So, Which Pistol Would You Recommend?

[not2old 0]

inexpensive, and works---Charter Arms BullDog in .44 special !

SOS #1314

[steve1 5]

I guess I'm not too familiar with the 380 round. It must be new. Is it more or less a shortened 9mm cartridge??? If it is, I'd think it might be short on velocity. Let me know if I am wrong here. Even a 9mm has a really short case when compared to even a 38 special.

I know that shooting through walls can be a problem. I want enough stopping power though, so I don't think I'd pick a cartridge smaller than 9mm. I know about nothing about the 380 cartridge when it comes right down to it. I'm just thinking about powder capacity in an even shorter case than the 9mm. It just seems like a 380 might not have enough umph behind that bullet to get the job done.

Let's say you had a big fat burglar in your house wearing a leather jacket. Would the 380 penetrate that jacket, and some bone, to reach the vitals? If a bad guy is hiding behind a wall or table, having a little extra penetration might be a plus. I read somewhere that even a windshield can deflect a 9mm.

I really do appreciate all the info. on this. It seems like the more I learn, the more questions I have.

I do have a short barrelled 12 guage pump shotgun loaded with buckshot. I agree they are deadly.

[AWL71 0]

.380 has been around for a long time. But as a round it is not that popular. If you want stopping power the .45 ACP is the way to go. The recoil is not that bad. Whatever you decide to get make sure you can shoot it well and practice with it. You can get the job done with any 9mm, .40, or .45 as long as the bullet hits its mark.

The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

[DrewEckhardt 0]

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These guys were also sporting body armor from head to toe...and we are talking about personal protection not police shoot outs that went down in history as the worse ever.

Nope (maybe you're thinking of the hollywood shoot out?)

And the first or second hit was a lung shot which the coroner said would have been fatal even with immediate medical attention.

[DrewEckhardt 0]

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I guess I'm not too familiar with the 380 round. It must be new.

Yup. Saint John Moses Browning didn't come up .380 Automatic Colt Pistol until 1908, making it a bit newer than .45 ACP which dates back to 1904.

The Germans would call it 9mm Kurz for short and those new fangled metric guys 9x17mm.

The Walther PPK is chambered in .380 ACP.

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Is it more or less a shortened 9mm cartridge??? If it is, I'd think it might be short on velocity. Let me know if I am wrong here. Even a 9mm has a really short case when compared to even a 38 special.

.38 special has a big case because it was originally a black powder round operating at low pressure. It evolved from .38 short Colt which was used to convert civil war era cap and ball revolvers to fixed cartridges. Modern cartridges double its pressure for way more power and velocity.

[steve1 5]

Thanks all....I'm learning a lot....

[jcd11235 0]

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If you don't shoot, you will not be able to use your weapon effectively when hick's law kicks in.

Can you elaborate, please? I don't understand how Hick's law would be applicable unless one had to locate the target out of a group. What am I missing?

Tangentially, Fitts' law predicts that one can aim at and shoot a tall, fat person faster than one can aim at and shoot a short skinny person (in case you were wondering).

Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

[skycop 0]

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Thanks all....I'm learning a lot.... ***

Lots of good points, my last two cents worth drawing from 22 years police and 26 yrs military experience.

.45 the ultimate manstopper, but heavy and lots of recoil. The ammo is also expensive.

.40 makes up for the most shortcomings of the 9mm,sort of a .45 Lite. Ammo is expensive and sometimes good ammo is hard to find.

.380 a nice little round but is sort of a 9mm lite, less stopping power

I still prefer the 9mm for casual shooting and home defense. The round has limitations, I've been in real world situations where the round did not penetrate a car door. Addtionally the rounds didn't overpenetrate the houses across the streeteither (no it wasn't me that fired). 9mm is plentiful and relatively cheap=more range time to practice.
IMHO the best overall round for a casual/home defense type shooter.

I've only talked about semi-autos, I have no experience with .357 auto rounds.

One can never go wrong with a .38 or .357 wheelgun, just make sure you don't need more than 6 rounds

Good luck!

"Just 'cause I'm simple, don't mean I'm stewpid!"

[millertime24 8]

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I'm thinking about buying another automatic pistol

What AUTOMATIC pistol do you have now? The GLOCK 18 is a fine choice for auto. J/K.

I have a GLOCK 22 (.40 S&W) and it shoots great! A female friend of mine even shot it (having never fired a handgun before), and by the end of our shooting trip she ws punching holes in a 4" group @ 15-20yds! Also, they are SUPER RELIABLE.

