Thanks, very much, for taking the time on such a detailed answer, Karl.

I'll forward them on.

Rick Shay
Colorado
^^^^^^^^^^




----- Original Message -----
From: "Karl Rehn" <rehn@...>
To: Combat-Handgun@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2009 6:33:38 AM GMT -07:00 US/Canada Mountain
Subject: Re: [Combat-Handgun] A woman and a carry gun

my suggestions (articles from my website)
http://www.krtraining.com/KRTraining/Archive/firstgun2006.html

http://www.krtraining.com/KRTraining/Archive/MakeItEasy.htm

> .380,
No. This caliber is woefully underpowered, and most of the guns in .380
are not as good as similarly sized guns in 9mm on the market.
> 9mm (not my favorite for this task at all)
Yet you suggest .380? There are more gun designs on the market in 9mm
than any other caliber. Ammo is the easiest to find (most of the time),
Recoil is considerably less than .40 or .45, and instructors at many
major schools (Suarez International & InSights Training to name a few)
carry 9mms. I was a diehard 1911 .45 guy for many years and now I carry
a 16 round XD 9mm and lose no sleep over my caliber choice. My
experience teaching thousands of shooters over the past 20 years is that
most people screw up in gun selection by focusing too much on caliber
(out of a misguided belief that handgun caliber actually makes a
significant difference in the end result) and too little on ergonomics
(grip size, grip length, trigger pull weight and travel distance, sight
configuration).
> ,.45 - a caliber that I think anyone can shoot with less reaction
> than with a .9mm
A 5" barrel, steel frame traditional "single stack" 1911 has a pretty
slim grip and short trigger reach which works well for shooters with
small hands which often applies to women shooters.
We have one of these in 9mm that students love but they are often very
hard to find in stores and have to be special ordered. The STI "Trojan"
is a great buy in a 9mm 1911
(http://www.stiguns.com). Springfield "Loaded" model built for IDPA
competition is often easier to find.

FWIW I have several women instructors on my training team who carry daily.

Here are the standard problems we run into teaching women students:

1) Small hand size / trigger finger length makes it difficult/impossible
to reach the trigger on many double-stack guns. The XD(m) and S&W M&P
with interchangeable grip panels offer the most flexibility. 1911 with
slim grips and short trigger often "fits" when none of the polymer hicap
guns do. Kahr K9 also works for very small hands. New S&W/Walther PPS
(new polymer gun, not old DA/SA PPK model) also.

2) Short thumb makes it difficult to reach the mag release on most
guns. XD(m) has ambi mag release, M&P has reverseable mag release
allowing use of trigger finger to hit mag release. Thinner guns like
1911 and Kahr also work.

3) Short thumb/lack of hand strength/complexity of gun operation causes
problems with most DA/SA guns.

4) Belt holsters designed for men do NOT work for women's body geometry.
To simulate what it feels like for a woman to draw a gun from a holster
designed for a man, cinch your gun belt around your gut level with your
belly button and cant the muzzle end of the gun out so the grip digs
into your ribcage. Because of this (and wardrobe issues) women rarely
carry in a belt holster and more often carry in a purse, day timer,
fanny pack or other method. That makes a smooth contour polymer striker
fired gun like a Glock, XD, M&P or Kahr a better choice than a gun with
lots of protruding controls and hammers.

In practice what we've found is that medium sized guns (semiautos with
4" bbls) offer the best compromise and work for home defense as well as
carry. Better to have one gun that they practice with than one "big gun"
for home and one "itty bitty gun" for carry. Our women students have
had the most success (shooting proficiency on the range) with the XD,
S&W M&P, Glock 19 and Kahr K9 and P9 models.

In revolvers I like the S&W 640 (not the 642) and the Ruger SP101 w/ 3"
bbl. They are slightly heavier w/ longer barrels than the standard
"snub" and offer less recoil and better sight radius, thus improving
shooter hits-on-target.

hope that helps.

Karl



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