Handguns that sell to women

Shooting Industry, March, 2004 by Massad Ayoob

Women, historically, have proven partial to double-action revolvers, particularly when buying their first handgun. Revolvers are easy to open and close, and load and unload, without the task of wrestling with a slide and powerful spring.

Petite women, in particular, prefer smaller-frame revolvers since they have a shorter trigger reach. Women tend to be shorter than men not only in average height, but also in average finger length. Most handguns are built for the average adult male hand, which tends to be about one digit longer in the finger length than that of a petite female.

Another advantage of small revolvers is they tend to be lighter and more convenient to carry concealed. In addition to the aluminum-frame guns we've had for more than half a century, we now have Titanium- and Scandium-frame revolvers whose weight is down to the 11-ounce range unloaded.

The most popular lightweight brands preferred by women are Smith & Wesson and Taurus. Hammerless versions, such as the S & W Centennial series and the Taurus CIA (Carry It Anywhere) models are especially popular among women. They like the sleek looks, the snag-free silhouette and the simplicity of their double-action-only mechanisms.

However, these small revolvers have nasty recoil. They are difficult to actually shoot well, particularly in a training setting, with full-power defense loads. However, in typical close-range encounters in the real world, most women can handle them well enough.

Still, the lady who is going to be shooting a lot with her carry gun may be better served with a quality autoloader in the 9mm to .45 ACP power range.

When combining the recoil, operation and small-hand factors, we find some semi-autos work better than others. Smith & Wesson set the pace some dozen years ago with their Model 3913, a compact 9mm auto with single-stack magazine and slim grips.

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This double-action pistol was at various times the choice of such top female firearm authorities as Gila Hayes, Lyn Bates, and many of the other role models your customers may have read about. It also is now available as the Model 4040 with a Scandium frame in 40 S & W.

Sigarms countered with a pistol of almost identical dimensions, the P239, which they brilliantly marketed as a "personal-size" carry gun. It has no manual safety and a less-complicated decocking lever than the Smith. It is available in 9mm, .357 SIG and .40 S & W. The P239 has proven to be a very "female friendly" semi-auto and, like the S & W 3913, has a short reach to its double-action trigger.

The same can be said for the double-action-only Kahr pistols, available in .40 S & W and 9mm. They are available in a variety of compact to sub-compact variations, with solid steel or lightweight polymer frames. Most women prefer the Kahr in 9mm, because of its milder recoil.

If your woman customers are comfortable with a single-action semi-auto carried cocked and locked, the various 1911 pistols are likely to fit her hand well. The models that fit best are those with short (1911A1 style) trigger and single-stack magazines with proportionally slim frames.

Popular brands include Colt, Kimber and Springfield Armory. All are available with your customer's choice of full-size (5-inch barrel), compact (4- to 4 1/4-inch barrels), and sub-compact (3- to 3 1/2-inch barrels) formats. Most women can control the recoil of even the small models with the powerful but low-pressure .45 ACP cartridge. The most controllable of all the models seems to be the Springfield Armory Ultra Compact in 9mm.

The Glock pistol has proven as hugely popular among females as males. Many of the top women instructors have switched to them. These pistols are available in a wide variety of sizes and calibers, but the single most popular among the female shooters seems to be overwhelmingly the compact 9mm Glock 19.

The Springfield Armory XD pistol seems to share many of the female-friendly attributes of the Glock, including a striker-fired mechanism with a slide that is easy to operate. The XD has a shorter trigger reach than the Glock, which is a key selling point for women with smaller hands.