Muff #5048

[stitch 0]

Flintlock. Go colonial on their asses.

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[kelpdiver 2]

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I still prefer the 9mm for casual shooting and home defense. The round has limitations, I've been in real world situations where the round did not penetrate a car door. Addtionally the rounds didn't overpenetrate the houses across the streeteither (no it wasn't me that fired). 9mm is plentiful and relatively cheap=more range time to practice.
IMHO the best overall round for a casual/home defense type shooter.

The .357sig takes care of those car doors, but then you have huge overpenetration fears.

On the recoil issue, the gun size is as big as factor as the round size. A compact .45 (HK USP45c) - signifcant recoil. A large 9mm (P226) - much lower.

I think the cheaper training, ease of use of the 9 outweighs the rare circumstances where it's not as capable as a .45.

[Amazon 7]

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Check Wally World

HOLY SHIT....

I was out and about today... andas I was drivingpast a Wally World in Everett WA... I stopped in and there was not a single box of your normal handgun calibers on the shelf.... nothing..clean... There were not even any ofthe usally well stocked 550 round boxes of .22 Long Rifle... WTF. There are a WHOLE lot of really stupid people out there that are into the right fling hype....

[fincher 0]

funny you mention car doors. I once shot a old full size chevy blazer full of holes. The only pistol i shot it with was the 9mm,.40 and the .44 magnum. The .40 would not penetrate the doors. It punched right through the outer layer but was barely stopped by the inner wall. The 9mm was similar but not quite as dramatic on the inner wall. The .44 mag. of course blew threw all kinds of shit. I guess what im saying is if you expect to be shooting through the doors of late model vehicles you better step up to .45 or .44 magnum. Just so you know the tail gate is the weak link. They all blew through that with enough energy to penetrate back and front seats

i'll huff and I'll puff and I'll burn your packing tent down

[BIGUN 1,248]

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I was out and about today... andas I was drivingpast a Wally World in Everett WA... I stopped in and there was not a single box of your normal handgun calibers on the shelf.... nothing..clean... There were not even any ofthe usally well stocked 550 round boxes of .22 Long Rifle...

When I read your first post, I thought you were being sarcastic. Very few, if any Wally World's are selling ammo. silhouettes or even guns anymore. A couple of year's ago... "A Florida Supreme Court ruling upheld a $2.16 million verdict against Wal-Mart for illegally selling ammunition to minors who killed a Pensacola man."

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[mnealtx 0]

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I was out and about today... andas I was drivingpast a Wally World in Everett WA... I stopped in and there was not a single box of your normal handgun calibers on the shelf.... nothing..clean... There were not even any ofthe usally well stocked 550 round boxes of .22 Long Rifle...

When I read your first post, I thought you were being sarcastic. Very few, if any Wally World's are selling ammo. silhouettes or even guns anymore. A couple of year's ago... "A Florida Supreme Court ruling upheld a $2.16 million verdict against Wal-Mart for illegally selling ammunition to minors who killed a Pensacola man."

Every Wally World I've ever been into (admittedly, a small selection) has had long guns and ammo for sale. Could this be more of a state-level thing?

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[BIGUN 1,248]

My understanding is one can still get long rifles, shotguns and .22 at the local Wally World; except that I refuse to buy anything in Wally World as long as they ship our money and jobs to China who is directly responsible for the genocide in Darfur. But, I could go on...

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[mnealtx 0]

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My understanding is one can still get long rifles, shotguns and .22 at the local Wally World; except that I refuse to buy anything in Wally World as long as they ship our money and jobs to China who is directly responsible for the genocide in Darfur. But, I could go on...

That's probably a local thing, then - the ones in Texas (at least) still sell handgun/centerfire rifle ammo.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[steve1 5]

What AUTOMATIC pistol do you have now? reply]........................................................

It's a 9 mm., Smith and Wesson, with a single stack magazine. I should dig it out and get the model number off of it.

It is a good shooter. I've shot targets and metal sillouettes with it, a fair amount. Fun to shoot.

Since I'm no pistol expert, I thought I'd throw out some more dumb questions. I assume that most law enforcement people have a bullet in the chamber, when they are on duty.

With a pistol like mine, I assume the first round is usually fired like a double action revolver. There is a long pull with a lot of tension on the trigger. I'm wondering how to fire that first round accurately. This seems difficult with a trigger pull like that. I've learned to quickly squeeze about 3/4 of the tension, and then carefully squeeze the last bit of trigger tension to fire. I'd like to take a course on this, or join a club. I'll bet there is plenty a person can learn.

