What guns should women consider for CCW.

We have received so many questions about what do we recommend for women that want to defend themselves. These are some suggestions, and we would welcome feedback from people who have other good ideas. The most important suggestion is seek out local experts and practice.

Let me be the first to say that I take longer to dress than my wife. I have had a CCW permit for over 10 years and I have to match the holster and the gun to the event that we are attending. There are so many to choose from that it is very confusing.  The choice should be one of four different factors: (1) Comfort, (2)Availability, (3) Ease of Use, (4)Knockdown power. Please remember that as you glance through this article, it is written for women who are just starting out.  These measurements would be different if we were writing this for a different audience.  Also, please note there are women out there that none of this applies to as they can shoot anything that they want. We are writing this to the majority of women out there looking to protect themselves.

Lets’ take a moment and cover one ground rule. We at Carryconcealed.net feel that it is best to carry the most powerful round you can carry while safely shooting in control. In some of our other articles we talk about “grain per buck” but control is the key word. We are about to test some defense rounds that may change this rule, but as a general rule it works. We will update this article after our new ammunition tests. Maintaining control is an important point of self defense. It is better to have well placed .22 round than have a miss from a .45 caliber.

Comfort: It is better to have a gun that you will actually carry than one that you leave at home because it makes your purse too heavy or it makes your back side too big if your are wearing a hip holster. There are lots of choices for this category. 

Ease of Use is a term that changes with every shooter. We have had some women shooters that could field strip a 1911 and correct miss feeding ramp faster than you can say Mae West. In one of our classes a young lady showed up with the new Springfield Arms XTD. She performed flawlessly and had very tight patterns on the range. We have had others that could not pull a hammer back because of thumb problems. “Practice is the equalizer among shooters”. With practice comes confidence and knowledge. That combination works to feed into the Ease of Use. So if you are not going to practice and only use it as a defense tool, then you need to take your local trainers advice when he tells you that a revolver is the hand gun for you.

North American Arms Pistol Grip Derringer. Carryconcealed.net team gives this a score of 3.75

North American Arms has a great selection of derringers. They range in function from pistol grips to a regular derringer. The advantage to these pistols is that they are very light and they will be carried. The pistol grip can clip in to pants or shorts front pockets and it looks like a pager or pocket knife clipped onto the pocket. The flip handle version comes in .22 Long Rifle or .22 Magnum. Both are very loud and if the built misses the noise will let the attacker know that you mean business. The down side is the .22 round it is very powerful and an attacker can live if only wounded by such a round. These are designed for close range and can be very deadly if used correctly.  These derringers are re-loaded by pulling the pin and removing the cylinder from the hand gun.  This is very slow but it is so easy to carry that it should be considered as a gun where discretion is needed.  Having a larger caliber gun in the car would be a great back up, but some states require that each gun be registered, and in some states only one gun may be used for CCW. Other states have not ruled and you may carry a back up CCW gun. Check with your attorney.

1: Comfort                      5 Stars

2: Availability                  5 Stars

3: Ease of Use                 2 Stars – (Basic shooting is very easy. Some of our students had trouble with reloading)

4: Knock Down Power     1 Star

Other derringers may also be considered, but you will only have two shots and they are sometimes difficult to use unless you practice. Bond Arms and Cobra have several good models out there. The Texas Defender is a large caliber .45 Long Colt or 410 Shot Shell. This model is well balanced and we have had our Concealedcarry.net testers hit 1 inch patterns at 10 and 15 yards.  This is not normal, but it does show that the Bond Arms Derringer is very accurate if you practice. Not many women in our classes have liked these, but there are some that do like them.

Bond Arms Texas Defender when considered for Women. Carryconcealed.net scores a 3.75

1: Comfort                        4 Stars

2: Availability                    4 Stars

3: Ease of Use                   2 Stars

4: Knock Down Power       5 Stars

Revolvers come in many flavors and most of our women that have been through our training have appreciated the ability of ease of use. Some of the most popular are the Taurus .38 and 357 compact, Smith & Wesson Airweight . 

Smith & Wesson 637 Airweight Carry concealed.net team gives this wheel gun a score of 4.25

The advantage of the wheel gun or the revolver is that it rates high on the comfort as weight is very light and if the proper ammunition is used the recoil can be minimized while still having a significant impact or knockdown power.  Most of the students that we have talked to do not have the hand strength to pull many semi-automatic pistol slides back. There are a few exceptions that we will address both large and small. This model of the 637 includes the Crimson Trace Laser System. 

1: Comfort                         4 Stars

2: Availability                     5 Stars

3: Ease of Use                     5 Stars

4: Knock Down Power         3 to 5 Stars

Taurus 2 Inch 357. The Carryconcealed.net team gave this pocket rocket a score of 4.25

For those women that can shoot the 357 round this is an excellent choice. We tested the version with the hammer, and actually prefer the hammer if accurate shooting is required. This model is heavier than the S&W Airweight  which helps with reducing the recoil. Our women students did not like the 357 heavy loads but liked the additional weight so that the recoil was reduced on regular .38 loads.

