I need a gun recommendation

[DONT TREAD ON ME]

Mossberg 500 in .410? Shotgun that is cheap and the recoil is minimal. The learning time on it is very fast and ammo is cheap so that she can practice with it w/o breaking the bank.

She is worried about a shotgun hitting her son by mistake. I think she needs to see that a shotgun does not literally spray pellets everywhere.

This is definitely a good potential idea.

Her house situation is not ideal. one hallway runs toward the bedrooms, her son's room is at the end of that hallway, then it turns 90 degrees and her room is another 10-15 feet down the hallway. In order to get to her son's room, she has to go down the hallway and leave herself completely exposed to line of sight from the front room as she enters his door.

I'm concerned about her clearing a tight 90 degree turn in the hallway with a shotgun. A handgun would be much easier, IMHO.

Her basic plan is to get to her son's room, lock the door and call 911 with a gun ready to shoot anything that comes through the door. My concern is with her ability to get to his room safely. Once she is in there with the door locked, she is pretty well set as there is only the one door to cover.

I think once she sees the spread of a .410 she wont have that worry anymore.

[Matt Fleming]

A comfortable, relatively compact, .380 is the Walther PK380. The trigger has some slack, but it's easy to shoot and felt recoil is fairly low. It does have a couple of quirky "features". There is no external slide lock - the slide can only be locked back with an empty magazine. Secondly, the trigger actuates the hammer when the gun is on safety - the safety is not a decocker and it's takes getting use to pulling the trigger with the gun on safety and having the hammer fall. Also, it does not have a magazine safety - not a big deal, but the "sister" gun P22 has an external slide lock and a magazine safety. The P22 has the same "feature" of allowing the trigger to cause the hammer to fall when the safety is "on".

[silverbear]

How about a Kel-Tech PMR-30?
http://www.keltecweapons.com/our-guns/pistols/pmr-30/

30 rounds of .22 magnum in a largish pistol.

OK, thats one ugly gun (and that means alot coming from a Glock fanboy). She is a girl after all, so she probably wants something with a little style.

Definitely something to consider though.

Yes it is ugly, but if you read the specs on it, it only weighs 14.2 oz fully loaded, and it has a capacity of 30 rounds. Here is a Gunblast review: http://www.gunblast.com/KelTec-PMR30.htm

TAM has an excellent choice here. More info from the the Firearm Blog here:

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2010 ... nd-review/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BTW, my wife doesn't see anything stylish about any of my guns..... :-)

[The Annoyed Man]

If someone is considering PMR-30 How about FN 5.7?

Also a good choice, but much, MUCH more expensive. The PMR-30 MSRP (and nobody pays MSRP) is an affordable $415.00. The MSRP on the FN is more than three times that at $1316.56, and it weighs more. The OP said, "This is a good friend of mine, so I will probably just buy her the gun as a gift. Budget is anything less than $600 or so."

I just thought that the PMR-30 was viable choice for a home defense gun for a first time gun buyer who is sensitive to recoil and is not, and will likely not become, a gun person.

[maverick2076]

PMR-30 was the very first thing I thought of.

[wilder]

Beretta 85 FS Cheetah would be a lot sexier and still has a slim grip and very little recoil:

[RPB]

Beretta 85 FS Cheetah would be a lot sexier and still has a slim grip and very little recoil:

and reliable and accurate

[function12]

I would not go with a Bersa Thunder. My wife has one and it is very snappy. I just got a S&W BG 380 and it fell better than the Bersa except for the very long trigger pull. My daughter would rather shoot my G30 45 acp then the Bersa 380. If you want/need to buy a pistol then I would buy a full size 9mm or 45 acp. The bigger and heavier the gun the less felt recoil in those cals.
A home defence shotgun with some #9 shot works well too.

[maverick2076]

^

#9 shot in no way qualifies as a self defense round. Neither #9 nor any otther bird shot will give the penetration needed to reach vital organs and ensure a threat is neutralized. Leave the bird shot to hunting birds, and stick to 00 buckshot for home defense. There is an extremely misguided thought process that leads people to think that bird shot will defend your home without penetrating your walls. Unfortunately, any round with enough penetration to effectively and immediately stop a threat is going to go through more than one interior wall.

