Take the time to give your wife the advantage of your knowledge and expertise with a revolver. You'll both have fun... and you've got a "shooting buddy' for life if you handle it right.
This will not only make her a lot more comfortable in shooting a revolver, but help her to become a more effective, accurate shooter... plus it is a lot of fun doing something together and accomplishing a goal you both value.
You may find that, with your help, she'll turn into an excellent shot with a handgun... many women do. I've taught several women to shoot over the years and, without exception, they all became good pistol shots. Many women seem to have a "knack" for shooting a handgun.
I strongly suggest you start her out shooting an accurate .22 rimfire revolver with at least a 6-inch barrel and a "good" trigger. Such an handgun is extremely accurate, has literally no recoil and a very low muzzle blast... all of which is of significant help to a "newbie" shooter in helping them become proficient in the shortest possible period of time.
I started my wife on a S&W K-22 with a 6" barrel and kept the shooting sessions relatively short at first (about an hour or so each time we went shooting). Once she became proficient and had developed her preferred & comfortable two-hand hold, proper trigger pull and correct sight alignment with the .22, it was an easy transition to light recoiling standard .38 revolver using standard .38 Special loads and, eventually, to some occasional full strength .357 magnum loads.
I taught my wife to shoot when we first got married over 46 years ago... and she's maintain her competence with handguns since then. While she isn't "big" on helping me reload the ammo, she can MORE than hold her own with anyone on my club's shooting range.
Once she learned to shoot, we'd take several handguns to the range with us. We'd always start out using the K-22 to "sharpen up" our shooting skills while shooting inexpensive .22 rimfire ammo, then switch over to .38 Specials, 9mm's, .45 ACP's, .357 magnums or even .44 magnums with mid-range target loads, not full loads.
It's almost SCARY how easily she could put five (we used 5-shot groups) maximum loads out of my .357 magnum from my 4" Model 19 S&W in the "black" @ 25 yards (off-hand) with a two-hand hold.
We both recently got our Ohio Concealed Carry Permit. During the required shooting at the shooting range, my wife "out-shot" everyone in our CCW class except me and one other fella. I was very pleased with her shooting considering that our CCW class consisted of a dozen other men plus two other women.
Strength & Honor...
Ron T.
