Hand Guns

Well I promised a blog post on firearms. So here it is. I’ll do my best. I am not a firearms expert. I have a certain passion for firearms and love to tinker and shoot and reload. I have repaired a few pistols and revolvers as well as long guns.

I suppose the question is where do I start this? I figure it best to start from the point of view that these firearms will be used for defensive use only. Everyone seems to have their own idea of what they need or want. If you are coming at this with some practical experience under your belt then make your decision based on that and call it good. If not listen to people you KNOW to have good experience and whose opinion you value.

Having a gun is an awesome responsibility. Keeping your gun loaded is even more so. There is one main purpose to a firearm. That is to kill. Sure we can have fun target, trap, skeet, or various other games or contest designed for a particular weapon but all these are designed to sharpen your skills with your firearm.

So let us go over a few general types of guns and what they are used for and what they shoot.

Handguns: In this category I will include semi-automatics as well as revolvers and then separate the 2. What a handgun is basically designed for is close up personal protection. Its primary function is to get you out of trouble and back to your long gun or safety as soon as possible. Semi autos have come a long way in the last 50 years as well as ammunition design. It used to be that feeding a semi auto with wide flat or hollow point bullets was a jam waiting to happen and all too often happened sooner than later. But today between gun designs and ammo manufactures feeding problems are less of a concern. Miss feeds still happen and it is best to function test your weapon with at least 200 rounds of the ammo you plan to carry/shoot before you consider it good for everyday carry.

Revolvers are less prone to feeding problems. That doesn’t mean that they are trouble free. When a semi-auto miss feeds or you have a failure to fire, (it happens for various reasons) you need to slam the magazine home and rework the slide hard and fast. That will often take care of the problem. In a fight forget about why just get it done now. At the range everything can be inspected to figure out why. With a revolver a dud round is not as big and issue. With a double action just pull the trigger again. The cylinder rotates to the next round and BANG. The worst thing I can think of for a revolver is the cylinder goes out of time. Meaning when the cylinder rotates it doesn’t line up with either the barrel or the firing pin. You cannot fix this in a fight. It is hard to fix at home. Often its best left for a professional gunsmith to handle.

Size does matter. You should carry the largest caliber you can comfortably handle. Personally I like the 45acp it has recoil sure but it seems to be more of a push than the sharp whack of say a 357 which is also a great carry/personal defense round. There are lots of choices in caliber. I would even go so far as to say if all you can handle is a 22 than practice with it and carry it. It is better than throwing rocks. The only caliber I would shy away from is the .25acp it has a lousy reputation. But in hand gun calibers usually 380, 38 special 9mm 357mag 40s&w 45acp are the primary defense calibers. Dirty Harry Callahan with his 44mag is over kill. It’s a great hunting round and I dare say it may work as a defensive round outdoors where over penetration MAY be less of an issue. But also consider any round has the capability of over penetration. Meaning they can go through the bad guy and into and through the wall behind the bad guy and possible into the innocent on the other side of the wall. This is even more likely if you miss your target.

Find the pistol and caliber that suites you. Rent a few at the range. See which ones fit your hand the best and point naturally. Then consider is this a night stand gun or a carry gun? Then size really does matter. Keep in mind the larger the gun the harder to conceal, also usually the more uncomfortable, which will keep you from carrying all the time. On the next post I’ll talk more about Shot guns and rifles. There are volumes written about all this stuff. There is no way for me to cover it all without writing a book.

Till next time God Bless.