Weapon choice for women.

[Targan]

Rifles as far as assualt/battle rifle calibers don't seem to be that big of a issue for women. Just the shotguns.

When I was a reservist I saw many female soldiers having a hard time firing the SLR. Just a bit long, heavy and powerful for them it seemed.

[pmulcahy11b]

When I was a reservist I saw many female soldiers having a hard time firing the SLR. Just a bit long, heavy and powerful for them it seemed.

I've never fired an SLR, but it seems I'd have problems with it, being short (5' 8", or 172.7 cm). Then again, if I could manage an M60 well enough that I loved the thing, I might be able to manage an SLR.

[LBraden]

My father was about that height and he was able to handle it no problem, hell he was even a marksman with it, but the SLR is just a semi-automatic (unless you know the matchstick trick) version of the FN-FAL, which the G-3 is similar to it.

[pmulcahy11b]

LBraden, your avatar reminds me of a saying I hear that troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have, "Be polite, be professional...and have a plan to kill anyone you meet."

[Targan]

I don't think height was the problem. I'm only 5'10 and I love the SLR. The problem for the female soldiers seemed to have more to do with the narrowness of their shoulders and their lack of upper body strength. There may have been more to it than that though. Few if any of the women I served with had any prior experience with firearms. Many if not most of the male soldiers I served with had used firearms before. It is probably very different in the US (I imagine a high percentage of the American populace have handled and fired firearms in civilian life, including women).

I'm only describing what I saw of female soldiers trying to fire the SLR. Others' experiences are no doubt different.

[Raellus]

I think upper body strength is a key factor in determining anyone's proficiency with long guns. I have a Mossberg 500 tactical shotgun with an adjustable stock and, at 6'4" and 180 pounds, have no trouble handling it. My wife, on the other hand, at 5'7"/130 thinks it's way too heavy for her and has a hard time bringing it on target or keeping it there. The length of the gun, especially since it's got the adjustable stock, is not an issue. She'll be the first to admit that her upper body strength is not very good. A physically stronger woman would have no problem handling the Mossy. A woman of average strength, however (like my lovely wife), probably would.

As for pistols, History Channel recently ran a reality competition show called Top Shot and one of the shooters was a female ex-cop. She carried a version of the 92F as her service weapon and she was a crack shot. During a pistol shooting challenge, she hit the second smallest target (out of eight or so) on the first attempt on an otherwise all-male team.

I think upper body strength and physical size relative to the weapon of choice are probably the most important factors in determining how well anyone can handle a weapon. Since women, on average, are smaller and have less upper body strength than your average man, and most guns are designed for the average man...

What I'm trying to say is that the deck is kind of stacked against your average woman.

[pmulcahy11b]

There's also an interesting difference in female anatomy -- if a male puts his arms together, they will lay straight alongside each other, with a slight widening gap up to the shoulders between the two arms if the hands are touching. On a woman, their arms will be apart from the shoulder, as on an man, but (assuming they are of normal weight) they will meet at the elbow and widen apart outwards from there. I don't know what causes that anatomical difference, and I'm sure some women don't do that, but I was told by a PA that this was a part of reason that women can't do pushups as well and does affect their upper body strength. On the other hand, it may play into their fine dexterity skills.