043 News from the SHOT Show

[Jeff]

Chris, you are truly an inspiration. We should always be there for our sisters.
Jeff

[Miggy]

And nothing kills chauvinism better that hear the following:

"Wait a minute Joe. You got beat by a girl shooting a pink gun?"

I also heard this little tidbit over and over through the years: "It ain't the arrow but the indian."

[Miggy]

 heck Eric Shelton has a Purple AR

\

Fuchsia 

[Terri]

Joe I do not have a problem with pink. But what I hate as a women, when you go to the gun shop and after being looked over finally get waited on. Then you ask to see a glock 27 and the clerk trys to sell you an charter arms in pink. And the woman who does not know anything about guns buys what the salesman pushes. Now she has a nice pink gun she can not shoot for physical reasons.    Chris order me a Ruger Gp-100 in pink camofaluge

[Jeff]

Terri, you bring up a point I had not considered before.  It seems all the pink guns out there are small.  A Charter pink 2" .38 special is still a professional's gun like any other snubby revolver.  Manufacturer's should really consider making some of the ladies guns larger, like some of the old Lady Smith's.  I can only think of the Julie Golob M&P in today's market and that's just the backstrap.  Just to be clear, there are lots of women who can handle the light snubbies, I'm talking about first time women buyers who are steered towards guns they can't handle, as you pointed out.  By the way, I was in John's Sport Center in Pittsburg, Kansas on my lunch break and they had a Ruger LCP in raspberry.  Pretty cool looking, but not for someone's first gun in my opinion.  Now make a lady's Ruger SP9 in raspberry and I think it would be great for the women we're talking about.

Jeff

[flop-shank]

S&W used to make a 3" model 65 as part of it's Ladysmith line, IIRC. That's a six shot .357 K (medium) frame. It wasn't pink and it wasn't small. I wouldn't mind owning one.

[Jeff]

Exactly, Flop. That gun had a lighter trigger pull for the gals I think. They also had a really sweet 3913 with a differently shaped frame for the ladies. I'm betting Gail and Terri appreciated that approach over painting a gun pink.

Jeff

[John Strayer]

I see the problem is finally coming to the surface. I think the problem, no I know the problem Terri and Gail have with the pink to women marketing is that the guns have not been changed. It is a known fact that most women have smaller hands and less upper body strength than most males. You can not just color a gun pink and call it a womens version. I can not count the times we have had women in a concealed carry class that have brought the gun their husband purchased for them and not be able to work it. It is not just working the slide on the auto loader but also the trigger reach and trigger weight on a number of guns. I think if a manufacture wants to bring in a world of women shooters make a line of guns made for women.

This line would include reduced grip size, lighter recoil springs, on revolvers reduced trigger pulls. That line should also include a choice of colors. Pink, Fuschia, red, ect. It should also include more traditional finishes such as blued or stainless. This would be the place for the pink guns.

     My .02

[Gail]

Yes I can be seriously upset.

John, Jeff, Flop and Terri "get it".

It's not the pink, per se, it's the fact that the manufacturers tend to slap some pink on the aforementioned guns and market these guns to women with no consideration of their real needs.

My friends here  said it all so I will not belabor the point.

I just have one more thing to say:



Gail

[John Strayer]

Now that is an exclamation point !!!!!

[Steve]

Would that be the "Judge Judy?"   

[Jeff]

There's a groan coming from southeast Kansas. Good one, Steve!

[Daeglan]

I see the problem is finally coming to the surface. I think the problem, no I know the problem Terri and Gail have with the pink to women marketing is that the guns have not been changed. It is a known fact that most women have smaller hands and less upper body strength than most males. You can not just color a gun pink and call it a womens version. I can not count the times we have had women in a concealed carry class that have brought the gun their husband purchased for them and not be able to work it. It is not just working the slide on the auto loader but also the trigger reach and trigger weight on a number of guns. I think if a manufacture wants to bring in a world of women shooters make a line of guns made for women.

This line would include reduced grip size, lighter recoil springs, on revolvers reduced trigger pulls. That line should also include a choice of colors. Pink, Fuschia, red, ect. It should also include more traditional finishes such as blued or stainless. This would be the place for the pink guns.

     My .02

Not to mention that I might want other colors than Blued or stainless. I might like a red gun or a blue one.  Reminds me of what my girlfriend told me about riding pants. (Shes a Horse Trainer.) Women can get any color of the rainbow and men can have any color as long as it is brown or black. I look good in blue. Why can't I have blue? They really should have a full range of colors and those colors should be available with considerations to the needs of both men and women. Guns should be manufactured with the shooters needs and wants in mind.

[rolsby]

Saw a 20 gauge, single barrel, breach loading shotgun and thought of Gail and this episode.  Wish I had noted the manufacturer.

[Charlie Foxtrot]

It's been a long weekend, Appleseed kicked my patootie so this is all I have to say.

In what way Gail?  I'm going to the Appleseed training in a couple of weeks.  Got my 10/22 modded, printed the suggested equipment list, went over the course syllabus.   ...What else do I need to know? 

Great report on SHOT!

Thanx!

Appleseed was great!! But after two days of stand up, sit down, go prone, now do it again in the cold and rainy weather, my "more mature" body was hurting all over coupled with not getting enough sleep.

Would I do it again? In a New York minute!

Make sure you bring some kind of shooting mat and something for your elbows. Some people used elbow pads but I used my car blanket, all folded up and that worked great. Make sure you bring some kind of OTC pain reliever.

Bring two of everything that you might need, including a back-up rifle if possible. Bring all the tools you might need: screwdrivers, Allan wrenches etc. We brought 4 rifles and really needed three of them. Some of the problems we encountered: my optical sight came loose and fell off, fixed that, then later the battery went dead, so I switched to a scoped rifle, to save time (I changed to battery later that night). Mas' scope proceeded to walk off the rail of his rifle.

I had problems with magazines sticking in the gun and not going in, we finally isolated it to one magazine that was slightly different so we took it out use. Also use only Ruger magazines, however the magazine that didn't fit was factory and I had one that didn't feed the cartridges up. All of my aftermarket magazines failed miserably, and were from 3 or 4 different companies.

I hope this helps and I know you will have a lot of fun.

Gail

Just got back from two days of Appleseed training in Corona (the sun's), CA, and like Gail, I got my assets kicked.  This mature (below the neck), well-padded body doesn't do the transitions from standing to sitting or prone very well anymore.  Especially, when you're doing them 5 - 10 times each over a short time.  Like Gail, I was wrung out by the end of the weekend.  And Gail is considerably closer to ground than I am.   

I'm tired, sore, sunburned, dirty -- and one hell of a better rifle shot.  I didn't make Rifleman -- I wasn't even in the same zip code -- but thanks to the dedicated Appleseed instructors, I know what it will take. 

http://www.appleseedinfo.org/