JimConway
Instructor
Choose Your Weapon! Part I
“What handgun would you recommend for self defense?”
S&W M-66 .357 Magnum Accuracy – 1.75 “ Controllability Index – 11.6 Effectiveness Index – 127% (TKO) |
That is a question I get a lot. Sometimes it is from folks who have little or no shooting experience and sometimes it is from folks who just want me to tell them that the latest weapon they have chosen wasn’t a really stupid choice.
Friends, I don’t have an ambiguous bone in my body but I cannot give you an answer without more input. Even then I don’t usually make specific make and model recommendations for I cannot know the totality of your circumstances or, without spending at least a day on the range with you, your skill level. It is truly a case of the Biblical admonition to “work out your own salvation”. All I can do is report on what you might expect to find, but you will have to go shoot the guns and do more study on your own in order to make an informed decision.
An uninformed decision could result in disaster. What works for some pundit or national champion may not be the gun that works for you! I can think of few more suspect pieces of equipment to purchase than a gun (of any type) if you don’t know how to use it. An automobile comes to mind. Without a modicum of skill, both are a catastrophe looking for a place to happen.
This is an overview of a simple screening process I have adopted over the years. There are much more involved tests one can do – indeed I do them myself – but I am assuming that if you were a full time shooter you will have developed your own. My goal here is to simplify.
What are we looking for in a defensive handgun? Simply put we are looking for one that is
- reliable,
- accurate enough to do the job (in our hands),
- holds enough bullets,
- strikes a reasonable blow,
- can be recharged after the fight expeditiously
- can be carried on the person daily, and
- you can get it into action quickly from your preferred mode of carry.
There may be other features you might find important as well, but even with these simple criteria there are still enough handguns out there to confuse you to the point of indecision, which is the worst outcome because it leaves you unarmed and maybe even still playing video games.
Glock 19- 9mm Accuracy – 2.9 “ Controllability Index – 4.9 (less flyer=9.8) Effectiveness Index – 100% (TKO) |
Here is the first half of what I think that screening process to help you assess the qualities of those handguns you might be considering. My basic approach is to go shoot the guns. Your answer to that may be “how the heck am I supposed to do that??” but not to worry. Lots of indoor shooting ranges have rental guns, and the nice thing about them is that the gun has generally already been broken in from heavy use. Also, if you have friends who shoot they will most likely be happy to take you shooting with their guns as well, especially if you buy the ammo.
The downside of this approach is that you will be limited to a few types of guns, shutting off many potential candidates for your consideration. But remember, the ranges rent Sigs, Berettas, Smiths and Glocks for a reason. They run and they break down less frequently than “el cheapo” equipment. This is something to consider when you are first starting out. And even if you elect to buy something less mainstream or something that looks like the same gun for less money, you will have a reliable baseline from which to measure you new potential acquisition.
Reliability
Obviously a defensive firearm must work to be effective. Nothing mechanical works every time. But quality handguns today work nearly every time. The fly in the soup is the operator. He/she can cause malfunctions. I recently selected 9 “dash cam” videos involving police officer shootings and discovered what even to me were shocking results. Of the 9, 45% of the police officers involved experienced a malfunction of one sort or another! Fortunately most had cover and were uninjured, but the one who did not and almost lost his life to a subject he had already shot once, center mass with no effect!
Surprisingly most of these “malfunctions” where with a firearm design that many recreational shooters and “frequent forum flyers” think is faultless when it comes to reliability.
Nothing is faultless.
Remington Rand 1911a1 1943 Accuracy – 1.4 “ Controllability Index – 19.6 Effectiveness Index – 180% (TKO) |
If you think that revolvers work all the time then you have not shot enough! Some 30 years ago, an acquaintance lost his life when his brand name .357 Magnum locked up in a gunfight. It had been fired a good bit but never with his duty ammunition before that day! That can be, and was, a fatal mistake.
The only way to tell if a weapon is reliable in your hands is to shoot it! It does not matter if it works in other people’s hands or got a great review in the cover story of your favorite gun magazine. At least some of the time, shoot the ammo you plan to carry. It will do you no good to run your reliability tests with weak .38 Wadcutters if you intend to carry magnums that will jar the fillings out of your teeth!
Break In. Every gun needs and deserves a break in period, even a wheel gun. The consensus seems to be 200 rounds and I don’t disagree with that, though I have seen some guns that worked in the first 200 rounds develop a case of the ballistic hiccups later – so keep an eye out.
This is a pass/fail test. I won’t accept a gun that regularly malfunctions. Sometimes it is an ammunition or magazine issue and it can be fixed. But never trust your life into the hands of a gun that works “most of the time,” because if you follow Murphy’s Law, when you need it in a gunfight, it won’t.
Accuracy
As we discussed in our last column, many folks are a whole lot more casual about where they hit than I would prefer. I can cite you dozens of cases where shooting a subject “center mass” with a magnum round was not good enough to end the fight in a timely manner. On the other hand, I cannot cite any cases where a .22 LR to the tear duct has failed to stop (to the temple Is another matter entirely). The problem of course is hitting under pressure during the dynamics of a real street fight.
My standards for accuracy may not be what be what you are accustomed to. I feel that the physical accuracy of a gun is almost a given these days. There are so many fine pistols and revolvers on the market that will shoot into a ragged hole that you need not worry about the percentage of an inch difference between any two.
S&W M-15 2” – .38 +P Accuracy – 2.1” Controllability Index –10.2 Effectiveness Index – 101% (TKO) |
The true accuracy of a handgun can only be judged by firing as you would in a gunfight. If it is a Double Action Revolver, you test it in double action, standing, freestyle, without a rest, in any “stance” you prefer. If it is Double Action/Single Action (like a Beretta 92F, Sig 226, etc.), it should be fired in that order, the first pull long and the subsequent short. If it is a Glock or an XD then all trigger pulls are consistent. For now we will not limit time, but you may have to practice in order to meet my specifications with any gun, taking as much time to shoot as you need. If you can’t shoot your gun into the these specifications you are not prepared to be in a gunfight, no matter how mechanically accurate your firearm may be.
I use a 2.5 X 4” target area at 10 yards on our training target but a good practical substitute might be a 3X5 index card, placed horizontally. 5 hits out of 5 shots on the card will suffice. This is a pass or fail test. If the gun passes, or more than one gun passes, it qualifies as worthy of being the gun that defends your life. If not, not. Measuring groups is fine, 3″ or less will do. If the miss is your fault, then do it over. Successful results will be repeatable. In preliminary screening I tend to use the group size (since you may be able to change the sights later) but in the final test, only hits count.
For the record I do test guns from a bench rest. But it is only my “serious” handguns, and they eventually get tested at 100 yards. I feel that for a gun you plan to carry every day you have to start with the basics, and the basics are if you can reasonably hit your target with the gun at normal gunfight ranges. Ergonomics and how the gun fits you will have more to do with hitting your target than the mechanical accuracy of the gun.