If you had to choose one handgun in case the SHTF what would it be?

reply to post by Roper


I have to agree about Carrot. Nothing sexier and more worthy of my respect than a woman who can shoot, and understands the concepts behind the action.

My wife's father had four girls, taught every one to shoot. With a handgun, my wife is unbelievable. I learned many years ago to never give her much smart-mouth, as she could bob both my ears at fifty meters.

She scared the hell out of a clumsy intruder attempting a break-in one night when I was out of town.

I find that women enjoy shooting as much as men if you introduce them to smaller calibers first, with ear protection, and then let them work up and find what they feel comfortable with.

A man can shoot you, hold a good sight picture, and wound you. A woman will instinctively "point" at center mass, and kill you.

I rather face a huge, crazed coke-numb deranged man coming at me firing a weapon than a pissed off woman who can shoot. Seven days a week!

reply to post by ashamedamerican


I like my .44 Magnum Model 29 very well. It's a very effective tool for self-defense. I also carry a small Taurus .25 caliber 10 shot PT-25, very concealable and is accurate within 6 feet. The .44 of course can go through a wall or two, so I go for my .25 first if I had the chance. I use to have a Glock Model 22 (.40cal), I liked it to a point, but got rid of it after the rear sights moved during shooting, I tried to correct it and it still wouldn't work right. My next handgun will be either a .41 cal or a .45 caliber, either Sig or S&W. Money is a tight issue right now, and I am stocking up on the ammo for the fight to come.

Originally posted by BeyondBelow
I agree with the op I would take my grandfathers special forces, Colt model 1911 .45, he carried and killed with it I can do the same. that and its a freakin hand cannon.

Your GP was right.
You hit anywhere on the body and they go down.
Very simple weapon. Easy to tear down and clean.
two hands when shooting is a must.

reply to post by dooper


To tell the truth there was one time when about a 800# plus griz was walking up our back trail,I pulled out my 44 just in case, looked at the bear a little better and wished I had a bigger gun..Luckily we scared it off by waving our arms and yelling....I know a gal who killed a griz that charged her..One shot in the head from a 357 at about 10 ft. the bear dropped at her feet.. Alaska fish and game require you to skin out the bear and turn in the head and hide...And Grizzlies STINK

calibre: .40s&w; virtually equal ballistics (m x v) as .45 but more tractable (closer to a 9mm) and fs handguns can carry a high cap mag (not quite as many as a 9mm but many more than the single stack mags for a .45.

handgun: 1st ch; H&K USP, 2nd ch: Sig 226 or 229....pick 'em.

Born and raised on 9MM Parabellum, nothing would make me change, taught to instinctively shoot in the army, and to double tap every time. Dont like uber large calibre guns cos they kick to much and make shooting uncomfortable. Choice of gun is still Browning Hi Power cos I'm old and dont like to change things that aint broken.

reply to post by Northern Raider


A Browning Hi-Power,,now there is a nice gun...With all this new tech. and polymer framed pistols out there...Here comes a blast from the past..I owned one about 30yrs. ago...Beautiful weapon...Forgot all about it till I seen your qoute...Where I live ,I need the bigger calibers...Thanks for the memories in mentioning a classic..

Originally posted by beavertrapperak
reply to post by Northern Raider

 

A Browning Hi-Power,,now there is a nice gun...With all this new tech. and polymer framed pistols out there...Here comes a blast from the past..I owned one about 30yrs. ago...Beautiful weapon...Forgot all about it till I seen your qoute...Where I live ,I need the bigger calibers...Thanks for the memories in mentioning a classic..

Yup we are lucky ( I think) we dont have any grizzlies or brown bear to worry about

reply to post by Northern Raider


Raider, I don't know for sure, but I have seen quite a few of your football rowdies that would and could be classified as Griz..... they seem to have about the same temperment also!!!!

Sorry...I couldn't resist!!!

Zindo

If any of you are going to go with a wheel gun this is a modification that I had done on my model 29 smith. www.tenring.com... This is a full moon clip conversion, still allows you to load with single rounds or speed loaders but the moon clips greatly speed up reloads. The work done was first class.

A couple of items for the those who have not shot a hand gun much. I have had more issues with wheel guns than with well set up 1911's. One was a few grains of unburned powder under the extractor star. Locked up an older model 19 smith. Also on the older smiths and some other revolvers if the extractor rod is not tapped counter to the rotation of the cylinder it can back out making it almost impossible to open the cylinder. And lastly a squib in a revolver can result in two things, one the bullet does not clear the forcing cone and locks the gun up or worse the bullet clears the forcing cone and if you are not paying attention you drop the hammer on the next live round, gun trashed and so is your hand. Also some people think that a wheel gun will take dirt and sand better than a 1911 (I will not talk about the other autos as I don't know about them) which is counter to what I have seen in shooting a lot of rounds through hand guns. A quality 1911 just keeps working, in one two day match I went through over 500 rds of cast bullet hand loads, not one stoppage with out even a shot of oil just to see if I could. Also if you fill your gun with mud or sand you can strip, clean and have a 1911 back in action in under 5 minutes. If you have to take the side plate and cylinder off of a revolver to get sand and grit out of the action it takes a while.

www.notpurfect.com...
Now thats a nice high capacity weapon
A couple of hundred round mags and your ready for anything.

