Mom finally is beginning to see the need for a firearm...

My mother (she’s in her mid 70’s and healthy as a horse) is taking the whole pandemic issue reasonably seriously, she’s sheltering in place and social distancing, but her one deficiency is her lack of a defensive firearm, she jokingly says she’ll be okay with her BB gun and crowbar

she lives in rural Seacoast Northern New England (one of the states with Constitutional Carry), but she doesn’t have a firearm (just no real interest until now, not an anti, but not her thing...)

she has access to my firearms inventory, and I’m going to loan her one of my guns until she can purchase her own (I’d gift her one of mine, but she wants to buy her own finally)

She has limited grip strength and has trouble racking the slide of my 9mm handguns, so that reduces options a bit (she’s interested in the Shield 9 EZ but good luck finding one ATM)

her options are;

H&R Pardner 28 gauge Compact
H&R Topper Deluxe Classic 20 gauge
Ruger 10/22 (heavily customized ‘14 contest winner model)
Marlin 25 bolt action
Ruger Super Single Six .22LR/Magnum
S&W Shield 9 2.0 (my CCW)
CZ-75b

the 9mm’s will be difficult for her to rack so they’re a less viable option, the shotguns have more potential stopping power, but are single shot, the Single Six with Magnums is a possibility, but is slow to reload, I’m thinking the best choice of the poor choices above is probably the 10/22, I can even put it back in the original stock and take off the red dot, to simplify things for her..

none of the choices are particularly good, but I think the 10/22 is the most reasonable compromise, I have 5 10 rounders and two 25 round BX-25’s and plenty of .22LR stored, plus, she can practice in the backyard range.

she’ll most likely never need to use it anyway, but I’d feel better if she had something more substantial than a Daisy Red Ryder and a crowbar (she’s not fighting off headcrab zombies anyway... )

so what would you suggest?

George Dickel said:

What is your mother's experience level with a firearm? Is she really willing and able to shoot someone if necessary?

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She’s shot them all except the 9mm’s, and she’s more comfortable with the .22’s, she’s willing to defend her life, she was a high school teacher and said she would have volunteered to be an armed teacher if necessary.

hso said:

Ask her what she has experience with and what she wants to use and what she's most comfortable with since something she weilds with apparent confidence and obvious intent is better than some large or small.

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she wants something light and compact, something easy to handle

George Dickel said:

What is your mother's experience level with a firearm? Is she really willing and able to shoot someone if necessary?

Click to expand...

as stated up thread, she’s shot the .22’s and the shotguns, and is willing to defend herself.

I know the .22’s are a poor choice ballistically, but they have the advantage of magazine capacity, no recoil, and less of a report when fired (hearing/vision protection will also be supplied)

to me, the 10/22 has the best balance of ease of use and capacity, it just is deficient in stopping power

I fully expect her to never need to use a firearm defensively, but I *want* her to have that ability if needed, especially since the ACLU is whining about “releasing” prisoners in the local prison system (most likely the nonviolent offenders, but they’re there for a reason...)
https://www.seacoastonline.com/news...-release-of-inmates-vulnerable-to-coronavirus

LNK said:

I really don't think someone shot with birdshot like a dove load of #7, is going to stand there and laugh. Get the largest shot size you can find in 28 ga and let her try it. If she can handle it, it's more than enough.

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to clarify, both shotguns are single shot break action, hammer fired guns, also, the local gun shop (Kittery Trading Post) is pretty picked over both ammo and gun wise, I called this afternoon, and all they have for ammo for the 20/28 is birdshot (#7-#9) plus there’s the NICS delays and lack of most ammo

I’m going to check KTP after work to see if they have any 10/22’s left in stock, and hopefully convince her to buy one for herself, it might be the best of a bad choice, but better than nothing....

ApacheCoTodd said:

Some brief thoughts:

<snip>
S&W Shield 9 2.0 (my CCW)
Kinda small and poppy for the uninitiated and multiple *things* on the left side for confusion.

CZ-75b
How would she be with DA on this? Sounds like where I'd lean first. Tell her to leave the hammer alone. This with a round in the chamber and quality ball to limit FTFs so she need not necessarily worry about operating the slide.

Todd.

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as stated up thread, she has limited hand strength to rack the slide, she’s tried both the CZ and S&W, she can barely budge the Shield, and can do the CZ with difficulty by holding the slide still and pushing the lower to rack it

she’s not looking for a concealed carry weapon, but for a home defense weapon, I may have some slugs and buckshot for the 20, but the 28 only has trap rounds available the 20 is noticeably heavier as well, if you’re not familiar with the TDC 20G, it actually has a *heavy* barrel, it’s a 12 gauge blank with a 20 gauge bore, the barrel walls are *thick*, the nice thing is, that weight reduces felt recoil, but it’s not a light gun
https://www.hr1871.com/Firearms/Shotguns/topper.asp.html

I’d love for her to try the CZ again, but she just has no interest in it, she says it’s a nice gun, but it’s too heavy for her and she has difficulty working the slide, even with your solution, believe me, I’ve tried

my devious plan is to hook her in with a 10/22, simple, friendly and unintimidating, and once she gets more into the mindset of a gun owner, get her to check out a S&W Shield 9EZ, which she has expressed interest in, they’re just impossible to find right now....