9mm for smaller hands.

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Lowestform

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I'm planning on surprising my wife with a 9mm. Her hands are average sized for a woman, smaller than mine, and I have smaller hands, size 9-10 ish.

I have a single stack 1911 in 45acp. She doesn't hate it. It has the standard grips on it, not sure if a guy can get skinnier ones.

Is the 9mm 1911 any skinnier than the 45acp? How does a CZ 75/85 compare? What about a Sig 228 with skinnier grips? I haven't seen (but haven't looked, really) for a 9mm commander sized 1911, do they exist?

Before someone tells me to go try them out, remember, its a surprise. Also, we aren't fan of the polymer firearms, so please don't recommend anything like that. Just a personal preference of ours.

Thanks!
 
A 9 MM has the same frame size as a 45 in 1911. You can buy thin grips for it. A CZ 75 with aluminum thin grips would be the same thickness as a 1911 with thin grips. I have had both at the same time and measured them. Yes 1911 commander size exist.
 
As a guy with smaller hands I had the same problem, as did my wife. We also don't care for polymer pistols. So we have 2 Browning Hi-powers ( as close to a 1911 as possible) and I compete with a CZ SP-01 with thin aluminum grips. My Ruger 1911 I found thinner grips online
 
Cz 75 esp tactical/shadow is heavy and not that small in the grip ( medium?). M&p with a small insert is pretty small. Cz 75P-07 would be a nice choice. Small light pistol, small grip, low bore axis and not a lot of recoil considering the weight.
 
Shooting a pistol well is more than just reaching the trigger and pulling. Folks with small hands can make the CZ's work but do so at quite a cost in time and I am not convinced ever reach their potential.

The M&P with the small grip works for most men with small hands and I suspect women too.

The thin grips can help but the distance to the trigger using a proper grip often is a problem with a DA pistol. The CZ P-09 works but I would want to try it first if I had small hands. If the OP's wife can't reach the trigger with a regular pistol grip and has to work to get to the trigger she is not going to shoot well consistently and might get frustrated and just quit. I have seen it happen often with shooters.

In a FS gun the M&P right now is the best option for small hands IMHO. For the ladies with weaker forearms and grip strength I would also add a reduced recoil spring as well. My wife is in her mid 60's now and really cannot pull back the slide easily on my pistols anymore. She does shoot a revolver well enough though.

Lots of variables to consider. Pistols are such a personal item and there is one for everyone's taste.

Take Care

Bob
 
Recon you're going to have to handle a few..Cz with slim grips isn't bad...I'm told the ruger sr9 is a slim.. but I havn't handled one...my sig 320 /250 comes with small/medium/large frames..the small might fit her...although you're not a fan of polymer pistols (I understand, but you will probably go there eventually..they are awesome) my cz75 pre-b wasn't any smaller than the shadow...and a commander length 1911 is shorter in length..but not girth...
 
I have really small hands and was once on the holly grail hunt for thin guns. Had ultra thin grips on everything, 1911, CZ75 you name it.
BHPs felt too thick to me. Then I got a M&P 9 PRO and discovered I shot better with the medium grip panels. After that BHPs felt OK and I put regular grips back on my 1911. Fell in love with the factory grips on my CZ85 combat and never installed the ultra thin grips.

Try before assuming.

M
 
Lowestform said:
I have a single stack 1911 in 45acp. She doesn't hate it.
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Personal opinion of mine: start by comparing the frames of 1911 9mm handguns until the smallest one is found and then take the time to have the grips reduced and replace the trigger with a shorter one.

I don't remember where I got the triggers but I have done two for female shooters like the bottom one (that bottom one is the middle one ground down but the triggers I got were factory made like that):

DSCN7981.jpg


Then you can go to a thinner grip as well:
nighthawk5_zps4ab4d841.jpg
 
As I stated before, no polymer guns. We've had them, then sold them. Not our thing. Thanks for the suggestions, though.

She likes my Commander 45acp. I do as well, she finds the blast a little much, howevet. I may just look into another 1911. Can't go wrong with 4 of them (10mm, 45acp and a GSG 1911 when it gets here!)
 
You could also look for a Smith model 39 that has been converted to restricted, or buy a prohib and have it converted yourself. They come up quite frequently for under $400 and they are actually a very nice 9mm
 
There's not much out there that will fit small hands better than a 1911. And no, the 9mm versions are not any smaller. They all use the same size frame and outer dimensions for the magazines. Commander sized guns also still have a regular size grip frame area to take the same magazines. The only smaller 1911 I know of is the Browning 89% sized rimfire gun.

While they are more fat a lot of folks and ladies with smaller hands have told me that the CZ's fit well. Likely this is due to the reduced width along the back strap so the cross section of the grips is rather egg shaped with the "point" along the back strap.

The only other gun I've tried and which the ladies have said that they found fits well is the Ruger SR-9. But neither of you wants a polymer gun.

I'd echo the idea of the revolver since the grips can be altered to fit anyone. Have either of you shot a revolver at all? Might be time to look into it. If so I'd tend to bite the bullet and go with .38Spl. The 9mm revolvers all require moon clips to hold the rimless casings. Or if used with no moon clip the cases all need to be plucked out individually. And dealing with loading and unloading of the moon clips can be a bit of a nuisance.

Be careful of going with thinner and flatter side panels. What happens is that the front to back size is still the same so there's not much improvement. But the flat sides end up reducing the gripping power on those surfaces so the gun ends up moving around in the hand more than it does when there's more of an oval shape with more even pressure all around the circumference. SOME gains can be had with slightly thinner grips but it's easy to go too far and too flat and end up with poor support that feels lousy in the hands.

If it is going to be a surprise I'd suggest you make it a gift certificate instead of an actual gun. Or get a cheap toy gun to put in the box along with the promissory note for an actual gun. Shopping for something as fit critical as a hand gun is about as bad as you buying her a pair of dress shoes. Fit and appearance being critical in both cases. So do the gift certificate thing and then take her gun shopping AFTER so she can get what SHE wants, whatever that may be.
 
An expensive option would be the SIG P225 a single stack 9mm. Normally a prohibited class but there is one on the EE now with a Barstow barrel, restricted, unfortunately north of $1000. The Canadian military replaced the old S&W MP revolvers with Browning HP and SIG 225 for women and those with small hands. Also only an 8 shot mag but a sweetheart of a pistol.

270 totheend
 
chadeech said:
not fancy but zastava tt33 in 9mm is as small as they come
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I agree.. any variation of TT-33 is smaller(single stack mag).. that being said, I favour something like a Canik tp9sa or tp9fs for a budget 9mm.. very nice pistol for the price. and accurate. very comfy to hold. Don't be fooled by the name.. marketing and brand names of firearms increase the price exponentially.

Any pistol with a double stacked mag is going to be a handful for someone with small hands.. be patient in your search.. and be thorough...best of luck!
 
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