Recoil Reduction: Interlude At The Range, Part II

A few days after we had tried the first lot of guns, my wife started asking when we'd go again. So we went back on a Tuesday - Ladies' Day, half off range time and rentals. 

Again, we took my Ruger P95 and Taurus 22PLY. And the first rental: the M&P Shield 9mm. It was assumed by the gun-store employee that I wanted her to try the Shield the last time we had been there, and I had denied the assumption. So this time, it was the first one for us on the range.

Credit: Smith-Wesson.com

My wife was not impressed by the M&P Shield. I thought that it was neat that it was so rounded, but with such a small grip the rounded contours were actually a hinderance to maintaining grip, even for my smallish hands. The safety was annoying to engage but relatively easy to disengage. The slide was easy to rack, and an empty magazine dropped free. The "single-stack" magazine is actually partially staggered.

Next up, the Ruger LC9s. It worked. I felt that the grip was too slim, but I had no problem holding on. My wife was not impressed. The safety was annoying to engage, but relatively easy to disengage. The slide was easy to rack, and an empty magazine dropped free.

Credit: Ruger.com

Next, the Kahr CW9. I was impressed. The grip was thin, but the texturing front and back really helped maintaining control easily. There is no safety, but I am relatively comfortable with the length of trigger travel to pretty much serve as a replacement. The slide was easy to rack, and an empty magazine dropped free. My wife was relatively impressed.

Credit: Kahr.com

Finally, the LCR .357 shooting 130-grain Remington range .38 Specials. My wife loved it. She liked the ability to see that it was loaded, and she liked how it felt to shoot it. The double-action trigger was smooth and seemed lighter than the one on the S&W 442. The empty cases did not all drop out easily because of a short ejection rod. That problem could probably be mitigated with technique.

Credit: Ruger.com

All firearms were 100% reliable, except for my Taurus 22PLY. It failed to fire with one round, but with a second strike from the DAO trigger the round ignited. My wife seemed to have difficulty extracting all the magazines. I especially noticed that she was not getting them to drop. She was having trouble reaching the mag releases, so she was holding the guns almost horizontally to do so. 

My wife confirmed that she wants a service-caliber firearm, and she has demonstrated to herself that she can handle it. She is concerned that a five-shot revolver might not offer enough rounds for a confrontation - and so and I.

A week later, she still says she liked shooting my Ruger P95 and the Ruger LCR .357. 

For myself at the time , I would choose the S&W 442 for my pocket and the Kahr CW9 for my hip. For my wife, it sounds like the LCR with a colored grip. Of course, this could all change with our next trip to the range.

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