I stopped by a gun dealer yesterday on the way home, I'm looking for something for home defense before the Nazi's ban everything but caulk guns.
I'm trying to decide between two types of guns, one would be a compact concealed carry gun if that ever becomes legal in Illinois. The other I'm considering is probably a 45ACP, maybe a 1911 or 1911 Compact. The dealer had several 1911's, they had a Springfield 1911 in my price range and a "Mil Spec" that might have been a little cheaper IIRC.
So, would I be best off to get a full size 1911 and then buy a concealed carry gun later if the state allows concealed carry? Or would a 1911 compact possibly serve both purposes, shoot as good as a full size 1911 but be more "concealed carry" friendly? Is the Springfield 1911 a good one or is there a better option for the money?
I guess the reality of it is, the bigger the gun the less often I would carry it, I may be better off with a full size 1911 and get a concealed carry gun later if/when Illinois permits it.
If you are not a recreational shooter..Id go with the smaller compact weapon that you can go CCW with, or simply tuck it away on your person. Full sized 45s are fine, but for most folks ..it tend to be a bit Iffy to be trying to conceal.
We have never met or even spoken, so I have no idea bout your familiarity with handguns or even your body size.
Does it need to be a self loader? There is absolutely nothing wrong with a good 3-4" .357 double action revolver in stainless, such as a S&W 586/686, Ruger GP 100s and so on and so forth.
And right now..they are selling for cheaper than "self loading combat guns" A good used wheel gun can be had pretty darned cheaply and they tuck away quite nicely.
How much "no bullshit" experience have you with handguns in genera? We can probably suggest some arms for you to take a look at.
Gunner
The methodology of the left has always been:
Lie
Repeat the lie as many times as possible
Have as many people repeat the lie as often as possible
Carry some harmless tool around for a while, like a voltmeter or cordless screwdriver, and see how much it would intrude on your normal activities if you couldn't take it off or let it be detected. I've made people very nervous when they misidentified my flashlight and a carpenter's or stagehand's valuable battery drill can be a major nuisance to secure when you go out for lunch.
I agree on the wheelgun. Think hard about what you're likely to face in a h ome-defense situation. Are you fully awake? When did you last handle the gu n? What condition is it in?
With a 1911, which is a fine handgun, you'll have to think about these thin gs. Is there a round in the chamber? Do you have a clean grip to work the g rip safety? Is the hammer back? Don't forget the thumb safety! That's a lot of quick thinking in the foggy middle of the night, under stress.
Is anyone in the house who might need to shoot it left-handed? If they are, do you have an ambi safety on the gun? Does whoever else might shoot it kn ow about all of the things above?
I favor a wheelgun for home defense. Pick it up, pull the trigger, and it g oes bang. Glock fans will probably weigh in here to argue for their favorit e gun, but for the money and for simple shooting, the wheelgun is the best choice, in my opinion.
One of the first things to do *BEFORE* buying any home defense gun is to research potential liabilities in your area and make your mind up about what you are going to do. An intruder confrontation is a time for action, not philosophical contemplation, and mental preparation appears to be one of the major factors in determining self-defense success or failure. A gun is power, and with power comes responsibility...
IMNSHO -- Unless you are willing to fire at least several boxes of ammo, i.e. several hundred rounds, for training and familiarization, a hand gun should not be your first choice for home defense, but rather a short barreled pump action shotgun.
This solves several problems in that the permitting process is generally easier (most likely not required), operation by semi and untrained individuals is safer/easier (however any person that may conceivably use the house gun should familiarization fire at least 10 rounds on silhouette targets and water bottle type targets in semi darkness so they will know what to expect in the way of muzzle blast/flash and target damage), minimally acceptable proficiency/safety is more easily obtained, the reliability is better, and if you stick with smaller size shot (nothing over a #4) the risk of over penetration, i.e. rounds through a wall into another room or the next house and into an innocent bystander are minimized.
The intimidation factor is also better, and even if you miss on the first round, the muzzle blast in an enclosed area is large enough to discourage all but the most hopped up or hyper individuals. The stopping power is second to none, and even if a perp is wearing body armor or heavy clothing, they will most likely be knocked down and the wind knocked out of them with a close range center of mass torso hit.
Mechanically solid but cosmetically imperfect pump shotguns (e.g. dings, surface rust/browning, pitted barrels) generally are *MUCH* cheaper than hand guns, and are more likely to function with minimal maintenance and old ammunition, and a dud round is much more early cleared and a fresh round loaded with a pump shotgun than with any semi-automatic hand gun.
