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One more question: you say that "each are excellent guns" of the M&P, XD, and Glock. Would you not make the same statement about the Ruger? (I would, up to this point, as I have nothing against them.)

SlowDave,

I truly have nothing against any gun that functions. I am pleased there are so many choices. We all have our preferences and a chance to find the one that works best.

My preference is for the standard size M&P9. I have them all - all sizes and calibers. I don't care for safeties as they aren't needed if you follow the three safety rules. However, I can understand her concern when there are children in the house. I have a woman student that had the same concerns. My suggestion to her was to get a personal gun safe form Academy and keep the gun in it fully loaded and ready to go. I went so far as to suggest, if she had the funds, to put one in all the major rooms in her home so she would a gun available to her and safe from her children.

LIMP WRIST OR UPPER BODY
I believe that a gun that is easy to shoot and fits your hand well will make it easier to shoot well. Your friend needs to be encouraged to keep tension across her shoulders and down through her arms and wrists. Tell her she need to be aggressive and lean into her gun. Make sure that she is completing every shot! By this I mean getting a sight picture AFTER every shot. It is very important that she doesn't look for her hits on the target until she is completely done shooting and the gun is put down or holstered. Looking at your target for the hits before completing the shot will lead to relaxing too soon and so limp wristing.

Compvest,
Thanks again for the info. I will encourage her about the follow-through. Heck, that's good info for me. Does make sense though if she feels that pulling the trigger is the "end" of the event, that she might let loose at that point, which would exacerbate a limp wrist issue.

And if nothing else works, I'll try to get her to a range with rental/loaner guns incld'g the S&W M&P, Glock, XD, and see if one works better than the others. Gun safe is not a bad idea either.

I guess I do have one more question: why is the general self-defense crowd (stereotype coming next) okay with having your gun in a safe, which requires a key or more typically a combination to get the gun out, but absolutely against having a safety on the gun, which requires a one finger flip of a lever to have the gun ready? Maybe that you never have the gun in the safe and incorrectly think it's ready? (As opposed to holding the gun, thinking you are ready for the BG, and then pulling the trigger to surprisingly get nothing because it's on safe.) Maybe I just answered my own question, but if not, someone correct me please.

The info has been very helpful. Thanks everyone for the input!

SlowDave wrote: I guess I do have one more question: why is the general self-defense crowd (stereotype coming next) okay with having your gun in a safe, which requires a key or more typically a combination to get the gun out, but absolutely against having a safety on the gun, which requires a one finger flip of a lever to have the gun ready? Maybe that you never have the gun in the safe and incorrectly think it's ready? (As opposed to holding the gun, thinking you are ready for the BG, and then pulling the trigger to surprisingly get nothing because it's on safe.) Maybe I just answered my own question, but if not, someone correct me please.

The info has been very helpful. Thanks everyone for the input!

This is my answer others may have a different view point. The reason behind the safe is to keep those you don't want to have access to your gun from gaining access. It is not a safety for the gun owners benefit but for others. In my household I don't have issues with children... My home defense guns are loaded, out, and ready to go. If I had young children or more likely friends of those children in the house I would keep home defense guns available in a small personal safe and out of the hands house guests. I don't have any issues with mechanical safeties. I think the gun owner should get a gun in whatever configuration they are most comfortable with. I prefer not to have them on my carry guns as the gun I shoot the most (300-500 rounds per week) doesn't have them. The important thing is to practice to the point that the administrative stuff like gun presentation, mechanical safeties, reloads, and clearing malfunctions is at the very least a habit but preferably in muscle memory. I am an IDPA 5 Gun Expert and so I feel I comfortable carrying what I like. This is the biggest advantage of shooting a sport like IDPA - comfort and competence are increased.

I think folks here have pretty much covered it. The It's not clear whether the gun is a P95 or P88. I found that the plastic can feel a little slick. Putting a thin piece of skate board grip tape in the front of the grip helps give a firm positive grip. Compvest also mentioned leaning into the gun. A lot novice women shooters tend to lean back, sometimes way back. Leaning a bit forward and keeping the web of her hand high and into the gun should help. The P95/P89 are pretty tolerant about limp wristing. I think she should be able to the issue with the gun she has.

Best of luck.

Good points all. I do have her leaning into the gun and keeping her hand high on the grips. It is a weird thing to me that she and nearly every new shooter I've dealt with, seems like especially women, want to lean back when they shoot. Seems odd for that to be a natural instinct. If you told someone you are going to try to push them back, they surely wouldn't lean back, so why do that before you shoot a gun that has some amount of recoil? Doesn't matter, just curious. But she does have the lean into it thing down pretty well, but maybe the instruction about keeping some tension across the shoulders, and especially the "follow through" may help some. Skateboard tape... hmm. Might be good.

I'll try to remember to post back after our next outting with results.

Don't do the skateboard tape until you check with her. A lot of the women I teach don't like the roughness of it on their hands - including myself.

Women lean back as they are trying to keep the gun up out in front and away from their face. When you add in our natural build and way of standing well it is just the way God made us.