A good reason not to carry with an empty chamber

I read his post to say the gun your willing to carry is better than the gun you don’t have or the gun your not comfortable with in the area of self defense.

I do wish all law abiding citizens would carry. The fear that would inflict to criminals would be immense and might be significant on crime.

Revolvers are great entry guns. I carry one at times when I need to maintain a low profile. My full sized .45 is great in winter coat season but tough to pull off in shorts and t-shirt. Mid season it’s a M&P compact 9. I love all seasons. They give me a reason to have seasonal ccw attire.

A good 38 special load, like Buffalo Bore's, will expand and penetrate 12-14".\

That doesn't really eliminate the many weaknesses of a snub nosed revolver as compared to modern hig quality, high cap semi-auto.

But neither it nor the 45 acp nor the 10mm nor ANY handgun cartridge will "force incapacitation upon the unwilling target".

The following story is the reason why I prefer the 10mm. It gives you excellent terminal energy, excellent penetration, reliable expansion, and a high magazine capacity for when none of that matters.

This is a police shoot out story and involves a suspect that took 14 .45 acp slugs before being incapacitated. Within 56 seconds of shooting, 33 rounds were discharged at the assailant with 14 hits by a police sniper and master firearms instructor. of those 14 hits, 6 were in vital organs-he was hit in the heart, both lungs, the liver, the diaphragm, and the right kidney and he was still maneuvering on the cop with a gun in hand. If you are unfamiliar with the story, you won't be sorry for taking a few minutes to read about it.

The moral of the story is: "having more ammo is better than having less ammo should you find yourself in a gun fight."

The moral of the story is that the only way to incapacitate a person immediately is with a hit to the CNS. Doesn’t matter if you unload 14 rounds of 45 into someone - it will not incapacitate them immediately all the time.

Thus NO HANDGUN is suitable for guaranteed stopping an attacker from filling you full of holes.

Further, if a half dozen men rush you, having 17 rounds of ammo just means then won’t have to reload after they take your gun. At self-defense ranges, if they rush you, TIME is your limit. If shooting one person in the face doesn’t discourage them, you ARE going down.

Lots of ammo is very useful for cops shooting it out with a suspect, and for soldiers. Both of those categories also can ignore “concealed”.

In the Miami shootout, one of the first bullets fired killed the guy...except he took a long time to die. Platt was incapacitated when bullets hit his spine. He was shot 12 times, including 357. He died from an earlier bullet.

Luck.

Shooting many times increases the chances of hitting the CNS, and I’m not knocking having more bullets. I sometimes carry a Beretta 92.

But I often carry a Model 60. It conceals far better than a full sized gun. I find them instinctive to shoot - maybe because I have been shooting them for decades. I love shooting J-frames and have done it a lot. I don’t need the sights to get hits at self-defense ranges. They are also excellent belly guns.

I’m not trying to sell anyone else one of my J-frames. If they don’t work for someone, don’t use them. But there are many compromises made in concealed carry because it is CONCEALED carry. And because people face different levels of threat. Going to the feed store to buy hay doesn’t involve a huge risk. Church doesn’t involve a huge risk, although I find it easy enough to conceal my 686 at church.

For self-defense, most people need to think “Move” over “Shoot”. You can empty a Glock 10mm in someone and they can be filling you full of holes at the same time. Then you can both be buried together.

As a rule, if a J-frame & Pico isn’t enough to handle the threat, then I don’t want to go there. Period. I’m not a cop. I’m not a soldier, although the Army did teach me about clearing buildings...just not what I do pushing 60.

I’m content with my weapons. I can conceal them well, even in the Arizona summer. I shoot them regularly, and a 38 special already does about as much damage as a handgun round can reliably do to a human. If I lived in the Big City...I’d move. I’d as soon be emasculated as live in a city! I live in a place where folks leave their doors unlocked. And I”m free to decide what works well FOR ME, and to share my experiences. Those experiences include teaching my daughter and DIL (both under 5’2”) to shoot J-frames. They do it fine, and both carry. Concealed.

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