The Gun Counter

I was talking with a lady at work about home defense and such; she said that she'd already had one burglary, and wanted something for home defense. Her son set her up with one of those fingerprint safes to keep her .38 special in. He told her to keep the gun in the safe with the hammer cocked back, ready to rock, so that's how she does it. It seems uncool to me. She said it's hard to cock the hammer back, and she wants it ready to go, yet her younger kids won't have access. She doesn't practice with it; seems to me like an accident waiting to happen. In the heat of the moment, when she needs it, I could well imagine her hooking the trigger and letting off a round by accident. And then, even if she doesn't hit herself or someone else, well, she's gonna have to cock the hammer again anyway.

She's a prime candidate for a Glock, XD, etc.

If she can't shoot the thing in DA, what she has now is a dangerous single-shot. And it's foolish to have a potentially deadly tool and never practice with it.

A) She needs to get a firearm she can operate.
B) She needs to practice with it until she can operate it in the dark, half asleep.

A friend at work has a Ruger GP100 that she couldn't cock the hammer for single-action nor pull the trigger in double-action. I polished up the trigger parts and installed lighter hammer and trigger springs for her. Now she loves it.

38 with horrible DA pull? Sounds like a cheapo Taurus to me. Either that it hasn't had it's lockwork cleaned in a long, loooonnng time and all the oil and grease and dried to the consistency of cement.

And she's asking for trouble keeping a cocked revolver like that - in the heat of the moment, she could easily shoot herself, or somebody else. If it's a Taurus, get rid of it and buy a used model 10. If it's a S&W that needs servicing, take it to a Smith. She should practice not only opening the safe(ideally in the dark), but clearing the house as well. A blue gun and a flashlight is a good idea for this.

There's an excellent example of why I'm so annoyed by the common practice of trying to sell the DAO snubby to the 'little lady'. Screw that! Get her what she shoots well and enjoys shooting. :jacked: Sorry. Rant off.

Evyl Robot wrote:There's an excellent example of why I'm so annoyed by the common practice of trying to sell the DAO snubby to the 'little lady'. Screw that! Get her what she shoots well and enjoys shooting. :jacked: Sorry. Rant off.

Discussion on this over at The Breda Fallacy

With some commentary by Tam

It appears that lady in the OP and her son both need some quality firearms training.

Also agree she either needs to get that piece fixed or trade it in on something that's not an ND waiting to happen.

My wife has problems with most guns, she's got shoulder and hand problems. I tried her out on a lot of different guns and she finally settled, on her own, on a Smith Model 36. She shoots it very well and has no trouble with either double or single action. She also settled on a Bersa Thunderer in .380 because she could rack the slide on it. When I'm teaching a new shooter, male or female, I let them try a variety of weapons and calibers. I also ask them how much practice they're going to get then give them my recommendation. If a person isn't going to practice at least 3 or 4 times a month, I suggest a revolver but I don't suggest an airweight or snubbie. I demonstrate the idea that someone who isn't proficient is going to be in trouble if the semi-auto jams. Some folks take my advice, some don't, but they usually find a gun they're comfortable with.

Rod wrote:When I'm teaching a new shooter, male or female, I let them try a variety of weapons and calibers.

+1. That's the only responsible way to do it. I really wish we had more guns. If for no other reason than to have a wide variety to [strike]corrupt[/strike] inspire new shooters with.

A revolver? Stored cocked?
I've read some hair-raising things on this site, some of which have the benefit of not actually having happened, and this is one of them.
Both mother and son need some training on a wide variety of pistols, particularly so she knows what will work for her in her moment of need, and Sonny won't be advising her to initiate an ND.