Shooting with Arthritis
We all get older. I hate to start an article out by bringing up a stark reminder of our mortality but, as the saying goes, the only definites in life are death and taxes. As we get older, things start to break down. Maybe our vision or hearing might fade. Sometimes the coordination or reaction time might not be what it used to be. There’s a good chance, however, that you’re going to wind up as one of the millions of people suffering from arthritis. Wow…that has been a very depressing opening. Quick! We need a palate cleanser!
How do you get a sweet 80-year-old lady to say the F word?
Get another sweet little 80-year-old lady to yell “BINGO”!
And we’re back. Arthritis is a pretty nasty degenerative disorder that affects the joints in your skeleton. The term “arthritis” itself is more of a blanket term to group a large number of ailments and exactly how each one affects a person is different. While it can affect any joints in the body, for this article we’re going to be talking about the hands.
It drives me crazy when I read the flat out bluntess of other blogs. They often reply to the statement of “I have trouble pulling back the slide” with “well your technique is just wrong”. When it comes to arthritis sufferers, it can still be impossible to pull a slide back even with perfect technique. Heck, even holding a gun is a major problem for many with arthritis.
Side note: I’ll be using my experiences with my mother and a very good friend of mine, who suffer from severe arthritis, and my findings while dealing with them for my recommendations.
Often times, when giving recommendations, you have to take the majority into account. That’s why you often hear “Glock 19”, “SIG P220” or “XDm 3.8” being given as recommendations because the majority of the people out there can use them and they’re ideal for the majority of situations that you would need a gun for. When we’re talking about arthritis, we’re talking one less than ideal situations that may force a couple of other less than ideal situations.
For example, the recoil of most guns is very difficult to deal with when your hands just can’t physically grip a gun. No amount of hand strength exercises or squeezing one of those spring loaded grip thingies is going to help because the stuff that makes your hand work is no longer working correctly. As a result, you may have to move down a couple of calibers to find something you can shoot. Does that mean carrying a .22LR pistol? Could be. Is that ideal? Nope. It’s better than a pointy stick, however.
If you want to lower the recoil but don’t want to sacrifice bullet size, look for ported guns. Having shot a couple different ported weapons recently, I can say without a doubt that they almost completely remove any recoil on a gun. Glock used to make a compensated (aka ported) version of the 17 and 19 pistols (both chambered in 9mm) and you can find them either new or used online or in many stores. A good gunsmith can also port a gun for you and there are also aftermarket options for porting many pistols on the market today. This is a great option for when you already have a gun but your growing arthritis is making it harder and harder to shoot. There are some that even screw on to a threaded barrel. This will make the gun a bit bigger but it should still be manageable and concealable. After all, it’s the handle size more than barrel length that determines how easily a gun is concealed.
As mentioned before, the trigger and slide might also be an issue. Regardless of technique, if you’ve got arthritis and are looking for a semi-auto pistol, you’re going to need to keep that in mind. Some guns have naturally lighter recoil springs than others. This translates to an easier time pulling back the slide.
Logic would say “well then a revolver is the best choice if you can’t pull the slide back”. Not so fast there, Tex. Because you might have to alter your grip significantly in order to even hold the gun in the first place, a revolver could very easily injure a person. The gap between the cylinder and the barrel lets gas escape in a way that acts like a small scalpel. It can give you a nasty cut even with a .38 special. On a larger caliber it could take a finger off completely.
It should be noted as well that the double action trigger on most hammerless revolvers is still a chore for many. Even a seemingly light 7 pound DA trigger, which is typical for most carry revolvers, would be too much for someone with even moderate arthritis. One solution is a revolver with an external hammer but you have to be sure you have the strength and coordination to pull the hammer back. If you can do that, however, the single action on most revolvers is very light and very tamable.
That’s not to say you’re up the creek if you’re having trouble with the trigger. There are countless aftermarket trigger kits that can lighten the pull of a trigger drastically. If you’re not comfortable doing that work yourself, any gunsmith worth their salt can tweak the trigger for you and it is usually around $50, depending on the gun/region. Just keep in mind that lightening the pull will also lead to safety concerns so be very aware of trigger discipline, as you always should.
Having arthritis isn’t the end of the world. It just means you might have to look a bit longer or spend a little extra money tweaking your gun. Go to a gun store and explain to the clerk your problem. Trust me, you’re not the first person to walk into the store with the same issues. If they’re a decent store, they’ll gladly spend the time with you to find the gun that will work with your ailment. We all get older, but that doesn’t mean we have to give up.
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