carry Guns

[Mikey]

SB.  Actually, I don't think the handgun manufacturers are giving us what wewould really like although I think there is a good selection out there, just not the variety.

I also think your converting your Model 28s to 44 is an excellent idea.  I wanted S&W to do that for me but they told me they could not change the original caliber of the pistol on my Highway Patrolman, so I just had them install a shorter barrel (3.75") from a Model 27 (or vice versa) and blue the whole thing to match.  I love it, it's gorgeous.  Also had them do the same thing with my 29-2 but this time they installed the slender Mountain Gun barrel, bead blasted the best and blued it.  It looks like an overbored 4" Highway Patrolman.  It is very accurate and an excellent field piece.  I can't see where you could go wrong with either of your N-frames.  Excellent choice.  Mikey.

[KING]

If you are talking about carring it in a ccw mode,its kinda big to hide,unless you yourself are kinda large so then it should be less of a problem.  I tell everyone that carries a revolver a bunch of things,but,the perps will probably have a semi.auto..at least that has been my experiance...u gots 6 and they gots...uh..howmany.......I carry a revolver sometimes also,but,it is a backup to my semi auto...also remember it probably wont be one that jumps ya,probqbly 2 or three...good luck...king...oh yeah almost fergot...no..i dont think the manafacturers are doing thier best....they do have a wide selection like mickey said,but the just aint got big enough holes inna ends,and the aint in semi auto........ :-D

[S.B.]

King, i'm 6' and 245. But my question was meant more for a carry handgun, in the field. I also know a ex navy seal here in the badlands that carried a 4" model 29 as a concealed weapon and was much smaller than myself. Part of my inquiry was directed at the current use of 9mm semiautos that seem to plauge our police departments. They are starting to realize that these smaller calibers won't stop the animals that they encounter daily. Most of these were "sold" by gun writers in popular gun magazines about 10-15 years back. At a time when we ( the U.S. government) had one of the best self defense guns ever developed. And, yes, I know I'm stepping on some toes here, but currently the people making desicions in this country don't seem to know beans from apple butter, but do have the education to be in command? All in all, I say dance with what works, not with current trends or theorys.

[JeffG]

Ok, here we are getting to the real meat of firearms, and carry for social purposes.  You and I carry the gun that you want, and like, because in my opinion, a gun is a gun is a gun...your'e sayin' WHOA!
   But listen.  All you really ask of your gun is reliablity, as close to 100% as possible.  2. And a way to place rounds on your threat (sights or trained technique)  so you can stop that threat, and be safe.  I have some time in the saddle, and I have carried everything professionally day in and out from a 6" model 29 loaded all the way up, to a Browning Hi-Power with a silencer.  I love them all, but that's really all you ask, the gun you choose is a HANDGUN, capable of only so much.  Gun choices from a gun magazine is just trend following, but that's how I discovered a Glock, many moons ago.  
You carry it because you dedicate yourself to the system of that particular handgun, and use it to deliver force to stop deadly violence.   Where on the attacker's body you place the rounds is what you can expect in results...my target it the eyes, penetration of the round takes out the brain and the spinal column.  Instant stop.
I am a police firearms trainer.  My state, and I train my guys shoot for the face. if you have a high capacity auto, that you can send 4,5,6,10, rounds into the attacker's CNS...Central Nervous System, or his buddies' faces, and you do it faster, you are going to survive.
 Judging a handgun's stopping ability on center mass and  PULMONARY targets is silly, who can let down blood pressure fast enough to cause unconsciosness while an attacker keeps coming?  Not me.  Deer run 100 yards shot through the lungs...so do felons.  Some dirtbag can do a lot of damage in 25 seconds...Do it right use the right targets, and choose your handgun, and TRAIN, FELLAS TRAIN!!!
Be able to hit that target, and move or run while shooting...If you expect trouble, use a long gun...  maybe not a humble opinion, but mine,  Stay safe! :grin:

[S.B.]

Jeff G. I'm not sure if you gave an answer to my original question or not. You gave some of the techniques that you were taught to teach to the officers in your particular department. I do agree that constant training is the only way to be positive that one is ready for the threat of danger.  But, in a world that frowns upon civilians, who prepare for danger, either in their homes or on the street, it's more diffecult for those of us who must rely on nonlethal devices. Most of the opinions, today, forcus on, you have no right, the bad guy has more civil rights than you do. Therefore, you can't be serious when telling people to shoot for the face. Here in Illinois, where I reside, the new Governor elect plans on making most if not all gun owners felons during his tenure. He want to raise the price of the firearms owner identification cards to $500 a year, instead of the $5 for 5 years we now have. So, instead of shooting for the face, I'll have to settle for hitting his face with something heavy enough to cause him or her or them to quit. Needless to say, I'm a civilian not a peace officer. I have great respect for your profession and count many friends among the law enforcement people in my area. But carry weapons to us civilians is something we carry while hunting or tramping in the woods. And finally,yes, I did open the door for discussion of anti human weapons also.

