Please recommend a good handgun

[Charlotte M. Corday]

I need the advice of an expert. Two nights ago, in nearby community, a high school football coach and his teenage son were murdered by a home invader. In the wake of this, I have finally decided to buy a gun and take a class in how to use it.

Here's what I am looking for in a handgun:

1. Easy to use, but not easy to discharge accidentally.

2. Powerful enough to stop an attacker, but not difficult for a small woman to handle.

What would you suggest?

[Space Wrangler]

That's exactly what we do, but we have found that for an hour or two at the range, it's much better (and cheaper!) to shoot the .38. This helps here with the actual mechanics of shooting, and being used to that. We always end the sessions with 10 or 15 rds of .357 though.

[B4Ranch]

"It's the .38 caliber, S&W 442, Airweight revolver. It is light weight and has an internal hammer which equates to easier concealability. It does only hold 5 rounds though, and it is not recommended to shoot +P ammunition."

I practice with .38's and load .38+'s when carrying....on the advice of an FBI friend. He's an old duffer who said my Chief Special will take a few hundred +.38+'s without any cylinder damage.

[absalom01]

Heh.

Quite a few agencies that used to deploy 9mm sub guns are moving to 14" M4's. Lots of research shows that even M193 rounds will exhibit less over-penetration than the Parabellum, or even 00 buck. Using the newer frangible rounds, there's no contest. It's only a matter of time before the idea makes the transition for home defense.

[RiflemanSharpe]

Monitored security system, large dog (I have a greyhound, not mean but loud around people she does not know) will keep them at out when you are not there.

[wtc911]

See # 140.

[archy]

Where can you find a .38 chambered for the longer .357??????

It works the other way around: get a .357, and you can use the shorter and sometimes less-recoiling .38 special ammo in it.

Note that some *+P* and *+P+* .38 special loadings will be more powerful and thereby more abusive on both target and the gun and its shooter than some comparatively milder .357 loadings. That versatility is one reason for the popularity of the .357, or for the .38 special, for those who don't require the more extremely powerful loadings.

There have been enough instances of the .38 or the .357 not getting the job done immediately, even with a good, center-of-body hit, that I want something both more effective in terminating the target and easier to control.

-archy-/-

[TheLurkerX]

Get a Taurus 627 Tracker. .357 revolver with a 4" barrel, lightweight titanium frame and ribber grip, and it's factory ported to cut the kick by around half. It also has a 7 round chamber, so you can put a full 6 in it, and still keep it on an empty chamber for safety. Plus you can fire cheaper .38 rounds out of it as well.

[stylin_geek]

I'm not the one who proposed using a shotgun for home defense, I was responding to an earlier post.

[Atlas Sneezed]

What I would recommmend is going to a local indoor shooting range, and renting some of their firearms, and seeing which one you are most comfortable with.

---

The above is the best advice. You can (and must) learn to use any type of gun well, so don't worry that a 45 is too much recoil (it's not, even for little ladies), or that a 9mm is inadequate (it's marginal, but adequate), or that a semiauto is too complex.

Then, when you have shot a few, and handled many (visit a gun shop) and then shot some more, and then hendled more, go for the one that you think is coolest. Don't worry about price or value, and don't worry about what others think, or even which on gave you the best target score. Buy the one you love, because that is the one you will pracitce with most, and carry with pleasure.

Then, take courses, as many as you can afford. An untrained shooter with a superlative gun will lose to a trained shooter with a junker any day.

I also highly recommend "Boston's gun bible". You will need it when you start looking for a rifle, and it has important chapters on personal defense, carrying, the law, and how to buy guns.

Ideally, when it is time to buy, find a trusted friend who can help you through a sale from a private seller on the Internet, through the classifieds, or at a gun show.

[templar]

Oh yeah, now imagine it's not a game, your heart is pumping, there really is someone stronger than you waiting in the dark.

A training approximation of this (which no one ever wants to do for some reason) is to leave the gun on on the bench, do a hard 100 yard run (50 yards downrange and 50 yards back), grab the gun off,the bench turn around and aquire and fire on the target. The range needs to be clear of other shooters, of course, and safety routines must be well defined and strictly followed. I've seen reallly expert target shooters completely miss the target with this exercise, with both single and multiple targets and handguns and shotguns.

