Advice needed for handgun purchase - home defense, pumpkin blasting

8/04/2008 | GOP_Party_Animal

[GOP_Party_Animal]

Should the Obamanable No-man make it into the White House this Fall, I plan to console myself with my first handgun purchase. I also plan to take a concealed-carry class and, of course, training on using a handgun.

I've used rifles and shotguns for many years but have never even fired a handgun. What caliber and model would you recommend that would be easy and fun to shoot for me, but also my petite wife, who may need to use it to protect the kids if I'm not home.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Yoiks!

I just looked at it more carefully, and realized that it was a parody. When I first glanced without reading, I missed the point.

Sens of humor intact, but I’ve been devoting far too little time and energy at FR lately, apparently.

[Old Mountain man]

Go to an indoor range and spend some money renting handguns and shooting them.

Fact: The neatest homicide I ever worked in my policing days was done by a wife with a little bitty .25 auto at 22 feet with one shot to the heart. Man sat down right there, told his son that he was a dead man and then proceeded to become one before we got there.

The point is: You can kill someone with a BB gun if you know what you are doing. There are lots of people occupying space in cemeteries with holes in them made by .38 special and smaller rounds. First, learn to shoot!

I learned on a Smith & Wesson Model 10 heavy barrel. Cheap to shoot and cheap to reload and they conceal pretty well. And it is easy for anybody to shoot.

Last lesson: learn to shoot at 8 inch pie plates. Then practice on saucer sized targets out to 7 yards. Become consistent. Learn each move slowly. Don’t try to speed up until you are not missing any shots at slow speed. Practice often.

After all that, I have two weapons of choice: 1911 .45 auto or a Smith & Wesson Model 10.

Get a copy of Bill Jordan’s book “No Second Place Winner” and anything you can get by Jeff Cooper.

[wastedyears]

Why did the guy’s wife shoot him?

[GOP_Party_Animal]

Thanks - interesting stuff. I was out hunting with a rancher friend of mine by one of his junk piles. Resting near the pile was a steer's skull with a peculiar hole between the eyes that would have measured 0.22 inches. 1,500 lb animal on the hoof.

Looks like step #1 is to find a range.

[OKSooner]

For your first two handguns, you won't go wrong with the .357/.38 family. For example, you could get a .357 with a 4" barrel for the nightstand, and an alloy-frame .38 for CCW use. (You can shoot .38 specials in the .357 for practice or even for self-defense. A recommended load for this is the Speer 135gr .38+P.)

Check out this forum on the Smith model 642/442:

http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=138658

[ctdonath2]

Pumpkin blasting? Nothing beats a 14” 12-gauge at close range. Really. At the peak moment, time stops as you perceive yourself within a 12’ sphere of orange haze.

[smokingfrog]

This should cover you for all situations. (Johnny Seven OMA - One Man Army)
Grenade Launcher, Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher, Anti Bunker Missile Launcher, Armor Piercing Shell, Slide Bolt Action Machine Gun, Detachable Pistol which fires shells. Detachable Stock & built in Bi-Pod.

[halfright]

My wife loves her model 36 Smith and Wesson. It fits very nicely in her tiny hand, although I had it upgraded to Pacmar(sp) grips. For the house I suggest a 12 guage. For yourself maybe a Walther PPKs

[LongElegantLegs]

Check out #24!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I bought my wife a .38 snubby but even the lightest loads were painful. She now has a Model 34 Smith .22 revolver that has no safety. She can fire 4 of the 6 rounds in three seconds, without flinching.

[Hoffer Rand]

My daughter and I just went through this process. I’d suggest you look at a Smith & Wesson M&P for your wife. You can get either a 9mm and 40 cal in both full size or compact versions. The M&Ps all come with 3 different sized back straps, so she can customize the “fit” to her hand. The compact will have more “kick” than the full size, but it’s smaller. Of course, the 9mm will “kick” less than the 40 cal. in either the full size or the compact. Regardless which version you get, it’s a good first gun, very reliable, and totally point-and-shoot. My daughter owns a 40 cal compact and loves it.

[Kirkwood]

“Mostly because it’s easy to get such a permit in ND now. May not always be that way.”

If you said you wanted a carry weapon and a home weapon, I could see it, but why put yourself on the fed’s carry list when you don’t even want to carry? When the time comes to grab guns (and it is coming), the feds will come after you first.

[Old Mountain man]

As I recall (bear in mind it was over thirty years ago), it was over booze. I think he drank her share.

[Old Mountain man]

There you go!

[wastedyears]

Jeez

Makes me worried even more so to date.

[Old Mountain man]

Don’t wait around. Start looking today.

[Uri’el-2012]

In answer to all of your questions,

I would recommend training from an NRA Certified Instructor

in

NRA training for women
Refuse to be a victim
Basic pistol
Personal protection in the home
and the newly released
Personal protection outside the home

[wastedyears]

I don’t want to rush into marriage. I want to do it right.

[Pagey]

bttt

[Old Mountain man]

Remember one or two things and you will be alright:

1. As I recall, FBI stats indicated that the average gunfight lasted less than 6 shots.

2. If you learn and practice good habits and you get into a scrape, your training will take over.

3. Remember to keep moving. Moving targets are hard to hit and you will be a better shot than the average thug. If you can learn to shoot at and hit moving targets, even better.

4. Evaluate before and after each shot.

5. There is no substitute for practice.