26 Apr 04

Small Hands:

We conducted a Women's Defensive Handgun Course last weekend in IN. One of our female students brought a Kahr P-40. The pistol is small and flat- ideal for carrying, but not ideal for shooting by people with small, thin hands.

The woman who brought the pistol had fired it only a few times prior to arriving at our course. She was small and slim, with small, thin hands. Several dozen rounds into the instruction, the sharp recoil made significant additional shooting out of the question. The pistol functioned flawlessly, but she had no further interest in shooting it. We switched her over to a G19 and she successfully finished the course (six-hundred rounds) with no additional complaints.

Another female student brought a STI LS9- a thin, compact 1911-style autoloader. She was also small and slim, but the pistol gave her few problems, and she did just fine with it through the entire course.

We've seen this before. Small, light, single-column pistols in 40S&W do not go well with small, thin hands. Recoil is sharp and concentrated on a narrow stripe. Hands are quickly beat up. These people do far better with a small 9mm (Kahr P9, STI LS9, G19), or even a 357SIG (SIG 239, G32).

Conclusion: Personal safety equipment intended to be used during security emergencies needs to fit the individual. Ill-fitting, ill-suited equipment makes few friends, and thus adequate, enthusiastic practice seldom sees the light of day. With all the choices currently available, there is no reason to put up with equipment that clearly constitutes a mismatch.

/John