Handgun For The Wife

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My better-half wants to try handgun shooting.I want to start her with a quality .22 semi-auto. Any suggestions? Looking at a Sig mosquito, but heard that problems occur using various types of ammo. Thanks in advance for any info.
 
Handgun For The Wife? - Sounds like a good trade:rolleyes:

Seriously, though, if she hasn't shot before, she can be intimidated by even the .22 "recoil". I found with my ex that the smaller the grips the better control she had, and made her a little more relaxed. I only shot the Mosquito once so I can't really speak for it. What are your chances of finding a way to let her sample a few different makes?
 
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I have a sig mosquito and have not had a hitch with it. I have run American eagle, winchester white box, remington and CCI. I know on some of the U.S. boards there were issues with the initial Mosquito's but have not heard of any issues with the new ones. I think the Mosquito is a great pistol. My wife grew from the mosquito to a Sig 226 in 9mm and a SIG GSR .45auto. its a great pistol to learn to shoot an auto with, and to practice cheap. Highly recomend it.

Here's a video of her with her SIG 45 auto. The Mosquito time payed off.

http://s50.photobucket.com/albums/f305/dangerdeb/?action=view&current=RangeAug292007006.flv
 
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I'd say you could go with a Ruger MKII/III. Beautiful? No! but apart from that, it's pretty much the best bang for the money. Reliable, available in serveral models, cheap, it'll eat any cheap ammo. If she doesn't like it, you can always sell it back for the price you paid it. I tried several S&W and they are picky about ammo, same for mosquitoes, Walther??? but they are clearly made for small-handed shooters. Tell us what you buy.

Moes123
 
Take her shopping. Let her pick up a few and let the choice be hers. She'll be more inclined to shoot the gun if she chooses it.
 
Take her shopping. Let her pick up a few and let the choice be hers. She'll be more inclined to shoot the gun if she chooses it.

The h*ll with shopping, take her shooting. I let my wife use the .357 with .38Sp, watcher her for a bit to make sure she handled it well and knew exactly what to do if there were any problems while I went back to shooting the .40. What seemed like no more than 5 minutes later she wanted another box of shells. Another 5 or 10 minutes and she wants ANOTHER box of shells. At this point I was out of .38's so I let her load it up with the factory 357's I was going to shoot and stood back to watch. She didn't like them too much but she did empty the cylinder first. I took the 357 and she started using the .40S&W. Once again I watched a bit and went back to shooting myself. She went through about 150 rounds of .40 before running out. All I had left was the .22 Ruger. She didn't like it.

She now has her own 357 and thinks of the .40 as 'her' gun. I had to buy a 9mm just to have a bang bang pistol to shoot as well. It seems I am the only one who really likes and appreciates the Ruger, not because it is a Ruger but because it is a .22. YMMV.
 
Agreed - my g/f does very well with ours. It has really helped both of us improve our shooting :)

Ruger MK3 is always a safe bet.

MkIII.jpg
 
Was at the range last night with my 16 year old son. We both had a blast with our Sig. I had read all sorts of problems with the mosquito as well (of course after I had impulsively purchased it :D) so I went prepared with a whack of different types of ammo. A lot of them were the hotter hyper rounds they were all recommending on the web. Best ammo thought it was the CCI Mini Mag. Felt nice, very manageable even with rapid fire. Some of the hotter stuff had some real recoil to it, most of that got run thought the 10/22 after a couple mags worth through the sig. I was too worried about breaking somethin. Lots of flash and bang from the hotter stuff as well. Had a lot of failure to eject with all the different hyper stuff. The real cheap stuff had a lot of problems with FTF and stovepipes, seemed to me that with all the cheap stuff I could wiggle the bullet in the brass and I think the problem was it would get wedged cause of the steep angle on the feed ramp. As long as the bullet was solid in the brass it worked pretty good. Also the copper coated stuff always worked much better than the plain lead, even the stuff that looks like it's only a copper wash, don’t know why a copper wash would help that much but it did.
The mini mag stuff is not to hard on the pocket book and I can get it in 100 round bricks so I figure I’ll stick with that.
All together we put about 400 rounds through the Sig last night, it had lots of carbon fouling, lots, but the last two full mags were with the mini mag, I had left 20 rounds to see how it would work very dirty, and they went through flawlessly.
But back to the recoil, my son tells me he thought the recoil was slight, no problem to keep the gun on paper and he never felt that he wasn’t in control of it. We both liked the feel of the grip too, but then we both have very long fingers. A buddy was with us as well and he has very stubby fingers (his words) and even he thought it felt ok.
The best thing with the Sig is its closeness to a “real” pistol. Just glancing at it on the table you’d be hard pressed to tell it wasn’t at least a 9mm. That might help with the recoil as well. Not the most acurate shooter but still some good groups and a lot of fun to shoot. Couldn't keep the mags loaded fast enough.
Very happy with the Sig Mosquito.
 
I've got a Kimber (read: Ciener) .22LR conversion kit on top of my Sproingfield Armory Milspec and my wife just loves that rig.

She also owns her own 1911 9mm single stack for competition. Small frame with Pearce Thin Grips in rubber slab format. She loves this pistol. Easy to rack and lock open and the single stack 9mm mags are kind (easy soft springs) on her thumbs to reload. She did not like my Browning HP magazines nor did she like the Glock 17 mags for stuffing.

She settled for the 1911 9mm singlestack. Try what works for YOU and her!!

Peace be to journey
 
If you want a quality accurate handgun then go for the Ruger if you want a .22 and don't want to break the bank. I personally have three but I don't shoot them. (one out on long term loan. 2 years?) I like best my High Standard model Citation. I also have another Trophy I believe but I have not shot it yet. I really like the balance on this gun and the way it feels in my hand. Another good accurate gun is a S&W model 41. More pricey than the rest. I like it but not my favorite.

You should get here to try some first. If the cost to shoot is not that much of a concern, and you reload, then I would suggest a S&W K frame model that will shoot a 38 Special (either a gun in 38 Special or 357 Magnum). I find a lot women do better with a good revolver (shooting a mild load) over most other guns.
 
Mine went into the shop bound and determined to buy a Walther P99.
After playing with the Walther ,a Ruger MK III,CZ SP-01,Browning Buckmark and some other toys, the gentleman behind the counter sold her the Browning.
It ended up being a contest between the two .22's and the Ruger bit her so it lost.
She's impressed with her choice so far and has a great time with it.
 
Any of the Ruger mk's. You can get a used Mk.1 bull barrel with target sights for around 2-300.00. Excellent trigger right out of the box, dead reliable, very accurate. Check the EE's. I sure love mine, especiallywith the Hogue grips!
 
My better-half wants to try handgun shooting.I want to start her with a quality .22 semi-auto. Any suggestions? Looking at a Sig mosquito, but heard that problems occur using various types of ammo. Thanks in advance for any info.


High Standard .22 - I shoot it and so does our 13 yr old son, haven't had any problems with any of the various types of ammo we have sent through it.

That being said, Sigs are things of beauty - I really would like a Sig Trailside, but they are a little on the pricey side.

Have fun on the range with her and watch out, if she has fun the first time - you will have to buy her more!
 
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Another option is the Walther P-22. Although it looks like it might get converted to .17HMR :p
Gone through ~300 rounds just this weekend without a single problem.
 
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