My youngest son works away from home quite a bit. He and the wife decided that she should have a handgun for around the house SD.
They came down from the City for Thanks Giving. Today we had a Range Day to try out some different handguns. We set up a couple IDPA Silhouettes. I gave her some instruction, and let her dryfire my S&W 64-2 a little. I then moved her to my 617 4" for a few cylinders full of 22LR ammo. She was shooting the center out of the target at about 5 Yards. Next we moved to the 64-2 for a few cylinders full. After that we tryed out a 3" GP100, a 3" 625, a 2.75" 310 Night Guard, a 4" 610 with 40 S&W ammo, a 637, an XDm Full size 40 S&W, and a 5" 1911.
She was a real Trooper, and did a great job shooting every gun. She had issues with the slide on the 1911 and XDm. Way to hard for her to rack.
The 637, and 310 Night Guard both kicked to hard. The GP100 pinched her trigger finger. No idea why. Might be a trigger reach issue, or to heavy a DA pull. The 625 and 610 both had a little more recoil than she enjoyed.
At the end of the Range Day she decided that she liked the 64 S&W 4" HB the best. Her last group of the day was about 1" wide X 3" Vertical Dead in the Center.
We lucked out and found her a 4" HB 64-1 in almost new condition. I will get an action job done to it, and some better grips. A little Green Sight Paint, and a couple Safariland Comp III speed loaders. Probably better have the chambers chamfered also, so it is exactly like mine.
I had her try loading with 3 different speedloaders. She liked the Safariland Comp III's best.
I really thought she would like the 3" GP100 best to start with, and might have if I had done a little action work on it before she shot it. We have the springs, just had not gotten around to doing the work on it.
My old 64 is my SSR Match Gun, and is smooth as silk. She really liked it. I guess I better get hers in the same shape before she takes it home.
Bob