The class went well the wife enjoyed how the woman instructor did the class. they went out to the range I provided both of them with a Glock 43x with factory 10 round magazines 2 each and 100 rounds of 9mm loaded light. the day before I took both guns to the range ran these light practice rounds thru them, they were loaded using loading data. I had no issues with either one of them, and I really enjoyed shooting the lighter rounds.

Wife and daughter try and shoot the guns jam o matic instructor tries the guns same thing then she goes on to say you should never shoot reloads thru a Glock. they ended up using a 22 pistol to quailify and they did fine. they get home and told me about the problems they had, my first thought was limp wristing but figured the instructor would have corrected this or not had the issue.

I went back to the range took the wife with me loaded up 4 mags and they worked fine I turned around looked at the wife and said what's the problem. she tried it and got thru one mag but had issues on a few others, she cleared the gun handed it to me and I never had an issue. I told her to hang on tighter to the grip and that seem to help. I also handed her a mag of defense ammo but she didn't like the punch she got out of that after a couple of rounds.

Any suggestions?

Try another caliber with the women if unable to shoot 9mm

quote:

Originally posted by XLT:
The class went well the wife enjoyed how the woman instructor did the class. they went out to the range I provided both of them with a Glock 43x with factory 10 round magazines 2 each and 100 rounds of 9mm loaded light.

Any suggestions?

I recently took a shorter compact glock to the the range, brand new, fresh clean and lube, and it would not cycle powder puff Blazer Brass 115 grn. reliably. About 33% failure.
Speer Lawman 115 grn. and 124+p Federal were no issue at all.
For the record, it was a Gen 5 G26 and I did use a couple Pmag 12 rnd.ers that worked fine w/ the stouter loeads. A past thread here insinuated the (old) Pmags might not work in the Gen 5 G26, causing a premature slide lockback due to the mags. The newer'ish ones I have worked fine.

The wifey is done with that gun, nothing you can do to make her like it or trust it

Move on


I bought the wife six guns before she warmed up to one for shooting/carrying. She settled on a S&W Bodyguard .38 with the built in laser. She has many others she enjoys shooting but the .38 is her carry

I would say, if you want softer loads to work, you might want to switch to a lighter spring.

From what you wrote it sounds as if you did not have your wife and daughter themselves practice with the gun beforehand. IMO they should have had at least a few practice sessions before doing their own qualifying.

Not trying to dumb anything down, but I read she was ‘done with’ the Glock? If so, how about some version of a J-frame, yes loaded with light 38’s at this point?

Not surprised the instructor would opine against reloads.

Were their riding the slide with the support hand/thumb?

Have them try different firearms in 9mm.
Glocks can be uncomfortable for people with lesser upper body strength, even in 9mm, especially small framed glocks like the 43x. The weight is all in the slide as the frame is polymer. This can make it uncomfortable as the slide moves out of battery and then back into battery, if one doesn't have alot of hand/forearm strength to keep it steady. This is not something I suspect most males notice, but I've seen it a number of times with my female friends.
Skip blow back designs like a walther PPK (and any Sigs that use a PPK-like design) as well.
You may need to go to a somewhat larger semi-automatic with a bit more weight in it. What ever they are interested in, try to get them to a range to try it out before purchase, with mild practise ammo. Revolvers are an option as well, but I would not go with air weight models; again, recoil with real defense loads will probably be uncomfortable and not that much better with light practise ammo (and whatever they get, they will NEED to practise with!). An all steel frame like a Ruger Sp101 or Colt Cobra or King Cobra might work. See if you can find a place for them to test these out and bring very light practice 38 special ammo.

Have them try a P226 in 9mm. The heavy frame makes its an easy gun to shoot. Out of all my guns my daughter in law shoots my P226 the best.

I don't know your location but if it near NE Fl I can help you out.

It does sound like limp-wristing, combined with light loads may be the issue here. My position is that if she's going to carry, she should put the time and effort in to get proficient with the gun and the ammo that she's going to be shoting out of it, whatever that takes. I'm not a big fan of trying to circumvent a shooter problem by changing the equipment. But you obviously know your wife better than any of us, and if you think that's not going to happen, then you may have to find her something that will work in spite of her technique.


Revolvers are nice because they don't rely on the shooter's stability or the recoil of the ammunition to cycle the gun. The downside is, they have long, heavy triggers, the airweights are kinda harsh in the recoil department, and many of them have crummy sights. Something like a S&W Model 60 (all steel), a short barreled K-Frame, or a Ruger SP101 loaded with .38s could be a decent choice, if she's willing to put the time in to learn the trigger. There are some options out there with nice dovetail sights and even night sights on them now, too, like the 640 Pro or the Ruger Wiley Clapp editions.

Or, I almost hate to suggest it, but if she shoots a .22 well, and it works for her, that may be better than nothing. My SIL wanted to learn to shoot last year, and I took her out a few times. She'll never carry, but she would keep a gun in the house. She has horrible grip strength, and she's not the sort or in the position to put in practice time on a gun. Centerfire semi-autos were just way out of her league because she couldn't master the recoil, and she couldn't pull the trigger on a revolver (literally couldn't pull it back). She did pretty darn well with my Ruger MKII, though. For her, a MK-series .22 in a drawer might actually be a decent HD option. I wouldn't want to have to stop a determined attacker with a .22, but 5-10 rounds on target in rapid succession is nothing to laugh at, and I'd rather see her make hits with a .22 than give her something that's only going to get taken and used on her because she can't shoot it.

I wouldn't want to carry a MK-series gun, as it's basically a boat anchor, but if your wife has a reliable option that she likes (maybe whatever the instructor had her shoot?), maybe that's a better choice than trying to get her to carry something stouter that she can't operate reliably. And maybe if you're lucky, she'll enjoy shooting it enough that she'll put in the practice and become more proficient so that she ultimately works her way up to something more suitable.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
It does sound like limp-wristing, combined with light loads may be the issue here.

this

i have worked with a number of female shooters over the years

i have often been surprised how weak their hands / wrists are. counter-intuitively -- its also another reason to consider +P for an SD load. the higher recoil impulse- which may be more 'unpleasant' - can work to ensure the slide moves with sufficient velocity to charge the next round even considering a 'limp wrist'.

just as an experiment -- go to your wife and daughter and ask them to shake your right hand -- and squeeze as HARD as they can. have them really try to crush your hand. obviously a good-size male could squeeze your hand to the point of physical pain. 'most' women can't do that. hand strength is a FUNDAMENTAL component of effective handgun shooting -- as men we take it for granted.

ymmv. but to 'help' you may have inadvertently introduced the problem (light loads) + their relative inexperience. fortunately its pretty well corrected with some additional time at the range / training.

------------------------------------

Over the past I have seen most women to prefer wheel guns over semi-autos. Especially women mid 40s or older.
Sometimes because of limp wristing and sometimes because the slid to hard to pull.

Although my daughter at about age 40 really liked my P239-9mm.

My wife’s defense round is a .22. She is comfortable with it. She doesn’t like to (won’t) shoot larger calibers. It’s no fun for her and it hurts her wrists. She’s very accurate with her Buckmark. She is not with other guns. Sure we could train her out of the habits, etc…, but she would probably not find it enjoyable.

I figure she’s better off shooting at someone with a Browning Buckmark, than trying to fist fight.

Can’t you get a lighter spring for that Glock?

Otherwise maybe look into a S&W EZ 380. They are softer shooters and much easier to rack.

Get them some Gold Dots, have them try again. Likely poor form along with light loads in a firearm they aren't familiar with seems to be a lot of variables in a light firearm known to be sensitive to limp wrist issues

Before you do that though, get them some good instruction with an instructor that isn't you. They both sound incredibly inexperienced, and works fine for me what's the problem with you is not going to make them enjoy or want to continue shooting.

From what the OP wrote, it appears to me that it is a technique issue. My suggestion, have someone who is a capable shooter and is able to explain/demonstrate/correct the proper technique to your wife and daughter.

Being a good shooter and a good teacher/instructor/coach or not necessarily the same. Sometimes it just takes a different way of having the technique explained to make it understandable to the student.

Hopefully the three of you can get it figured out and it works out.

If you like the 43x and want to stick with Glock, maybe see if you can find a 42 to rent. It’s a very light recoiling firearm and may work better for her.

Take them to the range with a larger gun, maybe a G19 with reliable ammo or similar, and let them learn and get comfortable, first.
You want a proven, boring, reliable setup so you can remove as many variables as possible.
Then go from there.

Tabitha can't load or shoot a self loader, so she has a model 15 revolver.