[KING]

S.B......I know what ya mean by the 9mm seeming to be the..WONDER NINE... in the gun rags from a few years ago...And i think that in the early ninetys the vast majority of departments did go to this caliber..it is a good round for defense type situations,but,there is a lot of them out there in that caliber and a lot of departments have others telling them what round to use in the 9mm that they are carrying...I know of a shooting where the officer shot the bad gy over 10 times at distances from 20 yards to the final at 12 feet....he was using the latest 147 grn,hp that was on the market,because that manuf. was dictated by the department heads who dont know a damn thing about guns or bullets..or what they do or do not do to a soft target.    In doing some questioning after the fact with the department heads they did confirm that this round was used...it was subsonic ...real fine....lets give em a wonder 9 and the worst bullet we can find and maybe they wont have to kill a bad guy ina fight situation....after they switched to some +P+ 115 HP it made a 180 degree change......gee same round i carried fer a lotta years....About 4 years ago we switched from 9mm to .40 for our duty weapons..the reasoning behind it was that we got new guns,fer trading the old 9s back to glock....ok..now we gots .40s...its a good round,again,but its not the caliber,its the round that is fired in that caliber...U have to undrstand that u,can carry anytning that u wish to,we have to go by department mandates,even to the brand and ammo type thats in the weapon both one,and off duty...like i would...NEVER..CARRY WHAT I KNEW WAS A BETTER ROUND...YEAH SURE...I really dont care what handgun u are using as long as u dont think that one shot is going to be a stopper...cause it aint unless it is like JEFF G was telling ya..a CNS hit will kinda bring the altecation to an end,and i to was a traineer and trained my troops the same way that jeff is talking about...U are out there to win..not come in second best inna gun fight...and i tell the civ. the same thing..if a perp wants u,u have to stop him..let the courts deal with it,u at least are alive to tell your end of teh story..the bad guy aint....by the way...i had a model 28 and sold it...still kicking myself inna butt over that one..stay safe :toast:

[KING]

:-D S.B....as per usual i fergot something...What location i am in most of the time does not dictate what it is i am carrying..In the woods,my last worry is critters...primary is again bad guy type  humans..but sometimes I willhave a snub ,.41mag also or a custom .357 auto....I know that I tend to get off of the track a little,but when someone mentions carrying a handgun,I automatically go into the CCW mode of carry and the pros and cons with that..sorry if i digressed.....king

[JOE MACK]

S.B., what I carry mostly when in the outdoors is some sort of .41Magnum(what else?). My almost constant companion is a Ruger OMBH I've carried since the early sixties. Another .41Magnum I like to carry is a NMBH with a SS gripframe, SBH hammer, Belt Mountain base pin, and Bowen rear sight. My main, everyday load is a cast 250grWFNGC on top of 8gr. of Unique. If specifically hunting large (bear, hog, or elk), I use the same bullet on top of a healthy dollop of W296. If, when I reach in the safe and a double action revolver comes to hand, it's usually either a 3 inch S&W 657 or a Ruger SS 5.5 inch Redhawk. They are carried in leather by Thad Rybka or EPS. One has to experiment a little to find out what is just right for him. Hope I didn't bore you too badly. RKBA!

[S.B.]

I truely appreciate all the responses posted. It's interesting to note that the reason for carrying a pistol seems somewhat single purposed. If the crime rate is truely down ( according to Clinton) why is our main concern our fellow human being? When I first became guncrazed ( meaning collecting, carrying, buying all I could afford) was in the 1960's and squirrel, rabbit coon and other edible game was the main reason. Later in life I thought I should have a handgun with me was for such as rabid skunks, snakes and such. Now, like most of the responders here, man is the main reason for carrying a handgun. I fear that what used to be called hunter, outdoorsman, woodsman and even redneck will, in the 21'st century, be called felon.
P.S. I saw a different window sticker on a young lads truck window the other day. Says "NRA--National Redneck Ass." I wondere if the real NRA has taken any legal action on this type of thing?

[Pecos]

I have to agree with JeffG, my field carry pistol is a Colt New Service in .45 Colt.  My travel, in and around carry is either a 40 cal ParaOrd or a Kimber Pro Carry in 45.

Shooting for center of mass is ok I guess, long as ya can keep shootin until the bad guy is down or you run out of ammo.   Altough I am not in LEO nor have I ever been, my son is a federal officer.

Personally, I compete in all the local IDPA matches and since the range is almost in my backyard, practice at least once a week.  Shore give one confidence in their ability to handle whichever firearm he/she chooses to carry for whatever reason.

Jest my 2 cents.

Pecos

[Lloyd Smale]

carry in the woods- anything from a .22 to a .500 depending on the mood. Carry concealed usually my trusty old detective special.

[Cottonwood]

Have carried a Glock 22 for many yrs now and love it.  Don't matter if I am in the woods or not it goes with me.  Our FWP are issued S&W .40 cal and enjoy them well, and have in the past dispatched anything that came along that needed it.  Even in the woods I'm more concerned with 2 legged critters than I am the 4 legged ones.

When I'm on the trail with my horse a 12 ga. is in the scabbord.  :lol:  That's a proper bear gun if need be, and in 10 years of riddin the Bob Marshal Wilderness never have had to shoot at a bear yet.

[leadbutt]

Down here in the swamps of VA where I hang out I carry a S&W 3 1/2" model 27,most of the problems down here are dogs,have seen bears on a few occasions but they take off like a shot. What I wory about is them left handed cigirate growers.never had a 357 fail to stop so far.Off duty and in the world I carry a SIG 38 super stoked with cor-bon

[KING]

:-D Leadbuttt.   Yup,i know about them funny left handed smokers,chased em fer a lotta years.  They act kind of...funny..when ya catch em.  All my years in the woods,I never had any type of problem with a black bear.  And we be talking a couple hand shaken distances.  Feral dogs are another whole diferant critter.  In the early 80s,I got into a split pack of em,4 in one group,3 in the other.  The were chasing a deer so I decided to put an end to that problem.   At the time I was carring a .45 colt off duty,with two mags.  The second to last dog was shot through the mouthat point blank range.  That hardball that I had in the second mag,went all the way through that 70 lb mutt...The interesting thing about it was thw two large dogs split at the first shot.a couple of the smaller dogs came at me,which turned around the two that now decided not to leave.  I learned that its not always the larges dog in the pack that is the boss on that day.  King.   I carry a Glock almost allthe time now,among some other things.   :roll:

[KING]

     Remember its the silly season out there.  Stay safe,and watch yr back,and yer trunk too.  King