a lefty who shoots right handed and is ambidextrous which is a skill I'm very envious of. She also thinks it's a lot of fun to put a 9mm in each hand and simultaneously dump the mags into a target so she may not be typical of most women when it comes to recoil sensitivity and also why I reload now.

I have found the DB380 is an unusually accurate and a comfortable pocket pistol to shoot compared to LCP and some of the others. It has a really nice sight picture and the best ergonomics imo. It's like they shrunk a glock. Some people had problems with the early ones ,but both of ours run fine with the upgraded wolf mag springs. I wouldn't want my wife leaving the house with a gun that jams and her db380 does not, but then again she doesn't limp wrist it either. Regardless of manufacturer an 8 to 12 ounce semi-auto is going to require a proper grip to run without jamming. The Smith & Wesson Airweight 22mag is popular choice for recoil sensitive shooters as well, but it will put a hurting on the wallet. Not the biggest hole but the 22mag will penetrate.

 

[feef706]

@Fletch

Im not here to debate instructor ratings or practices. Our instructor did a fantastic job. The training was provided at our residence, all indoors, hence the paint training rounds (the same rounds used by law enforcement for certain training activities). I simply had my wife take the class to be better familiarized with how guns work and we all learned a great deal of information. She has since decided to apply for the CWP so the next step is to get her some more firing time, then find a gun for her.

She will have the opportunity to shoot many handguns owned by friends/family at her leasure at her fathers private property. I simply was looking for feedback based on personal experiences from members whose spouses also carry.

 

[Fletch]

@Fletch

Im not here to debate instructor ratings or practices. Our instructor did a fantastic job. The training was provided at our residence, all indoors, hence the paint training rounds (the same rounds used by law enforcement for certain training activities). I simply had my wife take the class to be better familiarized with how guns work and we all learned a great deal of information. She has since decided to apply for the CWP so the next step is to get her some more firing time, then find a gun for her.

She will have the opportunity to shoot many handguns owned by friends/family at her leasure at her fathers private property. I simply was looking for feedback based on personal experiences from members whose spouses also carry.

Sorry, didn't mean to step on anyone's toes and certainly didn't intend to debate instructor ratings. Just never heard of training where they show you real guns and then you only get to shoot a paintball round, but it makes sense in the context you just framed it. Like an introductory we come to your house sort of thing I suppose. The original post came across as that was the sole source of training to make a purchasing decision on and that seemed inadequate for making a good decision. There are a lot of great instructors out there no doubt. I think beginners get the most bang for their buck when they get to shoot a lot of different models of guns included in the instruction fee that is all.

Sounds like you have the exposure to shooting many different models covered and I'm sure it will become obvious what her preferences are after some extended range time. Good luck and happy shooting!

 

[FowlHunter13]

My wife is not recoil sensitive at all. When I first met her and she found out I was a gun nut she said she wanted for me to see her gun. I was really expecting a "J" frame sized .38, but out comes the 10.5" barrel Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 magnum. I knew right then she was the girl for me. When she started talking about wanting a carry gun, she instantly said she wanted a small revolver after shooting many of mine S&W's. Her being a Ruger fan, we decided on the Ruger LCR and she hasn't second guessed it once. With the +P rounds in it, it is a bit on the sporty side with muzzle flip, but the hogue grip on the LCR helps to tame it a little. If recoil is the issue for you, pick up some good quality wadcutters like the Federal Premium 148gr wadcutters. Super accurate with much less felt recoil than even a standard 130 FMJ .38 round. I have several "J" frame S&W's that you would be more than welcome to try out. I do not have the 442 or 642 anymore sadly. I love me some S&W revolvers, but I just can't get over that dang internal lock that the new ones have. I do have a few others though that would give you the same idea.

