From: Veeduber )
Subject: Geezer's answer to Newbie questions
View: Complete Thread (3 articles)
Original Format
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Date: 1997/07/09


Dear Newbie,

The size of the hole you can make with the weapon you carry for
self-defense has very little to do with the realities of carrying a
concealed weapon. The thing -- whatever it is -- is a chore and a
responsibility. It is uncomfortable to carry, tends to rust or corrode
and will eventually fall out of your belt at the supermarket bringing you
instant fame, however brief.

If you ever have to use it, the odds are you'll miss, which is
embarrassing but not necessarily bad -- there's a lot of paper-work, hit
or miss but more when you hit.

Despite conventional wisdom to the contrary, having to use your personal
weapon is never combat, which implies a certain degree of order, it is
survival, usually under conditions improssible to foresee, including the
strong likelihood the other guy will be more heavily armed than anything
you are willing to tuck in your belt, day in, day out, for years at a
time.

Your personal safety in today's society has far more to do with the state
of your mind than the specifications of what's on your hip.

As to the specifics of your questions, ask your local range-master to let
you fire a number different handguns using a variety of loads. What works
for some may not work for you. But the odds are, you will find a
five-shot .38 caliber stainless-steel revolver having a 2" barrel the most
practical weapon to wear. The reasons have more to do with logistics and
practicality than ballistics and stopping-power.

-Bob Hoover