640 vs 642 for Girlfriend

[Misterbill]

My sweetie's hands are fairly weak, they just are. So she has a VERY hard time racking any of the slides in our collection. That is the only reason for a J-frame for her. It was her choice.

I totally agree with some of the ladies here. That is, that men too often think a revolver is the best for a woman's first gun. The way a revolver recoil's though, is NOT fun.

A way for women having trouble to rack a slide is holding it close to their bodies, just under the breasts. The elbows should be bent at a roughly a 45-degree angle. She can either use her left thumb and forefinger to grasp the rear of the slide OR, she can press DOWN on the top of the slide, while at the same time pushing straight through with her right hand, basically in a straightening out kind of motion. she should end up with her right hand (with the gun) at about a 150-degree angle around or past her left hip and her left almost touching her right shoulder. she can also use her hips to "help" her right hand through the motion.

For people who are having trouble racking slides, it can take some practice. And at first some people think they can't do it. They can, they just haven't got the motions all down yet. It can take some students dozens of repetitions to get this down, especially with a stiff recoil spring. Also make sure she understands this is a FAST, VIOLENT motion. The slower she goes, the harder it will be.

Very hard to put into words, but I hope this helps.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Problem is doing that in combat, quickly for clearances and reloads. For women who cannot easily do that every time, a revolver with slicked up action may be a better choice

 

[Misterbill]

Problem is doing that in combat, quickly for clearances and reloads. For women who cannot easily do that every time, a revolver with slicked up action may be a better choice

I agree, if they CAN'T. I've never had a student who couldn't. I've had a very few that couldn't hack anything but a recoil spring on the lighter side, but that's an easy adjustment.

It's actually the preferred method for a combat clearance or reload because it keeps the weapon close to the body. I teach virtually the same thing (with some very small refinements) in my intermediate classes when we do tons of work on malfunction clearance.

 

[CHLChris]

You have put some good information here for techniques to rack a slide properly, especially for people who feel it is "too hard." It is great to repeat info like that whenever a thread asks the question.

However, it is also true that racking a slide is literally too difficult for some people. My wife has medical issues with her muscles that make a semi-auto less optimal than a revolver for her. Training, for some people, isn't the trick. For some, racking a slide is just not possible.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

I agree, if they CAN'T. I've never had a student who couldn't. I've had a very few that couldn't hack anything but a recoil spring on the lighter side, but that's an easy adjustment.

It's actually the preferred method for a combat clearance or reload because it keeps the weapon close to the body. I teach virtually the same thing (with some very small refinements) in my intermediate classes when we do tons of work on malfunction clearance.

My girl has done 18 shots in less than 18 seconds with a M65 with full power .357 loads.. into 2 inches at 10 yards. I imagine few average men or women can match that .. (I can't, never tried with a revolver) I can only imagine a defender being attacked in her car or home matching that

BTW for every one else that is 2 speedloads