[edit on 14-12-2008 by Anuubis]

Originally posted by ZindoDoone
reply to post by Northern Raider

 

Raider, I don't know for sure, but I have seen quite a few of your football rowdies that would and could be classified as Griz..... they seem to have about the same temperment also!!!!

Sorry...I couldn't resist!!!

Zindo

Oh its a waste of time shooting them, its take 24 hours for the signals to reach their brains that they have been shot, shooting them only annoys them a bit.

reply to post by ashamedamerican

I plan on going to my local gun store and asking two questions:

1. What is the most plentiful (or widely available) ammunition?

2. What fires it?

A firearm without ammo is pretty useless.

Honestly, I wouldn't take a hand gun. I would grab a Kalashnikov AK-47. Based on its reliability capability for full auto, three round burst, and single shot settings, I believe it would be perfect.

Originally posted by CharlesMartel
reply to post by ashamedamerican

 

I plan on going to my local gun store and asking two questions:

1. What is the most plentiful (or widely available) ammunition?

2. What fires it?

A firearm without ammo is pretty useless.

That is the most logical thing I have ever read! Very smart.

I've already enumerated the reasons for the .45 ACP loaded in a Model 1911. However, if those of you insist on using sub-caliber weapons due to personal preference, may I make a suggestion to hopefully make your weapon more effective.

If you shoot a 9mm, .38, .357, or .40, the thing you want to do is to stop them quickly and overload the nervous system.

This is a bit counterintuitive, but it works. Hold low and shoot into the pelvic region for two reasons. The first reason is even a badass, if he sees you lining up on his doo-dads, tender bits, weine and franks, or whatever term you prefer, will usually stop right then and cover them.

But don't count on that.

The real reason you would target the pelvic region is that this is the largest grouping of bone mass. A hit on that bone mass will transmit ungodly amounts of shock throughout the nervous system. A good hit even with a 9mm on a large bone in the groin area will incapacitate.

In combat, everyone, and I mean everyone tends to shoot a bit high. I don't care how trained or skilled you are, when it's for real, you tend to shoot high. So consciously hold a bit lower than you "think" you should hold to be on center mass. This makes the aiming or pointing toward the groin area even more of a conscious effort.

If you shoot a few inches too low, you've just changed him from a "he" to a "she." And you'll note that he will immediately bend over significantly, sick to his stomach. If you shoot to one side or the other, you'll spin him. If you really shoot way too low and pull the shot way off to the side as well, there's just inside each leg a major artery. In other words, the groin area shot is a no-brainer.

Use what you love, but shoot smart. Head shots are damn near an impossibility, and usually a bit of luck. Shoulders and extremities often do little to stop someone. Even a good chest shot will often not put a man down. A gut shot is a painful shot to the recipient, but he can still kill you with half his guts hanging out.

Groin area, and you keep shooting until you're either empty or he's quit moving.

I really, really like my Crimson Trace laser handgrips. You don't have to take the time to get a good "sight picture" and this especially is important at night or in limited light, which is the most difficult time to hit anything.

Beaver, those Black bears don't smell too good either, and you've got some big ones up there! Shot one in self-defense, and hauled butt down to buy a tag. Wasn't about to give up that bear.

reply to post by dooper


Just came home from my local CMP shoot and was conversing with several there that work in the arms industry like I do. Those here that have been relying on those cheap Soviet Block 7.62 AK rounds had better stock up now. The good old UN has convinced those that have signed the small arms treaty to destroy all unused surplus ammo and NOT put it on the surplus market. Millions have been put to the torch in the last 6 months. Trying to import is going to start being a nightmare. Permits to ship from these UN affiliated countries are not going to be allowed. Find all the damned brass you can now because its not going to be easy to stoke your favorite arm in the very near future. That includes handgun ammo like 9mm and .380. Its going to get very expensive real soon!

Zindo

model 1911 pistol Colt .45

reply to post by CharlesMartel


.22 cal rimfire.

Many pistols are chambered for it.

It is easy to shoot and more accurate than other cartridges from similar quality weapons, likely because .22 pistols have fixed barrels and are blowback mechanisms plus the fact that the cartridge has been designed for target shooting.

reply to post by ZindoDoone


Zindo, do you have a good source for this information... I would love to see it and pass it on.