question for the firearm informed

[arctichomesteader]

Start her out on something mild like a .38 or such, but given the danger from animals in addition to people, a .44 magnum or higher would be best. .357 magnum used to be popular but it's less powerful than a .44 and even the .44 sometimes isn't enough. I wouldn't trust a .45 acp against brown bears. I'd also stick with double action revolvers over semi-autos.

For bears hard slugs in a 12 gauge would work. For home defense against people I'd have 00 buckshot in it.

[Wingfoot]

Get her a good 22 pistol and let her shoot hundreds of rounds thru it till she really good with it.
Then load it with HP mini-mags and thats all she needs.
Don't laugh, mafia hit men use them.People po-po a .22 but aint nobody volunteering to stand in front of one.

The main thing is to hit your target-22 gives women best chance at that.
Once she'really good perhaps move up to a .380 or Makrarov Soviet surplus pistol but 3-4 22 slugs in the face will stop anyone.

[haboohunter]

Dusty and Happy speak volumes of wisdom,,No one likes to think or ask the hard questions,,What do i do now that the bear or wolf or pack of wild dogs is coming for "ME" What do i do??,,You and your wife must develop the skill of killing,,no second thoughts no remorse no hesitations,,You stand your ground and kill ,,If you turn to run you die,,you better harden up in your core,,That $400 gun turns into a hammer if your not going to stand and brace and fire,,will you get bitten yep or mauled yep and you might die if that 800 lb sob falls dead on you ,,or they can find your teeth fillings in bear piles along a trail,,you can go years with never a tense moment ,,so what do you do with the one you walk into,,the best weapon you have is your brain ,,learn to use it,,and for home defence,,your whole home is a weapon brooms knives hot water cleanning liquids use it all untill you get to the good stuff ^@^ and kill it

[Moose Whisperer]

Originally Posted by Barkingowl

An FN 5.7 pistol would be good recoil wise.

They had a used one of those over at Northern Security Supply on old Seward a while back. Looks really cool, like some kind of new fangled space gun. They also had plenty of Ammo too, which supposedly can be a pain to get. Only thing that kept me from buying it was the $1200 price tag. Cha Ching! Well that and I've already got a dozen or so handguns anyway.

[JMadison]

Go with a high quality double action revolver. Caliber-wise I'd reccomend .357 or .44 mag.

Here's the why's:

1) .357 and .44 allow you to use the .38 special or .44 special cartridges for her to get used to the gun at lower recoil. Allows the option for more power as she gets acclimated.

2) Double Action revolvers have no springs under constant full tension (like magazine springs) to take a set. Gun can sit on the shelf loaded and ready to go for decades without a lot of maintenance, swapping magazines in and out, etc. (Don't reccomend no maintenance, but double action revolvers need less care and feeding than autos.)

3) Ammo insensitive. You can use anything from wadcutters to massive hollowpoints in a revolver and not worry about feeding issues.

4) Out of the box they are often more accurate than autos. Though either can be tuned to match grade accuracy.

5) The use "drill" is less complicated for Double Action Revolvers than automatics, especially double action autos. Basically pick it up and squeeze. So less training required to be effective. Less things to remember or screw up under the anxiety that will occur if she really has to use it.

6) Single Action mode available on every shot if a controlled accurate shot is desired.

Well, that's all, off the top of my head.

Double Action Revolver is a standard reccomendation in you case with good reason. Yeah, it doesn't have the "sexy" factor of automatics. But if the idea here is "carry it, hope to never have to use it, but it must work when called on", well it's the standard reccomendation for a lot of good reasons.

[Wingfoot]

Originally Posted by JMadison

Go with a high quality double action revolver. Caliber-wise I'd reccomend .357 or .44 mag.

Here's the why's:

1) .357 and .44 allow you to use the .38 special or .44 special cartridges for her to get used to the gun at lower recoil. Allows the option for more power as she gets acclimated.

2) Double Action revolvers have no springs under constant full tension (like magazine springs) to take a set. Gun can sit on the shelf loaded and ready to go for decades without a lot of maintenance, swapping magazines in and out, etc. (Don't reccomend no maintenance, but double action revolvers need less care and feeding than autos.)

3) Ammo insensitive. You can use anything from wadcutters to massive hollowpoints in a revolver and not worry about feeding issues.

4) Out of the box they are often more accurate than autos. Though either can be tuned to match grade accuracy.

5) The use "drill" is less complicated for Double Action Revolvers than automatics, especially double action autos. Basically pick it up and squeeze. So less training required to be effective. Less things to remember or screw up under the anxiety that will occur if she really has to use it.

6) Single Action mode available on every shot if a controlled accurate shot is desired.

Well, that's all, off the top of my head.

Double Action Revolver is a standard reccomendation in you case with good reason. Yeah, it doesn't have the "sexy" factor of automatics. But if the idea here is "carry it, hope to never have to use it, but it must work when called on", well it's the standard reccomendation for a lot of good reasons.

Makes no sense, 90% of women and MANY men will never be a good pistol shot unless they start with 22.
And I was a military marksman instructor-start with a flinch she'll never lose it.

[RayinAK]

For the wife: send her to a training class. For these, you can contact Joe Nava in Fairbanks, and he can tell you who to talk to in Anchorage and vicinity. He is an NRA certified instructor, and quite a great person to talk to about firearms. His telephone number should be on the Internet if you search his name.

My wife tells me that she likes a double-action revolver such as a Ruger SP-101 or similar. You can always buy one in .357 Magnum caliber, and load it with .38-caliber ammo. The SP-101 is heavy enough to help with recoil. Lightweight revolvers can be difficult to shoot for recoil-sensitive persons.

For shoguns in bear country i would recommend a pump-action one with stock and a short barrel. I have a Mossberg 500 that comes with two barrels, stock, and pistol grip. I put the pistol grip and the long barrel away, and then installed the 18-1/2" barrel and stock. Load it with slugs for "smooth" barrels only. Some slugs are made for rifled barrels, and you cannot fire them though a smooth barrel. Also, never alternate slugs, and buck shot. For bear defense, load it only with slugs as indicated by F&G.

[Wingfoot]

It's not the recoil that creates flinch,its the muzzle blast.
She's not the wife of a gun nut and needs a good Ruger/Browning 22 folks

[Marty Van Diest]

I think wingfoot is right. I gave my daughter a double action 22 and told her to shoot it at a can 9 times every morning when she got up...she was staying on a location where she could step out the door and shoot.

At first she was very uncomfortable with a gun but after awhile she would load it up and hit that can 9 times out of 9. FYI it was a 9 shot high standard 22.

A ruger semi auto is extremely accurate and easy to shoot. Empty it into a bad guy and he isn't going anywhere. The gun is for personal protection not for dropping a charging brown bear.

[Dusty Rhodes]

Another option, handgun wise, is the .41 Magnum, it has equivalent knockdown power and bullet grainage to the .44 mag with about half the recoil, making it easier to shoot. Mine is a Ruger single action, no griz in N. Carolina. Interesting statistic on the round, from the muzzle to 75 yards downrange the strike of the bullet drops 1 inch, being slightly lighter than the .44, it travels faster. As I am sure you know Force equals Mass time Acceleration. Because it is moving so fast, it hits really hard.