Pass The Ammo

“I am gun-ignorant on any practical level. I would like a hand gun for home protection, fun/practice, and as another way to meet and connect with other men locally.”

I am occasionally asked “What gun should I buy?” by different people who are interested in purchasing a first sidearm. Usually by friends or acquaintances that know me as a gun guy. I decided to post an email response that I sent to a friend in Illinois who recently asked. Maybe I can refer other people who ask to to this post.

The response is based off of my experience and knowledge, and is in no way an in depth break down. It is also tailored for the specific person I’m writing to. What you want in a firearm, and what would work best for you can be different for every person.

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“I am gun-ignorant on any practical level. I would like a hand gun for home protection, fun/practice, and as another way to meet and connect with other men locally. I have a Firearm Owners card.

So, my questions are: revolver, or - what do you call it? A semi-auto pistol? Recommendations? I was thinking revolver, but what do I know? I am not looking for some giant hand cannon, but I don’t want some ladies purse gun either.

Where should I buy? Approx. cost? If all of this is annoying, I can hit one of the local gun clubs or whatever. But I thought I would hit you up first.”

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Glad to year it. And what is a Firearm Owners Card??? Is that like… the constitution in a card size?

Well, if you don’t want to get laughed at or “discipled” as my pastor calls it… you’ll want to go with .40 cal and up for a semi-auto, or .357 mag and no less for a revolver.

Here are a few pro’s and con’s that immediately pop into my head. I’m sure there are plenty more in depth differences that you can research online. But these are some main points to consider.

Revolver Pros:

1. Simple to operate.
2. Easy to clean.
3. Less mechanisms means more reliability.
4. Ladies love cowboys

Revolver Cons:

1. Limited ammo capacity. *Reloading in the middle of a life and death situation can be mildly depressing. Accuracy drops under stress.
2. Often bulky, when carrying.
3. Requires more practice to shoot fast and accurately, depending on a *single or **double action revolver.

*Single action meaning you have to manually pull the hammer back for each shot (wild west)
**Double action meaning you can cock the hammer and complete the shot just by pulling the trigger.

But with enough practice you can shoot like this guy!

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For a revolver, I highly recommend Ruger. They are currently known as the best revolver maker. I suggest the GP-100 models in .357. I have one of these, and it is a awesome gun.

http://ruger.com/Firearms/FAProdView?model=1705&return=Y

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Semi-Auto Pros:

1. Higher ammo capacities.
2. Easier to shoot fast and accurately.
3. Abundant compact models allow for easy, comfortable carry.

Semi-Auto Cons:

1. More mechanisms increases chance of jamming. *Jamming in the middle of a life and death situation can also be mildly depressing and result in a bad case of death.
2. Depending on model, can be trickier to break down and clean.

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For an “auto”, I’d suggest these selections for you.

1. For top quality, reliability, safety, and historical badassery, I always recommend the 1911 model which comes in .45 ACP. These are trickier to break down and clean but practice makes perfect. Which brand makes the best one is always debated. But Kimber seems to always be the one people talk about. 1911’s can be spendy. Usually around $900 and up. For a “new to the market” and much more reasonably priced 1911 look to Taurus. Around $700 and I’ve heard alot of good things from friends that own it.

2. For a better priced auto, I’d suggest the Springfield Armory XD Pistols. JJ had one of these and loved it much, before he upgraded to a 1911. Easy to break down and clean, smoothe trigger, secksy looks. Around $400 greenbacks.

3. And if you’re really tight on cash, you can always settle with Hi-Point. Considered the poor mans gun. Not too pretty, but with a price tag of around $180 for a .40 cal… you can’t complain much. I’ve heard from folks who own them, that they are a solid shooter.

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My personal opinion, I love revolvers. But I’ve gone to carrying a 1911, and probably won’t go back. Also, I love an auto that comes with a hammer. The reason being, I like to glance at it, and know that its cocked or not. Auto’s like the XD do come with a tiny pinhole in back, that shows a red dot if the gun is cocked and ready. But I like a easy visual reference if something scary goes down. As someone who carrys, I know that it can be easy to forget if you are locked and loaded on hectic days that you might not have your head screwed on completely tight. It’s a big responsibility to pack with a screwed down head.

I also like seeing the saftey that locks a hammer back (pic). When I can’t visually see the mechanism that is acting as the safety, such as in auto’s like the XD… I always have this paranoia that the safety could fail. I guess I’m just visual in that regard.

I realize that you probably won’t be carrying concealed, as you live in a socialist state, but I think some of these things are still good to know.

As with most things, education and preparedness are key.

1. Become very familiar with your firearm. You’ll need to know how to work it without second thought, if you should need it at 3am in a half-sleep groggy state and your family is in danger.

2. Know your local legislation for self-defense. We’re in a sad state of affairs where criminals have more rights than innocents, especially if innocents used a firearm. There are a ton of tricks to knowing when is a shooting moment, and when isn’t. Every aspect of the self-defense shooting will popup in a court environment should such a tragedy ever occur. Lawyers will go after whether or not you used hallow-points, or hand loaded ammo and call it “Cruel and unusal”. To learn a few of these, I suggest you subscribe to the newsletter at USCCA. They send tips in your email. A bit too much, so you’ll probably want to unsubscribe after a couple months of newsletters. But they’re all good articles and things to think about.

3. Teach your wife to shoot! This is something I’m still working on my wife with. I’ve been dropping the ball and need to get her out to the range. But she does know where I keep my firearm, incase I’m away while she’s home with the kids during an incident.

4. Be prepared to Biblically defend yourself. In our country’s liberal condition, you’ll be attacked for being a “Christian owning a gun” even by other “Christians”. Reason with them using scripture, and you can’t lose.

A couple good resources.

a. The Bible and Self Defense
b. Open Bible - Verses on Self Defense

Hope this helps in your decision.