1: Comfort                           5 Stars

2: Availability                       4 Stars

3: Ease of Use                      5 Stars

4: Knock Down Power          3 to 5 Stars

Semi –Automatics are better than revolvers when re-loading. This is a general statement and sometimes an urban myth. There are Law Enforcement men and women that can reload large revolvers very fast with speed loaders. The primary difference is the more complicated working of the gun itself, and the difficulty of checking to see if the hand gun has one in the chamber. More accidents happen when people drop the magazine and think the handgun is “Unloaded” when there is actually one in the chamber.  Personally I carry derringers, revolvers or semi-automatics and like all of them for different environments. Like the young women we mentioned at the beginning of this article, there are women that can pull the slide or what is also called the “action”. She used the Springfield Arms new XTD compact .9. At the writing of this article we did not have one for a review, but will update this when we can get the tests done.

Kahr K9 Carryconcealed.net’s team overall for women is a 2.75.

Kahr has done a great job with its product line. The problem with the K9s when being considered by female shooters is the difficulty of the action of the slide on the handgun. Many students both male and female could not work the slide back to place a round in the chamber. We have tested the Karr K9 and will be posting a review later. Our police testers liked them as a back up as they weigh in less than .23 ounces.

1: Comfort                           5 Stars

2: Availability                      4 Stars

3: Ease of Use                      1 Stars

4: Knock Down Power          3 to 5 Stars

Springfield Arms Commander 1911 Carryconcealed.net’s team overall for women is a 2.25.

What can you say about the 1911? (This is different from the new Springfield Arms XTD) This is one of my favorite guns and my son is a great shot with his. My wife and other students that have come through our classes do not like the recoil or the difficulty in working the slide. The single action was also something for the students to get over. Most people that do not shoot very often have a little bit of trouble with the idea that the 1911 is not a double action hand gun. The Ruger listed below is a double action hand gun. This means that when the trigger is pulled the hammer will come back and the gun will fire if there is a round in the chamber.

1: Comfort                             2 Stars  

2: Availability                         2 Stars

3: Ease of Use                        2 Stars

4: Knock Down Power            3 to 5 Stars

Ruger  P95 and P85. Carryconcealed.net’s team overall for women is a 2.75.

For Home defense this score would be around 4. The Ruger P95 is an outstanding firearm. It is a little big, and should be considered for anyone for home defense or where you do not have to hide the gun. All of our women students have been able to use this handgun and because of its size there is a feeling of reduced recoil. The reason this got a lower score is because of the size of the hand gun. If you were thinking of getting two hand guns, one for home and one for CCW, then the score for this one would be a 5.

1: Comfort                              2 Stars

2: Availability                          2 Stars

3: Ease of Use                         4 Stars

4: Knock Down Power             3 to 4

Barretta Bobcat – Carryconcealed.net’s team overall for women is a 3.25

This is a nice little 7 shot semi-automatic pistol that I actually purchased for my wife and she could not pull the slide action back.  So, I am forced to carry it as a back up or when being discreet is required. We also wrote a review on this for our regular testing’s and found that the little Bobcat likes the more expensive “Stinger” CCI brand ammunition. We tested with the .22’s from the discount section and had many jams and a few looks of disgust. “This is what I have to defend myself with?” Well we shot up the good CCI “Stinger” rounds and did not have any problems. She could pull the Hammer back and then pull the slide back. She loved the size, but did not like the two step process to load the gun.

1: Comfort                               5 Stars

2: Availability                           5 Stars

3: Ease of Use                           2 Stars

4: Knock Down Power              1 Stars

UPDATE: The Carryconcealed.net team gave this a 4.3 over all score.

The Carryconcealed.net team reviewed the Walther P22 and found that it is a well manufactured semi-automatic that we had several women with arthritis test. This was the first semi-automatic that they were able to use. It is very accurate and well made. Click on the link for the review.

There are so many handguns that we did not cover and we like some of those as personal favorites but we are trying to help those women just starting to look at getting a firearm for defense.  Again, this is not written for those women that can shoot anything. We applaud those women who shoot on a regular basis and have picked up shooting as a hobby and as a life saving tool.   If you have any suggestions or additions that you would like to see implemented in this article, please contact us at Carryconcealed.net

The bottom line. The winners were the small frame revolvers chambered in the .38 or 357, and the updated information on the Walther P22. Get out and try some of the different kinds of guns that we have discussed. Get with your local trainer and CCW instructor and have them show you the differences. Work with them on the range. It is cheaper to pay for an instructor to go to the range and show you the differences than to buy several hand guns that do not work or meet your family’s needs for defense.

If you know a professional, ask for a shooting smorgasbord. We do this for our students that want to practice with the different types of handguns available for CCW Permit holders. We do not sell handguns, so we just try to fit the gun to the person.

The semi-automatics were almost 100% dependent if a shooter could work the action on the firing line. If you cannot work the action on the firing line under controlled conditions, what is going to happen when the bad guys are hurting your family? The pistol grip derringers scored well on comfort but not well on knock down power. The revolver scored the best and most female students gravitated to them. They are easier to learn how to shoot and light enough for daily carry.

Clark –Carryconcealed.net