[XDGirl]

What is a good caliber to start out with? A good friend of mine is wanting to buy her first gun this weekend. shes wanting to buy a .45. I was told when i bought my first gun that i should start of with a 9mm and work my way up. Do you think this is good advices for my friend?

[supergus]

Depends on her body size, arm strength, etc. I know plenty of women who jumped right in to a .45 while others had to start with 9mm and work their way up(more expensive in the long run unless she sells the 9mm) Another option would be to try a .40. I rented two springfield XD's, a 9mm and a .40.
I found no noticeable difference in recoil between the two.

[huckleberry]

i agree with supergus. My friend's wife is about 4'9'' and as big around as a stick, she has no problem shooting his taurus .40 and she carries a taurus .38 special. so i'd say take her somewhere that rents out guns a tell her to shoot away!

[matt g]

Depends on your skill and experience. That's something you really need to be honest with yourself on too.

1911s are good choices, as you can get them with .22 LR conversions. You can shoot them all day and not get recoil shy, but once you get off of the range, you swap back on the larger barrel and slide. This way, your defense piece is still 9mm, .40 S&W, 10mm or .45 ACP.

Most people should be able to comfortably handle a .38 Super or 9mm though and Kimber, among others, is making 1911s in those calibers.

[ScottG]

Never having shot before? The .22 is probably the place to start. A .22 pistol will begin the familiarization of guns and be easy on the body too. I didn't start with one, but I'm certainly going to start anyone I introduce to shooting on that ubiquitous cartridge.

[BigO01]

There's a big gap between a beginner shooter and a first time gun owner , where exactly does your friend fall ?

Also someone who has extensive expierence shooting a steel 1911 and then going out and buying a plastic frame Glock , XD etc. etc. might hate the gun .

Will it be a home defense gun or a carry gun ?

Too many variables to make a solid recomendation without knowing these answers .

[G21.45]

When I was dating my tall and slender 115# wife, I took her to a pistol match where she did me the extreme favor of picking up my 45 acp Colt Mark IV off the bench and posted a higher score than I did. After 35 years of marriage she continues to shoot well and handles a full house 357 magnum revolver almost - almost - as well as I do.

There is a difference between 9mm and 40 caliber recoil; if you do a lot of pistol shooting - especially rapid fire pistol shooting - this should become apparent by the increased difficulty and concentration required to, 'settle-in' the front sight between shots.

As certain pistol shooters will tell you, the endearing feature of 45 acp is that it's an easier caliber to control under recoil - In fact, it's the easiest caliber to control. This is because the bullets are big, heavy, and relatively slow moving. The recoil characteristic is more like a slow heavy push than the sharp fast crack you get from either a 9mm or, especially, a 40 S&W.

My suggestion would be for you to take your friend to a rental range and actually try a few different makes and calibers of pistols before you buy. It may end up coming down to how the pistol fits into the hand as well as how much the ammunition is going to cost in order to become proficient with that new gun.

For whatever it's worth, in my little corner of the world, more women seem to prefer the Walther P99QA over any other semiautomatic design.

Walther

[azalps]

As my family members start shooting I get them a Ruger 22 Bearcat. A revolver is the safest to start with and with no recoil they don't develop any flinching or jerking. Then as they progress and go to larger calibers they will always have a fun cheap plinking gun the rest of their life.

[G21.45]

No matter what the caliber, if a shooter is going to flinch, then, he's going to flinch. The cure is proper coaching and training - NOT whatever gun or caliber a person is shooting.

I've known plenty of young shooters who qualified with a 22 caliber rifle in the morning and, then, moved onto using a 12 gauge shotgun, successfully, on the trap line, all, during the same day!

As far as I'm concerned it's more a matter of how much emotional fear a new shooter brings to the range with him. There's the, 'little engine that could'; and there's the, 'little engine that couldn't'.

Give me a new shooter who either listens well, or isn't afraid of the gun going; 'bang!' and, I'll give you a competent marksman with whatever firearm in record time.

[Clem]

Originally Posted by ScottG

Never having shot before? The .22 is probably the place to start. A .22 pistol will begin the familiarization of guns and be easy on the body too. I didn't start with one, but I'm certainly going to start anyone I introduce to shooting on that ubiquitous cartridge.

Particularly with the current price of ammo, a .22 is a good, inexpensive place to start. If you plan things, you can get a .22 and a similar centerfire so there is a minimum of difference in grip, controls, trigger, sights, etc. between the two to maximize training potential of the .22 as a sub for the centerfire.