{"id":92925,"date":"2018-06-16T19:14:53","date_gmt":"2018-06-17T00:14:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/blog\/?p=92925"},"modified":"2018-06-16T19:14:53","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T17:59:52","slug":"most-important-aspects-of-selecting-a-handgun-for-self-defense-fit-and-function","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/most-important-aspects-of-selecting-a-handgun-for-self-defense-fit-and-function\/","title":{"rendered":"Most Important Aspects of Selecting a Handgun for Self-Defense: Fit and Function"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mark Miller<\/p>\n

\"Most<\/a>

The S&W M&P Shield is a small, easy to carry, pistol with decent capacity.<\/p><\/div>\n

Selecting a handgun should be easy. We are truly in a golden age of handgun development with many well-made reliable choices.\u00a0 That is the problem for some shooters, the vast array of choices can seem daunting. Once you apply some common sense, you can get a model that fits your hands and your needs.<\/p>\n

There is an old story about a Texas Ranger.\u00a0 He was attending a social event with his family, wearing his issue sidearm.\u00a0 A woman approached the Ranger and said \u201cI see you are wearing a pistol, are you expecting trouble?\u201d\u00a0 The Ranger replied politely, \u201cWhy no ma\u2019am, if I was expecting trouble, I would have brought a rifle.”<\/p>\n

Pistols aren\u2019t what you bring to a fight, they are what you have when you don\u2019t expect a fight.\u00a0 They are designed to keep you alive long enough to get to a rifle.\u00a0 They make it easier to \u201chave a gun.”<\/p>\n

Given that the pistol is not a primary weapon, how much pistol is enough?\u00a0 One school of thought is that a .22 (.25 or .380 or .32) will be fine because you will be at close range and you can \u201cshove it under his chin and empty the magazine.”\u00a0 The small pistol you carry is infinitely better than the large frame .44 at home. More than once, I have heard the argument that the .22 is used by assassins and poachers (I am not sure where this common knowledge comes from) and has killed many people.<\/p>\n

\"Most<\/a>

The H&K USP 40 has great ambidextrous controls<\/p><\/div>\n

My response:\u00a0\u00a0 For uncounted millennia far back into pre-history, the sharp stick was the dominant weapon on the battlefield.\u00a0 Arguably it is highly effective and has killed countless millions of humans and game animals.\u00a0 Some claim it drove the great Wooly Mammoth to extinction.\u00a0 In spite of this, I choose to carry a more efficient tool which harnesses chemical energy.\u00a0 A lot of chemical energy.<\/p>\n

Another point of view emphasizes shot placement and accuracy.\u00a0 These guys say that handgun rounds won\u2019t reliably stop a threat unless you shoot repeatedly with a large-caliber and get good hits.\u00a0 They advocate full-size guns with calibers beginning in four. There is an old saying among hunting guides;\u00a0 “Don’t hunt something unless you have enough gun to kill it.”<\/p>\n

The most important quality a handgun must have is portability.\u00a0 If you will not carry it with you (for most of us, that means concealed) you may as well bring a rifle.\u00a0 This makes small handguns valuable.<\/p>\n

I have heard a thousand variations of this- “The Secret Service carries the Sig 229 in .357 Sig.\u00a0 They protect the President, so that must be the best gun out there.\u00a0 I want to carry a 229 in .357 Sig”<\/p>\n

\"Most<\/a>

The SIG 229 is a quality mid-size handgun. The decocker and double action trigger require good reach.<\/p><\/div>\n

Some people want a gun because the SEALs use it or they heard that Special Forces have it or the police carry it. These may be good indicators of a quality but your requirements are not the same as theirs and you may find that what works for them is merely an over-priced range toy for you.<\/p>\n

To me, this sounds just like “Michael Jordan was the best basketball player in history.\u00a0 He wore size 14 Air Jordans.\u00a0 I want to wear size 14 Air Jordans.”\u00a0 If the gun doesn’t fit, you need better kit.<\/p>\n

