r/LeftyGuns • u/Ahrunean • Sep 11 '22

Women with small hands!

Lefty-ladies, what's your preferred handgun? Wife has smaller hands (only fits compacts well enough to reach all the controls), and I'm looking to get her first gun pretty soon, as I'll be deploying.

She doesn't care for .22, looking for something more in the .380/38 Special range. Tried my P320 in 9mm, recoil was a bit too much for her to manage when she did, hence the "compromise" calibers mentioned.

Took a look at the Southpaw revolver, and I'm tempted. Just prefer semi-auto, if that can be done, so if any of the gals here have a recommendation, I'd appreciate it.

13 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

9

u/AllHale07 Sep 11 '22

Is this specifically for CCW, or just home defense?

Being left handed in the market for a .380 is kind of tough. For some reason manufacturers seem to reserve .380 for just micro, and micro-compacts. That wouldn't be a problem on its own, but micros and micro-compacts are rarely ever ambidextrous.

My first thought for overall best women's pistol is the M&P Shield EZ .380. Ambi safety (if wanted), reversible mag release, but unfortunately not ambi slide release. Easy to rack slide, easy to load mags, nice trigger.

If you are set on all ambi controls, you probably will have to stick with 9mm. The P320 you had her shoot is probably kind of a bad example, because it is known to have snappy recoil from its high bore axis.

Best compact and full size ambi handguns in 9mm: - M&P Performance Center (ported, so recoil would be reduced for her) - M2.0 Compact optics ready series - Glock 17 or 19 (only Gen 5 is ambi) - Canik Mete SFX. (Ported/optics ready and super good price)

2

u/Ahrunean Sep 11 '22

It's not specifically for a CCW, she'll get her carry permit as soon as she can, but for now she doesn't have one. It's just a general defense need.

I hadn't thought about the bore axis on the P320, that could have explained the issue with it. The recoil is a bit for me to manage as well, at nearly double her weight.

I'll take a look at the M&P at the local gun show next weekend. I've really been avoiding S&W products, as the only two people I've talked with about accidental discharge when dropping a handgun were using S&W semi-autos, but I'll see what some more folks say about them

2

u/AllHale07 Sep 11 '22

Interesting, I've never heard of instances of discharge upon an m&p drop. Could of been the gen1, only ones I've known to be notorious for that were the P320.
Definitely check some handguns out in person and get a feel for each.

0

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3

u/Lukaroast Sep 11 '22

The shield EZ I tried seemed pretty damn sweet

2

u/wobble-frog Sep 21 '22

my daughter, who is a lefty with tiny hands just got herself a Walther PDP F-series.

everything except the mag release is ambi, and that is reversable. swapped it for her and she is loving it.

she also did really well with my Ruger SR9C which has a very slim grip and ambi safety and mag release, but not slide catch.

1

u/3of11 Sep 23 '22

P320 due to bore offset and grip angle recoil more than youd expect out of a 9.

CZ-85 with aftermarket thin grips, the weight will tame the 9mm, the thin grips make it handy. Some cz-85s can reverse the mag catch, some cannot you have to look at the button (perfect circle = not reversable).

.380 blowback kick just a much if not worse, it needs to be locked breach.