We never did hear what she doesn't like about the Shield. But the Shield EZ may be an option.
My wife hardly ever shoots but when she comes to the range with me and shoots .22, she usually outshoots me. Last time, she shot my new 15-22 for the first time and put 10 rounds in one ragged hole at 25 yards. No flyers. I didn't do that. Then she shot the MKII at the plate rack faster than I was able to.This , or P365's of all flavors are offered with safeties now too. My wife actually likes a Red Dot equipped pistol as she knows can use it to manipulate the slide if needed . It amuses me to no end , she can actually shoot pretty well just is not really a "fan" of guns.
That's why we as husbands should not pick our spouse's guns for them. My wife hates J frame type revolvers, which most people recommend for women, though I do not. She has a Taurus 709 that she shoots well and uses the manual safety because she feels safer with it on more so than off. I have taken her to the range and rented her various guns and she always seems to gravitate toward pistols with manual safeys. The Shield 9mm EZ is her current favorite to shoot. I hand her one of my Glocks and she gets all stiff and apprehensive, because, her words, " it doesn't have a safety".At the end of the day, though, if she flat out doesn't want a gun without a manual safety, then I definitely wouldn't push one on her, and just be grateful that she's found a method that she likes, is willing to train with, and actually is willing to carry at all.
I just had my wife read this thread. She prefers a manual safety also. She said " if she is adamant about it, like me, she will know that she has to take the safety off before it goes bang".
I agree, for well over 20 years I carried a Colt Double Eagle 45ACP.The manual safety is not the problem. Lack of familiarity with a gun a person plans to carry every day is. The only way to train yourself to disengage the safety at the draw stroke is by training and shooting so the body has the muscle memory to do it sub-consciously. It's no different than a hunter disengaging the safety on their rifle or shotgun prior to taking a shot in the field. I find that I don't even think about it now, it just happens. Same as with my AR's at the range. Safety comes off, shots fired, safety back on. Just happens now through muscle memory.
TLDR; I love 1911's and shoot thousands of rounds annually, and train thoroughly to have everything down to muscle memory. In summer 2018 I heard a window break and thought someone was breaking into my apartment, so I grabbed my gun to go confront them. Turned out it was maintenance who had accidentally broken the window. After I calmed down I saw my thumb was not on the safety like I trained, so if I had ended up needing to shoot, it wouldn't have happened. Since then I won't carry anything with a manual safety.I primarily lurk, but this is my story, take it how you will... (there is no TLDR)
I am not military or LEO of any flavor, but I love the 1911. It's the pistol I shoot best. Up until two years ago it was my EDC for a decade. I reloaded for it to supply my habit. It's true what they say about reloading. It can save you money, but you will end up shooting more. Ha.
Over the course of 10 years I've reloaded roughly 100,000 rounds of 200 grain LSWC on top of 4.9 grains of Bullseye for myself, father and two uncles. I've never shot competition, but my one uncle has some land and lots of steel. We have a blast, literally and figuratively. During those 10 years I think I was good for about 5,000 rounds down-range annually.
I had guns tuned up by Neil Keller before he retired. I took them all apart to document what he dressed/tuned for trigger jobs and tunings. I bought books, tools and watched videos from most all of the famous 1911 smiths. We're all familiar with Glock "Kool-Aid," but there is 1911 Kool-Aid and I drank it, lots of it.
I knew of the "manually disengaged safety" debate the whole time. I was of the mind it could be trained to be muscle memory. I'd unholster, safety off, fire, repeat, over and over with each shooting session. Naysayers were full of ****. I'm different.
I work from home and summer 2018 changed everything. I lived in an apartment in Ft Wayne at the time and I was upstairs working when it happened. The sound of a glass window shattering echoed through the apartment. Adrenaline go, I was tweaked. Holy ****, this is real. In hindsight I made mistakes, but one I had no control over. My stainless commander was always on my desk next to my mouse. From the room I was in I could see down the stairs to the first floor. Snatching it out of the holster I got up and popped my head out of the room to look down the stairs. For sure a mistake. I could have had my head blown off or be seen and given my position away or that someone was home surprising them escalating the situation.
Still jacked on adrenaline and peering down the stairs I did the next stupid thing. "Hello?" I yelled out. Yes, stupid I know. Then it came, "Maintenance, wind caught the window we were replacing, sorry." Sonofa... ok body we can stop with the adrenaline now. I then realized had I need to shoot it wouldn't have happened. I shoot the 1911 high-thumbs sweeping off the safety and riding it during the course of fire. On this occasion I did not have a high-thumb grip. My finger was straight and off the trigger, but my dominant hand thumb was on the side of the stock, not riding the thumb safety.
I learned a few things from this. I will say, it's possible acting offensively is different than reacting defensively and may tweak things. However, in defense you are reacting to stimuli and fight-or-flight and adrenaline kicks in. This is how we live in a functioning society. We live defensively.
However, when fight-or-flight/adrenaline starts flowing all bets are off. Train all you like, you can't know the unknown. Everything you think you know goes right out the window. Your brain, muscles, vision, it all goes haywire.
I'm hoping/training that should it ever happen again I can act differently on tactics like not popping my head around the corner and announcing my position. I know that you should just stay put and close the door and just wait it out. You do not know their numbers or intent. If you know they are about to breech the room I guess it could be a debate to announce yourself and that you are armed and ready to shoot them should they enter. I have changed a lot of things and now I work on enhancing what the body will do naturally.
This situation changed everything for me. In conclusion...
I will not carry a pistol with a manually disengaged safety.
I will not carry a pistol that does not point "naturally." If Glocks point "right" for you, great, they do not for me. I've tried numerous times and always wind up selling them.
Your vision gets wonky, seriously.
Your muscles, heart rate, everything gets wonky, seriously.
Be able to hit a human-sized silhouette at about 7-10 yards from point-shooting. This is why my pistol must point naturally and why I'm not sold on red-dots yet. If your eyes require a red dot due to medical condition or age so be it, but I'm not totally sold on them yet. The more time you're spending on sight-alignment and dot hunting is only adding to the time deficit from reacting defensively. But, I practice and I don't have trouble aligning sights or dot hunting, I'm different. Good for you. Yes, I know accuracy is important and I'm not saying just blindly fire wildly in all directions.
I enjoy firearms, but I do live in a "functional" society and cannot spend every waking moment like I'm a tier 1 operator on standby. I have responsibilities, friends, family and other things that require my time.
Something in 9mm that points naturally and does not have a manually disengaged safety is what I carry and practice with, 10mm for the woods. Your carry caliber may depend on your physical limitations. I don't do PDW's. I'm not making spaghetti with a PDW or rifle slung, but my pistol is on my hip. My pistol is to get to my rifle should the need arise, or shotgun if that's the thing.
"That's ok, if I get a click when I need a bang, I'll just remember and then blammo, that'll teach 'em." So you like adding to the time-defecit even more? Possibly ensuring that you're shot/stabbed, or something else happens that you don't want where if you weren't you could have prevented/stopped it? Maybe your spouse/child gets it, but hey, you did get that safety off and showed them.
I still have one 1911, but it's a safe queen.
I theorize there is only one way to "test" the individuals response if you are trying to refute my claims. Remove all live ammunition with dummy rounds unknowingly from the test-subjects firearm and manufacture a situation where they truly think the **** is going down and see how they respond.
I blame TV/movies and the super tactical number 1 best cop soldier operator plotlines.
Everyone thinks they are the exception.
This is my philosophy.
I'm certain I've offended or pissed off people.