I'm also wondering, do most automatic pistols have quite a bit of slack in their trigger . Even when my pistol is cocked, there is a bunch of slack in the trigger before it engages anything. Do I need a trigger job?

I'm also wondering if anyone out there reloads much for their automatic pistol. I've got some dies for my 357 revover, 9mm auto, and my daughter's 38 special. I am worried about feeding problems in an automatic. So, far my reloads seem to work okay. I plan to use reload ammo for practice and keep my high quality factory ammo (hollow pts.) for home.

For hard to find ammo, reloading is an option. A can of powder goes a long way when you are loading for a pistol. The only trouble is that it is very time comsuming when you shoot that same ammo up, so fast. It might make more sense to just buy cheap ammo that is on sale. Even that may be hard to find these days.

Does anyone know any tricks for speeding up that reloading time. I've never used a spray lube for my brass. That would speed things up. I've heard they also make some resizing dies that don't take any lube at all. That too could help save time.

I also need to start using my powder measure more. I use a trickler to get my rifle ammo exact. With a pistol this may not be important. You wouldn't believe the time I waste trying to get precision rifle ammo for my rifles. I need to learn to speed things up on my reload pistol ammo....

[mnealtx 0]

To answer your trigger squeeze question - dryfire practice.

I regards to the amount of takeup (the slack before the trigger starts to engage) - it varies. Some manufacturers have a lot of takeup, some very little.

I can't speak for the reloading.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[Amazon 7]

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I was out and about today... andas I was drivingpast a Wally World in Everett WA... I stopped in and there was not a single box of your normal handgun calibers on the shelf.... nothing..clean... There were not even any ofthe usally well stocked 550 round boxes of .22 Long Rifle...

When I read your first post, I thought you were being sarcastic. Very few, if any Wally World's are selling ammo. silhouettes or even guns anymore. A couple of year's ago... "A Florida Supreme Court ruling upheld a $2.16 million verdict against Wal-Mart for illegally selling ammunition to minors who killed a Pensacola man."

The one in Everett has ALWAYS had a pretty good selection of AMMO...now they are down to the expensive calibers...and the less popular calibers. I did grab a box of 7 MM Rem Mag... just because they had the nice 175 grain Express Core-Lokt that I like.

Hell there was evenplenty of 7.62x39 and .223 but I got rid of anything I had the fired those.

The pistol ammo though.. in .38, .357, 9mm, .40, 10mm, .41, .44 Mag, .44 Auto Mag, .45 long, .45 ACP, or 500 S&W

They do not carry any long guns there but there are some that do. They are pretty much the low end models from several manufacturers.. but they have them

[jcd11235 0]

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If you don't shoot, you will not be able to use your weapon effectively when hick's law kicks in.

Can you elaborate, please? I don't understand how Hick's law would be applicable unless one had to locate the target out of a group. What am I missing?

Anyone? Anyone?

Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

[piper17 1]

As far as reloading is concerned, I own two Dillon 550B progressive reloading presses. I can crank out 400-500 rounds per hour without pushing. I reload .45acp, .45Colt, .38special and have the stuff for 9mm but don't shoot enough of it to bother. Dillon makes other reloading presses...one cheaper and lower volume/hr and several others that are more expensive and really can crank out the volume.

I'm guessing you do NOT own a progressive press?

"A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

[Amazon 7]

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I'm also wondering if anyone out there reloads much for their automatic pistol. I've got some dies for my 357 revover, 9mm auto, and my daughter's 38 special. I am worried about feeding problems in an automatic. So, far my reloads seem to work okay. I plan to use reload ammo for practice and keep my high quality factory ammo (hollow pts.) for home.

I reload the .357 and .44 and my rifles.. but for the amount of 9mm I shoot..I can literaly buy it cheaper in large quantities( especially when you consider cost of powder, bullets,primers, and frustration)... and its a pain in the ass to load.

Good choice for plinking is FMJ 9mm you can find at the gun show at the fairgrounds every month.. even the reloads.. cheap..and no feed problems in the S & W so far

But my carry.....I use high quality..and every time I go to the range.. I empty the magazines for it .. just to exercise the springs and to make damn sure I am practicing with the ammo I might use in a bad situation. I also fire all six and use the speed loader with another 6 in my little Ruger Redhawk purse gun.

[steve1 5]

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I'm guessing you do NOT own a progressive press?

I've used the same RCBS (Junior) press since I was a kid. Let me see, that's been almost a hundred years now.

[steve1 5]