RE: for the wife
Check out the Walther P22 .22 cal. I bought one for my wifelast year and she loves it. Its compact and fits her hand great and has zero recoil. She's 5'4" 110lbs(I think...never actually seen the scale) and she handles itvery well. I have let her shoot my 38/357 s&w and my glock 40cal.She handles the 38 pretty well but the 40jumps a little on her. I actually carry that walther with me while I'm scouting in the off seasons. Makes a great snake/armadillo gun.I paid around $250 tax and all for the gun. We've put 400+ rounds through it and its never jammed the 1st time.