Handguns

Handguns are handy. Handguns are personal. Handguns can be comforting. I see a lot of people struggle over which handgun or handguns they should buy. With the rise in CCW permits, so rises the sales of handguns. I'm a rifle man. I can do more with rifles and I feel safer having one handy. Clint Smith once told me "handguns are for fighting your way back to the rifle you shouldn't have put down in the first place". Clint is wise. He also told me that he knows some of the best hand to hand fighting experts in the country. They all have one thing in common, they all carry handguns. Sam Colt referred to the handgun as the great equalizer of men. I think life in the 19th century was a bit easier where choosing a handgun was concerned. There weren't nearly as many variations of handguns to choose from as there are today.

I see it every day. First, shooters struggle to decide what caliber they want in their new handgun. 22, 380 ACP, 9mm, 38 special, 357 magnum, 40 S&W, and 45 ACP are the most common choices in American gun stores today. I see most people waffling between 380 and 9mm. Auto loaders seem more popular than revolvers, and pistols that can be carried in pockets or waistbands rather than holsters seem to draw the most buyers.

Looking back in history we can see these same trends around the turn of the 19th century. In 1903 John Browning introduced 380 pocket pistol. In 1912, Browning introduced the 25 ACP along with several pocket pistols. The famous Baby Browning among them. Oddly enough, he found the time to develop the 45 ACP and the 1911 pistol during these same times. As the military was looking to upgrade in power from the 38 Colt to the 45 ACP, the general public seemed driven to consume as many small caliber pocket pistols as Browning, Colt and Smith & Wesson could turn out. Coincidentally, while the US gun buyers are driving more and more companies to develop very small, very light 380 auto pistols, the US military is looking to replace the 9mm M9 service pistol with an auto loader chambered in 45 ACP. History repeats itself. I wish we would see another innovator like John Browning driving the industry development. How great would that be?

The next hurdle for today's gun buyers is to find that balance between a gun so small that it is easily concealed and one that is powerful enough to stop an assailant. That brings a third variable into play. If you plan to protect yourself with a gun, you need to plan to practice with it. Small, light guns will recoil a lot more than a standard sized gun and make practice unpleasant. Savvy shooters search for the perfect gun that is small enough to carry, but large enough to be shot at the range. The common theory on this is to provide magazines with grip extensions for range work. The grip extension makes the gun large enough to be better controlled during practice. When the gun is carried concealed, a shorter magazine is usually used that makes the heal of the gun easier to hide. The gun that does this the best, in my opinion is the Springfield Armory XD Subcompact.

Their is another solution to this problem. Buy two guns. Most companies build guns of the same design in two or three sizes. I've been known to carry an Officers Model 1911 or a Light Weight Commander 1911. Both guns have identical controls and trigger systems. I can practice with the larger Commander sized pistol very comfortably for 100-200 rounds in a single range session. I'll then finish off the range session by firing two or three magazines through the Officers Model for practice and to ensure it is still in top notch functioning condition. Companies like Smith & Wesson, Colt, Kimber, Taurus, Beretta, Walther and Ruger all make small, medium and large frame versions of their popular auto pistols. The same can be said for most revolvers as well. I know it's more expensive than buying just one gun, but if you are serious about carrying a handgun for protection, the extra investment and increased practice just might save your life one day. It's something to think about.

I'll write more on this subject in the future. It's a very broad topic with plenty of perspectives and opinions. I'd be curious to hear from my readers via the comments section of this blog regarding this subject or any other.