When we are planning our choice of arms for TEOTWAWKI, most men will choose those arms that they think will best suit their spouse or significant other (SO), usually without consulting them first. Let me tell you, it will cause you nothing but problems if you follow that path!
The best course of action is to let the SO pick their own equipment; if this isn’t feasible for whatever reason, then downsizing the gun will be required. Remember, we are planning for a situation that will not allow us to return to the local gun emporium on a whim! Also, the SO is essential to our survival, so why not let them choose the gun(s) that they will be using? This doesn’t just apply to the spouse, but also to parents, children, etc.
As an example, I am just over six feet, 210 pounds, have been a shooter most of my life, and spend my spare time either attending training classes or teaching them! I stand about eight inches over and
weigh almost a hundred pounds more than my wife, who has limited knowledge of guns and wants to know her guns, but not all of mine.
Plus, she has limited hand and arm strength due to some health problems, and her training has been minimal, which I am trying to rectify. We have spent considerable amounts of time and effort to find the right choices for her, with me making suggestions along the way, but ultimately letting her make the final decision. I have also been teaching classes for a long time, in the military and as an NRA instructor, and have had many small statured shooters in those classes. So, taking all that into consideration, here are some solid choices to consider:
The Remington 1100 semi-automatic Youth shotgun, chambered in 20 gauge. The stock is too short for me, but perfect for my wife and daughter. We have added a magazine extension, XS Big Dot tritium front sight, and a Side Saddle shell carrier from Buchanan BagWorks (www.3gungear.com) which attaches with Velcro so it can be removed or added as needed.
None of these modifications has added much weight to the gun, which is primarily for home defense, anyway. It is usually loaded with
Winchester #3 buckshot, with slugs kept in reserve. Being semi-automatic, there is no danger of short stroking it and jamming the gun up. The gas operation also absorbs more of the recoil, making it
more pleasant to shoot. My wife chose it, with no input from me!
She chose a Bushmaster SuperLight AR-15 with a stubby stock as her rifle. It has a skinny 16″ barrel–reminiscent of the early-generation M16 [“pencil”] barre–removable carrying handle for mounting optics (in her case, an Aimpoint red dot sight,) and the short, fixed stock. Why a fixed stock as opposed to a collapsible stock? Under stress, one cannot take the time to find the right adjustment hole on the stock for a proper firing hold.
Plus, it’s just one less thing to have to worry about. The short stock is about 3 inches shorter than a standard stock, making it perfect for someone with short arms or someone wearing body armor. Combined weight of rifle, 20 round magazine, sling and sight is right around 6 pounds, which is perfect for her. All of the above is available from Bushmaster. Is the .223 round perfect for everything? No, but she shoots it well, recoil is virtually non-existent, and ammo is readily available. For home defense and general carry, she uses Cor-Bon
DPX. Plus, she is able to carry it for a long period of time without undue fatigue, which is very important to her!
-Finally, after much deliberation and trial, she chose a Glock 19 9mm semi-automatic as her sidearm. Being a Glock armorer, I installed a set of Trijicon night sights (www.trijicon-inc.com) on it straight away, put in the 3.5 pound connector and the 8 pound New York trigger, bringing the trigger pull back to the original 5 pounds and eliminating the S-shaped trigger spring, which I’ve seen break many times. She shoots it extremely well, and in fact has served as a demonstrator in my classes for some of the shooting drills. She doesn’t carry concealed in public on a regular basis yet, so we haven’t worked out a CCW holster for her, but she does keep it handy in a Galco fanny pack when she goes on her walks . The fanny pack allows her to keep pepper spray, Surefire flashlight (www.surefire.com), and cell phone handy, as well. She keeps it loaded with Speer Gold Dot 147 grain jacketed hollow points, which is an easy shooting load for her, and is one of the better rounds available in 9mm.
While these may not be the best choices for other, they work for my wife. There are other options to look at, though. The [Colt and Colt clone Model]1911, especially in 9mm, is an easy shooting handgun, the grip can be configured to fit the smallest of hands, and 10 round magazines are available for it. If the steel frame version is chosen, recoil is minimal, and the gun and shooter will last for a long time. The SIG-Sauer P239 is another good choice, especially if the optional short trigger is added, making for an easy fit for small hands. A long time popular choice is the Smith & Wesson 3913 9mm, a very flat, stainless steel compact pistol that has an enviable track record.
Remington not only makes the 1100 shotgun in a Youth version, they have just come out with a Youth-sized tactical version of the 870 pump shotgun in 20 gauge. This may be just the ticket for those wanting the reliability of the pump gun and the tactical coolness of the 870, but in a smaller format. I haven’t seen one yet, but it does sound promising. Mossberg also makes a youth sized pump shotgun in 20 gauge, but again, I don’t have any personal experience with it. The full sized Mossberg shotguns I have used have been excellent, and I would expect that to follow to the smaller guns, as well.
Collapsible stock AR-15 type rifles are available from a host of manufacturers, so you just have to take your pick. I believe the fixed stubby stock, though, is the best choice, simply for the rugged
simplicity of it. Other options might include the Ruger Mini-14, also in .223, especially the stainless steel version with synthetic stock. A large number of M1 Carbines are coming into the market, thanks to the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) The .30 U.S. Carbine round is not the Hammer of Thor by any means, but out to 100 yards, it can be deadly accurate, and when loaded with Cor-Bon DPX, finally becomes a very viable defense and hunting round, and the rifles themselves never seen to wear out! Very important, indeed.
There are many options out there for the smaller statured shooters, male or female, young or old. Make your choices wisely and carefully, allowing the end user to make the final decision. Whatever
is chosen, please make sure the user receives adequate training. Only your life, and the lives of others, depends on it!
JWR Adds: Here at The Rawles Ranch we have several small-statured shooters: the Memsahib and our children. Until our kids are closer to adulthood, they will continue to share with their mother a Remington Model 1100 “Youth” 20 Gauge with Choate magazine extension, and a Valmet Hunter .308 semi-auto rifle with Trijicon scope that has had both its stock and barrel shortened. It has also had both a very soft Pachmayr Decelerator recoil pad and a Holland’s of Oregon muzzle brake installed. It is a very pleasant rifle to shoot. (It hardly feels like shooting a .308!) We also have one of our L1A1 rifles set up with an extra-short “Arctic” stock and a short “Papua New Guinea” flash hider. (Again, for The Memsahib and the kids.) As for handguns, the kids and I all shoot full-size stainless steel .45 ACP M1911s, but the Memsahib opted or the slightly more compact stainless Colt Commander .45 ACP. The crucial thing is that all of our pistol magazines interchange. Parenthetically, commonality of cartridges and magazines at a retreat is important, but being able to hit a moving target is even more important. Therefore, I don’t object to having mostly L1A1 rifles but one non-standard Valmet rifle (that takes different magazines). Ditto for having mostly 12 gauge shotguns but one 20 gauge. Yes, in a perfect world we’d all shoot 12 gauge, but in a perfect world we’d also all be just like me: 6’2″ and 190 pounds. It just isn’t realistic to expect the smaller members of the family to shoot 12 gauge. OBTW, everyone at the ranch has been warned about inadvertently mixing up 12 gauge and 20 gauge shotgun shells. A “12-20 burst” can be ugly!