 

[Burnt Drag]

I don't consider Charter Arms as the ultimate authority on handguns, but they (on their site) say that a +P out of a .38 snub doesn't have enough barrel length to take full advantage of the extra powder charge in that round. A .38 in it's low velocity state is still a very effective round. I've been told by police officers that the wadcutter bullet (for some reason) causes a more intense pain than some other projectiles... How they came into that knowledge is anyone's guess, but I'm inclined to believe. A wadcutter loaded to around 900fps would be a very effective defense round without a jumpy recoil. BTW, my 16yo daughter loves shooting my
1911 45acp

 

[feef706]

My wife is not recoil sensitive at all. When I first met her and she found out I was a gun nut she said she wanted for me to see her gun. I was really expecting a "J" frame sized .38, but out comes the 10.5" barrel Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 magnum. I knew right then she was the girl for me. When she started talking about wanting a carry gun, she instantly said she wanted a small revolver after shooting many of mine S&W's. Her being a Ruger fan, we decided on the Ruger LCR and she hasn't second guessed it once. With the +P rounds in it, it is a bit on the sporty side with muzzle flip, but the hogue grip on the LCR helps to tame it a little. If recoil is the issue for you, pick up some good quality wadcutters like the Federal Premium 148gr wadcutters. Super accurate with much less felt recoil than even a standard 130 FMJ .38 round. I have several "J" frame S&W's that you would be more than welcome to try out. I do not have the 442 or 642 anymore sadly. I love me some S&W revolvers, but I just can't get over that dang internal lock that the new ones have. I do have a few others though that would give you the same idea.

Thanks for the input as well as the offer or shooting your guns. Im hoping my father in laws snubby revolver will be enough to give her a feel as Im pretty sure its a .38, but the "J" frame is definitley what she has her eye on to this point.

I don't consider Charter Arms as the ultimate authority on handguns, but they (on their site) say that a +P out of a .38 snub doesn't have enough barrel length to take full advantage of the extra powder charge in that round. A .38 in it's low velocity state is still a very effective round. I've been told by police officers that the wadcutter bullet (for some reason) causes a more intense pain than some other projectiles... How they came into that knowledge is anyone's guess, but I'm inclined to believe. A wadcutter loaded to around 900fps would be a very effective defense round without a jumpy recoil. BTW, my 16yo daughter loves shooting my
1911 45acp

I had never heard of these "wadcutter" round prior to these posts. I will have to look into that for sure if she ends up like a .38. Obviously any target practice would be with target ammo, and not considering any +p rounds. But when it comes time to actually carrying it would be loaded with good quality self defense rounds, and this wadcutter sounds like it does the job.

Thanks for all the input.

 

[Deersniper270]

My girlfriend is really recoil sensitive. She can shoot her P22 perfectly but struggles with her 9mm. She absolutely hates my P238 because she thinks that it being so small it's going to fly out of her hands. I'm slowly working her up to a .380 atleast but she hates the small guns. She shot the .38 special air weight and did better and said she likes it but didn't like the recoil.

I think she is sensitive to recoil of a slide more than the actual kick of the round. Hopefully over the summer we can figure out her a new gun in a mid sized .380 or .38 special.

Anyone ever shot a Taurus Millennium Pro .380? She has one in 9mm and likes the platform. I figure it would be the same but less recoil

 

[Orion45]

My S&W 642 load is the Hornady Critical Defense .38SPLK + P 110gr FTX.

There are a lot of pros and cons concerning snub nosed revolvers as CCW. Here's a review that I saved in my favorites list.

http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2011/09/ralph/gun-review-smith-wesson-model-642/

 

[Dwatts1984]

Never buy until you've tried. Ask around... Have her shoot multiple weapons, and see what she feels more in tune with. Capt Ron at Blackwater Tactical range has quite a few firearms to choose from to shoot. Also some of the local shooting ranges do also. She might love the carry weight but hate the weight when the recoil comes smashing back. Its worth the time finding out what firearms people have and if you can shoot theirs. You'll end up much happier in the end. Instead of buying it and having to re-sell.

Good Luck!!!