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Hi - hoping you can help me out. Her name is Teresa, and she’s a new shooter, just did the Canadian Black Badge course, ready to shoot and keen. Time for a gun. The trouble: she’s left handed. She’s also very petite. 5 feet tall, about 100 pounds, very small hands. A regular gun with an ambi safety is just swell, but then she has to be a contortionist to get to the mag release. She likes the CZ 75 for size, but again the mag release on that gun is still right handed. The goal is to get her into a new gun cost effectively - something production or standard. Ideas?
Many thanks!
William
ANSWER(S):
William,
As you are finding out, it’s a right handed world and most handguns are set up for right handed people. But a couple of possibilities come to mind.
For Production division you might have Teresa try a S&W M&P 9mm. It has several things going for it that seem to solve most of Teresa’s problems. The mag release comes from the factory set up for a right handed shooter but can be easily switched to accommodate lefties. The slide release is ambi. Plus, with large, medium and small back-strap inserts you should be able to fit the gun to Teresa’s small hand using the small insert.
Being from the US I’m afraid I’m not familiar with all of the “Standard” division rules but I’m guessing they are similar to our “Limited” division. If a 1911 or 2011 style handgun is suitable a left handed mag release can be obtained from Jimmy Mitchell at www.bulletworks.com.
I might add that in April of 2007 I heard from a Canadian lady in the same situation as Teresa. She had completed her Canadian Black Badge course and was trying to decide what gun to purchase. After some discussion she ended up attending the April 2007 Ladies Action Shooting Camp at my home range in Louisiana. She used one of our loaner S&W M&P pistols at the camp but she also had the opportunity to try out a host of other handguns from a wide variety of manufacturers including Kimber, Springfield, STI, SVI, Glock, CZ, and several custom guns from different US gunsmiths. She was then in a much better position to determine exactly which handgun to purchase when she returned to Canada. Let Teresa known that the same opportunity is available to her. The camp will be April 3-5, 2008. Have Teresa contact me if she is interested.
Good Shooting,
Kay Clark Miculek
www.bang-inc.com
Dear William,
First, thank you for helping a fellow lady shooter!
Left handed shooters do have a challenge when finding a firearm that works for them, especially if they have small hands. There are 1911s options available on the market, but I would also like to suggest the Smith & Wesson M&P9 for her. It is a very competitive gun in production division and can be set up for a left handed shooter. The 3 different grip sizes are also very nice to fit the gun to her hands. I use it in production and standard divisions and love it. Here is a link to more information:
Hope that helps! Please feel free to contact me if you have any other questions.
Best Regards,
Julie Goloski
Smith & Wesson
Consumer Program Manager
Smith & Wesson Champion
2100 Roosevelt Avenue
Springfield, MA 01102-2208
Office - (413) 747-3676
Fax - (413) 747-3677
