If you want to know the best handguns and gear for women, look to see what women are choosing to train with and carry. A Girl & A Gun (AG & AG) hosted its 12th Annual National Conference, SHINE 2024. Participants included 706 members representing 135 AG & AG chapters from 45 different states. All participants were required to go through a “Gear Check” process where their handguns, belts, holsters, and mag pouches were all reviewed and function checked. In total, the women brought 976 handguns for training.
GLOCK was the Title Sponsor of the National Conference, and GLOCK was the most popular choice among the participants: 22.7% of all handguns used were GLOCK models.
The following lists the Top 10 brands of handguns that the women brought to training:
| Popular Brands | Percentage |
| GLOCK | 22.75% |
| Sig Sauer | 20.29% |
| Walther | 17.01% |
| Smith & Wesson | 9.63% |
| HK | 5.94% |
| CZ | 5.33% |
| Springfield | 4.51% |
| Canik | 4.41% |
| Staccato | 3.48% |
| Ruger | 0.82% |
See the complete list and additional details: https://www.agirlandagun.org/womens-favorite-handgun-brands-in-2024/
Depending on the topic of their training courses, e.g., concealed carry vs. 3-gun, women would bring different models that were most appropriate to the skills learned. Some pistols were very topic-specific, and some were used for general skillbuilder sessions with training that can be applied to both defense and competition. The following lists the most popular models of handguns that the women brought to training:
| Popular Models | Percentage |
| Walther PDP-F | 17.23% |
| GLOCK 19 | 11.56% |
| Sig Sauer P365XL | 5.44% |
| GLOCK 34 | 4.54% |
| GLOCK 43X | 4.31% |
| HK VP9 | 4.31% |
| Sig Sauer P320 | 4.31% |
| Sig Sauer P365 | 3.85% |
| GLOCK 17 | 3.40% |
| Walther PDP | 3.40% |
| GLOCK 48 | 2.49% |
| GLOCK 45 | 2.27% |
| Smith & Wesson M&P Shield EZ | 2.27% |
| Smith & Wesson M&P 2.0 | 1.81% |
Popular Sighting Systems and Triggers
While there are more pistol-mounted optics each year, they still have not yet surpassed iron sights among women.
| Sighting Systems | |
| Iron Sights | 54.41% |
| Red Dots | 45.59% |
| Iron Sights | |
| Stock | 91.91% |
| Upgraded | 8.09% |
| Popular Upgraded Irons | |
| Trijicon | 24.05% |
| Dawson Precision | 20.25% |
| TruGlo | 7.59% |
| Ameriglo | 3.80% |
| Popular Red Dot Brands | |
| Holosun | 67.64% |
| Sig Sauer | 11.91% |
| Trijicon | 5.17% |
| Leupold | 4.72% |
| Vortex | 2.92% |
| Preferred Reticle Colors | |
| Red | 59.73% |
| Green | 40.05% |
| Black | 0.23% |
Most women used stock triggers in their handguns, but approximately 7% of them had upgraded triggers. The GLOCK Performance trigger was the most popular, followed by Apex and Timney.
| Triggers | |
| Stock | 92.62% |
| Upgraded | 7.38% |
| Upgraded Triggers | |
| GLOCK Performance | 31.94% |
| Apex | 13.89% |
| Timney Triggers | 6.94% |
| Powder River | 5.56% |
| Cajun Gunworks | 4.17% |
Note: SHINE Gear Check Logs listed brands and models of handguns, belts, holsters, and mag pouches. No serial numbers or personally identifiable data was collected. No information on rifles or shotguns was collected during gear check.
Popular Gear, Equipment, and Shooting Apparel
Here are some of the other popular brands that women brought for training to SHINE 2024. From eye/ear pro to holsters, belts, and apparel, here are the popular brands that were logged at Gear Check.
| Eye Protection | |
| SSP | 16.23% |
| Oakley | 9.69% |
| Hunter’s HD Gold | 7.07% |
| WileyX | 6.02% |
| Ray-Ban | 3.14% |
| Hearing Protection | |
| Walker | 36.09% |
| Howard Leight | 13.00% |
| Axil | 11.62% |
| AKT1 Sport | 5.96% |
| Peltor | 4.28% |
| Belts | |
| Nexbelt | 30.35% |
| Kore | 7.74% |
| 5.11 | 6.83% |
| Black Scorpion | 4.86% |
| Safariland | 4.25% |
| CR Speed | 3.19% |
| Tuff | 2.73% |
| We the People | 2.28% |
| Krydex | 2.12% |
| Blade Tech | 1.67% |
| Holsters | |
| Comp Tac | 17.16% |
| Haven Defense | 7.59% |
| BladeTech | 6.27% |
| We The People | 5.83% |
| Black Scorpion | 5.72% |
| Safariland | 4.40% |
| PHLster | 3.52% |
| Dara | 3.19% |
| Alien Gear | 2.42% |
| Blackhawk | 1.98% |
| Apparel | |
| 5.11 | 38.59% |
| Duluth | 11.92% |
| Wrangler | 3.64% |
| Columbia | 3.43% |
| Levi | 2.83% |
| LAPG | 2.02% |
| Vakandi | 2.02% |
| Magellan | 1.41% |
| Tru Spec | 1.41% |
| Merrell | 1.41% |
About A Girl & A Gun
A Girl & A Gun (AG & AG) is a membership organization whose events are successful stepping stones for thousands of women entering the shooting community by fostering their love of shooting with caring and qualified instructors who coach them. AG & AG breaks barriers for women and girls in self-defense, and in pistol, rifle, and shotgun shooting sports by welcoming beginners to learn the basics of safe and accurate shooting and providing experienced shooters with advanced-level opportunities. The club has members in all 50 states and hosts recurring Girl’s Nights Out at hundreds of ranges throughout the United States.
For more information about A Girl & A Gun Women’s Shooting League, or to learn how to join, please visit AGirlandAGun.org. Follow AG & AG on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest for social media and corporate news.
The Women's Outdoor News, aka The WON, features news, reviews and stories about women who are shooting, hunting, fishing and actively engaging in outdoor adventure. This publication is for women, by women. View all posts by The WON
