Help a newbie
I am a total newbie to gun ownership. I did own a 44 Magnum nearly 30 years ago but that's it. I'm 51 now and want a revolver again. Home security purpose. Looking for used and inexpensive. Easy to get ammo. Don't know what caliper - but enough to STOP an intruder.
So what should I be looking for? Okay, let the opinions fly! Remember, inexpensive but reliable when needed. Oh, my urgency... the anti-gun talk in Washington. [V]
I live in Virginia.
Joe
So what should I be looking for? Okay, let the opinions fly! Remember, inexpensive but reliable when needed. Oh, my urgency... the anti-gun talk in Washington. [V]
I live in Virginia.
Joe
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Hello Joe buy yourself a 4 inch 38 special. Go to the big gun show near DULLAS airport when it come to town. about 4 times a year. look at all the tables and you most likely will see many new pistols but also some VERY good buys on USED pistols. 0 -
Ruger GP-100 .357 Magnum... you can always load and practice with .38 Spl if you do not want to shoot full-house .357 Mag loads. 0 -
Welcome, Joe! As a pistol instructor I always tell the new shooters to get a 4" bbl .357 mag. If you intend to keep it loaded with the .357's you really need to shoot it a bit to get use to the recoil, and the muzzle blast. They are both fairly intimidating. The .38+P is a good alternitive to the full house .357 mag loads. Practice with the less expensive ,38 spl. Of course since you owned a .44 mag the .357 mag won't be that bad to you, but a lot of guys have wives that really don't like the .357 mag. As Bert H said, the Ruger is a fine revolver an a little less expensive than many others. The Taurus revolvers are receiving good write-up's, and I wouldn't shy away from giving them consideration! 0 -
wc4r,
Forget about the revolvers, inexpensive or otherwise and get a decent pump shotgun such as the Remington 870. You will have two or even three things going for you:
- The intimidating sound of the pump action shotgun as you chamber a shell.
- The broader pattern of coverage.
- Potentially less penetration of interior walls.
Do some reading on this subject before you plop down your money on a revolver or any other handgun for that matter.
Best.0 -
Four inch .38 special. 0 -
The anti-gun talk in Washington (as you put it) isn't likely to end up anywhere.
Bluntly, the Democrats already put out trial balloons here, and despite having strong majorities in both branches of Congress, they don't have the votes to pass a big gun control bill.
Next, its pretty unlikely that another Federal gun control bill would restrict revolvers. At worst it might make ammo scarcer or more expensive.
To answer your question, what you want is a revolver in .357 magnum or .38 special.
Which model?
Used but serviceable Smith and Wesson model 10 revolvers in .38 special are still available for under $250, and in some cases as little as $200. These are easy to use and about as close to 100% reliable as you can get in a handgun.
If you can budget a bit more, you can probably find a police/security surplus Smith model 64 in stainless steel for a little bit more.0 -
Good argument for the shotgun, above
If revolver is still the thing for you, to me, Smith & Wesson spells "revolver".0 -
quote:Originally posted by nononsense
- The intimidating sound of the pump action shotgun as you chamber a shell.
Forgive me, but this bit about the slide-racking sound making would- be perps soil themselves is perhaps the hoariest myth of the gun culture and one of my pet peeves.
Are you really going to wait until an intruder is within earshot before arming your weapon? That is, sensing danger, you are NOT going to keep your gun "cocked and locked"?
As an analogy, would you deliberately keep the chamber of your 1911 empty until your target got close enough to hear you rack the slide? If not, why are you going to do this with a shotgun?
Assuming an intruder DOES get that close inadvertently, would you want to then telegraph your location by racking the slide? If he's close enough to hear you racking the slide, he's also probably close enough to shoot you.
Lets say you've already racked the slide and the intruder didn't hear it, or didn't run away. Are you going to eject a live round by racking it again to "prove" your point?
Is hearing a slide pumped more intimidating than (say) hearing someone yell "stop or I'll shoot" then hearing a hammer cock, then seeing six hollow point bullets end on pointed at you at the front of a revolver cylinder?
Personally, I think the MOST intimidating sound an intruder can hear is the sound of a projectile striking his body, but that's a sort of a separate matter.
quote:- The broader pattern of coverage.
That's more of an advantage in outdoor combat.
At 7 yards (which would be a typical indoor shooting distance) a 12 gauge shotgun with cylinder bore puts out only a roughly 6" diameter pattern. That pattern can be considerably SMALLER with buckshot, even as little as 4" inside of ten yards.
