Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 65 year old lady with bad arthritis wants to shoot.

I met a skinny lady with bad arthritis whose son bought her a S&W Shield 9mm for home defence.
She has a hard time hanging onto it. Racking the slide, or loading the magazine, are difficult.
I think she needs a Ladysmith or some other small revolver.
What do you guys think?

Automatics of any flavor are likely a no-go for her. Maybe a weak-springed .380, but nothing larger.

Frankly, in helping a few elderly folks select handguns (including my own mother), I have found that larger framed guns, not smaller guns fit and feel better. My mom couldn't operate any automatic effectively and ended up with a Ruger GP 100 .357 Magnum. She shoots .38's out of it pretty comfortably.

If your lady has trouble with recoil, then suggest a Simth 48 .22 WMR. The cartridge is not a great choice for home defense, but at least you're following Rule #1 for being in a gunfight (Bring a gun).

Good luck!

I am in the same boat. You might look at a Sig 320 compact. .I was able to rack that slide quite easily and the trigger was better than average. If you go with a DA revolver, have trigger job done

My aunt has an old J-frame .38 S&W (not special) which has sentimental value to her .. not exactly a high-performer. I don't really approve of the lead round nose ammo, either. I was going to hook her up with a S&W M60 3 inch .357 with adjustable sights and Ladysmith grips, then sort through light-recoiling .38 special factory ammo to see if something would work. Her hands are so weak, she can't fire her gun DA and requires both thumbs to cock the hammer. Fuggit. Love my aunt, but she's past being able to use a firearm to defend herself effectively. She's just going to have to hope the door locks hold long enough for the cops to get there. She is too slow, someone with bad intentions would just take the gun away from her before she could ever use it. Brutal truth.

Tom

Some of my favorite revolver setups for a smaller statured person with weak hands.

Ruger SP-101: The factory grip on this revolver is just incredible for people with smaller hands. I would always recommend a highly tuned action job to reduce the DA trigger pull as much as possible.
TALO SP-101 with Novak sights…VERY nice!


S&W K frame with round butt: Typically in 3”, but 4” is fine too. The round butt allows you to install Pachmayr Compaq Professional grips (the one with the open backstrap). That grip on the K frame round butt just fits smaller statured people/hands exceptionally well. Again, follow up with a highly tuned DA action.


S&W M12 – Do a round butt conversion on a 4”, or buy a round butt 2”. Again, Pachmayr Compaq Professional grips, highly tuned DA action.

K frames with heavy barrels, can be easily retro-fitted to accept a 1911 tritium front sight.

Here’s a 3” Heavy Barrel, Round Butt K frame with round butt Magna stocks and a Tyler T-Grip


Of course, never forget the Colt D Frame revolvers. They’re less common, cost more, but they are straight up world class revolvers.

There's a better than average chance she doesn't need a handgun of any flavor. If she's just needing a gun for the home, something like a Ruger 10/22 Compact with an extended 15/25 round magazine would likely be a lot more useful.

My wife has bad arthritis and 41magfan is the only one in this thread that listed a firearms that she could shoot. She choose a Berreta TomCat in 32 ACP. It has a tip up barrel so no slide racking required. The Berreta is something that she can shoot well and operate it also.

If it's for home defense, why handicap her with a small revolver? Why not a medium frame revolver? Most find them much easier to shoot than a small one, and make it all steel for more recoil absorption. Then make it a .38 Special with a three or four inch barrel.

Think along this line here

If her purpose is home defense, I would suggest a small ga. Semiauto or pump shotgun, not any handgun. If i recall correctly, one 12ga. Buckshot round fired 9 shot the size of a .38, with aiming less critical. Most folks are smart enough not to argue with a shotgun.

It's been my experience teaching handgun classes that women seem to be drawn to k frame size handguns. Course most of them had the grips replaced to smaller rubber either Pachmayr or Hogue grips. I agree with GunGeek on the SP101 with Hogue grips, or any of the guns he suggested. Will make a big difference but as he said they need a trigger job. But any of the six series I think the Speed Six was one of the most popular, or a round but smith model 10 and such. There are a lot of good ones out there but may need a spring replaced, or trigger job, but most need different grips. Doesn't matter if it's a 2-3/4, or 3" or 4" probably the 4" would make them the most comfortable. My wife has a 4" Blue Speed Six next to the chair that she reads in, with Pachmayr compac's. She likes it. But if I was going to pick one that should work the best for her it would have to be the Ruger LCRx 3" 38 special. Nice and light yet big enough to feel like you have something substantial.