The gun must fit the shooter.\u00a0 If your hands are large or small, fingers are long or short, the gun must fit your hands.\u00a0 Imagine an Olympic runner with the finest, most technologically advanced shoes on Earth.\u00a0 Now imagine one of the shoes is several sizes to small and the other too big.\u00a0 The runner\u2019s potential speed would go unrealized because of poor equipment fit.<\/p>\n

A gun that fits the shooter will be faster into action, inspire better mindset in the shooter and be more efficiently operated.\u00a0 All of these are key advantages in a fight.\u00a0 The practical accuracy of a handgun depends much more on the fit to the individual user than on the gun\u2019s potential mechanical accuracy.<\/p>\n

\"Most<\/a>

The Beretta 92 is a proven classic but the long trigger pull requires long fingers.<\/p><\/div>\n

Trigger manipulation is the most profound fundamental in shooting.\u00a0 A heavy and long double action trigger pull can make it difficult to shoot accurately under stress even though they have great potential accuracy. For people with small hands, long trigger pulls require constant adjustment of the grip to gain leverage.\u00a0 People with big hands have trouble with sub-compact guns.\u00a0 This doesn\u2019t encourage rapid shooting.<\/p>\n

Many ranges offer rental guns. The best technique for checking handgun fit is to get a gun on the range, manipulate all the controls (right and left handed) and then shoot it. If you can reach the controls without major changes in grip and manage the recoil, you have a viable candidate for your new pistol.<\/p>\n

In the days of \u201cSaturday Night Specials\u201d cheap handguns fired small rounds and had little chance of hitting a man-sized target at 25 yards and a smaller chance of functioning long enough to empty a magazine.\u00a0 Modern custom pistols can shoot one ragged hole at 25 yards from a machine rest, and production handguns normally shoot head sized groups. Your results may vary.<\/p>\n

The Police Marksman Association conducted a study which examined 180 cases where the Law enforcement Officers WON the confrontation. The results:<\/p>\n

– Average distance was 20 feet<\/p>\n

– Average number of rounds fired: 3.5. This was dependent on caliber; with a .357 Magnum the average was 2.3 rounds and 9 mm it was 5.5 rounds, and other calibers fell in between these two figures<\/p>\n

– Police Officers hit 61.5% of time<\/p>\n

Civilians have similar distances in their confrontations. If someone is going to steal your wallet or try to rape you, they have to get close. They will try to approach without alarming their prey and will not become threatening until they are within conversational distances.<\/p>\n

At typical shootout distances, most guns on the market have the mechanical accuracy to hit the vital areas of a threat.\u00a0 The bad news is that potential mechanical accuracy may not translate into hits on a threat under stress.<\/p>\n

I want a quality gun which has high potential accuracy and high reliability.\u00a0 With modern manufacturing techniques, accuracy and reliability are not polar opposites; both are possible in the same gun.\u00a0 If forced to choose, I prefer reliability over accuracy.<\/p>\n

\"Most<\/a>

This Rock Island double stack 1911 in .40 cal is powerful and accurate. Not every shooter can handle this much steel.<\/p><\/div>\n

A handgun which shoots a smaller group than another handgun with the same ammunition is likely to have been made with more precision. An accurate handgun is not necessarily less reliable. Closer tolerances come from quality manufacturing.\u00a0 This quality translates into consistent lock-up and accuracy. Making a precision weapon that works reliably is harder and generally more expensive.<\/p>\n

Short barreled handguns can be as accurate as or better than long barrels when fired from a rest, but there are two other critical issues.\u00a0 The longer the barrel, the faster the bullet goes, imparting more energy.\u00a0 Long barreled guns provide a longer sight radius and often balance better. If the gun becomes so big that you will not carry it, those advantages are moot.<\/strong><\/p>\n

To be useful, a handgun must be capable of stopping a hostile human from doing us or others physical harm.\u00a0 We need bullets of sufficient energy to penetrate to the brain or spine for instant incapacitation, or into the heart or major blood vessel to produce a quick stop.<\/p>\n

