Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire lady revolver

I have a sister-in-law wanting a small revolver. I sold her a S&W model 31 in .32 s&w long.The wife and I shoot .327 Fed Mag, .32 h&r, and .32 long so ammo is not a problem. With small 65 yr old hands, she is not happy with the trigger pull on double action. How low can a smith reduce or help this trigger? She is recoil sensitive, so a larger caliber is out! She has a Sig 238.....but these women are not great at all involved in the operation of a semi. Any other recommendations for a DA revolver .32 or smaller?

DA trigger pull is what it is, for reliability.

The S&W 380EZ was tailor-made for people like your SIL. Might be worth a look anyways.

I've seen a lot of women buying this gun at LGS.

Yep

The S&W is a fine revolver, and as some said....the increased pull weight in double action, is not only safer but the nature of the beast! To use this great little revolver, and “not” go to another gun/cartridge.....consider helping her with hand strengthening exercises! Once a little grip strength is established....have her start dry firing the revolver. It will continue to build her hand strength, help her gain familiarity with “her” handgun, and smooth-up and potentially lighten the pull a little! I see it as a “win-win” in all aspects! memtb

This, with a caveat. If it is to be used for, say, home defense, where she can "bunker up" and defend from across a room. If she is "frail" (no insult intended) and carrying out and about, are you arming her with a gun that can be easily taken and turned on her by an assailant? Again, no insult intended, just food for thought.

Revolvers are hard to shoot partly because of the hand strength required for the long heavy trigger pull. A Ruger LCR in .327 using 32 H&R might be OK but those with weak hands are probably better off with a single stack 9mm or .380.

Just have to train around the shortcomings of pistols for civilian defensive use and go with models made to be easy to use with weak hands. S&W and Walther have models made for ease of use for such people. Beretta makes or made atip up barrel .32 for same. 3032 Tomcat, I think.

I replaced the trigger rebound spring only the my wife's 640 with a Wolff reduced power spring (didn't change the hammer spring). Function was unaffected and she finds it easier to shoot.

As always, YMMV.

THIS
My SIL has one and it's a great pistol. Slide is very easy to operate, trigger easy, light recoil; what's not to like? Get her a magazine loader and she's set.

I would suggest a LOT of practice. Dry firing with snap caps would help a lot as well.

You can order a reduced weight mainspring, or back out the strain screw. Either of these will reduce the double action pull, but will also potentially reduce reliability. That isn't something one wants in a defense handgun.

My wife carries a model 37. She usually shoots it single action, but can also shoot it double action if need be with no problems.

Small revolvers need a good spring to fire reliably because the hammers are small and have little weight. So they have to be fast to reliable punch the dent needed into a primer.
Several years ago I had a women student come to me for training and she was 78 years old when she signed up. She had a 38 S&W 2" M36 and the kick was painful to her. Her hand strength was not great enough to get through a standard dry-fire course.
So what was my solution?
I had her use a colt SAA in 44 special loaded with 250 grain bullet at only 650 FPS.
We would all agree that a Single Action is not the gun to buy specifically for fighting today because there are SO MANY others that fit the bill better, but the SA grip frame is very easy on the hand, and the old lady could cock the hammer easily. After her 3 months of classes she went out and bought a Ruger Covetable 45 with the extra 45 ACP cylinder. I loaded ammo for her for several years and she became a friend of ours, coming out to the ranch at times to shoot with my wife and I have meals with us both.

That old lady became deadly with her Ruger, and could keep a soda can bouncing out to about 40 yards. Sure, reloading a SA is slow, but at 78 up to about 84 years old she felt she was well armed with her handgun and I'd tend to agree. She was unafraid to stand up for herself and would say to me "I'm too old to run and too old to compromise with anyone that would hurt me, so I'll shoot, and it I die, so what" I am old anyway" Such a mindset makes for a VERY dangerous person to try to attack.

So with over 40 years of training people behind me now, I have come to a conclusion that any gun is good if you can use it well, and no gun is much good if you can't use it well. Cops, Military personal and hi-risk security agents all need fighting guns and have a degree of expectancy of coming conflict. The average citizen is not someone going out to "look for trouble" . Trouble looks for them at times, hut thankfully the odds of having a trained squad come to victimize an old lady is less than having 1-2 do the same thing. But a willingness to kill in defense of yourself and a high degree of expertise with the gun you have makes anyone a dangerous choice in the criminals "victims selection process".
If the DA pull to too great for your female friends and the racking of a slide also defeats them, that's no reason for them to give up. Considering a S.A. may be the last choice, but it's not necessary a bad choice if the others mean they can't use what they have. Or simply use a DA revolver in SA mode and train them to use it that way. What's "best' is sometimes not useful to some shooters due to physical limitations and if she is one of them make adjustment to teach her to use a gun or style that is best FOR HER!

Kel-Tec P-32 for the win.

Simplest manual of arms a semi can have, easy to rack the slide. Stoke with Winchester RNFP FMJ and call it a day.

Or maybe a .38spl K-frame snubby with 2" bbl. Can get a lighter trigger than a J-frame and even less recoil with target wadcutters.

szihn’s comments are spot on: “any gun is good if you can use it well.” i stashed a heritage roughrider 22lr at my elderly mom’s and aunt’s apartments. they easily got how this “cowboy” gun worked. 22lr wasn’t intimidating to them but it would be to a miscreant. they are both gone now. while they lived in quiet, safe places, they were reassured, which counted for alot.

I agree plus there are several options in smaller framed single action handguns. The Ruger Bearcat and Cimarron Lightning are two. Also learning to fire a double action handgun single action is a possibility. Just have to find what makes them comfortable.

SW EZ

as before, I don't recommend lighter springs. The rebound slide can usually be smoothed up on the inside. They were often rather roughly machined out. This can go a long way towards smoothing the pull. It won't "lighten" it any, but it will be a lot nicer. The rebound slide/frame surfaces can be polished to a degree, but it's not usually too bad there.

GET GRIPS THAT FIT HER HAND. This will make all the difference in the world. And if she can't shoot DA, she can shoot SA. That hammer spur is there for a reason.

I would get her a S & W 38 special, she could shoot it single action with 38 wad cutters and/or load up with 158gr of your/her choice.

I know two petite, elderly women who really like the Charter Arms .38s. They fit their hands so well that have traded S&W snubbies for them. Wouldn't be my choice, but they work for them.

A Beretta tip up?

I bought a set of Wolff springs, and smoothed the rebound slide (if that’s what it’s called) on my wife’s S&W mod 60. Made a WORLD of difference in the DA pull. Never not had it pop a primer either.