I'd take a DA revolver over to her and make sure she can manage the trigger.

In my e perience old, small women with arthritis can’t pull a DA revolver trigger very well. My wife certainly can’t and that’s why the Berreta Tom Cat in 32 ACP made sense for her. The barrel tips up for loading and no slide racking required.

The tip-up Berettas are the shizz for that particular set of problems. I still see a few Model 86 380's around but they somehow achieved 'collector' status and are stupid expensive. Still, if that's what works, you pay the toll and drive on.

I've had a bunch of older students with the same problem and almost all of them ended up with the same gun...a Beretta 87 Cheetah.

The gun is a traditional DA but has the option of being able to be carried cocked and locked. If your friend's arthritis is too bad for her to fire the first round DA then teach her to carry it with the manual safety on just like a 1911. And I have not met anyone yet who can't rack the slide especially when the hammer is cocked first.

And yea it's "just a .22" but my last three shooting as a LEO were all "just .22s" and everyone was DRT...DeadRightThere.

Bob

Didn't they make a .380 ACP version of that gun, also with a tip up barrel?

Yes, the Beretta 85 Cheetah. Nice little gun, but definitely a harder slide to retract than the 22 Model 87.

Yes..I think it was the 84. There was a tip-up barrel model also. The manual safety also acted as a decocker but not so on the .22s...

Went through this with a lady friend this summer. She had a Lady Kahr (K9 with light springs) and a Charter snuby and was having trouble making either function for her. Went to the LGS and tried em all, she ended up with a SIG P238. She can load, rack and fire it accurately better than anything else.

Beretta announced a couple of years ago that they were going to discontinue the gun...guess they changed their mind as there are 34 of the for sale over on GunBroker...

Find a nice used one like this...save some money...

http://www.gunbroker.com/item/725398163

http://www.gunbroker.com/item/722725902

They are not cheap but beautifully made... I've had four over the years three of which ended up with students who needed them. I have one left and it is one of my regular woods/neighborhood carry guns.

If it has to be a handgun, I'd agree with CaribouJack on the Ruger LCRx because of the smooth rollover in the trigger and the ability to shoot either SA or DA. But I also think 41MagFan has the right idea in looking at the Ruger carbine. Honestly I'd worry about her hurting herself with a handgun she can't easily manipulate or hold when shooting.

Not a handgun expert by any stretch of the imagination, but unless the 65 year old lady is going to go out and practice alone, I don't see where her problems with racking the slide or loading the magazine really matter. Leave her with a fully loaded weapon that she can point and shoot. If she runs out of rounds without putting down the home invader, she's not going to get a chance to reload and rack the slide anyway. (Might want to consider a larger gun with higher capacity). When she practices, her son will presumably be on hand to help with the mag and the slide. What am I missing?

Even just handling a loaded up semi auto (as in carrying it from room to room or taking it out of the drawer and putting it back) is more prone to AD in the hands of a novice than a double action, medium frame, revolver in ready condition.

I think a person should be able to fully load and operate the pistol that they will use for home security, and shouldn't have to rely on someone who may not be there if their pistol needs to be loaded or unloaded, or if their pistol jams.
The solution is either a revolver or a large well trained dog.

If that's part of her problem, then sure, a DA revolver is worth a try, although arthritic hands might have trouble with a DA trigger. I didn't see that as part of the OP's description of the issues she was struggling with. Whatever he leaves her with, need to be sure she can handle it safely.

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.

Clearing a jam or loading a clip could be more troublesome. Or for some, even putting the magazine in the right diection.
A revolver is very nearly foolproof.

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.

I know an elderly lady that is very much like the one the OP described. Her hand strength was minimal. We tried a variety of DA revolvers, but the trigger pulls and recoil were just too much for her. I had her shoot a Ruger MKII .22LR pistol. She was able to operate it just fine. While a .22LR isn't noted as a self defense cartridge, it sure beats anything else we tried for her. YMMV.

Yeah, a .22 is worlds better than a sharp stick. Should be enough to get 99% of perps to realize they have more urgent business elsewhere.

Don't know if she had arthritis so may be a moot point, but my Granny lived to be 89, I got her a Walther 380 and loaded her up some FMJ flat point bullets, she kept and fired that weapon for I know the last 20+ years of her life.

