Recommendation for a pistol for my wife to carry in her purse.

J frame revolver is a popular choice for that

Mine carries a Shield EZ 380, she loves that thing and I gotta admit its a cool little gun.

Depends on the size of the purse I guess. Jframe is one of my concealed carry guns but not exacly a beginner gun. Much less a 65 year old woman’s beginner gun.

Maybe one of the larger framed semiauto 380s?

The LCP max is very cool but I haven’t personally shot one to know how easily it shoots being as small as it is.

Glock 42 is one of the larger framed 380s but may be too large for purse carry. The same can probably be said for the 380 version of the 365

I really like that LCR .22 magnum

.22 mag is an under-utilized self defense caliber

My wife carries a s&W 38 special hammerless. Very simple just gotta point and shoot.no worries of jamming. Can get multiple rounds and low recoil rounds as well.

I tell her to point and shoot and don’t stop until u hear click.

Lady Smith

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My wife carries a s&W 38 special hammerless. Very simple just gotta point and shoot.no worries of jamming. Can get multiple rounds and low recoil rounds as well. I tell her to point and shoot and don’t stop until u hear click.

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This sounds like the best option. No thinking just point and shoot.

The last three posters have answered your question.

Great choice if she will carry it.

See if store will let her shoot a few rounds with it.

I honestly believe all these people recommending small revolvers will have a tough time shoot one at a range at 7 yards but hey maybe I’m wrong. I just know I shot pistols a good bit more than most when I was competing and I was not naturally easily able to shoot a revolver well. There’s not much to hang onto they recoil a lot making follow up shots tough especially if you don’t have a good purchase on the gun.


I cannot stress how much these guns are not a beginners guns. They have fairly heavy very long trigger pulls. That can easily be short stroked.


Just think hard before handing her the revolver. If you ever actually go teach her how to shoot it it may be a bad experience.

I would wager a lot of these guys saying they gave it to their wife have never actually had their wife shoot the gun or if they did I’d be willing to be she didn’t shoot it 50 times.

Having a gun doesn’t mean you’re immediately safer. It can get you into larger problems if you don’t have a good grasp on when and how to use it.


All this said I absolutely love my jframe but my wife despises it (this is the norm). My wife enjoys shooting her glock 19 however.

I’ve always been of the opinion that if a semi auto is too complicated for someone to conceal carry than they shouldn’t be CCing, they need to practice more. If they want a revolver so badly, that’s fine. But still practice a lot with it.

Too many people suggest a revolver so someone doesn’t have to ‘practice’ to use it. This is just plain terrible advice when the only time you’d use a tool is a high stress situation to likely save your life, you need to be very well practiced with it.

ETA: don’t have her practice in the middle of the day on a nice spring day in work out clothes. Have her practice in conditions she’d be likely to use it. Put on a dress and sweater and shoot in the dark, if possible. You want it to be instinctual. She will also then feel much much much more comfortable carrying it