Despite popular belief a .38 revolver is not the best choice for a new, weak, or shooter than doesn’t want to practice much.
Actually it is. They ain't gonna hit crap with either cause they don't practice, but the much simplified manual of arms is mo better. Push button, cylinder swing out, ammo will only go in one direction (with a rimmed cartridge that is common in those guns), close cylinder, done. No safeties, backwards ammo in mags, slide to rack, limpwristing, stove piping that you have to clear cause you dont practice enough to know what is going on (cause you limpristed it), trying to put mags in backwards, etc. I have seen all this happen with newer shooters. I know that the trigger on a revolver ain't going match the trigger on an auto so they are harder to shoot accurately, but they are much more likely to be loaded correctly and have a chance of going off at all. I can learn the the most ignorant person around how to make a revolver work in a couple of minutes and since it is very self explanatory, they will still know how to operate the gun 6 months later. The same cannot be said for autos.