Gun for the wife

[whistlepig]

My wife is wanting a pistol for home protection. Something she can pack with her while taking care of her horses. She doesn't have much strength in her hands do to rheumatoid arthritis. We have a double action S&W Airwieght but she doesn't have enough strength in her hands to pull the double action trigger. I doubt that she could handle a lot of recoil either. I shot a 9mm S&W M&P Compact once. The recoil on it was surprisingly manageable. I don't know about her pulling the trigger on a striker fired gun either. Hoping someone has bought a gun for someone with similar limitations. She does shoot my Ruger Mark ll .22 caliber semi auto quite well.

 

[Bird]

She does shoot my Ruger Mark ll .22 caliber semi auto quite well.

So why not just carry a small .22 semi-auto?

 

[Notforhire]

My wife has the same problem. She can't operate the slide on most semi autos. However she can still shoot my model 36 S&W single or DA.

I don't remember the Mfg. but Midway, Brownells, and others sell spring kits to lighten the DA trigger pull on revolvers. They are easy to install, or you could send it back to S&W, and have them do some trigger work. Most spring kits won't lighten the mainspring so much as to make ignition unreliable.
A steel frame gun will help a lot with recoil.

Bill

 

[Soundguy]

get a 357 and load with 38's get one she can fire SA or DA IE. she can cock it and then use the real light trigger pull to fire.. etc.. the weight of the heavier 357 frame will absorb the recoil of the tamer 38's

 

[creekbend]

That Ruger Mark II is a good shooting weapon. The most important factor is what your Wife is comfortable with, both in carrying and shooting accurate.

 

[Soundguy]

if you have a range that rents guns. go try out a bunch. that or a friend that has a ton of guns. try them out. hard to duplicate anyting but hands on experience.

 

[whistlepig]

if you have a range that rents guns. go try out a bunch. that or a friend that has a ton of guns. try them out. hard to duplicate anyting but hands on experience.

Probably the range suggestion is the best choice. The closest one to us is an hour away.

 

[whistlepig]

So why not just carry a small .22 semi-auto?

Maybe a .22 caliber is not enough gun? I'm not for sure. If she gets a gun and a CCW license I think she will pack it with her everywhere. Her mother did it for many years before CCW was legal in Ohio. We also have a S&W K-22 Masterpiece. The K-22 is too much for her small, weak hands. Our Ruger Mark ll is a target model with a bull barrel. A bit large to be packing around. At least for me anyway.

 

[k0ua]

Maybe a .22 caliber is not enough gun

?

See, here is the thing, a gun you have with you, and you can shoot well is worth more than all the high powered, high capacity, shooters, that are back in the safe, or that you cannot operate.

James K0UA

 

[whistlepig]

?

See, here is the thing, a gun you have with you, and you can shoot well is worth more than all the high powered, high capacity, shooters, that are back in the safe, or that you cannot operate.

James K0UA

This is very good advice. I think Bird is telling me the same thing. She is very comfortable shooting a .22 caliber and if I try anything bigger it would be too much for her. A shot taken with something small is much better than no shot taken at all. I need to find something that she will be comfortable with instead of worrying about firepower.