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What Gun Should I Buy My Wife
Nov
What Gun Should I Buy My Wife? – A Guide for Husbands
If you’re looking to buy a gun for your wife, you’re probably wondering what kind of gun would be best for her. In this guide I will hopefully help you decide on which gun is best suited for purchase, so here are some things to consider:
Size and Weight
First and foremost, you want to make sure the gun fits your wife well. If the gun is too heavy or too large for her to handle comfortably, she’ll struggle to use it effectively. Look for guns specifically designed for women, or consider getting a smaller handgun that’s easier to handle.
Recoil
Recoil can be a big issue, especially for new shooters. A gun that produces a lot of recoil may be difficult for your wife to handle and may turn her off to shooting altogether. Look for guns with low recoil or consider getting a handgun with a built-in recoil reduction system.
Usage
What will your wife be using the gun for? If she’ll be carrying it for personal protection, you’ll want a handgun that’s easy to conceal. If she’ll be using it for target shooting or hunting, a larger gun may be appropriate.
Capacity
Capacity is defined by the amount of bullets a gun can carry. This can play a large part in how confident she will be carrying the gun and how many bullets she can shoot before fleeing a situation.
Training
No matter what gun you choose, it’s important that your wife receive proper training and practice regularly. Look for a reputable shooting range or instructor in your area.
Ultimately, the best gun for your wife will depend on her individual needs and preferences. Take the time to do your research and choose a gun that she’ll be comfortable using.
Recommendations
Now we will talk about specific brands and models that we think balance out the different categories such as size, weight, recoil and capacity. We will be rating these guns on a 1-3 star scale in each of these categories. For the purposes of this article we will call it the “Wife Index”. We did not rate these in any particular order.
Charter Chic Lady 38 SPECIAL
Constructed of tough aircraft-grade aluminum and steel, the Chic Lady offers rugged reliability and comfort. This ultra-lightweight 5-shot .38 Special features a 2″ barrel, fixed sights and traditional spurred hammer.
*Ideal for Personal Protection
*American Made
*Exceptional Strength, Reliability, and Accuracy
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Model: |
53839 |
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Finish: |
Pink & Hi-Polish Stainless |
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Frame: |
7075 Aluminum |
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Grip: |
Compact |
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Barrel length: |
2″ |
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Capacity: |
5-shot |
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Caliber: |
.38 Special |
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Hammer: |
Standard |
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Weight: |
12 oz. |
This five shot revolver has a great fit and finish, it also boasts an impressive amount of customer service as well. Let’s dig into how well it stacks up with our Wife Index.
Size
With a 2” barrel and short handgrip, you cant ask for something more in this category. You may even find your pinky hanging off the grip in a fanciful way, but don’t be discouraged because this is a gun that you are purchasing for your wife and chances are, she has much smaller hands than you do. So in overall size we give this a three out of three stars.
Weight
A twelve ounce weight is not only light, it’s industry leading. In comparison, the Smith & Wesson model 642 “Airweight” clocks in at an astounding 14.4 ounces of additional weight. That may not seem like much, but when you market a five shot revolver as the industry leading weight in its respective market and a more affordable gun is beating you in that category, its seems a little misleading. All that aside, you will not find a more capable firearm at a lower weight than this little lady here. We gave this once again three out of three stars.
Recoil
Anyone who has any experience in shooting a snub nosed .38 revolver, knows that they are inherently snappy guns. The front of the barrel will pick up and with less grip on the gun, it will be slower to reset to a dead center on your intended target. This will result in slower and less accurate follow up shots and impede confidence in a defensive situation. With that said, please try to remember that any gun present in a defensive situation is better than none at all. For those reasons we gave it a one out of three stars.
Capacity
Let’s not mice words here and just say, a five round capacity is painfully low. That statement is in no way a condemnation of the platform. Revolvers are in a class of their own in regards to fandom, but with that said they are limited to five and six shots per reload. In this day and age, that is less than a third of modern pistols on the market in terms of capacity. For that reason alone we gave it a one out of three stars.
In conclusion, the Chic Lady does some things right for this discussion and some things clearly miss the mark in a big way. The plus side to this gun is its ease of use, cleaning and understanding of how the gun operates. That reason alone, is why we recommend this gun but keep in mind that most people in the market today are demanding more than this little lady can physically produce. This gun has rated well on our wife index, but we think there might be some better options available.
Charter Chic Lady 38 SPECIAL | Quiet Riot Firearms
Glock 43X
Designed for comfort, The G43X MOS combines a compact-size grip length, a built-in beaver tail and a subcompact-slim slide for a comfortably balanced, versatile grip that’s ideal for a variety of users.
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Model: |
43x |
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Finish: |
Black |
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Frame: |
Polymer |
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Grip: |
Compact |
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Barrel length: |
3.41 |
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Capacity: |
10 |
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Caliber: |
9mm |
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Hammer: |
Striker Fired |
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Weight: |
1 lb 2 oz |
This Single stack, 10 round semi automatic from Glock, is not only a lighter than normal carry but also an easily concealable pistol. So, once again the wife index will tell us how we like this reliable little pistol.
