Quote:
Originally Posted by flyenby
And how many people in this forum , who carry ....have really shot someone ?
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None of us have.
I have, however, shot a fair number of animals that are either about our size (deer) to somewhat smaller than our size (coyotes), plus assorted other game, both larger and smaller. I base my assessments on the several hundred coyotes I've shot and have seen shot first hand, and dozens of deer sized game.
I've shot coyotes with everything from the lowly .22, to the .357 mag, to the .44 mag, and on up to heavily loaded .45 Colts (substantially more powerful than off the shelf .44 mag...). I've shot deer and antelope with the .357 mag, .44 mag, and the .45 Colt. I've learned a few things about killing things over what are now four decades of this kind of activity. (First and foremost would be "bring a rifle", but that's not what we are talking about here.)
Most applicable to the defensive arms under discussion in this thread, I've learned there is a good deal of difference between "dead" and "stopped". "Dead" can mean I'm chasing the god damned thing for miles. Yes, .22's kill - I've killed a fair number of coyotes with them (mainly from rifles, actually). .357's kill as well (I've used handguns exclusively in this caliber). Use anything within this range you like, as long as you like your exercise and are good at tracking wounded animals that have run away. Sometimes a long ways away, before they die.
So, what if it's not some animal that's going to run off and try to hide? What if it's a two legged animal that has a knife, or his own gun? I don't care if he dies when I shoot him, if it takes him more than a nano second to do so - even five seconds is way, way too long. No, I don't care if he dies, eventually - I just want him to stop doing whatever it was that made me want to shoot him. Immediately, if not sooner...
As such, my defensive calibers all start with a "four". There is always a way to carry at least a compact 1911, or my little five shot Charter Arms Bulldog in .44 Special.