what do people do...

[kailculus]

what do you guys do to reduce the recoil and the kick?

i recently bought a xd9 tactical, and my wife isn't liking the recoil and kick much. she thinks it's little too powerful. what would you guys suggest to help the situation? we have only shot WWB and Federal from walmart so far.

she was fine shooting other's 1911 .45acp and glock .40, but i think it's because the ammo we used were all reloads at the time.

should i look into reloading? or get new springs and guide rod? any mods?

[BigBear]

There are a lot of mods you can do to any firearm...

However, if it's a new gun, I'd just say wear a glove and put 1K through it and it'll soften up. Make sure her grip is "correct"... one can minimize a lot of recoil just by having proper technique and follow through.

You could change out springs, etc, but then you start playing with reliability of the system.



I shoot Glocks. My wife is really petite. She was having trouble with the .45 (G21SF). I just put a few layers of masking tape (obvisouly folded so it's not sticky) where the rod meets the frame (right under the barrel) and it's made a lot of difference for her with no malfunctions. Though she still prefers her G26 (9mm).

[SA Friday]

Recoil control and recovery is 70% shooter's form and 30% mechanical. Lighter guns will recoil with more force than a heavier gun. A 9mm with WWB is FAR from difficult recoil. If your wife is finding it too powerful out of a full sized XD, then the issue is her shooting form. Anything you do to the gun will only be a masking tape fix to cover up the real issue.

Get her into a class with a good instructor, and get her good basic shooting skills.

[nogaroheli]

What BigBear said about grip, round count.

Also look into reloading. I loaded up a ton of light 38 special, 9mm, 45 loads for my wife to shoot after she got beat up a little bit when I first started shooting with her. She could shoot them all day and not have her hand get sore. If you're on the fence about reloading this may be a good way to go..

[kailculus]

thanks for the quick responses guys!

i should probably look into a class for her. she has way smaller hands and really hard headed when i try to show her things.

reloading will probably happen in the near future as well.

[SA Friday]

thanks for the quick responses guys!

i should probably look into a class for her. she has way smaller hands and really hard headed when i try to show her things.

reloading will probably happen in the near future as well.

You lose the right to teach her anything once the ring hits the finger. It's just one of those "accept it and move on" things. I learned this the hard way.
There are a few instructors on this site, but for a new female shooter, I would contact RW Swainson. rwswainson@comcast.net. He's in the Denver Metro area. If he can't help, call George Wright at 303-330-2699. He's the other one I would recommend for a new lady shooter in the Denver area.

[Graves]

I started my wife out on a .45 (first time shooting) and she handled it pretty well so I gave her a 9mm to shoot a little later and she quickly laid claim to it.

ETA: I wouldn't worry about recoil as much as id worry about teaching her proper technique. Get her some trigger time and training and she'll be ready to shoot anything before you know it.

[DOC]

Tell her that she needs to get used to it and when she needs the gun she should be expecting the kick so she doesn't freak out and drop it.
Or you could put a muzzle break on it?

[kailculus]

You lose the right to teach her anything once the ring hits the finger. It's just one of those "accept it and move on" things. I learned this the hard way.

haha, yeah, i learned when/how to shut up pretty quickly after a few incidents.

[kailculus]

she doesn't freak out and drop it. she just can't shoot it for too many rounds until her hands/wrists start to hurt.

hopefully it will soften up after more rounds. more shooting for me to do!