...........

[SCMA-1]

Not sure why a lot have recommended a 3" .357/.38....that is what she is carrying NOW....guess that was overlooked in my original post.

That's what I was trying to comprehend myself especially after you had clearly stated that such a weapon was unsuitable for her.

[BigBamBoo]

..............

[SCMA-1]

One more thing; you mentioned a Taurus 22mag revolver as a possible choice. Besides the cartridge (which I think is a bit inadequate for "social" purposes), I don't think she'll like the double action trigger. I have a Taurus 94 4" 9 shot 22LR and while it's a nice little revolver overall, it's double action pull is very heavy , gritty and stagey.

[stangallmotor]

XD9, My GF loves to shoot mine. Very little recoil, accurate, lightweight, and looks great!

[civilsnake]

I actually agree with you on the .22mag. It's good enough to do the job and can hold more shots in a small package. In fact that's what my uncle has been carrying for a couple years now. The light recoil will also give her more incentive to practice with it, making it a Hel of a lot more effective than a .38spl she's not going to train with.

SW and Taurus both make small revolver chambered in it. And to a wood-troll, it looks just like a .357 snubbie.

[Californio]

I just weighed my Colt Diamond Back in .38 special. It weighs 28oz. empty. 4" barrel, 6 rounds, fits any S&W K frame holster. Standard factory action is smooth as glass in DA. Target trigger and hammer. You could taper a set of grips to her hand. Load up some 148gr. HBWC for her to practice with and gain confidence. 4" sight plane works better than 3" and one more in the hole than a "J" frame. The Diamond back has really nice balance. Find a +p load that has the same POI as the practice load, use it only when carrying, in the Gravest Extreme, she will not even notice the added power. Important to practice just with the HBWC load.

I bet you can find a used one that has a beat-up finish and duracoat it, do the grip and make it her gun only.

If you go down to .32 acp which I would not reccomend, consider a Colt 1903.

How much does the Sp-101 weigh?

[Rekrab]

I really like my Bersa Thunder in .380. It is very pleasant to shoot. Most people will tell you .380 is a lousy caliber and ammo is both expensive and hard to find. The barrel on the Bersa is only 3.5". For outdoors, this is a little small.

I'll toss in another vote on the .380. I've had some girls shoot my Bersa and they were even smaller than your wife. They all seemed to shoot it better than I do. >.<

Easy to rack, slightly snappy, but light, recoil and accurate enough at the distances that matter. If you ever come down to Orange County I'd be more than happy to take you and your wife out to a range to try it out.

[Bird of Fire]

Correct me if I'm wrong but in the first pic BBB - it doesn't look like she's wearing a proper gun belt, but a dress belt.

The right gun belt/holster makes all the difference in the world even for a small framed lady to carry. It will properly support and distribute the weight of the firearm. I can carry my full size 1911 without issue for a good 4 hours while hiking with a good gun belt. But on a floppy leather dress belt? Forget it. It sucks to carry that thing more than 10 minutes.

I would look into something polymer with a shorter barrel in 9mm semi auto myself. A walther P99, FNP9, XD9, or even a ruger SR9 (VERY slim frame for small hands, and comfy to carry) would work for her weight wise. But most importantly is her getting her mitts on them and making sure she can reach the trigger and shoot em just fine and is comfy with them.

Then more importantly she needs to practice practice practice till she's a good shot. I don't think a 22 is the best idea for her to have, nor would a mouse gun. The flinch will go away with practice.

[aermotor]

I don't think you can go wrong with any model of Glock for her really...

[nn3453]

Stan, I would argue against a lightweight 357 for a small framed lady. A lightweight 357 is easy to carry but hard to keep on target. I've seen large guys not able to hit what they wanted to with a lightweight 357 because of felt recoil.

Instead of a 357, I would recommend a 9mm pistol and trigger time to learn the controls and place shots where she wants to. Maybe like a Glock 19 or a 26. I personally find that a 19 is easier to manipulate than a 26. The advantages I'd claim are:

-Very little felt recoil as well as lighter weight than a heavy 357 revolver. This means that she can train longer each time at the range versus a 357. Also, she can learn to place shots where she wants to, especially under stress.
-Capacity.

Most people will say that a 9mm does not have stopping power, but it is better to make multiple 9mm hits than miss with a 357. With good ammo, 9mm is a decent self defense round.

[bak]

get her a 9mm, even with 10 rounds, just having it on the hip will act as a deterrent. However whatever she can shoot well will be the best.

[1 SIG fan]

As a earlier poster said, Sig 239 in 9mm.
my wifes 5' >100#. can shoot my 45, 40 but is VERY comfortable with the 239 9mm. She shot the full size and baby glock 9mm (not sure of model#) and each was uncomfortable for her. The Sig is soooo smooth, and controable (disregard screename bias).

[Untamed1972]

I think Stan just likes finding excuses to posts pics of his hot wife! LOL

[Swift Justice]

FN Five Seven. Simple action (straight blowback) low recoil, very lightweight. Only drawback is that it is a full sized pistol. FN is actually marketing these to women now.

My wife likes to shoot it (5'0" 105 lbs), whereas she does not like to shoot the Taurus Ultralite 38 special that I bought her, nor my Glock 17 either.

Any question about the lethality of the 5.7x28 round was answered after the Ft. Hood shooting.

[JBird33]

FN Five Seven. Simple action (straight blowback) low recoil, very lightweight. Only drawback is that it is a full sized pistol. FN is actually marketing these to women now.

My wife likes to shoot it (5'0" 105 lbs), whereas she does not like to shoot the Taurus Ultralite 38 special that I bought her, nor my Glock 17 either.

Any question about the lethality of the 5.7x28 round was answered after the Ft. Hood shooting.

Shot over 100 rounds, hit 43 people and killed 13 of them. I'm no expert and I am sure the round is plenty lethal, as is anything fired from a gun...but I would need a lot more data than that to make a judgement on how lethal a given round is. Probably a lot better out of the P90.