Best Hand Gun Selection Criteria

The perfect handgun would be light, compact, fit your hand well, be very accurate, quite, hold lots of high powered rounds with a lot of knock down power, but not have much kick/recoil.  Unfortunately, there is no such thing as the perfect gun for all occasions.  However, it is possible to select an excellent gun for a given purpose. When selecting a personal handgun, here are some key things to consider. 
 

A. Intended use - this helps determine the size.

1. Personal concealed carry - in your pocket, in a purse or on your person.   This calls for a small, light-weight, thin gun with a smooth shape so it can be easily extracted.  Note small guns may not fit larger hands well and the short barrel makes more noise and is less accurate.
2. Open carry, home or car defense.  For this, you can select a larger weapon that fits your hand well, has more rounds and less recoil than a lighter weapon.  Large guns may not fit smaller hands well, but there are intermediate size guns that are a good compromise.  They are also heavier and a bit cumbersome to carry at times.  For a home protection gun, a safety might be an important consideration, especially if there are children in the home however law enforcement personnel often prefer not to have one as it can delay being able to use your weapon.
3. Professional Use - Law enforcement needs a Glock 22 or a Smith & Wesson M&P40 Pistol, both 40 caliber, with a small automatic as a backup concealed gun. The backup might be a Glock 27 or an S&W Shield, both of which use the same ammo.
4. Target practice and recreational shooting only.  For this, you need a 22 Long Rifle (LR) pistol which is the most common and lowest cost ammunition.  The stainless steel Ruger Mark III is a good choice for this. There are also some revolvers with interchangeable cylinders so you can shoot 22 LR and 22 Magnum; a good example is the Ruger Single Six #0626. This provides for a low cost 22 LR target pistol and a higher powered 22 Winchester Magnum pistol with some suitability for personal defense making it a dual purpose gun. It is also a lot of fun to shoot a gun like the ones that won the old west.

B. Frequency of use - This determines whether an Automatic or Revolver might be best.

1. Semi-frequent - If the gun will be shot, cleaned and oil several times per year, an Automatic is an excellent choice. It holds more rounds of ammo and is faster to reload.  Automatics are the top choice of law enforcement for their primary gun although some hot, humid, tropical countries still carry stainless steel Revolvers.
2. In-frequent -  The gun is likely to be initially shot a few times, but then probably put away and not shot, cleaned nor oiled for years.  A stainless steel Revolver can be stuffed in a purse, sock drawer or car glove compartment and left for years and it will not rust or jam up and will still shoot reliably. In this case, the ammo is more likely to fail unless you have chrome or nickle plated bullets like the Hornady Critical Defense and Critical Duty or Winchester Silver Tips.  Brass and steel casings will oxidize and are a little more likely to cause a problem in Automatics than Revolvers.

A revolver can shoot the first load of ammo faster than an Automatic in skilled hands, but the Automatic is faster for the average shooter.  The Revolver is slightly slower to reload, even with speed loaders but is slightly more reliable although many would disagree.  

C. Size and strength of shooter - This helps determine the caliber.

1. Small build & hands, weak arms suggests a 22 Magnum, 25 caliber, 32 caliber or 380 pistol.  The 380 is popular for women shooters. These sizes do not kick much but also do not have much knock-down power, so it is likely to require several shots to stop an attacker. There are some revolvers with interchangeable cylinders so you can shoot 22 LR and 22 Magnum; a good example is the Ruger Single Six #0626.
2. Medium build & hands, average arm strength, allows the shooter to carry a more powerful gun.  Consider a 38 special, 380 or 9mm, which is the most common caliber globally. These have about a 60% probability of a one shot stop, so two shots per attacker should be planned.
3. Large hands, strong arms.  The largest and most powerful calibers become an option here.  Consider a 357 Magnum, 40 caliber, which is the most common police caliber in the US, or the 45 caliber that was the most popular for many years and is still common.  These three have a 70% to 90% probability of a one-shot stop.  Note that a 357 Magnum will also shoot 38 special ammo for lower cost target practice. You might consider larger calibers if you select the larger, heavier gun, or consider a smaller caliber if you are selecting a smaller gun and don't like a gun that kicks.

