I agree - I prefer the revolvers designed for 357 - they have more "substance", and shooting 38's from them is very comfortable! I am geeze-ette and a revolver queen! I have arthritis and age-ing eye sight!
I know that it might seem a bit heavy, but beware getting a revolver that is too short and too light - it will be difficult for your mom to control. There is a balance between weight and size that must be made by the person that is going to shoot it. If the revolver has nice heft, it just sits very securely in my hand and is actually easier for me to shoot accurately- and isn't that the "name of the game?"
What she said.
I don't understand carrying a ultra light gun that is painful to shoot just because it's easy to carry. It's a gun, it's meant to be shot and if you shoot it, it ought to be shot accurately. If you can't shoot it long enough or often enough to become proficient, then why the 7734 are you carrying it?
"Steel frame guns are too heavy to carry," is one excuse that I don't buy. How much does a steel J-frame sized wheel gun weigh? I went over to the S&W site and pulled up 3 hammered DA/SA J-frames with the same barrel length to find out. According to S&W, a steel framed Model 36 is 19.5 oz. The Airweight version of the same gun (the Model 637) is 15 oz. Their Model 360 (.357Magnum Talo custom version of the same gun) is 13.3 oz.
That's a difference of 4 to 6.2 oz. That's not a lot when it comes to carrying it. Heck, I've had sets of work keys that weighed more than 6 ounces.
I don't think that novice shooters really don't need to even look at the light pocket guns because they are so hard to learn to control and become proficient with because they are so light and small. The increased felt recoil due to the light weight can- and most likely will- lead to them developing bad recoil management habits like flinching and milking the trigger. The short sight radius means that your mechanics have to be all that much better to get shots on target accurately. When you combine the two, you have a gun that's extremely hard to learn to shoot accurately.
You want some heft in a gun. The heavier the gun, the more recoil the weight of the gun will absorb. The more the weight of the gun absorbs recoil,means that the shooter's body has that much less to absorb. For example, shoot a factory 165gr .30-'06 from a standard weight rifle and then shoot the same ammo from one of the light weight guns like the Remington Model 7 that weighs about 25% less. The ammunition is the same, but the lighter gun will have more felt recoil.
That being said, most folks can't walk around with a Smith and Wesson Model 27 with a 8 3/8" full under lug barrel and conceal it. There's gotta be a compromise in size/ shooting comfort and the ability to conceal. That's going to depend on how low the shooter in question can go and still be able to actually shoot it accurately.