Size
The Glock 43X is known to be an extremely comfortable pistol to conceal carry, but with newer purse style holsters and upgraded belly bands coming to the market daily, she will have many options to carry this guy (or lady) wherever she would want to. Although, it is slightly larger than the glock 43 and 42, it does boast a larger capacity. The slim design allows this pistol to tuck away better than just about anything else on the market, but most of our wives who are just learning to carry and conceal a handgun may want to holster this pistol in bag or belly band due to comfort and the Glock is excellent for such an application. Three stars are easy to award here.
Weight
The Glock 43X clocks in at 1lb 2.6 oz, so its not an extremely light gun but with the single stack magazine design it’s significantly lighter after being fully loaded with 9mm ammunition. There are certainly other pistols on the market that are wider and weigh more after being fully loaded but the Glock does a great job of balancing these two aspects. This gun is not a heavy beast to carry, but it can take some getting used to, especially if you want to carry on your person so we give it a one star on the index.
Recoil
The grip on the 43x is significantly longer than the 43 or the 42, so it does allow for more control and hand placement on the pistol. The low weight of the gun does make it snappy to a certain degree which can impair follow up shot placement, but the larger and thinner grip does create a certain level of confidence especially in the hands of a person with a smaller grip. Smaller guns produce a higher recoil due to weight, but the larger frame size does help mitigate the issue here, so we give it two stars in this category.
Capacity
The 43X comes from the factory with two 10 round magazines and for most beginner shooters, that should be more than enough to practice and defend themselves. However, there are a few aftermarket options to purchase an extended magazine but some gunsmithing needs to be done to make them work. Let’s face it though, Glock’s magazines are regarded as some of the best if not the best pistol magazines on the market so we don’t recommend replacing them. Because this pistol has a lower than usual capacity, we give it two stars here as well.
In conclusion, the Glock 43X is a well designed and capable everyday carry albeit a bit longer than most people want in this category. The 10 round single stack magazine can seem like a low capacity in today’s market of sub-compact high-capacity handguns such as the Springfield Hellcat, Sig P365 or the S&W 9 Shield Plus but it’s safe to say that this particular pistol will not disappoint.
Smith & Wesson Shield EZ
The EZ is aptly named that for one simple reason, it’s easier to rack a round into the chamber due to a lighter slide. This has set this gun apart from the competition as one of the best pistols to give to a new shooter. Let’s get down to brass tacks here and say that the first time someone handles a handgun, the biggest problem they encounter is how to manipulate the slide and slide release on that pistol. Smith & Wesson have thoughtfully removed this problem from the market in an ingenious and attractive way.
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Model: |
Shield EZ |
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Finish: |
Black |
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Frame: |
Polymer |
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Grip: |
Compact |
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Barrel length: |
3.675 |
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Capacity: |
10, 13 and 15 |
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Caliber: |
9mm, 380 |
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Hammer: |
Striker Fired |
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Weight: |
1 lb 6 oz |
Size
The standard EZ is a single stack magazine pistol, that conceals very well on the body. Its not a sub-compact but honestly fells like it when handling or holstering. In terms of size, it is very close to the 43x that we talked about earlier, so no bonus points there. If this gun was offered in a smaller frame size it would be easy (pun intended) to rate it three stars, but because it is slightly larger than other guns in it’s category we would rate it two stars.
Weight
Once again, this is not a heavy gun and comparing it to the 43x is honestly doing it a disservice because it has been able to achieve a lot of the design improvements for beginners in such a small package. In terms of weight, we can’t rate it higher than other guns on this list and have to be logical, so we give it a one star in this category.
Recoil
Smaller, lighter guns are typically easier to carry and conceal but they do have their trade offs and typically that’s going to show up in the recoil department. The EZ is a great gun to carry, but with a longer, somewhat stiffer trigger and light weight, it will produce higher recoil than its larger counterparts. That’s not to say that it is problematic or harder to handle because its not, it’s a great entry level pistol that might feel a bit snappy but within a few magazines of practice, your wife will start to feel more confident. In terms of recoil, we rate the S&W EZ at two Stars.
Capacity
Look, if capacity is a big factor in choosing one gun over the other, you are probably in the wrong place. No gun that we have reviewed today has a large capacity and the Smith is no different. Single stack magazines don’t hold a lot of ammo but the trade off is a slimmer design and for that we rate it at again at two stars.
Let’s face facts about the Smith & Wesson EZ, it is not going to blow out the competition in any of these categories, because it kind of created it’s own category. It was designed from the ground up to be an excellent entry level handgun for beginners or people who can not rack a traditional slide. It’s loaded with more safety devices than it honestly needs, which instills confidence with a new shooter.
SMITH AND WESSON M&P380 SHIELD EZ PERFORMANCE CENTER 380 ACP | PORTED GOLD | GOLD BARREL | Quiet Riot Firearms
Conclusion
What gun should you buy your wife? I would recommend the one that she likes best. That being said, all three options that we covered today are excellent choices and for different reasons, let’s take a look at some of those reasons:
Charter Arms Chic Lady: Small, compact and easy to operate. Quick and safe loading and unloading as well as being a very straightforward firearm.
Glock 43X: Medium sized frame, easy to operate, extremely reliable and great customer service.
Smith & Wesson EZ: Medium sized frame, light slide and tons of safety features to instill confidence.
Our honest advice would be to take her with you to the gun store and have her handle the firearms first hand before you purchase.