The most common handguns used by law enforcement where the agency buys the gun is the Smith & Wesson 40 cal M&P and where the officer buys the gun, the most popular choice is a Glock, often a Glock 17 (9 mm) or a Glock 22 (40 cal). These two brands probably represent about 80% of the law enforcement weapons. These would be my first choices for an open carry, home or car defense gun, providing it will be shot, cleaned and oil several times per year.  If it is likely to be locked in my car glove compartment for years, I would select the S&W 686+ stainless steel Revolver. 

Let's look at a good choice for a concealed carry gun for a person who is not a regular shooter.  Below is a stainless steel Smith & Wesson 38 special Revolver, also known as a snub nose Revolver.  Many police officers carry this as a hidden backup gun. A Smith & Wesson Shield would be a good Automatic choice. A small gun is better than no gun at all and a gun that is too big to carry comfortably is likely to be left at home and worthless.  So it is better to err on the small comfortable side.

Cheaper than Dirt, a good source for ammo, guns and supplies, published a list of popular concealed Automatic weapons that can be found at: The 12 Best Concealed Carry Guns. These guns range from $230 to $994 with several in the lower price range.  There is also a list of runner up guns that are good candidates including Kahr Arms which I respect.  One concern I have with this list is that it contains a few gun brands that I've had problems with; problems like frequent feed jams (Automatics) and cracked frames.  I'm a big fan of stainless steel guns so they don't rust up when stored for years without being cleaned and oiled.  I also highly recommend that you go to the shooting range to rent and shoot the gun of choice to be sure you like it, BEFORE buying it. This will help avoid buyer regret later on. 

If you get an Automatic handgun, I recommend having at least 4 magazines; two that are kept loaded and two spares that are "resting" the magazine spring.  Then each time you go shooting, rotate your active magazines with your spares so the springs do not get worn out. If you choose a Revolver, I suggest four speed loaders but you can keep them all fully loaded at all times since there is no spring to wear out.

In summary, the selection of a personal carry handgun should consider a range of properties and select the best combination for you.  The graphic below explains the relationship fairly well.

I would be anxious to hear any suggestions or considerations that have been missed, so please post any comments or questions you may have.

For more information see:
BLOG TABLE OF CONTENTS
The right amount of Ammo 
Terrorist Attack - Best Preparations 
Gun Free Zone Facts

Merry Christmas

In a free country we should be able to say Merry Christmas without fear of offending others. Our right to say this should be respected as we should respect the freedom of speech of others.

Despite the oppressive Political Correctness disease that is sweeping our country (led by the main stream media), we are still blessed to live in a time of such abundance. Never in history has even royalty had the luxuries that most of us have today. Even Americans that live in so-called “Poverty” are well above the world’s average income level.

The worldwide median income is about $9,733 per household according to Gallup.com
or $808 per month.  The US Poverty level is $24,250 for a family of 4 according to HealthCare.gov which is $2020 per month.  In addition, they get earned income credit, food stamps, health care benefits and more, worth an estimated $1,000 per month.  So Americans in poverty live over 3 times better than the average citizen of the planet earth.  According to Euro News, 48% of the worlds wealth belongs to 1% of the population, which includes Americans in Poverty. 

According to the Global Rich List,  ....a family of five living just above the poverty line in the US is actually “the one percent” compared to the rest of the world.

But as the planet becomes more globalized and socialized, the lower income citizens will increase and the higher ones like us will decrease, moving closer to parity.  

So for now, we should give thanks and appreciate and protect our country.  While charity is good, we would not borrow money to provide for strangers, which is what our country is doing when we bring in immigrants and let them get on welfare, food stamps and free health care.

 For more information see:

Blog Table of Contents
Protecting America 

Protecting America

 The greatest threats facing our country today are:

1. Radical Islam
2. Gun Control
3. Big Government and the NSA
4. Excessive Immigration

All very politically charged topics that our country will never fully agree on, but let me explain why they are serious threats.

1. First, anyone who lacks tolerance and believes all non-believers (in their religion) are enemies and should be killed are a serious threat.  Anyone who would blow themselves up to kill their enemies are a serious threat.  Iran has massive oil and natural gas reserves; why do they need nuclear power? What happens when these suicide bombers start getting equipped with small Iranian nuclear bombs?

The enemy is among us already.  Unless we put strict immigration laws in place and start enforcing them, they will continue to infiltrate our country further. For someone who hates and wants to destroy America, major targets are likely to be Houston, New Orleans, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, San Jose, Dallas, Boston, Detroit & Washington DC.  This would kill millions and destroy most of our ability to produce electricity and gasoline plus our financial and government centers.

