Taking gramma shooting.

[Mushki]

Recently my grandmother gave me a bunch of nice old guns. I told her I would only take them if we shot them at least one last time. Turns out she is pretty handy with them. I shoot idpa around the state and used an old .380 she gave me at a bug match. After letting her know I used it and did quite well she stated she would like to try a match out herself. She did fine, but struggled racking the slide which I knew would be a problem. She does not have the fine motor skills remaining to reliably load one of her old revolvers, we tried a few times. She would like to shoot next month match but her inability to reload is a problem. I got the ok for her to use a .22 but I do not own one that I feel confident that would not jam over the course of a three thru six stage match. Anyone have any other idea or thoughts. Today she shot the classifier with my m&p pro 9 and did well but i or another so had to rack the slide for her each time as required. She can still shoot accurately and had fun beating all but one woman and even a pair of guys. At 77 I am proud of her and want to find a way to help.

 

[Pizza Bob]

Is she using the overhand method of racking the slide? Strong hand stays on the grip. Support hand comes over the slide palm down covering from the rear sight forward to, and over, the ejection port. Strong hand pushes forward while the support hand pulls backward. Two muscle groups involved and a secure grip on the gun. If that doesn't do it, I don't know what to tell you - revolver with moon clips? But that throws her into ESR and she may have trouble dealing with the recoil.

Nice of you to help her. Good luck. My grandmother got on the back of my motorcycle with me when she was in her 70's. Used to think, "Crazy old people", now I am one. LOL.

Adios,

Pizza Bob

 

[Bkreutz]

.380 is possibly the worst autoloader in terms of racking the slide. Most are blowback design and the springs are really stiff. That being said, if there is no other gun available, talk with the match director and see if there is some accommodation that can be made to help her complete the COF. Doesn't matter which class they put her into, she's probably not going to win anyway, just find a way to let her shoot, even if you have to walk with the RO during the string and then reload it for her. There's always a way. It's supposed to be fun.

I shoot USPSA Open and I have 2 artificial hips and an artificial shoulder, no way I'm going to move between shooting positions like the young guys, so I just have fun. Never got close to winning, but never finished last either. Getting ready to leave for a match in a half an hour, and it's not raining, everything is good.