Sure, that's still better than a single 0.35 inch pistol hole, but its not exactly a massive spread, and its still pretty easy to miss entirely if you don't aim the thing. The old bit about just "point it in the general direction" is bad advice.
quote:- Potentially less penetration of interior walls.
Agreed, that's potentially a real advantage, though only if you miss your target.
To get the advantage of reduced penetration, you have to use smaller shot size, partially reducing the potential stopping power of the load. That may be a worthwhile tradeoff; it depends a bit on where you live and what is around you.
The flip side that nobody talks about is that even assuming you DO miss and hit a wall, the chance of your lead hurting another living thing on the opposite side of that wall may still be remote (again, depending on where you live and who is around). It will likely be a lot easier to patch up a single hole from a pistol rather than a pattern from a shotgun, and frankly, the more pellets you put out the more likely some of them are going to hit something other than your target.
Other advantages of shotgun?
-Easier to mount a flashlight on it than a revolver (though conversely, its easier to use a flashlight in your non-shooting hand with a handgun, and possibly more practical since that way you can point the light and gun in different directions).
-Even in this era of Obama-induced ammo shortages, shotgun shells are readily available and dirt-cheap for target loads (which are still adequate for indoor defensive use).
-Relatively low cost of pump shotgun itself.
-Limited range of smoothbore gun reduces bystander risk OUTDOORS.
-Shotgun more versatile overall. Want to hunt ducks or deer? You can do either with a shotgun; not so much with a pistol.
-Massive stopping potential of shotgun loads. IMO this is *THE* biggest advantage of a shotgun. One 00 buckshot round puts out 9 lead balls, each roughly comparable to a single .380 round in terms of mass and velocity.
quote:Do some reading on this subject before you plop down your money on a revolver or any other handgun for that matter.
Advantages of a revolver?
-Less recoil (eg faster followup shots, or faster shots on multiple targets). 12 gauge recoil can be intimidating, depending on gun, load, and shooter.
-No need to cycle anything for the next round (that's potentially an issue because when your life is on the line and the adrenaline is pumping, and you have tunnel vision, and you lose all fine motor skills and the ability to concentrate, you may forget to rack a slide or not do it right). Want another round? Pull the trigger again.
-Can't "short stroke" it under stress, like a shotgun (see above).
-No safety to accidentally engage or forget to disengage under stress (see above).
-Faster reload than shotgun (though realistically 6 shots from either are probably enough to do the job without reloading).
-Operates fine with one hand. That leaves your second hand free for a flashlight, cell phone, to hold your dog, daughter, etc as necessary. Or you can use it fine if one hand is disabled. This is probably the biggest real world advantage of a pistol.
-Instantly concealable. That's potentially an advantage depending on where you are and who is around. Handgun can also double as a personal CCW, if necessary. There is something to be said about having the same gun for personal AND home defense.
-More portable than shotgun. Can you toss a shotgun into your dresser drawer or car's glove compartment?
-Lower profile = harder to grab/snatch, not as much "lead" around corners.
-Ability to take a more precise shot than with a shotgun. (Again, *probably* not a real advantage for home defense, but you could imagine unlikely scenarios where it might be).
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beantownshootah,
You are full of beans. [:D][:D][:D] (I couldn't get the darn smilies to work...)
Flawed arguments and bad assumptions about things you have no knowledge of. You're trying to reason your way through something that you just don't understand.
The shotgun is the perfect choice for interior protection because of the pattern and the coverage ESPECIALLY when you take into account stress and inexperience of the homeowner. These are the two biggest problems to overcome and usually no amount of cursory training or practice will eliminate them from the problem set.
The potential for shooting and hitting an intruder while shooting a revolver in the dark and under stress are minimal at best. Besides not hitting, the recoil, sight alignment and recovery will be daunting.
The shotgun is the most recommended firearm of choice for home protection.
Best.0 -
beantownshootah,
And even some of this is flawed as any accurate follow up shot or any activity for that matter will be extremely difficult to impossible under the circumstances of a break in. This is true no matter what choice of protection. The muzzle blast and excruciating noise level inside a house creates the loss of vision and hearing for a period of time after the first shot. Everyone within the room will be incapacitated temporarily.
These decisions should come after lots of thought and consideration of the potential circumstances. Go through the process in your mind as you walk through the house in daylight. Then do it again at night in the dark. Then have someone flip on the room lights without warning. You'll understand then.
Best.0
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