Well, doubly welcome. This site is a wealth of highly informed gun nuts, political dissidents, jokers and clown.....Well, new to firearms. My wife and I are concerned with the treachery and untruths that are overtaking the political and media worlds. So, it is time (or past) to arm ourselves and hopefully never need the skills to defend ourselves.
We held and fired our first handguns on Veteran's day 2023; beautiful warm sunny day at someone's private property. We handled 5 different handguns. I was surprised that my wife took to it. Next, late in November 2023, we handled and fired 3 other firearms at another friend's place. Then we took the Intro to Firearms class at Parabellum Jan 05, 2024. Yesterday, Feb 24, 2024, we attended the Indiana Gun Law class at Indy Arms on 55th St in Indianapolis.
In the past 6 or 7 weeks, we've regularly fired as many as 350 rounds per outing at Parabellum and as many as 5 times in a week; most weeks 3 to 4 trips. All through a loaner Walther PPQ. As the weather warms, we've agreed to slow our pace to twice a week. Gotta get out and work on the home and property.
Now that we've been through Intro to Firearms and Indiana Gun Law, we are beginning our search for the right pair of handguns. My wife has small, lean & weak hands. But, they are pretty hands! So, we want one of those easy-to-rack 9mm and an accompanying 22. We hope to find a (somewhat) matched pair. Being older, we don't want there to be many differences between the two. Buttons all in the same place; actions pretty much the same. We don't need any confusion if the moment of need should ever force itself upon us.
So, far it seems that S&W are in the front running. This seems like what we might purchase:
S&W P 22
S&W Performance 9 Shield EZ
However, we are not totally focused on S&W. We've also considered Walther and Rugar as well.