There have been several times that people have asked me what I would recommend for a gun for personal protection. My response is to ask a few questions. I ask what is their experience with guns and handguns in particular. I want to know how much shooting experience they have and what type of guns they have fired. Caliber will be taken into account based off the answers I get. I then tell them they need to get a gun that is chambered for a caliber they are willing to bet their life on. In a confrontation where you have to use a gun, you WILL be betting your life on it. Most people want an automatic even when they have no experience shooting. I usually tell those with little or no experience to get a revolver in .357 Magnum. I explain that with a .357 Magnum they can shoot .38 Specials in it for practice an or carry, but they also can carry .357 Magnums for protection. As I explained a couple of years ago to an 82 year old woman who was thinking about getting a concealed carry permit, with a .357 Magnum you get two guns in one. lets look at both the revolver and semi-auto for personal protection.
For someone without much experience ,I fully recommend a revolver. A revolver over all is easier to use in terms of shooting, easier to see if its loaded, and easier to initiate immediate action if there is a malfunction. With a revolver, you simply pull the trigger again if the gun does not fire. Most critics of revolvers cite the fact that a revolver carries less ammunition. This is true, but if you practice you should not feel out gunned. I simply carry a couple of speed loaders when I have my revolver. I subscribe to the sniper mentality of “one shot, one kill”. It doesn’t matter how much ammo you have if you can’t hit what you are aiming at. A revolver may be old school, but there is definitely a place for a good revolver when considering what to buy for personal protection.
If you happen to have some experience shooting hand guns, then I can recommend a semi-auto. Again buy a gun you can bet your life on. With a semi-auto there are more moving parts, which means there are more steps you must take in order to fire the gun. This is considering a standard semi-auto like a 1911 or a Smith and Wesson. With these handguns you must disengage the safeties before you can fire, unlike a revolver that you simply pull the trigger. A whole new breed of semi-auto has emerged like the Glock. With the Glock and similar handguns, you can just pull the trigger because the safety is part o fthe trigger. Immediate action for an auto is more complicated that a revolver and consists of reseating the magazine, clearing the action, chambering a fresh round and then firing. The sequence is TAP the magazine, RACK the slide to clear the action and chamber a new round, and REASSESS. The advantage a semi-auto has is its ability to carry more ammo that a revolver.
Either way you decide, you must then figure out which cartridge you want to use. If you chose a revolver, then typically you have the option of .22LR, .38 Special, .357 Magnum, .41 Magnum, .44 Magnum, or .45 colt. Now it seems you have a new choice with the .327 Federal Magnum. I suggest you stay away from the .22LR. Remember what I said about betting your life on your gun. Now if you chose a semi-auto you have the options of .22LR, .25 auto, .32 auto, .380 Auto, 9mm, .40 S&W, 10mm, .45 ACP, and a whole host of other lesser known cartridges like the 25 and 32 NAA. Again I recommend you stay away from the smaller calibers. At an absolute minimum for me is a .380 auto. This is for those times where I can’t have something bigger. With the .380 I use only premium ammo like the Corbon 90 grain DPX round. My personal preference is a .45 ACP with 230 grain hollow points. This gun I will bet my life on. Use what you can shoot well and practice often. Make your practice as realistic as possible. A static line shooting at bulls-eye targets is ok in the beginning, but as you progress in your shooting, so should your practice sessions. Good shooting!

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 at 5:18 pm and is filed under Recommendations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.