Help Choosing a Defensive Handgun For A Disabled Woman

[Nightvisionary]

I need some ideas in choosing a handgun for a smalled framed woman with a disability affecting her right arm. She has very limited dexterity and strength in her right hand and arm and somewhat above average strength in her left hand and arm. She also has a disability that limits her mobility. She can walk but not fast and cannot run.

She cannot rack the slide of a Kel Tec PMR, Glock 42, Glock 19, S&W SD9VE, or Star BM-9 because she does not have the grip strength or dexterity to grip the pistol or the slide with her right arm or provide useful support with the right hand. Firing will have to be performed one handed with her left hand and combat or tactical reloads are not going to happen so whatever ammunition the gun holds is what she will have to work with.

The gun should either have no safety or an easy to manipulate safety for a left handed person and be functionally reliable in spite of limp wristing. This will be primarily a house gun. So far I have come up with these ideas:

Charter Arms Professional - 7 shot 32 H&R magnum 3 inch barrel DA revolver

S&W Shield EZ 380 ACP

Beretta Model 81 32 ACP -Has Ambi safety, 12 round magazine

S&W Model 10 38 Spl.

[BillSWPA]

This seems like exactly the situation for which the Shield EZ .380 was designed.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[scjbash]

With her left hand supporting a .22 or .22 mag rifle would she have enough ability with her right hand to work the trigger?

[Stephanie B]

Peter of the Bayou Renaissance Man blog has done a lot of work with disabled shooters.

https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/

You might want to contact him and see if he has some ideas.

[Jim Watson]

Can she load a magazine?
If not, would she agree to let you load the gun for her and leave it ready?
Then the highest capacity auto she can get her left hand around.
Or two Compact pistols.

[idahojess]

I've got an injured right hand and arm myself, and racking a slide, though doable, can be difficult for me.

I tend to be most comfortable carrying a revolver, though I do like to carry (and shoot) semi-autos. One thing I've noticed is that hammer fired semiautos have easier to rack slides, particularly if cocked first (which can be an issue as well, just from a safety/manipulation standpoint). The first semi auto I bought was a Ruger P94, because I could rack the slide easily.

Striker fired guns, particularly the newest ones with the double recoil springs, have a very difficult tension. A gen 3 glock is much easier to rack for me than a gen 4 glock.

I agree with Bill, I think the 380 shield ez would be definitely worth a try -- I've never shot one, but I've handled them and thought they were very easy to rack.

Another option would be the Springfield xde, though it has a somewhat longer trigger reach. I have one and it has been easy to rack, and has performed well with about 600 rounds. I still haven't carried it.

Also, although I don't have one either, something like a 327 magnum loaded with the lower powered 32's seems like a good possibility.

[Nightvisionary]

With her left hand supporting a .22 or .22 mag rifle would she have enough ability with her right hand to work the trigger?

No, she does not possess fine motor skills with her right hand needed for trigger manipulation.

[Nightvisionary]

Can she load a magazine?
If not, would she agree to let you load the gun for her and leave it ready?
Then the highest capacity auto she can get her left hand around.
Or two Compact pistols.

She could load a cylinder and some magazines but not quickly. The gun would likely be loaded and left ready for her. A standard striker fired pistol without a manual safety at this point would not be a good choice.

[Inspector71]

This case screams “revolver”. At one time, I used to have to qualify a one-armed LE Officer (Special disability hire). He had to fire the same course as his non-disabled, semi auto pistol colleagues. He more than met the minimum score/time limits everytime. Did his reloads by shoving the revolver barrel down behind his Sam Browne belt. His issued gun was the Ruger Speed-Six.

[Jim Watson]

S&W M&P with ambi safety.
Full size 9
Compact 9
Shield 9
EZ 9
EZ .380
Compact .22

Biggest in the family she can grasp.