Granted, most Muslims are good peace loving people, but there are a large percentage who are radical or support radical Islam ideology.  Estimates and surveys I've heard have been between 13% and 20% while only 10% Germans were Nazis; the rest were coerced with political correctness and later fear of disappearing in the night.  Listening to Soccer fans in Turkey cheer the attack on Paris, this 13-20% seems believable.  This is obviously not enough to attack the US directly, but it is enough to infiltrate our country, create division between races and classes and cause major disruptions.  With the Billions of dollars in trade deficit we have sent to the middle east for oil, they have used that money to buy most of our businesses and politicians including millions of dollars to one of the leading presidential candidates today.

2. As long as we are armed, law abiding citizens can defend themselves against these other threats.  If there was strict gun control in 1770, the united States would not exist today except as a part of England.  Poorly armed and unable to secure our rights by force as George Washington did, we probably would have ended up on the short end of the stick like just the Native Americans, who initially had more people but were not armed as well.

The Right to Bear Arms that Shall not be infringed, wasn't intended to protect our ability to hunt for food, nor enable us to be safe in our homes but rather to protect us from a tyrannical government.  Our Forefathers that won our freedom carried the same guns the military did. The more our government infringes on the right to bear arms, the more important that right becomes to protect against them.

Oppressive countries enforce strict gun control and as a result, countries with less private firearm ownership tend to have lower personal rights, with the government deciding most everything of importance for them.  Things like what they can get, how much they are paid, which doctor they can see or even how many children they can have.  Mexico gun laws are very restrictive and very few citizens own guns and look at their terrible crime rate.  Countries that brag about low gun crime after banning them, either change the way they measure crime or fail to talk about total violent crime, which goes up after banning guns.  FBI statistics clearly show more guns correlates to less crime.  Banning guns only disarms law abiding citizens as the criminals still have them. See Gun Free Zone Facts This is based on an FBI report, not the "facts" of some special interest group.

Do we prohibit guns from criminals & those who are mentally ill?  The obvious answer seems to be yes, but think about this.  If we disagree with the government, they can declare us criminals or mentally ill.  Anyone who would want to own a gun must be mentally ill.... right?  Anyone who owns the wrong kind of gun, that gets more and more restrictive over time is a criminal, right? Can you see where this could go.  Next, an annual mental examination will be required to own a gun at our expense and a huge government fee/tax.  Slowly over time, more and more "common sense" gun regulations are put in place until it becomes nearly impossible to legally own a gun... no problem for criminals; actually unarmed victims is favorable for criminals.  Interesting how a large majority of all mass shootings are in Gun Free Zones.  Perhaps the people who implement those gun free zones are in part responsible for the victims who are shot, far more so than the gun manufactures being responsible when a criminal uses a gun to commit a crime.

It should be noted that almost all mass shootings in public since 1950 are in places were guns are banned.  So obviously banning guns does not work.  See Gun Free Zone Facts

3. Big government is the least efficient way to manage things.  Look at the US Post Office which lost billions of dollars while Fed X and UPS are making nice profits.  Look at Social Security which is about to go broke, while private insurance and retirement funds are making money hand over fist.  Look at the VA health care with Veterans who fought for our freedom having to wait months for medical care.  Hundreds of thousands reportedly died while waiting for Government ran Health Care.  This was such a problem in the UK that in 2010 they passed a law to "ensure that no person waits longer than 18 weeks from the date that a patient is referred to the hospital to the time of the operation or treatment."  This law was passed because UK government health care was taking much longer, just like the US Veterans health care was and like US health care for everyone will be if we don't get and keep the government out of it. 

The NSA tracks the average American's phone 25 times per day in 2014;  Where you are, who you talked to, how long, even what you said; every text message and photo you send. Such total knowledge is ripe for abuse.  Every politician or person who is opposed to the NSA, Big Government or the President in power could have incriminating information leak out about them that destroys their life, even if it was only circumstantial evidence and they were totally innocent.  The NSA tracking every American with out a warrant is not the answer and the loss of freedom that it represents is not worth the small (if any) increase in safety.  We need to stop letting potential enemies into our country, not erode our rights so we can bring even more in.

