Carry options for wife- Need opinions

[CC Italian]

Well the wife finally wants to get her chl this summer but wants a carry gun that she can always carry on her hip. She is very small with tiny hands and she is now a novice shooter and is very proficient with her HD handguns. All 9mm but the smallest is the Shield and the largest is a 5inch 1911.

So here is the dilemma. Very few guns are small enough to conceal with her clothing and still have manageable recoil. We have found only two.

Sig 238 HD Works great and she can conceal it well but neither of us are happy with the .380acp. She loves her 9mms and the .380 doesn't build confidence in either of us. I previously owned 2 380s and like many really saw no reason to stay with an underpowered round for me since recoil is a non issue for me.

Kahr MK9- She loves it and honestly I loved it but we have a huge problem. She can't rack the slide to save her life and honestly I hate racking the thing. It's honestly a little ridiculous for any handgun to be that hard to rack let alone a carry piece.


So are there any other guns I am missing in 9mm? The only one that is heavy enough to tame the 9mm recoil for her and small enough for carry that I can find is the MK9. Like I said she can handle the shield but it is noticeably harder to conceal then the little MK9.

So tiny heavy 9mms. Am I missing something or is she stuck with a 380?

Thanks

[cheezit]

Sig 938 is an option.

[CC Italian]

I thought so to but it is to light and to much recoil for her. Shield is alot easier for her and me to control. The mk9 weighs 24 oz unloaded. It is thinner, shorter in length and only .1 of an inch taller then the 938 and weighs about 7 ounces more. I wish they made one in an HD model like the 238. Which is all steel.

[Teamless]

My wife doesn't like my .380, but loves her Kimber Solo
Its small, its a 9mm, its fully concealable and only about 1/16th inch longer, wider and taller than my bodyguard .380

It does have some recoil due to its a subcompact, but its all stainless, so quite heavy and that helps the recoil.

I dont know where you are, but if you wanted to try it, and were in South Houston area, we could take your wife to PSC and she could shoot it if she wanted.

[CC Italian]

I thought about the Solo but I have heard from many and at all the LGS that it has to many problems and not worth it. Hence none of them carry it because of it's picky ammo problems and no one requests them. Neither of my LGS has ordered one in over a year. They did say that they had come down in price because Kimber can't sell them. I would like to try one though and give it a fair shack. I will see when me wife gets back in town if she would be interested.

Thanks

[CC Italian]

If I could find an old S&W CS9 9mm she might like that. I am not sure how big it is but I think it might be a little thick?

[SewTexas]

small 9 mill? what about the LC9?

I carry the LCP, yes, it has a recoil, and yes, it's small.

here's the way I figure it....

1. I want stopping power, I truly don't care if the bg is dead, I just want them to stop what they are doing and leave me alone, stopped is what I am after, in pain is cool, dead is fine too. One of my giggles is when I wear my LCP in my thigh holster with a maxi dress, I say that I'll blind a bg with my white legs and he'll run away before I can get to my gun.
2. I can rack the slide on my LCP, but I do have to work at it, and I can't do it when my husband is hovering over me.
3. yes, there is a bit of a recoil, I can't go to the range and fire it for an hour, or even a half-hour. But I can for 15 mins, then take a small break then go for another few mins. I get the practice in and I know that if needed adrenaline will take care of dealing with any pain that the recoil causes.
4. for working the slide on her gun, it's easier for women not to "pull it back" but rather to "push it". since you said you have a bit of an issue with that one gun, it probably wouldn't help with it, but take a look at the Cornered Cat website, I think she explains what I'm talking about here.

when it's time for her to look at a holster look at Kusiak Leather they have some great holsters that aren't too bulky.

[CC Italian]

Tried the LC9 and she liked the thin grip but she shot the shield so much better and they are close enough in size that she would go with the shield.

The other thing is that the sig 238 slide is easy for her to pull back and rack a round in the chamber. Same went with the 938. She could rack it but the recoil in the 938 is more then she wants to deal with.

I know there is no free lunch when it comes to recoil but how hard is it to make a all steel sub compact 9mm that the average women can rack. Kahr almost hit a home run here.

Well if she goes .380 there is no confusion with the way she will go. 238 HD 100%. It weighs 20oz unloaded and the recoil is a joke. It meets every thing we want except caliber.

9mm we are still searching. If sig made a 938 HD she might go with that but it only weighs 17oz as is and it just snaps to much for her. It is a noticeable increase in recoil over my shield. Also, she loves single action but it is not a deal killer. This is why she loves a 1911 crisp single action and its heavy.

Though neither of us is excited about the .380 for power how often do we wear 4 layers of denim during the year? When we do wear thicker clothing for our 6 weeks of winter season here in southeast Texas she could easily conceal a 9mm under her jacket.

[Right2Carry]

My wife loves her S&W M&P 9mm Compact. She has small hands and isn't a fan of recoil either. She has the model with the safety.

[ShootDontTalk]

I'm not sure about all the concern about racking the slide. Are you saying that racking the slide is going to be an integral part of her drawing the weapon when needed - carrying with an empty chamber? If so, I would recommend getting comfortable with a round in the chamber. The fine motor skill necessary to rack the slide will be one of the first casualties of the massive adrenaline dump in a crisis. Range time yes it can be a problem, but one that can be overcome with practice.

[CC Italian]

Mainly for clearing a misfeed if need be. She wants to be able to clear all ftf and fte by herself. She wants the confidence to be able to completely control the firearm. All of her other 9mms she can clear quickly if there is a ftf or fte. She is just physically very tiny! 4 feet 10inchs and her hands are tiny as well. She can put all three fingers on the small sub compact kahrs like the mk9 or cm9 with no pinky hangoff. Thats how small her hands are.She always has her guns loaded with one in the chamber.

This is nothing new for her. She started off with revolvers back in 05 and as she got comfortable she moved into the 9mm semi autos and prefers them over her old sp101 but she never shoots it much anymore. She is in no hurry and next week we are going to look at some more semi autos to shoot.

[kattzoo]

Beretta Nano? Nice little 9mm. Not sure how she'd feel about the recoil as everyone's idea is different.

[healedknee]

I'm familiar with the following:

Slim, Single Stack

heavy (31 oz loaded) and pricey: Kimber Ultra Aegis (9mm 1911) or Springfield EMP; low recoil, low capacity, medium weight (25 oz loaded) and price: Walther PPS

Chunky, double stack, medium weight (26 oz loaded) and price: Glock 26

I've read and heard that the Springfield XDS line have low recoil. I've not shot one but the slide was easy to manipulate.

[The Annoyed Man]

Springfield XDS-9mm would be worth a look, if you're limiting yourself to single stack guns. If double stacks are under consideration, the XDM-9mm 3.8 Compact is an impressive gun, and very soft shooting.

[MoJo]

How about a revolver? It's hard to beat a J frame Smith, a Ruger LCR or SP101 , or for the budget minded a Taurus 85 Ultralite or 85 PLY. Any of those guns loaded with Hornady 38 SPECIAL 90 GR FTX® CRITICAL DEFENSE® LITE ammo would be a good choice for size and recoil. If I were recoil sensitive I would consider this ammo in either of my snubbies.