Gun for grandma...

I'll relate the answer I came up with to resolve a problem I encountered after hand srugery.
I had carpal release surgeries on both hands 10 weeks apart. Did the left(worst) first which left me not fully recovered and with a subnormal strength left hand when the right was done. I found I was not able to use my normal carry gun (Ruger P95) lefty since I didn't have the strength to fire the first DA shot and be on target. I also didn't have the dexterity to handle the hammer on a revolver to cock it since I had lost so much before the surgery.
My answer was a Star BM 9mm single stack single action carried with a loaded chamber, hammer on 1/2 cock, safety off. I was able to safely draw, cock the hammer with the cast on my right hand, and put a shot on target. The grip of the single stack 9mm is small enough for a fullwrap grip by most. No more difficult to cock than any other single action and has more shots w/o recocking. Carried or stored in this condition is no less safe than the striker fired auto types.
This narrows the field of available guns but specimens are out there and not outrageously expensive.
 
Cautionary stories:

I know two women here who were considerately provided with DA revolvers by their menfolks. They soon found that a 3 lb single action was more accurate than a 10 lb double action. They got so accustomed to shooting in SA that when they went to check out suspicious circumstances, they just naturally eared back those hammers. You know what comes next.
One went 'round the corner, was startled by the cat and nailed the waterbed. Fortunately not through the membrane.
The other checked the place out and, finding no intruder, attempted to ease down the hammer. Attempted unsuccessfully, that is; leaving a hole in the floor.

Weapons for the non-enthusiast or physically limited are always a tough choice. If Grandma is agreeable, I would get her out and try as many different guns as I could line up. You do have friends with guns, don't you?
 
Why not something other than a pistol?

Maybe a short .410 double barrel loaded with 000 buck. A Ruger 10/22 semi auto.? Why limit yourself to a pistol? Maybe a home security walk through; trim the bushes back, dead bolt doors, improved window locks, motion sensor lights and a small yapping dog. Home security is more than just handing grandma a loaded gun then walking away and hoping for the best.
 
This is what you want..Ruger LCR .38 special excellent trigger on these.

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You've got several potential issues here: insufficient strength to pull a DA trigger, rack a slide, or load a magazine. Of the three, loading a magazine will probably be the most difficult to overcome, particularly if your grandmother has arthritic hands. A magazine-loading tool might help somewhat, but if it doesn't then you can pretty much write off semi-autos. As for racking a slide, by an large full-sized guns with some sort of locked-breech operation are easier to rack than smaller and/or blowback guns are. Many women who don't seem to be able to rack a slide are not actually lacking in physical strength, but rather are using the wrong technique. Have her grasp the slide with her whole hand, lock her elbows, and use the larger muscles in her back to try and rack the slide and she may have more success.

Now, you say that she has trouble with a DA trigger, but you've only had her try one DA trigger thus far. In my experience, the DA trigger of a good medium or large frame revolver is quite different and usually much more manageable than the DA trigger of most semi-autos. A S&W K-Frame seems to be a perennial favorite because it's big enough to have a good trigger and heavy enough to soak up recoil in .38 Special or smaller calibers, but still petite enough to fit people with small hands reasonably well. Before you completely write off DA revolvers, you might want to have her try the triggers on a few different ones.

If, at the end of the experimentation, she can't manage a DA trigger or rack a slide and load a magazine, you're pretty much down to a derringer of some sort if she's still needing/wanting a handgun. If you must go with a derringer, you should probably look at a relatively small caliber like .32 Auto, .22 Magnum, or .22 Long Rifle as a derringer tends to accentuate recoil.
 
I really don't understand many of the responses that continue to advocate/suggest DA guns. Maybe I got it both because he clearly stated in the OP that he needs SA recommendations and that I too have an elderly family member in the same predicament. Guys, just to reiterate, he needs SA recs here only.

-Cheers
 
I've totally written DA off, even if it was a good trigger for a DA, she'd probably still pull the shot. Kinda why I wanted semi auto, you can just keep pulling the trigger.

And the decocker is one reason I like the SIG and ruger P95DC. The have a decocker lever so you don't have to try and slowly let down the hammer.

No, I don't have any friends around here with guns. Just moved here after I got out of the army.

I'm going to take her to the gun range tomorrow and let her try the rest of my guns and the SIG out, see which one she likes the best.

Loading mags isn't a real issue unless we're at a range. I have 3 for that gun. If she ever gets into a gunfight needing more than 39 rounds I don't think anything less than a M240 would of helped.

I understand giving grandma a gun and hoping for the best isn't all there is to HD. I can't exactly rebuild her house in a day, even if I could afford to. But we (the family) have made plans for new doors, window locks, the dog is up to her, she has the lights, and all her bushes are neatly trimmed. I do the best I can with what I have. And the best thing I had was a SIG 229.

And she wanted a pistol. As I've said I'm a huge advocate of a shotgun for HD, but she asked for a pistol. I might try to find a cheap .410 pump for her, but a pistol is what she wants.
 
I had the same problem with my mum when my da passed away.She couldn't manage a revolver or a automatic, so I got her a Stoeger 410 ga. coach gun with 20" barrels, she could load and fire it even with her artheritis in her hands ( she was seventy years old)
 
A1911

As i was reading this I was thinking that the whole time. I was beat to the punch but I may suggest a. 22lr in 1911. My chiappia 1911 22 Is fun for the range. It is the easiest slide I have ever racked. I would not suggest the Chippa for reliability reasons but there are better examples out there such as the Sig.
 
The first thing that I would get Grandma would be a large can of pepper foam and a good flashlight. This would buy you time so that you can make a more informed choice of a firearm. You might also consider finding grandma a house mate. Loneliness does strange things to a persons imagination, especially at night.
 
Well, she likes the SIG 229. She fired off about 150 rounds of .22lr, .45acp, 9mm, and .40S&W and ended up liking and shooting the sig the most. It also tied for least amout of malfunctions (0) with the glock. She limp wristed the 9mm (and maybe its design) but it had back to back malfunctions with her. None for me though. The .22 just sucked. It'd FTE for everybody until you got to the last 5. The glock (45) rocked her, made her take a step back. But she stuck it out for a whole mag.
We were shooting at a drum with a round target on it about 20-25 feet away, she'd hit the drum with every shot and would put 5-6 per mag in the target.

I showed her how to clear a jam using a table/night stand and bought her a box of hydroshocks.

Oh yeah, my retarded self forgot the 45LC, so she didn't get a chance to shoot that.
 
semi_problomatic,

Were you using the SIG .22lr conversion kit or what gun and what ammo gave you FTE's?

-Cheers
 
My suggestion would be a Stoeger coachgun in 20ga. Too many problems with pistols to be reliable for her.
 
I was using winchester super high power 40gr round noses, I believe. They (walmart) didn't have the CCI's I usually get. Some rounds wouldn't pull from the chamber, some would pull out half-way, some would eject but not load another round. The last 5 would usually fire fine.

I don't think the uberti is broken, I just think thats the way they were designed. Once you get used to it, its ok. But its definately not a lawyer proof trigger.

She said she's going to keep taking it to my dad's and practicing with it until she's better than me! She'd get mad at herself every time she didn't hit the target (I think it was a 12" circle).

I'm still on the hunt for a better gun for her, I've by no means settled on the .40... But out of what I have its the best I can give her right now. I wish there was a Bullseye here, like in Tacoma, WA. It was a great indoor pistol range where you could rent guns. I think at Knob Creek you can do that as well.

BassPro had 1 stoeger SXS, but it was the upland and not the coach version. I'll have to check at Dick's and Academy and see if they have the 20 gauge coach version. If not I may just get her the upland.

As kinda a not so funny, funny story... I'd bought a box of ear plugs and some shooting glasses for her. She said she didn't like the earplugs and wasn't going to use them. After that first trigger pull of the .40 she was asking where those earplugs were at!
 
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