After being together for 40 yrs she finally wants to learn to shoot. While watching the news and hearing about all these home invasions, she said she wants to learn to protect herself. She is a small woman with very little hand strength (she has MS), she can pull the trigger double action on my Ruger Security Six but she can't rack the slide on any of my semi-auto's. I am sure she will be very recoil sensitive to start so I will start out with a .22, I was thinking maybe a Ruger SR.22, she will also be using it for home protection while I am at work (we also have a very big dog) until she graduates to something a little larger. I was wondering what any of you forum members (especially you ladies) would recommend to start her out with. Len
I'm going to part from the conventional wisdom here and suggest that you focus on her goal - she wants to be able to protect herself with a gun. To that goal, I would get her some basic instruction on the 4 rules of gun safety, and get her to the range to fire every gun you already own. "She can't rack the slide" doesn't mean she can't SHOOT a semi. Maybe you'll have to help her - bet you have to open the pickles, too, but she can still eat 'em!
Let her handle and shoot everything she wants to try. She'll find what works for her. Then you see what proceedures will work for her. If she likes a semi, get her one. Keep it loaded and she can shoot it.
We tend to lock ourselves into thinking that everybody has to be able to do everything with a gun to be able to shoot it. To defend herself, she only has to be able to hold it, point it, and make it go bang. Given her condition, that's the goal. If she can handle a 9mm compact work, she'll have 7 to 11 rounds available before she even needs to change mags - and she'll probably be out of time long before she's out of ammo.
IF she wants to shoot a lot - which isn't likely, after 40 years - then you may want to get a .22 for her to practice with and help her prep it. Heck, you may find that a .22 is all she can handle. Ten rounds of MiniMags can persuade a BG to go away.
She doesn't have to load mags, or cylinders, or strip and clean the gun, or rack slides. She has to be able to pick up the gun, hold it steady on target, and fire it - and the more she can do that, the better. If that turns out to be two rounds from a SxS 20ga coach gun, it's better than nothing.