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- Thread starter reconseed
- Start date
- Joined
- Oct 2, 1998
- Messages
- 1,874
Q: What's the best gun to have in a gunfight?
A: The one you have with you.
The caliber doesn't make a damn bit of difference if you don't have the gun with you. Carry the largest caliber pistol/revolver you are comfortable and proficient with, and will have with you at all times. If that's a .50 Desert Eagle, great. It's that's a .22LR NAA mini-revolver, that's fine too.
For me it's 6+1 rounds in a .32 caliber Seecamp. Sometimes I will have a .38 S&W 342Ti with me, other times I may have a Glock 23, but I always have the Seecamp on me.
A: The one you have with you.
The caliber doesn't make a damn bit of difference if you don't have the gun with you. Carry the largest caliber pistol/revolver you are comfortable and proficient with, and will have with you at all times. If that's a .50 Desert Eagle, great. It's that's a .22LR NAA mini-revolver, that's fine too.
For me it's 6+1 rounds in a .32 caliber Seecamp. Sometimes I will have a .38 S&W 342Ti with me, other times I may have a Glock 23, but I always have the Seecamp on me.
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2006
- Messages
- 3,910
Very true. Any gun is better than no gun usually and dead is dead no matter what they got shot with. I still would rather be safe than sorry. I carry a Sig 229 357 sig with ultra hot loads and a Ruger Sp101 357 magnum as a backup.
jdm61
itinerant metal pounder
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2005
- Messages
- 47,357
I'm not sure which lunatic at S & W thought that a 12 ounce scandium frame .357 magnum was a good idea, but there you have it....
Technologically, it is an amazing piece, but if you are really worried about saving 5 or 6 ounces on a full power .357 snubby, then you are probably not going to like ANY .357. A gun that is uncomfortable to shoot is one that you will not practice with and therefore, one that you will not be proficient with, at least with the defense loads you will be carrying. Either carry a Centenial Airweight with +P .38's or get a steel frame .357 with a 3 inch barrel. The relative power differnece between the +P's and the 357's are not as important as you might think, since, in a defense situation, you are probably going to keep pulling the trigger till the hammer falls on an empty chamber. Personally, I prefer my Walthers. (PPK/S and P5.) If i wanted something with more oomph, I would go with my SiG P220 or a Kimber Commander sized 1911 with an Ed Brown bobtail conversion.
Technologically, it is an amazing piece, but if you are really worried about saving 5 or 6 ounces on a full power .357 snubby, then you are probably not going to like ANY .357. A gun that is uncomfortable to shoot is one that you will not practice with and therefore, one that you will not be proficient with, at least with the defense loads you will be carrying. Either carry a Centenial Airweight with +P .38's or get a steel frame .357 with a 3 inch barrel. The relative power differnece between the +P's and the 357's are not as important as you might think, since, in a defense situation, you are probably going to keep pulling the trigger till the hammer falls on an empty chamber. Personally, I prefer my Walthers. (PPK/S and P5.) If i wanted something with more oomph, I would go with my SiG P220 or a Kimber Commander sized 1911 with an Ed Brown bobtail conversion.All the debate over caliber, like the 9mm vs .357, or the .45 vs 9mm, or the auto vs revolver, all seem to be pretty pointless. In 30 years of reading the American Rifleman and the Armed Citizen collum, it seems like no matter what handgun is used, in the majority of the times the mere presence of the gun is enough to stop the crime.
In the times that it comes down to exchanging shots, again it does not matter what the person uses, it seems to be common that the account is the crimminal running out of the store/home/parking lot, and being found dead a block away or seeking medical help at the local hospital. These shootings seem to be with everything from a old .38special in a 78 year old widows hand, to a .40 Glock, to a 9mm auto. In one article some months ago, an armed citizen came to a police officers aid with a .45. The officer had a man on top of him that he had already shot once with his own gun, the citizen shot the crimminal a couple times with his .45 auto, with NO EFFECT! The citizen then shot the crimminal again in the head killing him before he could kill the officer he was trying his dammedest to.
But then you get the articles like the old couple at a remote farmhouse, home invasion by some punks looking for valuebles, tie up the old couple and leave them on the bedroom floor. Man frees himself and retieves a .22 rifle from the bedroon closet and shoots one of the invaders coming back into the bedroom. They all run from the house and the one shot with the .22 is found dead on the lawn outside.
I must have read thousands of these armed citizen collums over the years I've gotten The American Rifleman, and it just does not seem to matter at all what you use, as long as it goes off and you hit what you aim at. Shot placement and what gets hit seem to be far more important that what kind of gun is used. The only reported cases of a homeowner or store owner getting a one shot fight ending kill is with a 30-30 deer rifle or such, or a 12gauge at close range. It seems though the handguns just don't have the power to end a fight or anchor a crimminal like a long arm in 30 caliber or larger.
Use whatever you like, and like it enough to practice a sh-t load with it till you can hit with it half asleep or with massive adreniline rush. Most likely you'll be fine unless the horde of brain eating zombies come, or the mob of drug crazed bikers armed with M-16's.
In the times that it comes down to exchanging shots, again it does not matter what the person uses, it seems to be common that the account is the crimminal running out of the store/home/parking lot, and being found dead a block away or seeking medical help at the local hospital. These shootings seem to be with everything from a old .38special in a 78 year old widows hand, to a .40 Glock, to a 9mm auto. In one article some months ago, an armed citizen came to a police officers aid with a .45. The officer had a man on top of him that he had already shot once with his own gun, the citizen shot the crimminal a couple times with his .45 auto, with NO EFFECT! The citizen then shot the crimminal again in the head killing him before he could kill the officer he was trying his dammedest to.
But then you get the articles like the old couple at a remote farmhouse, home invasion by some punks looking for valuebles, tie up the old couple and leave them on the bedroom floor. Man frees himself and retieves a .22 rifle from the bedroon closet and shoots one of the invaders coming back into the bedroom. They all run from the house and the one shot with the .22 is found dead on the lawn outside.
I must have read thousands of these armed citizen collums over the years I've gotten The American Rifleman, and it just does not seem to matter at all what you use, as long as it goes off and you hit what you aim at. Shot placement and what gets hit seem to be far more important that what kind of gun is used. The only reported cases of a homeowner or store owner getting a one shot fight ending kill is with a 30-30 deer rifle or such, or a 12gauge at close range. It seems though the handguns just don't have the power to end a fight or anchor a crimminal like a long arm in 30 caliber or larger.
Use whatever you like, and like it enough to practice a sh-t load with it till you can hit with it half asleep or with massive adreniline rush. Most likely you'll be fine unless the horde of brain eating zombies come, or the mob of drug crazed bikers armed with M-16's.
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2001
- Messages
- 491
Good post Jackknife :thumbup:
- Joined
- Mar 18, 1999
- Messages
- 2,114
I'm not sure which lunatic at S & W thought that a 12 ounce scandium frame .357 magnum was a good idea, but there you have it....
Finally, a very truthful and sobering post! Yes, nothing but 38+P in my 340! the 357 loads are brutal!
Craig