Splendid Isolation

You’ve probably never given much thought to silica gel packets beyond noting that they’re a mild inconvenience.

The tiny white packets are often included by brands in deliveries of shoes and bags – and we typically throw them out without a second thought upon arrival.

But the silica gel packets contain tiny beans of solid silicon dioxide, a desiccant or drying agent, which means they can absorb up to 40 per cent of their weight in water.

Silica gel can protect items from moisture and keep them dry, so can be a useful solution in areas such as the kitchen sink or bathroom cabinet to stave off mold.

Never mind that sink or bathroom nonsense; I must have dozens of these scattered around in my gun safes and sundry gun bags, all collected from various packages and such. Because:

…and I apologize most sincerely for any distress the above pictures may have caused.

Yesterday’s lead-in post contained this fine sentiment:

“Every Male Adult Should Have This Pair”

…followed by a lovely pic of two guns: a 1911 .45 ACP and a S&W .357 Mag revolver. And indeed, the sentiment is true enough to be almost tautological.

“But what about Teh Laydees, Kim? What pair of guns would work for us gurrrlz?” (said not one of my Lady Readers, ever)

Relax; it’s just a flimsy excuse for me to talk about guns and post pics thereof.

And right up front I’m going to state that yes, I know there are plenty of women who would feel right at home with a 1911 and a .357 Mag revolver. There are also sharks who may pass up the chance of munching on a scuba diver — but that’s not the way to bet.

Here are the inescapable facts about women shooting guns.

Women have smaller frames — i.e. lighter bone structure — than men. (Once again, there are Amazons, but once again, they’re not representative.) Having smaller frames means that the controlled explosion of a detonating cartridge hammers them harder than is the case with most men. (Men of more diminutive size, by the way, feel the same way. A longtime friend, who is unquestionably the toughest man I know, is a short, wiry individual who loves shooting — but he prefers to shoot 9mm over .45 ACP and .38 Special over .357 Mag because the larger cartridges beat him up too much. As he puts it, “After 500 rounds, my bones feel like sawdust.”) And having taught literally hundreds of women to shoot a handgun over my lifetime, I can make the same statement unequivocally.

So the solution for women is clear: a smaller cartridge chambering is preferable over a magnumthumpenblitzenboomer, speaking in the broadest of generalities.

Which brings us to the delicious part of this post: what are the two handguns which should be a part of every adult woman’s life?

After an unbelievably-long period of cogitation (about 20 minutes), I’ve come up with these two:

S&W Model 60 or 637 Lady Smith (J-frame) in .38 Special

Here’s my rationale:

1) this is a beautiful gun, by almost any standards; hell, the pic makes me want to buy one and I’m not even in the market.

2) it’s compact, so it will fit a lady’s (smaller) hand very well.

3) it can be modified — e.g. by substituting rubber grips — if so desired, and can be made still lighter by going with the alloy-framed Airweight 637 model (such as the one I’ve carried as a backup for decades).

Another choice would be the Mod 642 hammerless (double-action only DAO) model, seen here with the appropriate grip:

Finally, you can go even more lightweight with the 340/360 Scandium-framed models:

…but remember: the lighter the gun, the greater the recoil. Ask Sir Isaac Newton. And unless you’re of the S/M persuasion, avoid shooting the .357 Mag from this wee trinket at all cost.

Between any of the above options, there is no bad choice.

4) there’s nothing wrong with the .38 Special cartridge from a self-defense point of view, especially when decent hollowpoint ammo (like Hornady XTP 125gr or Winchester Silvertip 110gr) is used. And if MOAR POWAH is needed, there is always the “+P” option, which I’ve always thought of as the “Lady’s .357 Mag” anyway. (Caution: the +P cartridge fired from the tiny Lady Smith is not a pleasant experience — it’s almost the equivalent of a .357 fired from a K-frame revolver. Ask me how I know this.) And on a similar note: the Model 60 is chambered for the .357 Mag, but fergeddabahdit; stick with the .38 Special. Your wrist will thank me.

All the above, I think, make a compelling argument for the model 60 / Lady Smith as the first choice for the “Ladies’ Double”.

Now for the difficult bit: the semi-automatic.

I’m going to tackle this option a little differently from the revolver option, in that I want to address the cartridge issue first.

Empirically speaking, I consider the 9mm Europellet to be inferior to the .45 ACP in pretty much every way. That said, I do believe that the 9mm is a better choice for women because its recoil is far less damaging than the .45 ACP. (I should point out that this was Connie’s choice, and she was by no means a small woman — but even she found the .45 ACP too tiring to shoot.) So I’m going to go with the 9mm chambering — and the .380 ACP (9mm Short) for still-less recoil, if necessary — mostly because improved bullet technology has made the Europellet a lot more acceptable.

With a semi-automatic pistol, of course, one then has a further fork in the road in that one should decide whether to go with a single-action (SA) 1911-style, or a double-action (DA). There is no bad choice here; it’s purely a matter of preference.

If we’re going with single-action only, however, there is only one choice: the Browning High Power. And speaking for myself, I’d probably go with Springfield’s SA-35 model, for cost reasons:

But of course, the venerable High Power is a large and heavy beast, and thinking once more of our target market, let’s consider something a little lighter. Here’s the CZ 75 PD Compact:

Longtime Readers will know that I am a huge fan of the CZ 75, have owned several, and the above would probably be my first choice for a carry pistol if I were in the market for a concealable Europellet gun.

One could go lighter still, of course, with the various polymer-alloy-framed models out there — the excellent Springfield XD line comes to mind:

…but speaking personally, I find them uninteresting (okay, ugly).

Speaking of non-ugly guns, of course, there’s the Walther PPK:

…but I wouldn’t recommend them because although they’re nice-looking guns, they’re not that easy to shoot well — especially the older models, which give both “hammer-bite” and “slide-slice”. The newer versions of the PPK (as above) have a longer tang at the back, which goes a long way to eliminating both problems.

Alert Readers, however, will notice that the above pistol is chambered in .380 ACP, which while far less of a cartridge than the 9mm Parabellum, has become an option because frankly, the improved bullet technology I alluded to earlier has made the little .380 an option for those of us (especially ladies) who want something with even less recoil than the 9mm Para. I consider the .380 ACP / 9mm Para choice, therefore, in the same way as I consider the .38 Spec / .38 Spec +P choice.

In other words, as long as you use good self-defense rounds (once again, like Hornady XTP 90-grain), I don’t think the compromise is a bad one — if the lessened recoil makes you more likely to put the boolet in the desired X-ring.

I might as well address the ammo issue at this point. In terms of the 9mm Para (9x19mm) option, I would have no hesitation in recommending the Hornady XTP or SIG-Sauer Elite V-Crown lines:

And, of course, one always has the option of going to the 9mm +P, for MOAR POWAH — although care should be exercised if the pistol choice is for the compact type (see: Isaac Newton).

So: if I were to make the pictorial choice for my Lady Readers along C.W.’s line: