Handguns and arthritis

I have a friend who is about 80 or 81 - we were shooting the tother day and he recently bought a S & W .380 Bodyguard. He has problems with his hands as well and I couldn't believe how much trouble he was having with pulling the slide back, etc. It was almost to the point that I would consider it a safety hazard. I'm taking my Ruger LCR over hopefully this week so he can try it - I just have a feeling a revolver will be easier for him to handle, load, etc. The only thing I'm worried about is the harder trigger pull so we'll just have to see how it goes. Before you buy - see if you can find a range whee you can rent some different semis and revolvers and which will be the easiest for you to load and fire. Good luck to you - you'll find something that works out for you. :)
 
I have RA and yes a revolver shot single action works best for me. I have polished the inside of trigger guards on polymer pistols to avoid blisters on my twisted index fingers. I also had to trade off my S&W Governor due to severe wrist pain from the heavy recoil. I'm still good with .45acp autos but even better off with 9mms and .38 Spl. revolvers with light loads. I'm sure that will change with time. Good luck on your search. tom. :cool:
 
couldbeanyone said:
I am beginning to have some trouble with my hands. Since my fathers side of the family often has arthritis so bad it twists their fingers, i figure it may be in my future. I am thinking any future gun purchases might do well to take this into account.
I would like to hear from any of you with arthritis. Which type of gun is easiest for you to use. Autoloaders have slides to manipulate and double actions have fairly stiff trigger pulls. Am wondering if a single action revolver might not be best. They have light triggers, large grips and could be cocked with the heel of your left hand if necessary? Would appreciate any and all input from those who have trouble with their hands.
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I know the post is old but the subject matter isn't.
As an amputee with arthritis I run a P320cRX. I use the holster to obtain a good deep grip and for magazine changes, loading and unloading. I run the slide by pushing the sight halo against my hip.
The worst problem I faced was loading high capacity magazines.
Over the last 40+ years my gimmicks morphed into a pretty handy loader. You can check it out at www.taylormagazineloader.com
 
Couldbeanyone, is the hereditary condition you are anticipating really arthritis, or could it be DuPuytren's Contracture (a.k.a. "Vikings' Disease")? I have the latter in both hands, and I have had surgery on the left hand because it had become so severe. The operation was about ten years ago, so I would have been 64 or 65 at the time. I'm now 74 and it hasn't gotten any better spontaneously, but I am still able to shoot with the right hand.

I'm still able to shoot semi-autos, DA revolvers, and SA revolvers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dupuytren's_contracture

My right hand looks almost exactly like the one in the Wikipedia photo, except that mine is worse. It's the third (ring) finger that's affected. On my left hand, both the third and fourth fingers were involved.
 
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Watching this one too. I recently had a bicycle accident where I touched wheels with my buddy and I went down. I hyper-extended 3 fingers, my wrist, and my elbow. The cast came off about 3 weeks ago but there is still pain in the fingers and elbow. I have been doing PT to get my range of motion back and can finally close my hand enough to grip the gun firmly.

Larger grips will reduce the amount of bending your fingers have to do to grip the gun as well as spread the recoil over a larger area. I'd avoid the heavier recoiling calibers as they are more likely to cause more damage to the joints. The slide on 9mm 1911s is actually pretty easy to rack since the recoil springs tend to be pretty light on them. The grips are also fairly large so they aren't too uncomfortable to grip. I'm not a big wheel gun guy so it isn't really a consideration.
 
The difference in grips isn't consistent though. Some find, me included, smaller grips to be less irritating. I can't enjoy my older glock because of that big grip.
 
I've got it in my right (dominate) hand but I've kept it at bay by playing (after a 40 year layoff), my old 6-sting guitar. The fingering, and picking has kept both hand nimble without resort to pain killers etc. HTH's Rod
 
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