This is not for beginners or occasional shooters to attempt without truly expert supervision at hand.

[Atlas Sneezed]

The danger with a 44 is that it could go through walls.

---

That is true of all normal pistol rounds.

[TheLurkerX]

Also, if you go with a shotgun, do 20ga or 410. 12ga buckshot loads will punch through walls into other rooms far too easily.

[Atlas Sneezed]

For the latter, I highly recommmend the Keltec P32 -- a teensy featherweight plastic-framed .32 caliber semi-auto.

---

They now have a barely-larger one in 380. I'd go for that these days.

[Bacon Man]

...i'd recommend a .357 revolver with 4" barrel. ruger make several models which have a frame that fits female hands better. you can load .38 special and/or .357 loads which will stop just about any methed out intruder...

cweese is right on. Low maintenance, high reliability and plenty of stopping power. Plus .38 special kicks very little when fired through a .357 frame due to the extra weight of the pistol. It's very manageable even for an inexperienced shooter and the extra power of .357 ammo is always available if you want it later on.

[night reader]

I policeman friend of mine suggested using a shotgun with 00 buck. This will stop just about anything in it's tracks and you don't need to be an expert marksman.

I'll agree with this. If you get a pump action gun, likely you'll never have to shoot it. They'll mess all over the place gettin' out when they hear you jack a round into the chamber.

[archy]

I am much crueler, first one is a beanbag, next is rocksalt, rubber slug, then 00 buck...I think of it as a progressive deterent...

Since my use for the shotgun is for dealing with multiple intruders at the front door [my back door is a different situation and calls for a light rifle or carbine] in the front yard/carport or front-facing street, my first load is not a beanbag, but rather one of the *Dragon's Breath* incendiary/signallying loads I carried as a nighttime bear deterrent when in Alaska and the Wyoming/S Dakota Elk Mountain area. If you see a blinded, blackened bear crashing his way through the forest in search of soothing water or mud, you'll know it works.

I am just kidding by the way !!

I am not.

[beebuster2000]

forget a handgun. you wont be able to hit anything with it anyway. what you really need is something with high intimidation power. for that you cant beat a 12ga shotgun, and if you do end up having to pull the trigger. something will go down for sure.

[archy]

A training approximation of this (which no one ever wants to do for some reason) is to leave the gun on on the bench, do a hard 100 yard run (50 yards downrange and 50 yards back), grab the gun off,the bench turn around and aquire and fire on the target. The range needs to be clear of other shooters, of course, and safety routines must be well defined and strictly followed. I've seen reallly expert target shooters completely miss the target with this exercise, with both single and multiple targets and handguns and shotguns.

Add in having a range safety officer, coach or shooting partner intermittantly blowing a whistle and/or firing a few rounds downrange themselves.

It has very little to do with precision target shooting.

-archy-/-

[Tijeras_Slim]

The taurus TI .357 has a 7 shot cylinder

I'm showing my age again. :)

[BudgieRamone]

This is also a great piece of advice. Unless there are children/family members in another room, stay where you are. Cover the door. Another poster suggested a flash light, and learning to manuver in a dark house. Again, unless there are family members in other rooms don't leave a defensible position.

There are mixed schools of thought on flashlights some will insist that they attract "bugs and bullets" while others will tell you "you need positive target ID". Bright white light in the eyes of a perp who is adjusted to darkness is going to cause momentary blindness--surefire, stream light etc. anything with a high output will suffice--of course having a flashlight near the bed is common sense anyway in case of power outages. I have a surefire and a 6 d-cell maglite near my bed, I carry the surefire with me. its a great tool.

Also, it should be added that a charged cell phone might be a great idea, it is not unheard of for perps to cut phone lines before proceeding with a crime. keep in mind that with all new cellphones...heck within the last 6 years I believe, they are REQUIRED to be able to dial 911 whether you have service or not so keep a charged cell phone handy (my old analog motorola flip that I keep in the bedroom dials 911 and I haven't had service on it for years--plus its got big buttons--easy to use without glasses.

Again unless you have to, don't leave your room, you don't know where the perp is, and exposing yourself unnecessarily is not a good idea. However if it is unavoidable that you will have to leave the room, then by all means practice moving in the dark, have a plan, know where you need to go and how you have to cover yourself from point "a" to point "b".

again jm2b