Do all slides take about the same strength to rack?

[gunman41mag]

Tell her to buy a BERETTA 85 380 acp, she won't need to rack the slide, cause you push down on the lever & the barrel will open & she can drop a round in the barrel

 

[Dobber]

My sister had a Beretta 380 pocket pistol about 10 years ago, not sure on the model. That damn thing was impossible to rack due to a heavy slide and the small size of the gun. It ended in what I consider a fairly dangerous carry situation as she had her husband load the gun each morning and she'd carry it loaded (on safe) throughout the day. I'd never want my wife to do that, but to each their own.

I'm pretty surprised that the sales techs didn't have anything better to offer than a Judge. Don't get me wrong, that's a great weapon for home defense, but I'd be concerned she'd shock herself out of "confirmation" rounds. Perhaps you could arrange to go shopping with her with some of the suggestions here? I'm not saying that because she's a woman but rather because I would have preferred this scenario. That is, having a more knowledgeable owner/shooter with me when choosing my first few firearms. Best of luck to you both.

-Dobber

 

[RandomName]

If her hands are too weak to rack the slide of an auto, isn't the recoil of the Judge a bit much for her?

The video posted will help a lot, and recoil spring strength is an obvious factor. A bit less obvious is slide height and texture. I was one of the first kids on my block to buy a Beretta 9000S, and I had trouble racking the slide on that thing quickly. Double recoil springs and a TINY TINY TINY bit of slide to gain purchase on to rack it.

Just from handling them, Kahr seems like they are easier to rack than some others thanks to the rather blocky slide.

 

[11-B]

My wife had the same problem...my glock 36 she would have a better chance to just throw it and try to hit the target....and the LCP she had was much better but for her they easiest would be the Sig Mosquito.....(looking to get her one again) she loved that pistol so much and she kicked a$$ shooting it

 

[donnie1581]

A problem with many of the sub compact pistols is that they are so small you really have nothing to hold on to when you try to rack it. Even at 6'2", 220 lbs and at least as strong as average, and I haveto struggle racking some of the little slides. I carried a Beretta Tom Cat .32 with a tilt barrel when I wore a suit to work, and even though I could rack the slide, the tilt barrel feature was nice. In addition to the initial function of loading the pistol, one should to be able to rapidly clear a jam under stress.

A compact revolver is usually a lot easier to depend on.

My wife has issues chambering a round in her px4 subcompact. I'm going to have to show her the video posted up thread so she knows the best way to do it. I think most of it is because she's afraid she's going to pinch some skin between the barrel and slide.