Considering your stories that you carry on conversations with God during which he doles out driving directions and healings, why are you asking ANYTHING here? Who knows more about everything than God? Seems like it would be a nobrainer for you to get your advice from the highest authority. Don't tell me he has something against guns!
Scraper wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com:
IMHO, due to exactly those considerations, it's probably best to store it with a full magazine, an empty chamber, and the safety *off*. When you're under that kind of duress, you probably won't have the fine motor control needed to disengage the safety -- but you will have enough to rack the action and chamber a round.
And if the only members of the household are firearms-savvy adults, there may not be a need to store it with the chamber empty -- as long as _everyone_knows_ the gun is loaded and not safed.
I don't think about this much, but somebody posted a link here a few years ago that's made me uncomfortable about using shotguns for home defense.
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It's pretty surprising, espectially the example of the guy shot at close ra nge in the chest with a shotgun, who was sitting up in a chair waiting for the EMTs. And the guy shot with #6 shot at just a few feet, who had a nasty but shallow wound, doesn't give me a lot of confidence in small shot.
Another thing that worries me. I don't know the answer to this, but how lon g are you willing to trust a hammer spring in the cocked position, waiting for the time you're going to shoot? You could leave the chamber empty and r ack a shell in when you need it, but do you want to give that much warning to an intruder? He'll either piss his pants or shoot first, I'd think. Are you feeling lucky?
A cheaper DAO plastic frame pistol will put just as many holes in the perp, has no safeties to think about and the cost savings can go towards more good JHP ammo.
I remember the time when I owned firearms, I would have been hard pressed to limit it to one. If i would have had to, I would have chosen a small revolver that's easy to carry. works without thinking too hard, easy to deal with a FTF, etc. The firearm you have with you is infinitely better than the one you don't.
Now that I don't have any firearms I have a big-assed can of hornet spray. (not wasp spray) And, my plan to deal with an intruder is to explain that I too voted for Obama...just like he did! I'm sure that we could come to some understanding that since we are brothers at heart he should go next door and pilfer my Republican neighbor's house.
"Jim Wilkins" wrote in news:kcmt46$nd$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:
An unlikely event, multiplied by another unlikely event, is a very unlikely event.
And anyway, if the weapon is intended for use as home defense, it's going to be some place where the homeowner can easily grab it on his way out of the house if there's a fire.
The leader of a motorcycle gang lived two doors from my dad's house when I was in high school. I saw flames & called the fire department, but they had to let it burn to the ground because of all the ammo going off in the basement. They refused to get close enough to fight it, with rounds bouncing off their fire truck, out in the middle of the street. The fire marshal said there was over 50,000 empty pieces of brass after he investigated the fire. He reported that someone had set a booby trap, and the residents had left on vacation two hours before the fire.
That, and consideration can be easily given to the storage orientation of the firearm. The 9mm by my bed is down in a little quick access safe at floor level and the muzzle faces the exterior wall which has full dimensional brick, and about 10' out from the house the land slopes up a good 4' as well. It would take quite a while to get that gun at floor level hot enough to cook off a round, and even if it did the bullet wouldn't be going anywhere problematic.
Research has shown that unchambered ammunition does not pose any risk to firefighters. It has been proven that the bits of shrapnel tossed around by those uncontained bursting cartridges has energy equivalent to a BB gun at most and will not penetrate standard firefighter turnout gear. Hopefully by now that knowledge is well disseminated to the fire departments.
"Steve B" wrote in news:kcmro5$r14$ snipped-for-privacy@speranza.aioe.org:
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Oh, really? Shotgun pellets spread radially about 1" per yard of travel, so if someone's on the other side of a reasonably large room, the pattern isn't going to be much more than six inches wide, a lot less than that if he's closer -- meaning it's pretty easy to miss.
And the wider the pattern, the less concentrated the force delivered *if* you happen to hit him.
Maybe. I don't think I'd want to trust my safety to that.
Of course you can. *Hitting the target* is an entirely different matter.
Oh, bullsh*t. The muzzle *flash* will temporarily blind, and perhaps disorient, the adversary, but it isn't going to "take him out". And remember, *your* night vision is going to impaired too.
Wow. Sounds like your "knowledge" of shotguns comes from the movies.
While even a short 18" barrel shotgun can be a bit awkward in a confined space, a 12ga magnum slug will certainly do a nice job neutralizing most threats. Even in body armor a hit from a 12ga slug is going to knock most anyone for a loop. I still stick with a 9mm by the bed for it's convenience and easy maneuverability though.
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