Please recommend a revolver or top-break semi- for my 80+ year old mother.

[peyton]

I second the idea of a .32 revolver. There are a lot of them on the market. My kids and daughter in law all have a model 631 or 431 as there house gun. My daughter in law has arthitis and the .32 long does not hurt her at all when shooting. You can look on our forum for a model 30, 31, 431, 432, any of these will be fine and not crazy expensive.

 

[7shooter]

It all depends on her hand size and strength. I would stick with double action revolvers and discourage thumb cocking the gun because if she doesn't have to fire she will be left with a very light trigger that she will need to know how to decock probably while under a great deal of stress. One that I would have her try would be the Ruger SP 101 in 38/357 loaded with Federal Nyclad 38 Special ( standard pressure and low recoil but has a good street track record ). The Ruger has enough heft to dampen recoil and has excellent stocks which also contribute to a pleasant shooting experience. The trigger on mine is smooth and light enough that most people can use it fairly easily. I use it when first teaching my young grandkids about double action shooting.