I was thinking a PMR30 at first. I've never shot one but the slide looks easy to grasp and would think easy to slide with it's relatively light recoil spring.
Plus, very low recoil.

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.

Poor reliability, from what I've seen on YouTube.

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.

I have two PMR30's. They have been flawless. They are loud but easy to shoot. They should be excellent for a new shooter.

So, in reality, just what are the chances that this little old lady is going to use this or any other gun?
If she lives in a real bad neighborhood it may make more sense to change locations. Thinking this lady is going to join the league of gunslingers that inhabit this site is rather irrational at best.

Still not convinced. If jams and misfires were that likely, no one would own anything but revolvers. We will have to agree to disagree. And lest you think that I am biased in favor of autos, I'm don't own one myself, not yet. But for the problems as described by the OP, that's where logic takes me.

He said she had difficulty loading the shield and racking the slide. You assume she'll always have someone with her to do everything for her. Like giving a blind person a magazine subscription and assume someone will always be there to read it.

But there's a lot of value in Independence. Maybe not for you, but for most. I say get her something she can load and shoot on her own.

Now I don't know about a lady Smith because that's a lightweight gun with a bit of snap.
I'd lean towards a Model 10. With a 4" barrel.

Things I am assuming;
She can exercise trigger finger control, as evidenced by her son giving her a Shield to begin with.
A larger semi auto will be easier for her to shoot accurately while under duress.
By the time she runs out of bullets with a 17 shot semi, she would have had to "drop the bullets in the hole" two times after the initial 5 shots missed.
She will not have a jam or a misfire in the first five shots from said semi auto.
The issue with a home invader will be resolved one way or another before she has to work the slide, or switch mags.
When she goes to the range she will not be alone, and her companion (her son) will help her with the slide.

Things I am not assuming:
That the adrenaline rush will enable her arthritic finger to operate a double action trigger with the precision necessary to neutralize the threat inside of 5 shots.
That same adrenaline rush will subside so that she can drop more bullets in the holes while the invader is still upright.

Your magazine subscription analogy is just plain silly. To be analogous, the woman would have to be unable to operate either firearm.

There is value in independence without a doubt. Ideally she could do it all for herself. But she can't, so give her the easiest handgun possible to shoot accurately, and one which does the most to offset her deficiencies in hand strength. Protection first, independence second.

We do agree on one thing: if she does go with a revolver, get one with as much heft as she can handle, such as the model 10 you suggest.

Dude, she's not Mrs Smith the CIA agent. She's never going to be able to get 17 shots off against anybody.

And what if she wants to go to the range and shoot one day by herself. You can't carry a loaded gun onto the firing line.

I never said she would need 17 shots, "dude". If you'll recall, one of the original complaints was that she had trouble hanging on the Shield. My suggestion was that a larger auto, such as a G17, would be easier for her to hang onto, as well as continuing to provide a lighter trigger for her arthritic fingers. The 17 shots is a happy bonus that also reduces the number of times she might have to try to work the slide. Try to keep up. And we already addressed the issue of going to the range alone, under the heading of independence. Remember?

In my second post of this thread, I acknowledged the validity of the points in favor of a DA revolver, but said that given the facts as stated I was not convinced that a heavy DA trigger was necessarily the best option for someone with arthritic fingers. It might be, it might not be.

If I decide I want to discuss this further, I'll find another brick wall, offline, to converse with.

Oh come on now. I can bend a little.
I could be perfectly happy with a Glock 19 as my only centerfire pistol.

And there are some double action revolvers that have a little heavy double action triggers. The worst are the rimfires, which can take a bit of finger strength to shoot double action.

But I don't notice it so much on a centerfire.
Maybe I don't have a good insight here, but the triggers don't seem that heavy. Especially if you get one with a wide smooth target trigger blade.
And a midsize 38 with 158 lead round nose is pretty easy to shoot for practice. Hardly any kick. Loys of fun to shoot.
I'd pick a little hotter ammo with a better bullet for self defense though.

Now back to the Glock. There's tools made for helping to load the magazine. But I still don't know if I'd want a Glock if I had difficulty racking the slide with just my hands though.
With that condition, and wanting to choose an autoloader, I think I might prefer a 1911 instead. I'd be happy just to hold and polish one of those.

There's an idea

She likes the 10/22 idea. She says it would help with 4 legged skunks.

Awesome. Give her an UpLULA mag loader, and she'd be set.

Where can I get one?

An UpLULA? I think amazon has them. I don’t know where to get the finger hook.