Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Home Defense Firearm for a Geezer

Lack of recoil and the stability of a shoulder fired weapon. My 81 year old Dad shoots it very well. Slap a cheap red dot on top and they will have a 30 round chance. I know recommend this to everyone. The price is the only problem, but for what it offers I consider it the great equilelizer.

M1 carbine.

Other factors to consider have to be manual of arms, recoil, muzzle flash and noise. Most bad things happen at might. An l can’t picture elderly folks with no real general familiarity with guns successfully deploying most of the suggestions.
A 10/22 is easy to operate. It does not make much noise, has little muzzle flash or recoil.

How about an AR 15 pistol with a brace in either 5.56 or 300 blackout?

About the S&W revolvers and similar, folks with weak hands will have difficulty operating the sliding cylinder latch. The Rugers with the latch that you depress are somewhat easier the operate.

Paul

My mom kept my Ruger Speed Six by her bed for decades. She never stopped being able to work the cylinder release, but did eventually (in her early 80s) become unable to pull the trigger double action (I tested her every time I came for a visit), at which point I switched her to a Walther PPQ 9mm. She couldn't work the slide, but it didn't matter since she never shot the gun (other than the introductory range trip I took her on). She could point it and pull the trigger, and hit targets right in front of her just fine.

Tell your brother be sure and not miss his DNC meeting next week.


10/22 with Mini-Mags will get Chumley's attention.

22 caliber revolver, his and hers :-) 38 special, model 10? Trigger work to lighten it up a bit. Ruger 1022 excellent choice, 410 semi automatic shotgun, And The M1 carbine that was previously mentioned is another good choice.Red dots on all but the revolvers.Mix Match all of the above. That’s my two cents, I wish you the best of luck on your choice for your parents

Long gun: 10-22 or Marlin 60.
Handgun: Glock 17. Don't worry about operating the slide. After 17 shots, the action is going to be over, one way or another, same goes for the long gun. If you or one of your siblings live nearby, you can go with them to the range and do the reloading for them there; at home, everything will be locked and loaded, nothing for them to do but point and shoot. Light trigger pulls for weak hands.

Only drawback is if the weight of the gun itself is too much for them. My wife has muscle weakness due to a lightning strike years ago, so a .22 LCR or a 20 gauge single shot is what she prefers.

Good luck, hope they never have to use whatever they choose.

Ruger SR22 or similar. Hsnd strength is a factor. My father wasnt even able to pull the trigger on a revolver consistently or rack a slide without issues. I looked at the beretta tomcat model.

If they had someone break into the house and they used bear/pepper spray on them wouldn't they end up getting hit themselves with the residual spray?
Inside a house I would think a spray might be a bad idea.

Yes and so does brake and carburetor cleaner.

Hannity was talking about this:

https://byrna.com/

Might do what you want.

When my mom passed away, my dad gave me her Walther PPQ (that I had given her in place of the Ruger Speed Six that she came to be unable to pull the trigger on). He didn't want a gun. This pepper ball handgun above might be something he'd consider having, though.

Many years ago, when Bud's gun shop was actually owned by Bud, I was in there when a woman came in to buy a canister of pepper spray he had for sale.

He told her, "Ma'am, if you ever use this on a man you need to get away from him as soon as possible, because he's going to be pissed off!"

I don't think pepper spray is a good idea against an armed intruder.

Ammo would be expensive and hard to find.
Load choices would be limited.

I have one set up similar to this, with the rear folding portion removed.

It still meets the "minimum 26 inch overall length" requirement with a factory 18.5" barrel, but is much easier to handle.

Mine has an Aimpoint red dot sight and two 25 round mags clipped together:

They might get some on them, but if it stops the bad guys it would be worth it.

It wouldn't be my first choice, and my suggestion was more in the context of NOT using "wasp spray".

I went through this with my wife for much the same reasons. We replaced her S&W M-10 with a 380 ACP S&W Shield EZ as it was easier for her to pull the trigger and she can still rack the slide. The compact 9mm were too hard recoiling and she could not pull the slide back easily.


For the long guns, we kept her 20 ga Beretta 390 as she is very familiar with the platform. I have a Mossberg 930 with low recoil 00 buckshot as my gun. She can use either well but prefers her 390.

We switched from M1 carbines to 9mm Beretta CX4s. Part of the reason is the controls are easier to manage under stress for her as well as 30 carbine target ammo becoming a lot more expensive than it used to be and defensive options are not as wide spread as 9mm. The Berettas are also shorter and possibly lighter than the M1 carbine too. I can carry and shoot it one handed with ease which is nice if one has to open doors while holding the carbine. Other reasons for the Beretta was the ability to add a light and optical sight to the set up. Cost would also be a factor for some and I was able to pick up both off the used rack for about what an M1 carbine would run.