I just helped my mother through this process. We were at the shot show where she could handle them all. She found that the .32 Tomcat Berretta with laser sights was great for her. Just be sure to use full metal jacket ammo for max penetration. She didn’t have the finger strength for any double action. Tomcat was nice because you can pull hammer back and then engage safety. Then all you have to do to use is safety off, nice light single action trigger. Before all you .45 freaks go crazy, remember, this is for a grandmother here...
That is very helpful, thanks. I have handled guns before that were empty and tried to pull the trigger and it was difficult. I have good index finger strength still. My arthritis is on the sides of my thumbs.
Okay, I went to the Baretta site and looked at the .32 Tomcat. Neat looking pistol. Read the Operations manual and it went way over my head, especially when they started to explain about the 2 ways to load it, all about the safety (confusing) and how to take it apart.
I can go to the American Shooting Center here in San Diego to take a class and they do sell many brands.
Good point about smaller hands of the ladies. Wife can shoot a .380 auto but the .38 is just too much gun for her hand.