.32 Revolver for Elderly Home Defense?

[Ricochet]

I was wondering what you folks thought about that caliber for an older woman to use?
It can accept .32 short, .32 long and .32 Magnum cartridges.

My grandmother wants a pistol for home defense and I have a H&R .32 revolver that I only shot a few times. I got it about 10 years ago in a raffle. I figured I would just give it to her if it was a decent round for defense.

The .32 short rounds I think are a little too underpowered, but the .32 longs look appealing.


Of course some hollow points would be ideal.

The revolver is perfectly made for a woman's hands as its on the smaller side.

What do you all think?

Here's a picture:

[mrnyman]

THat REvolver loaded with .32 longs should make a fine house gun for an old lady, my only concern is that on most of those Revolvers you have to remove the Cylinder in order to reload it, would be a Challenge for your Grandma hunkered down in the dark out of ammo and unable to reload quickly, however 5 shots should be sufficient -usually.

Go for it.

Nyman

[MOUNTAINORACLE]

Don't limit the .32 Magnum as a defensive cartridge for elderly women.

I have a S&W J-Frame chambered in .32 H&R Magnum that is in my rotatation of BUGs. I have also used this J-Frame as a primary carry on various occassions and do not feel under gunned.

You can reload the J-Frame quickly without removing the cylinder. This holds true on the other revolvers I have that are chambered in this cartridge.

[WVBob]

Don't under rate the .32. While it's far from the best, it has sent a lot of people to the Maker. The .32 mag is a nice little round that will do damage in FMJ or HP, even a lead load will do good. The nice thing is it's lack of recoil makes it nice for an older person that is not a shooter. Or a younger person. When my grandson was 9 he tried to claim my .32 Mag Bird head as his.

[ByAnyMeans]

I will second everyones opinion here. The round in it's long or magnum style is just fine. It is also good because it seems to be a pistol she can carry around with her. My concern is that I will not be able to get to a gun when needed so i carry one around my house (even if just a pocket .380). I would think it even harder for an older woman to quickly get their gun in the heat of the moment so it's best they have it with them and this could surely be toted around.

[Steve_NEPhila]

I would not use a revolver with a short barrel, poor sights, small controls and stiff double action trigger stroke for an elderly person. All of those attributes I just listed make it very difficult to make that weapon effective.

Grandma would most likely be better off with an autoloader of some sort. Why? Autos are easier to load, usually have a much lighter trigger pull and can have much better sights mounted. The idea that a revolver is a womans gun is absurd and not accurate.

The amount of time it takes someone to get good with quickly reloading a revolver opposed to an auto is quite pronounced. Small, light revolvers are weapons for experts, not novice shooters.

[MOUNTAINORACLE]

I would not use a revolver with a short barrel, poor sights, small controls and stiff double action trigger stroke for an elderly person. All of those attributes I just listed make it very difficult to make that weapon effective.

Grandma would most likely be better off with an autoloader of some sort. Why? Autos are easier to load, usually have a much lighter trigger pull and can have much better sights mounted. The idea that a revolver is a womans gun is absurd and not accurate.

The amount of time it takes someone to get good with quickly reloading a revolver opposed to an auto is quite pronounced. Small, light revolvers are weapons for experts, not novice shooters.

All the points that you make are valid. The same can be said of "Most" small double action semi-autos which have short barrels, a long Double action pull that can weight out more than a double action revolver, small sights, and more controls to operate, along with the problem that grandama may not have the hand strength to pull the slide back to charge the pistol & in the case of FTF Grandma would be up the creek.
I own semi-auto that I have to load for my wife. She's unable to safely operate the slide to load.

[prospero1919]

LOL When I first read the title of this post - I thought to myself, where do you live that you need to defend yourself against elderly people?

[PhillyGunslinger]

She might be better off with a 38 Special with a 4 or 6 inch barrel
loaded with standard velocity hollowpoints combined with 130 gr FMJ's in the same chamber. The FMJ's will ensure optimum penetration through heavy clothing and the hollowpoint will do what they usually do. Or just load it with a bonded hollowpoint like Gold Dot or PDX1. While 158 gr Hollowpoints will penetrate better, 125 gr will have less recoil. The 38 isn't that bad as far as recoil goes out of a medium frame revolver even loaded with 158 gr +P's .

[Bluesteel63]

Take grandma out to shoot the revolver and make sure she is comfortable with it.