ADVICE?-small handed wife looking for a 9mm semi with small grip

Sharkson said:
My better half came to the range for the first time in 8 years, and fired my teenage son's Mod 17 Glock 9 for the first time. She has very little handgun experience. Even with a proper two handed stance, she felt like the the Glock (with the smallest backstrap) was about to slip out of her hands under recoil with factory ammo.

Any ideas as to a 9 for someone with small hands?

Thanks in advance.
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Way I see it you have two problems, which may or may not be actual problems.

First, is your wife FEELING like the gun will slip out of her hands. Is this because the gun ACTUALLY was at risk of slipping out of her hands? Maybe, but probably not. My 12 year old niece can fire my double stacked .45 unsupported no problems. At the time she was probably 4'6", 75 lbs (not sure), with the hands of a little girl. At no point in time did she look, or say that she felt, like she was about to lose control of the firearm. Here's the rub: I have oversized grips on the 45. Her hands had less than 50% coverage on the available surface area of the grips. Holding it one handed is like holding the family bible. I did not have her shoot THAT one handed.

I take you on your word that she had a proper two handed stance, so I would want to explore why a proper stance did not make her FEEL like she had a good grip. (Maybe modifying the grip slightly could allow for better feel and recoil management) Many female police officers with your wife's stature can shoot the Glock without issue, one handed, on both strong and weak side. I am not convinced that your wife NEEDS smaller grips in order to ACTUALLY control the firearm. As a confidence booster you can try having her shoot it one handed. I have often coached new/young/small shooters who share this fear of the gun flying out of their hand, and those fears typically go away once they shoot one handed weak side and don't have the gun come flying out of their hand. Firm grip, lock the wrist, no bend in the elbow, she will be fine. I wouldn't start off that way, but it shouldn't take very long to work up to it.

The second problem, is enjoying a comfortable grip, which we all know plays a huge role in performance. Assuming she did have a proper grip, and still didn't feel comfortable, then grip geometry more so than size may be a factor. Only suggestion there is to get out there and shake hands with as many different guns as possible and see what feels right. She is the only one who can say for sure what feels right, and its why there are hundreds of different models out there.

Personally I hate Glocks because the grip feels like I am holding a square 2x2 piece of lumber, and being balanced towards the top side due to the light weight polymer frame, feels a lot snappier in my hand than the 1911 or a full framed 226.
 
I have average size hands for a guy over 6 feet tall, I find most glocks to be on the "slippery side".... there is a reason they are often covered with grip tape.
 
I've printed all this before, but here goes anyway - full-sized 9mm 1911. Accept no substitutes! Two reasons -

1) Single-stack 1911's have small grips and SA triggers; she can get her index finger around the grip to reach the trigger. And unlike some of the smaller milsurp's, the market is awash with 1911's and you can get every kind of trigger and trigger job you might imagine - even get lighter recoil springs, which is a big deal because she'll have an AWFUL time racking the slide against an 18# - my wife does (we settled-on a 14#).

2) My wife's first 9mm was a "plastic-fantastic", a HK P30L - she can't shoot it. Too light in the nose, and 9mm is gamy; if she locks her wrists and swears a lot, she can get-off ~7 shots, then the nose just wanders-off to the left. With her 9mm 1911 and its extra weight in the nose, no problems at all - and the trigger just gets nicer... =D
 
Can-down said:
I have average size hands for a guy over 6 feet tall, I find most glocks to be on the "slippery side".... there is a reason they are often covered with grip tape.
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I thought it was just because people seem to love putting grip tape on pistols.
 
Walther PPQ. Why look any further? I have the M1 Navy version (the one used by the German GSG-9). It's light, small, and shoots like a dream. I have small paws and I have no trouble with it.
 
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