Our prosperity and security has led us to be passive as our Government has grown larger and larger and our federal debt has exceeded 18 Trillion dollars which is over $55,000 for every man woman and child according to USDebtClock.org .  A typical family of four, owes $220,0000 in federal government debt, in addition to our own personal debt and state debt.  The total debt is over 65 Trillion, or $200,000 per citizen, $800,000 per family of four.  This is despite about 4 Trillion dollars in federal tax revenue which is an average of $10,000 of annual federal taxes per US citizen, or $40,000 for a family of four.  Our federal tax code is over 60,000 pages long.

4. Our government is supposed to be "Of the People, by the People and for the People." The people being the citizens of our country and not everyone who visits legally and especially not those that come to or stay in our country illegally.  Illegal immigrants often steal someones identity to use their Social Security number to get a job.   They claim 99 dependents so that no taxes are withheld.  Their tax burden then falls on the person whose SS number they use.  Donald Trump was once criticized for saying most illegal immigrants were criminals. I take exception to that statement because they are ALL criminals.  Granted, most are hard working & otherwise law-abiding individuals but too many get welfare, food stamps and all the government free benefits with out paying any taxes. If legalized, they could file past tax returns for 3 years and get over $20,000 in Earned Income Credit despite not having paid any taxes. At the same time, educated professional people who would not depend on welfare seek to immigrate and can't.

Don't get me wrong, when our country was under populated, selective and regulated growth through immigration is healthy, but excessive or unregulated growth is cancerous.  During historical periods of excessive immigration, we have experienced gang wars, riots and turf battles between the different ethnic groups.  This is starting again and will only get worse if we don't get things under control now.

Many today don't come here to adopt our ways and fit in to our country, but rather to change our ways to be like theirs through political correctness and claims of racism and profiling.  Profiling is actually a case of law enforcement working smarter.  Would we expect them to question female suspects in a typical rape case or suspect someone with out gang tattoos in a gang related shooting? Not profiling is stupid, but it must be done right. Asking to see ID to vote or confirm the legal status of a drunk driver who doesn't speak English should be fine, especially since speaking English has been a requirement for over 100 years to become a US Citizen.

Let me be clear; I am not a racist despite what many are thinking now.  Further, I resent hearing this all the time and would push back with this. With 97% of the black voters voting for a Black President while about 50% of the whites voted for him and 50% voted against him (an even distribution), who are the real racist? I was raised for many years by a woman of a different color; I worked in Mexico for years and some of my best friends plus the best boss I ever worked for and that I respect highly was a different color.  While charity is good, we would not borrow money to provide for strangers, which is what our country is doing when we bring in immigrants and let them get on welfare, food stamps and free health care. We can't afford it.  When our budget is balanced, it is okay.

So how do we fix these things?  The Declaration of Independence says that "it is the Right of the People to alter" .. our government.  We have a means to achieve this peaceably.  We must all VOTE these principals above all others. Here are some links to help you write to your US Government representatives.

Find Your Senators
Find Your Representative
NumbersUSA
NRA 

We get rid of every politician in office that supports any form of gun control & expands government spending.  If the deficit goes up, no incumbent politician should be eligible for re-election. Businesses balance budgets all the time. Most Americans do it every week with their paychecks.  By normal business standards our country is bankrupt.


Obviously we can NOT deport every illegal immigrant. Its inhumane and our country needs the ones that work, pay taxes and do not draw welfare or other government handouts and speak English. Will there be some sob stories on the news and protests? Every illegal immigrant who violently protests should be immediately deported and never eligible to legally return under any circumstances.  Peaceful protests are 100% acceptable. Yes, the solutions to difficult problems are not easy or they would have been fixed already.

We must start by stopping the flow of more immigrants.  A wall is not practical and will not work, but requiring the use of E Verify or face employer fines of $50,000 for each illegal immigrant hired & enforcing it will solve the problem.  Those already working, paying taxes for the past 3-5 years, and not on any form of welfare, no criminal background, will receive a green card (not citizenship) and are temporarily exempt from deportation along with their immediate families.  They will be allowed to apply for citizenship like all other immigrants. Eventually many will go home because they won't be able to get jobs and welfare....others will stop coming.... problems solved.  Those that stay will be hard working law abiding citizens. 

For additional information see the following links:

Blog Table of Contents
The end of FREE America

Terrorist Attack - Best Preparations
The Best Gun 
NRA Gun Safety Rules
Gun Free Zone Facts