[pbwalker]

^

#9 shot in no way qualifies as a self defense round. Neither #9 nor any otther bird shot will give the penetration needed to reach vital organs and ensure a threat is neutralized. Leave the bird shot to hunting birds, and stick to 00 buckshot for home defense. There is an extremely misguided thought process that leads people to think that bird shot will defend your home without penetrating your walls. Unfortunately, any round with enough penetration to effectively and immediately stop a threat is going to go through more than one interior wall.

that ranks up there with carrying blanks.

[pbwalker]

I would not go with a Bersa Thunder. My wife has one and it is very snappy. I just got a S&W BG 380 and it fell better than the Bersa except for the very long trigger pull.

I can honestly say that this is the first time I have ever heard that from anyone...but hey, no one knows until they shoot it, so the OP needs to make sure the friend tries out a few beforehand!

[RoyGBiv]

Mossberg 500 in .410? Shotgun that is cheap and the recoil is minimal. The learning time on it is very fast and ammo is cheap so that she can practice with it w/o breaking the bank.

She is worried about a shotgun hitting her son by mistake. I think she needs to see that a shotgun does not literally spray pellets everywhere.

This is definitely a good potential idea.

Her house situation is not ideal. one hallway runs toward the bedrooms, her son's room is at the end of that hallway, then it turns 90 degrees and her room is another 10-15 feet down the hallway. In order to get to her son's room, she has to go down the hallway and leave herself completely exposed to line of sight from the front room as she enters his door.

I'm concerned about her clearing a tight 90 degree turn in the hallway with a shotgun. A handgun would be much easier, IMHO.

Her basic plan is to get to her son's room, lock the door and call 911 with a gun ready to shoot anything that comes through the door. My concern is with her ability to get to his room safely. Once she is in there with the door locked, she is pretty well set as there is only the one door to cover.

Shotgun.. training class..
I'd go with a 20Ga if possible, but a 410 is better than nothing..
The issue of turning a corner is a simple training exercise.
I'd be more worried about shooting through walls with a 9mm FMJ than a shotgun

http://www.internetarmory.com/shotgun_ammo.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[DONT TREAD ON ME]

Mossberg 500 in .410? Shotgun that is cheap and the recoil is minimal. The learning time on it is very fast and ammo is cheap so that she can practice with it w/o breaking the bank.

She is worried about a shotgun hitting her son by mistake. I think she needs to see that a shotgun does not literally spray pellets everywhere.

This is definitely a good potential idea.

Her house situation is not ideal. one hallway runs toward the bedrooms, her son's room is at the end of that hallway, then it turns 90 degrees and her room is another 10-15 feet down the hallway. In order to get to her son's room, she has to go down the hallway and leave herself completely exposed to line of sight from the front room as she enters his door.

I'm concerned about her clearing a tight 90 degree turn in the hallway with a shotgun. A handgun would be much easier, IMHO.

Her basic plan is to get to her son's room, lock the door and call 911 with a gun ready to shoot anything that comes through the door. My concern is with her ability to get to his room safely. Once she is in there with the door locked, she is pretty well set as there is only the one door to cover.

Shotgun.. training class..
I'd go with a 20Ga if possible, but a 410 is better than nothing..
The issue of turning a corner is a simple training exercise.
I'd be more worried about shooting through walls with a 9mm FMJ than a shotgun

http://www.internetarmory.com/shotgun_ammo.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I would agree with the 20 but she has already stated that the recoil is a factor. There is minimal recoil in a .410 so she would more likely be comfortable using it at the get go. It is important that she be as comfortable with the gun as possible right away in case she would have to use it prior to getting adequate training and range time.

[G.A. Heath]

My advice, find someone who is a firearms trainer AND has a number of guns that she can try out. A friend teaching a friend is one thing, but a good trainer would help her in more ways and might just know how to get her past being recoil sensitive.

[RECIT]

I think any brand large frame revolver in .38spl will be low recoil and stop a threat. I have a S&W 686 and my mom has a Ruger Speed Six and 38's out of either gun feel like a .22lr. I will disagree with the recommendation on the PX4 have low felt recoil. I have owned two of them and sold both due to snappy feeling recoil compared to a Glock 19/17/17C or CZ75 in the same caliber.

I think the PMR30 is a good recommendation as well, but will not stop a threat as quickly but gives you WAY more tries at it.