Originally Posted By: bobbob
My wife has small hands and she is starting to get arthritis. Recoil is a concern, are the .32
and .380 too close to call? Thank you guys
The .32 has noticeably less recoil than .380. I have to confess that with semi auto rounds, .380, 9 mm, .40, and .45 all feel about the same to me. Until you get to 10mm, I can't tell much difference in felt recoil.
My .32 PPK is a very soft shooter, highly accurate with the relatively long barrel for a pocket gun, easy follow up shots. Racking the slide could be a problem for people with weak hands.
The .32 Beretta Tomcat is also a soft recoil gun as it is all metal, and also highly accurate considering the short barrel length. It has a tip up barrel so actuating the slide is a non issue.
Beretta also made a Cheetah in .32 with a tip up barrel, but they have not been imported for quite some time, and would probably be hard to find. The Cheetahs are a semi premium gun, and priced accordingly.
Just throwing this out there: the Beretta Bobcat with hotter rounds like stingers or mini mags is a soft shooter and astonishingly accurate with a bit of practice.
I've not had any trouble finding .32 self defense loads. .32 may not be the greatest self defense round, but a magazine load of hits with a .32 has to be better than harsh language.