My mother is 83 and has pretty significant arthritis. She's not exactly wheelchair bound, but spends most of her time in one.

Last week she begged me to take her to the gun store to buy a gun. The only gun she could reasonably work (on hand) was a Ruger LCP II. She bought it. I took her to the indoor range. She cannot chamber a round. She cannot load magazines. She cannot break it down to clean it. She can, however, put a full magazine into a 2 inch group at 15 yards. (I cannot.) Since she is mentally acute, I decided she was G2G. If all she can do is shoot an intruder in her home, that's good enough. I will perform cleaning tasks. We also got several pocket holsters and a few velcro strips. We put them in handy locations in her apartment, and she moves the gun she she moves. Mostly, it's in a holster on the right hand arm rest of her wheelchair. If I can find a Beretta 86 I will buy it for her.

Good for Mom! She does sound GTG.

She feels protected. Good work son.

You are doing your best to look after her-

When my mom was still around I went through the same process. Mom had shot guns many times over the years but never had much experience with semi-autos. Revolvers she knew well. She probably would not have been able to chamber a round on a magazine-fed pistol.

So we went with a revolver and practiced and got her comfortable with it. (Did the same process with my former-liberal wife).

Having confidence that she could defend herself if necessary was a big morale booster.

You are being a good son.

If I could have found an old break-top H&R in 38 S&W-it would have been perfect. Oddly enough, during out visit someone tried to open her sliding window. The "push" was stopped by a dowel rod and the alarm going off. I woke (At 2PM) to see the arm being pulled away from the window.

Good neighborhood in Surprise, AZ.

Hardware aside, it also sounds like she has the decision made to shoot intruders dead without hesitation. Unlike those moron bounty hunters at a TX auto dealership.

It's also worth mentioning to double-check all of her windows and doors as well as outside lighting.

On my mom's house (my dad passed away some years ago) I replaced all of the outside lights with motion sensor types except for the front door light. On it I put a timer that I programmed for just after dark and off at sunrise. I didn't want to make the yard a friendly place...

On her sliding door we had a rod as well as those locking pins you drill through inside door and first side of outside? The pin has a chain that hangs down when you pull out the pin to move the door. Otherwise, they would have to break glass on sliding door/window in order to open.

In my mom's case she had a medium sized dog that also provided her company and warning.

Does your mom have a dog?

Sounds to me like you had better let her know it's you coming in the door!

How come when I saw the title and learned it's your wheelchair bound 83 year old mother, I got the mental picture of her with camo paint on her face and her saying, "that tactical enough for you sonny?".

good for her and you. I hope she'll never need it but, at least, it's there for her to use.

There are several semi automatic pistols that have tilt up barrels that make loading and unloading easy and safe, extremely helpful in cases of limited hand mobility.

quote:

Originally posted by RaiseHal:
There are several semi automatic pistols that have tilt up barrels that make loading and unloading easy and safe, extremely helpful in cases of limited hand mobility.

In the past, I thought about one of those for my wife, who has just a touch of arthritis in her hands that make it difficult for her to hold the slide tightly in order to cycle it.

Then, I thought about clearing a malfunction. Don't these still need the "rack" step of "tap, rack, bang?"

In our case, it turns out that the question became an academic one, as SWMBO went to the gun store and fondled a bunch of things. She expressed a preference for the steel-frame version of the Ruger LCR revolver, so that's what we have for her.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: V-Tail,

An FN 57, or a single-action revolver with a quick draw hammer installed might also work

A PMR 30, with a slide racket installed could also be a good idea

^^^

I thought that too, did she try a revolver?

Excellent. One of the many reasons why I'm firmly against training requirements or any requirements that require anyone to demonstrate so-called "competency" for CCW.

I know you didn't say Grandma would be carrying outside of the home, but I personally don't believe any of those deficiencies you noted should prevent her from doing so should she feel the need, at least not by her government.

I'm thinking ruger revolver for a NY reload.

Stash some loaded mags for the other one. Just teach her to do a tactical reload anytime she shoots. Hopefully, she won't shoot it dry and won't need to drop the slide. If she DOES shoot it dry, than grab the revolver, or other gun.

I have thought about this myself, with my elbow tendon issues.

That's not necessarily ideal but definitely better than nothing.

I second the idea of getting her a .22LR revolver. S&W 317 a smallish 8-shot...

.22LR is not the ideal SD caliber but for some situations it is arguably the best option. This may be one. My concern is if her arthritis continues to worsen she may not be able to properly / forcefully grip the higher recoiling .380 or do any immediate action if she has a malfunction.

That's super you are helping her with this.

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Yes, we tried a number of revolvers. She can't even work an LCR in .22WRM. She was okay with a Glock 19, but was concerned about the size and weight. I will consider the Beretta Cheetahs on a future visit, but my first choice in a Cheetah is the 86, which is discontinued. I do have a Tomcat I could take out next trip, though. Good idea.

Granny got her gun!

Good for her! My wife is basically blind in her left eye, but she can out shoot me a good part of the time. I can sysmpathize. I clean all her guns for her too.

quote:

Originally posted by Fredward:
... She can, however, put a full magazine into a 2 inch group at 15 yards. (I cannot.)...

I can't either; that's pretty amazing. You're a good son.



.

You did good getting her shooting.

If she liked the Glock 19 and needs something different in the future, maybe get one and add a slide racker.

Fredward;
In my experience rimfire revolvers have much stiffer DA springs than centerfire.
I would add a nice .38 to your mother's collection, a 4" S&W M19 would be top of the line for the purpose. Load it with some semi-wadcutters. Target type full wadcutters are good but harder to load.
My wife is 84 and she has the same problem with semi-autos, I bought her a S&W 3913 because it is easy to rack, I think she could rack it but she insists she can not. She has no problem with DA/SA revolvers.

ON the plus side I really like the 3913.

Roger