I was wondering everyone's thoughts on a good handgun for my fiance. She weighs around 115 (which is a guess because she will never tell me her weight and I am smart enough not to ask) and has shot my full size, .45 and complains that it is too heavy. I am thinking a compact .9mm or .40. She travels alone for work and needs an inexpensive, durable gun she can keep in her car or purse.

.38 special revolver. No guess work. Just aim and shoot.

My wife carries a Sig Sauer P238. 380auto and she loves it.

Yes. I would suggest the S&W 442.

Lots of women have problems pulling back the slides on many of todays semi-auto pistols. Get her to the gun shop to see what works for her.

x2

Gonne get my wife a revovler. Haven't decided on caliber yet. She shots my glock .357 sig pretty good but wood prefer something more simple for her and safer to carry in a purse.

Kahr CW9!

i would suggest a .38 as well. my wife shoots my 9mm and my XD .40 with no problems, matter of fact she can shoot the .40 better than i can.

I would NOT suggest anything smaller than a .380.

i had to put down a deer that was caught in a fence, point blank range, took a head shot. then another one, then had to put the gun in its ear before it was done.

.380 is a glorified cap gun imo

Yea, I am not comfortable with the glock's safety system, especially for what this gun will be doing, kept in a purse/glove compartment. Thank you for all the feedback and I will look forward to more opinions

I am currently looking for a nice .38 for the exact situation that you are asking about. My wife loves to shoot, but really has to work at it to put the slide back on my glocks and 1911's... she shot a friends 642 the other day and it looks like she is sold on the double action 38's

in the last week alone, 2 women I know have purchased a Ruger LCP 9mm, so far, both love it. kinda small for me, I would get the SR9. the LCP is very compact though..

Point and click, just like a camera...BOOM!

because they havent been shown the right way to do this
dont underestimate your woman

Ruger LCR is another great option for .38 revolver

I have the .357 magnum version, but the .38 is a little lighter at 13.5oz almost everybody who has shot it likes it. They are super light and compact, very managable recoil, very accurate for snubie, price point is not bad at 425ish either

The only gun I will ever buy SWMBO is on she chooses. Get thee to a gun shop, take her with you and let her decide. This is a great method to ensure that future wife remains wife.

X's 2 on the Sig 238. The Wife loves hers, she never leaves
Home without it.

Yup. Best advice bar none. Her firearm. Her decision.

X3 Take her to a gun store and let her pick out what feels best in her hand. Let her decide if she can work the slide on a semi or would be more comfortabe with a revolver. It would be even better if the gun store had rentals so she could try more pistols before she buys.

I went through this with my wife. She had a lot of problems racking the slide on an auto. I took her to a trainer that taught her proper technique. Still had lots of trouble. It's an issue with hand strength and toughness. A 1911 .45 and a kahr CW9 were very problematic for her. The kahr slide is really tight and also abrasive. Exerting the force necessary to rack it with proper technique would shred her hands and fingers. I bought her a glock 19 after the training. She racks the glock without issue.

Revolver for sure then. .38 is a good one.

My wife caries a hammerless S&W lady .38 with +P rounds and really likes it. the only complaint is the weight if she isn't carrying a purse. I think I am about to get her a Ruger LCP .380 to stuff in her belt when she isn't carrying a purse. The .380 is a bit small for personal protection so the other option is the S&W bodyguard .38 because it is the exact same as what she has now but is mostly composite making it much lighter.

you may want to consider the M&P compact 9. It has 2 different backstraps so she could pick the one that fits her best AND, you can get one with the external safety. I had one with it and it was in the same location and functioned like safety on a 1911. it was a natural motion to drop the safety lever as the gun was being drawn just like the 1911. Just thought i would throw that out there as an option. 12+1 of hydra-shocks or something similar doesnt hurt either.

My wife is 5'0"/100 lbs and loves her Glock 26 9mm. In fact she's quite a good shot with it.