This is a continuation of the article What Gun Should I Buy For My Wife or Girlfriend or Sister or Daughter or Mother?
I like to write in blocks of like-thought. It is so much easier to comprehend what is going on, and being said by me. If I jump all over the place, then I won't do you any good in finding an answer to things.
I am going to deal with some down-to-Earth considerations here. I will start with this, the gun that you choose should be able to stop a pit-bull/German Shepard/mountain lion. I like to keep things in perspective and it is a real-world consideration to think that someone might sic a big dog on you. It is also a real consideration that you might walk up on a mountain lion on a nature walk: Insert bobcat/buck/coyote or whatever critter might inhabit your neck of the woods here. That keeps it real and keeping it in mind that there are rabid critters in the woods does too. Rabies slowly kills the animal, but first it torments them with madness. If you are ever bitten by one, look forward to a painful regimen of shots.
When you think about a gun, think outside the lines, use your imagination. Ask yourself--"If I encounter XYZ, then what?" That shiny new gun that you just have to have, what are its capabilities? Just as sure as the old canards are true--such as--"You can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear", then you cannot make a .357 Mag out of a .22 LR, no matter how hard you try. You ain't going to make a .454 Casull out of a .380 Auto either. Let me illustrate that to you, should I be walking in the woods and encounter a mountain lion and I have a .454 Casull, then the mountain lion is a s good as dead. If I have a .22 Long Rifle revolver and it is masquerading as a real gun, meant for real bad critters, then what I have is a real problem.
With a .22 LR, I may be able to kill the cougar before he kills me (or does damage that is irreparable) and I may not. With a .454, I will flip that cat head over heels, of that I am certain. Now take that and make it 3 guys with steel bars and the result is the same. I tell you that there will be 3 dead men in short order if I have a .454 Casull. If I have a .22 LR, I can just about guarantee that I will be the dead man. Is that too blunt? If you do not view it that way, then you are certain to choose less gun than you need for any true exigency.
Now concerning the mentioning of the .454, what hat did I pull that out of? In answer, one never knows where one will end up in life and I ended up in Alaska with the Army for a year of my life. That is .454 country folks and it is possible to be killed and eaten by a bear in that locale. Yeah, I have heard the blather, e.g., you have better chance of being struck by lightening. Just shut it up if you are of that school of thought. If you ever say it to my face, we are going to go round and round, there may be a fight. Having been struck by lightening in the metaphorical sense on at least a half-dozen occasions, you can just stuff it. I will carry my own lightening rod from now on thank you, no need for opinionated conclusions and such. I guess I am just heterodox and my beliefs do not tend to coincide with loddy-doddy and everybody.
That is largely because of some of the things that have happened to me. Let's just say that I come loaded for bear. Now in my life, that means a .357 Mag, a .45 Automatic or a 9 MM and on occasion it has meant a .44 Magnum Super Blackhawk by Ruger. I carried it back in my Alaska days and on occasion I would carry my .357 Security Six by Ruger. That is because of the conditions that were prevalent, I used my good sense. If a bear were to attack me and I had that .357, I was going to give him a mouthful of bullets, and I was going to do it up close and personal. I was going to blow his jaw off with him on top of me. Hows that for thinking about things? Now a lightweight would pose the question--"Why would you wait for a bear to get on top of you?"--thus sealing his true thinking. Folks, a bear is very fast when it charges and you could find yourself under one.
If you think that I sound emotionally scarred, what are you going to sound like if you get trashed by a gang of pukes? That is the true test of a gun, what will it do in the event of a catastrohic failure of society? When the Los Angeles riots took place in 1992, there were men patrolling their neighborhoods with AR-15's and riot guns. Think that way: what if the sky fell?; what gun would let me live to tell about it? Generally speaking a 12 gauge pump is a pretty good bet to get you safely through.
A .410 single shot is not what I think of, when I think in those terms. If you do, then you need to think through your tactics. It ain't enough gun folks, not to get you out of a dangerous situation. Now a .410 pump, loaded with slugs should do just fine. Think of it as a .41 Magnum and you won't be tooo far off. Just make sure that you maintain a full box of shells at all times. Should you go blazing away and not stop the threat, you will need a reload. That goes for any gun, have plentiful ammo. (Ask yourself--What would that .410 do to a 100 pound dog? The easy answer is that it would dismember it.)
Here are some more recommendations for guns that will get you through the night: a .38 Special with about 3 speed loaders should do it. And I don't mean that you get the gun with the loaders and put it up until Hell visits you and yours. I mean that you go out and practice with it, by speed loading and shooting into a target. I am not contradicting myself here when I recommend a.380 Auto, I am inserting a caveat with the advice; practice with it and get at least 3 magazines for it, and keep the mags loaded, with the gun.
It will get you through a lot of things in life, but it ain't a hand held atomic bomb. If I had a .380 I would be fine for the most part, but around the house, that would not be my only loaded gun. I would have a .30-30 in the closet with a box of rounds ready to go with it: that goes for the .38 too, I would have a loaded rifle or shotgun in tandem with it. Maybe the shotgun comes out, maybe it doesn't, but it would be available.
Folks, let me close this article in this manner. If I had a .380 Auto and I was walking the streets minding my own bees wax, I would be a very bad target to choose. That is because I would be loaded for bear, metaphorically. That .380 Auto would have Federal Hydra-Shok loads, or something of that nature (see footnotes for the web address). That load has a mere 200 foot pounds of energy and that ain't much, so don't kid yourself. But with enough steel nerve and 12 rounds, you will walk away from it. I do not recommend any less, than a dozen rounds be carried with you; ready loaded in a magazine.
If I sound scolding or just mean-minded, I am not. If you find yourself in a do or die, then it will be a mortifying event and you won't forget it. That is how I gauge a gun and the man with it, what are you expecting in life? If you expect that everyone is going to be you real good pal, then you are delusional. Not everyone is going to be your enemy, but they ain't your friend either. If you have to make a stand, then you are going to make it alone. No one will step in, look at it that way. Trust me, if you ever get into a savage encounter, there will not be an abundance of time, it will be fast and furious. So that even if you had a stranger willing to intervene and help you, the time may be tooooo short. Even if you are with trusted friends, who would help, the time it takes to act may be very narrow. It ain't a game folks, so think in grave terms, and you will be on the right track.
I know that I am a wet blanket to a lot of people, but what I have written is the truth, and that matters to me. Below is a link to Federal Ammunition, they make some of the best. Winchester and Remington are in the same league. Test you ammo, irrespective of what you get. See for yourself what it can and can't do. That way if you are shocked at some less than stellar results, it won't be while looking into the eyes of a merciless being.
http://www.federalpremium.com/products/handgun.aspx
http://www.usc.edu/libraries/archives/la/la_riot.html
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