Pistol for the wife

[open17]

Download some ammo for it and put a 13lb recoil spring in there. It will help with some of the muzzle flip.

+1 on that. Even if you stay at major, a 230 at 730-750 or so is a LOT easier to manage. Clays/Titegroup/Solo 1000,

any of them work nicely. Personally I like a 14 lb spring at 169-172 PF, but I have run a 13 with a shok-buff

in the past.

You can load the old 45 down to surprisingly low velocities and still have it function 100%. I've gone sub-minor

with a 230 gr and a 8 lb spring, and it ran like a sewing machine. Had about as much recoil as a sewing machine too.

Go back up to post #5 and check out the low platform safety. My wife-of-the-tiny-hands was shooting low thumb

with the stock safety and would sometimes bump it on. Went to the low platform safety and a high thumb

(thumb on top of safety) grip, much more comfortable.

[Ohioguy]

Well, we went to the gunshow yesterday, and spent close to three hours wandering.

She handled just about everything. The M&P's just didn't fit her, which I was surprised. SHe had a gap between the top of her hand and the 'beavertail' of the frame of a 1/2-3/4 of an inch. SHe didn't like the trigger as well. The XD's weren't much better in terms of fit. The CZ's and the clones fit better, but she didn't like the DA trigger pull. At one point, she picked up a Taurus 1911 that just dropped into her hand. She commented on how it felt, but siad it was kind of heavy. Right next to it was an alloy frame Taurus, which she handled and said it felt great. So the next couple hours was spent looking at 1911's.

She has a bit of a tough side, and when I explained to her about 9mm 1911's, and minor PF and such, she told me she wanted a .45. I think what she said was 'so people that shoot 9mm are cheating then, right?'. I explained that it wasn't again, but she wasn't hearing any of it.

We ended up buying a Springfield 1911 for an excellent price. We took it to the range last night and put a box of ammo through it. After the first round, she was a bit apprehensive. The Black Hills ammo we were shooting is rather stiff- 230gr at 850FPS, with a PF of 195, but she was a trooper and finished off most of the box, while I shot the rest. SHe said the recoil scared her, but she knew I could down load it and make it softer shooting. We found a couple hotspots that need attention, like the bottom edge of the thumb safety and the bottom edge of the trigger guard. It also needs a thinner set of grips. The rear sight either needs opened up a little or replaced. We had one malfunction- as the gun didn't go into battery. I found a cartridge in the chamber, but the extractor wasn't over the rim, so it kept it from going into battery. I am thinking it might be a mag issue.

She dry fired it after we got home and discussed what needed to be done. Overall, she is happy. Now, I have to see if I can get BE to ship me out dies and a caliber conversion so I can have it before the end of the week.

Thanks for all the offers to try guns out by the way. The offer is very much appreciated.

My wife has that same gap when she holds and M&P....it's because they don't have hands that are nearly as fleshy as men so they don't fill in that area, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. I see the same thing with our female agents that are smaller, but it's usually a non-issue.

195PF isn't really ll that much more than 170+ which is what you'll need for Major with a safety cushion...and it's possible that the loads weren't even 195 because box ballistics tend to be on the high side. Sure 170ish is a bit less, but not enough to really help a newer shooter. That would worry me considerably. Being a newer shooter the list of bad habits that can develp very quickly by shooting a more powerful gun isn't as much long as it is challenging to try and fix later. If you see even the slightest sign of pre-ignition push/anticipation (shots really low, low/left or wild misses) it's time to stop, back off and probably go back to something like a .22 or .38 with wadcutters and then maybe the .45 with powder puff bullseye loads for a while and slowly build up. You don't want to ruin enthusiasm by running into very frustrating problems at the outset.

I have a set of the thin STI grips that they put on their single stacks (came off my Trojan) that you can have for the cost of shipping...PM me if you're interested. Be warned though, it might offend the Springfield faithful R,

I won't be letting her shoot anymore factory stuff. I will be downloading them quite a bit initially.

She shot two mags and started pulling shots low left. I pulled the .22 oout and let her shoot that. After 6 mags of .22, she asked to shoot the SPringfield again. She did alright and finished up another couple of mags. I am concerned about her developing bad habits, so I am going to play it very safe with her.

[Neomet]

I've used Zero 230 FMJs pushed by 4.2 of WST. Bunnyfart soft. You will definitely need to respring with this load.

[G-ManBart]

I've used Zero 230 FMJs pushed by 4.2 of WST. Bunnyfart soft. You will definitely need to respring with this load.

If it's a .45, I think "bunnyfart" sounds too weak and may offend someone. Maybe we could bump it up to badgerfart?