Agreed. Most small revolvers have undersized grips that would be hard for a person with weak hands to hold. Bigger revolvers often have stronger trigger pulls, which is also a problem. Full-sized revolvers in .22 have strong trigger pulls because they are rimfire mechanisms.
It’s true that semi-autos may require a lot of strength to rack the slide, but not something like a .22 or .22 Magnum. Ignore all the b.s. you hear about “stopping power.” The truth is, nobody is really eager to get shot with ANYTHING, and a bullet to the head from any caliber will stop ANYONE. If the gun is for show, it doesn’t matter what caliber it is; if you actually have to use it, a .22 you can shoot and hit the target with easily will do a helluva lot more good than a big, expensive .45 you can’t hold steady. Get something you can shoot first, worry about stopping power later.
So, given the criteria you mention, I’d go with a semi-auto in .22 or .22 Magnum, something like the Kel-Tec PMR-30. Huge mag capacity, full-size grip, sem-auto trigger pull, more punch than a regular .22.
Based upon what you’re saying here I would suggest a revolver, .38 Special, with a 4 or 6-inch barrel. If you were to go with a .380 ACP automatic you would probably find the action very difficult to operate and the handguns very small. The action of a .380ACP is typically blowback, which means that the slide comes straight back and the mechanical resistance is in the weight of the slide and the spring. Because of the strong spring the slide can be very difficult to operate.
I suppose you could get a larger .380, but I still think a nice Ruger GP100 would be just the ticket for you. As always, it’s a determination you have to make for yourself, because if you’re not comfortable with what you get you’ll never shoot it or you’ll put it away and never look at it again. The Ruger is well priced, it’s got fairly substantial weight (which helps eat recoil), it has nice sights, it holds six shots, and it’s over engineered to a fare-thee-well so it’ll take a lot of abuse and neglect and still work.
The only problem with the PMR-30 (well, now that Kel-Tec seems to have solved the ‘keyholing’ problem) is finding one. I’ve been looking around for a few weeks, and they’re backordered everywhere.
Baretta used to make a semi auto with a tip up barrel that eliminated the need for pulling the slide. Best of both worlds. Maybe you can find one of those. Great little weapons.
The bullet is like a small rifle cartridge which makes the clip and pistol grip longer than most handguns. If you have small hands or short fingers it would be a poor fit in your hand.
Tasers are not “nonlethal”, they are “Less Lethal”, on a bad day, a tazer can still kill someone.
From my understanding, anything that will penetrate a person will penetrate most walls in your typical residence. Resiliency against gunfire is not a typical design requirement for most homes, and it’s cheaper to build more lightly whenever possible.
Whatever you get, practice with it whenever you can, so you can use it effectively if and when you need to.
The ammo is ridiculously expensive (ballpark $1.50+ per shot) and of disputed effectiveness (.PDF warning) for the purpose you want: stopping an armed intruder. On impact, they form a very wide, shallow wound cavity, compared to a standard hollow-point personal defense bullet. If the Glaser functions as designed, it does not penetrate deeply. Unfortunately, you want a deeper wound channel in order to have a better probability of stopping your assailant. (Cue people citing the F.B.I. Miami study and 12 inches) Glasers also have different points of impact than other rounds in their caliber, due to their being lighter and faster. For the purpose you want, this shouldn’t be much of an issue, however. You’re going to want to practice with what you intend to use, though, and the cost may lead you to not want to do that.
Would a light carbine, e.g., Kel-Tec’s SUB 2000, (I’d link to Kel-Tec’s site, but Chrome is bitching that there’s malware there.) be too heavy for you to use? I haven’t shot it, but it’s only 4.0 pounds, and has a much longer sight radius than a 9mm or .40SW pistol. I’ve no idea what the cycling forces are for the weapon. Alternately, Kel-Tec’s SU-16 carbine, in .223, is only 5 pounds empty. The reason I mention .223, is that, counter-intuitively, well-selected projectiles often penetrate less through housing material (drywall, wood studs, etc…) than do handgun bullets, while having greater stopping power. That said, anything that will sufficiently penetrate an intruder, will also happily go through several walls.
I agree with Airman Doors and Scumpup’s recommendations. I’d also include, if not already mentioned, the Ruger LCR revolver. Great, easy to use trigger for a double-action revolver. My GF has weak hands and found the trigger and controls easily manipulable in dry fire. The pistol is light—which is a double-edged sword when it comes to recoil—and I thought the grips were good and ergonomical. Supposedly the grip material and configuration soaks up a bit of the recoil. Doubt it’ll feel like a 686 shooting wadcutters, but I hope it’d be better than a scandium snubby. Need to get out and shoot one of them soon.
For home defense, I suggest a 16 or 20 gauge shotgun. You will have the added psychological advantage of the sound it makes as you rack a round up; that will scare the living shit out of any burglar in the world.
That’s a hell of a lot of weight for someone with MS. My dad has MS and doubt he could chamber the shells or work the slide. I know he couldn’t raise the shotgun to his shoulder without falling forward.
against a determined attacker, you dont want to give away your position. The only noise they hear if they are lucky is the first shot you fire. Not to mention a shotgun difficult to weild for someone with limited strength and a poor choice for tight quarters anyway.
Shotguns also have zero problems penetrating walls.
The LCR might be a fine choice, especially since it emphasizes a light trigger pull. Revolvers generally have heavier pulls because the pull rotates the cylinder. Semiautos will on average have lighter pulls.