Thursday, August 11, 2011

Stealing the question

Is a .380 a suitable handgun caliber for self defense?

My answer?  Any gun is better than no gun.  A gun that you can control is better than a hand-cannon you can't.  If he practiced with a .380, then that's the gun he needs to carry.

1 comment:

Goober said...

I've said this until I'm blue in the face to everyone that asks - you're better off with the gay little underpowered pea shooter that you can carry than the hand cannon that you leave at home because it is a pain in the ass. I get crap for carrying a snubby .38 revolver during the summer when my clothing won't cover the bulk of my XD - and for most of the winter, too, because it is just easier to carry than the XD.

"It only has 5 shots!" I'm told. "it isn't accurate enough!" they warn me.

I get people telling me that they wouldn't be caught dead carrying anything less than a Desert eagle 50/1911 .45/.454 casull/M60 machine gun/whatever, and what i notice more than anything about these folks is that they are telling the truth - they don't carry anything other than those guns, and because those guns are so big and unwieldy THEY DON'T CARRY THEM, EITHER!!!

They kind of get pissed when I explain that 5 rounds of 38 here, in my pocket holster, is a hell of a lot better than 15 rounds of .45 back in the safe at home, but my point stands.

98% of gun altercations involve distances of separation of less than 4 feet, and result in the firing of less than 4 rounds. My 38 is capable of both, with the added benefit of having a very simple malfunction drill - pull the trigger again. For the 2% of the time that I'm outgunned, at least I'll have SOMETHING instead of a huge chunk of hubris back at the house.