\"Most<\/a>

The Smith and Wesson M&P 340 is small and light. Before you carry it with .357 rounds, you should shoot them at the range.<\/p><\/div>\n

Based on my examination of ballistic data, I believe that modern hollow point ammo in calibers 9mm and above offer sufficient energy to use on human threats.\u00a0 Anything less may have poor outcomes.\u00a0 Carefully select defensive ammo.\u00a0 Shoot enough of your selected ammo to make sure it is accurate and reliable in YOUR handgun.<\/p>\n

Target shooting doesn\u2019t predict performance in defensive shootings.\u00a0 Reality-based training using Simunitions or airsoft is more relevant.\u00a0 If money is short, buy a factory gun and high-quality training.\u00a0 Stress can translate into poor trigger control and poor aim.<\/p>\n

Human threats don’t have scoring rings indicating vital areas.\u00a0\u00a0 Your ignorance of human anatomy may negate the potential accuracy of your gun.\u00a0 If someone is attacking you, you will probably move.\u00a0 Threats tend to move too, especially if you pull a handgun out and start shooting.\u00a0 Sight alignment and point shooting become significantly harder when we add movement or other tasks like blocking or receiving punches.\u00a0 Even with great marksmanship abilities, people miss close, large targets in real fights, sometimes missing completely.<\/p>\n

\"Most<\/a>

The Glock 43 with XS F8 night sights is thin and light.<\/p><\/div>\n

To sum it up:<\/p>\n

Most American factory guns are accurate and reliable enough out of the box for defensive shooting.<\/p>\n

Get the best gun you can afford to train with.\u00a0 Quality is expensive.<\/p>\n

Carefully select a gun with an adequate caliber which fits your hands and is small enough that you will carry it.<\/p>\n

Train with your chosen gun and ammo.<\/p>\n

Get reality-based training.<\/p>\n

Make friends.<\/p>\n

***Shop GunsAmerica for your next handgun***<\/a><\/strong><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is an old story about a Texas Ranger.\u00a0 He was attending a social event with his family, wearing his issue sidearm.\u00a0 A woman approached the Ranger and said \u201cI see you are wearing a pistol, are you expecting trouble?\u201d\u00a0 The Ranger replied politely, \u201cWhy no ma\u2019am, if I was expecting trouble, I would have brought a rifle.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":92926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_specdata_upc":"","_specdata_placement":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[340,21,859,892,1107,10],"tags":[138,615,187,132,127,329,102,108,844,640],"featured":[],"hunt365":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-92925","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-columns-ccw-edc","8":"category-columns-gunfight-science","9":"category-gun-reviews-handguns","10":"category-columns-home-defense","11":"category-mark-miller","12":"category-shootbetter","13":"tag-45-acp","14":"tag-615","15":"tag-9mm","16":"tag-buzz","17":"tag-concealed-carry","18":"tag-edc","19":"tag-feature-articles","20":"tag-guns","21":"tag-home-defense","22":"tag-self-defense"},"yoast_head":"\nMost Important Aspects of Selecting a Handgun for Self-Defense: Fit and Function<\/title>\n<meta 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Experience: \u2013 Green Beret Veteran \u2013 Served in Afghanistan and multiple high-threat environments with U.S. Special Forces.\u2013 Former Customs Agent \u2013 Federal law enforcement background with real-world interdiction and enforcement experience.\u2013 FFL & SOT Holder \u2013 Licensed dealer and manufacturer with a deep understanding of firearms law and NFA weapons.\u2013 Tactical Thinker \u2013 Believer in adaptive tactics shaped by terrain, mission, and threat.\u2013 Combat-Proven Insight \u2013 Offers a rare blend of firsthand combat knowledge and technical firearms expertise.\u2013 Firearms Educator \u2013 Dedicated to improving skills, understanding, and mindset for both professionals and civilians.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/author\\\/mark-miller\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Most Important Aspects of Selecting a Handgun for Self-Defense: Fit and Function","description":"\u201cI see 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