reply to post by 46ACE
He's right movie boy.... Police and Military are trained to clear malfunctions(jams)under stress,.
So are many civilians. I was taught how in my NRA Defense Outside of The Home course. Did I learn it with live fire zooming over head? No, but I did
learn to clear suprise jams on a live firing line with instrucors in my ear. Not exactly the same, but the skill is there. Being able to do it under
stress mainly comes down to muscle memory. That is a matter of practice.
Revolvers have less to go wrong.
They do, but I have seen it happen. I have seen revolvers freeze up for several reasons. Anything mechanical can fail.
You are responsible for every bullet that leaves your barrel; if you can't deal with a threat with 6 well placed shots. you are probably screwed even
with a big bad auto pistol.
Jared Reston Incident
Jared Reston was shot point blank by a .45acp. It hit him in the chin and careened out through his neck. He was also shot in the right arm, his
buttock, and thigh. He survived. He actually won the gunfight. However, it took him 14 shots.
He was ambushed by the first shot. It hit him in the chin and he fell down. The perp then shot him several more times striking him in the arm and leg.
Reston ended up shooting up hill at his attacker from a distance. He was at a disadvantage because of his injuries and terrain.
The attacker started to flee, but continued firing over his shoulder. Then he came back and took up a position to offer a kill shot. By the time the
perp returned he had been shot once in the abdomen as he turned to run and twice in the back. (Remember he was still shooting while he ran away.) One
shot broke the perps arm, but he kept fighting.
What stopped the perp? He was hit some where in the head and fell down on to reston. However, he was still struggling. Reston had to shoot him two
more times in the head to end the fight.
The fight will be what it wants to be. Do not limit yourself or any one else. Reston was hit multiple times by a .45acp and wasn't screwed. The perp
took five shots of 180gr .40S&W and continued to fight. It was shot 6 and
7 that disconeccted the central nervous system and ended the fight.
I have both; I was trained to carry the1911, That puts me in a different category than somebodies Mom.
The average 1911 carries 7+1. That is a whopping total of 8 rounds. A Walther PK 380 holds 9 rounds. It is a lock breach design making it easier to
shoot than most autos on the market. It has the advantage of higher capacity and being much easier for most women of a more mature age to shoot. If
the lady can rack it, it will do the job. So really it doesn't put you in a very different category at all. You are trained to carry a low capacity
auto. So can nearly anybody's mom now. Plus there are training classes available nation wide through the NRA.
I know there are recoil differences and the .45acp is a better defensive round. However, as we see there is no promise that even seven rounds of
.45acp will do the trick. It comes down to shot placement. It is better to strike dead center with a .380 than to miss with a .357 magnum or a .45acp.
So what. If I get the threat stopped in the first 3 rounds or few seconds. Statitically most gunfights last a few seconds and occur at point blank
range.
Statistically speaking the average American will never need a gun for defense. Statistically speaking a lot of things are unlikely. However, when
carrying a gun it isn't about the odds, it is about the stakes.
ETA:
I want to suggest that you read Captain Fairbairn's book "Shooting to Live." In 1942 Fairbairn had been serving in th Shainghai police for many
years. He had been involved in over 200 incidents of violence as a cop. He was also responsible for training hundreds of cops how to survive in what
was the world's most dangerous city. His guys came out on top more often than not. In twelve years 42 of his police were killed. 260 criminals were
killed. Styles have advanced since then and the numbers have grown to favor the good guys even more.
All of that was to establish his credentials for the masses. Here comes the point.
In 1942 Fairbairn wrote that the semi-automatics uniformed officers used were every bit as accurate and reliable as the revolvers that his undercover
guys used. I like the way he said it. "If their weapons had been in any way unsatisfactory, twenty years should have sufficed to reveal the defects."
You are talking about a force of over six thousand men that had been in over 660 shoot outs in twelve years. That is pretty much one shoot out every
week for more than a decade. In not one of those instances did the officer's semi-auto lead to his injury or death. In fact he said there had not been
one incident to shed the "slightest doubt" on the semi-auto as a reliable service weapon.
That was nearly 70 years ago.
edit on 24-5-2011 by MikeNice81 because: (no reason given)
