Any trouble pulling a trigger will surely be overcome by adrenaline if there is a dire situation. It's a very intuitive action even for a novice. Sure it is. But where are the rounds going to go? See your own comments about your grandmother.
Clearing a jam or loading a clip could be more troublesome. Or for some, even putting the magazine in the right diection. Well, if the jam occurs after the 5th shot, I don't see how she's worse off. If she has a jam after the 5th shot or has to reload because the gun is empty and the perp is still active, she's already toast.
A revolver is very nearly foolproof. If she can shoot it accurately under duress.
My grandma had a big revolver and always said she'd aim for the feet cause the recoil would put it where it needed to be. That might've been an exaggeration on her part.
Not trying to be argumentative here, but the responses I'm getting, while somewhat valid, are not all that convincing. If she can't keep her finger off the trigger until she is on target, maybe she shouldn't have any gun. But that doesn't seem to be the problem, inasmuch as the son provided her with a semi-auto to begin with. Still seems to me something on the order of a G17 would minimize the problems that were stated.
My grandmother like to joke around a bit. Like when you start off a sentence, "Well", she'd throw in a response "mighty deep subject", before you got the chance to assume that a jam, or misfire, would happen after the fifth shot and not right off the bat.
Fact is, those were different times and she had what she had. And what she had she was going to use if she had to.
I never saw her, but I'm sure she had shot the gun at least a couple of times. And like I said, I'm sure her jestful statement about shooting at the feet was just that. And while recoil is somewhat diminished by the action of a auto, it is not eliminated. And that same action of the slide is the reason that a revolver can actually be gotten back on target and subsequent shots fired faster than with an autoloader.
Myself, I'd shoot either. Makes no difference the action type to me. You just get what you get when you have a certain cartridge that you want to fire.
I do like the versatility of a .357 Magnum revolver and the ability to shoot .38 Special out of it.
And for many people, the simplicity of loading and shooting a revolver can't be matched.
Misfire? Keep pulling the trigger.
How do you load this thing? Drop'm in those holes.
