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Blogger Blackeagle said...
I am rather leery of recommending a snubby for someone's first pistol. They're not easy to shoot. They've got a heavy trigger, lousy sights, a sharp recoil (particularly the lightweight ones) and low capacity. As Gabe Suarez said in a class last weekend, "A j-frame is only simple for the first five shots".
If I was going to recommend a revolver to a new shooter, I would recommend a full size gun, not a snubby. They still have a limited capacity (though normally six, rather than five), but they have better sights and a longer sight radius, less recoil. The trigger is still heavy, but a larger gun and grip make it easier to deal with.
Really, though, unless someone really can't work a semi-auto, I probably wouldn't recommend a revolver.
February 11, 2010 8:21 AM
Hey Blackeagle, I agree with you man. I’m thinking here mostly 80 year old grandma or total new guy/girl that will probably even forget to put a round in the chamber.
Any day of the week, give me an auto instead. But it requires someone that has at least a minimum training to handle it in a stressful situation.
I used to be more drastic and say that if you don’t even bother to train enough to handle an auto well, don’t even own guns then.
But today I understand there are certain people that aren’t into guns but may end up saving their lives by instinctively using a revolver at the last second. So for them, (these non gun-people that wont train ) as long as they at least know the basic safety rules, a revolver ready to fire is better than an auto with an empty chamber or safety.
Other than that, Glock all the way for everyone. No matter how big or small, old or young you are, there’s a Glock model out there that is the best handgun for you.
FerFAL
11 comments:
One advantage a revolver has is that there are no springs that have to be compressed to keep it in a state of readiness.
So if you want something stored somewhere in your house that you can grab and immediately fire in an emergency, the revolver can be kept loaded and ready for a long time.
One advantage a revolver has is that it can be stored loaded and ready to fire for long periods of time without compressing springs, whereas semiautos have compressed magazine springs and mainsprings.
So the revolver is good if you want something stored around the house that you can grab in an emergency and immediately fire, without having to rack a slide or worry if a magazine spring has set.
Although I've seen mention of a 1911 magazine being kept loaded in an Armory for 40 years that fired without problem on first use. I've also seen an argument that what hurts a magazine spring is constant loading and unloading --not being compressed. I Don't know if this is true.
Your example is perfect. My father died in 2007 and my then-80-year-old mother - who had been a passionate gun-hater my whole life - decided she should probably take me up on my offer to teach her to shoot the next time she flew out to visit. *Every* gun was "too heavy". *Every* semi-auto had a recoil spring too strong for her to operate. The idea of teaching clearance drills was absurd.
The only gun that "felt right" was a J-frame .38. Of course, the recoil was ridiculous for her. I even tried making mouse loads - better for her to hit a target with the force of a .32 than just shriek - but even that was too much. I ended up buying her a scandium J-frame in .22lr, 3" bbl, fiber-optic sights, which we practiced with daily until she flew home and I shipped it out to her.
She came out a year later and kicked ass with it. So we tried the mouse loads in the .38 again. No problem this time. Then she wanted to "just see about the bigger ones". She went home with my 4" K-frame .357 this time. I tucked a note into the grips saying it's a loaner & comes back to me when she dies ;).
She still cannot handle or figure out semi-autos but she is wicked fast and deadly accurate with a 4" medium-frame revolver, firing DA, no less. I'm a semi-auto guy but I think such guns have an excellent place in a defensive battery.
Loaded mag springs arent that big a deal. I've had Glock mags fully loaded for years, 1911 mags fully loaded for over a decade, no problem.
Just chekc them often (use them on your trips to the range and classes) if they work ok they are good to go for a few more months, even a year.
The important thing is having QUALITY mags. Buying cheapo mags might be your worst mystake since mags are teh part of teh gun more likely to cause problems.
FerFAL
4" K-frame .357
The very definition of "useful". If you can only have one gun, this is it.
A snubbie may have terrible recoil for some smaller or older people, on the other hand a snubbie is really only useful in a tight situation. A friend of mine has a bulldog .44 mag.( I think). he went so far as to file the hammer off and take some of the barrel down real short making it a for sure short range weapon. You do not need sights on a last ditch weapon.
since this is about guns and
Argentina: http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/edu100.htm
old school Argentine.
Negatory on the glocks.
No erg.
Would love to love one (or many) but no matter how hard I try, they just won't be natural for some.
Sometimes, despite your best wishes, they're not for everyone.
Don, the spring compression thing is a myth. Springs degrade due to work hardening of the metal, i.e. compressing and decompressing them. When compressed they do not weaken or distort provided they are not flexed beyond their material elastic limit. Leaving mags loaded is perfectly fine.
Re: glocks - I'm already on record as not liking them. The best you can say about them is they're reliable and ubiquitous so parts should be easy to come by. These are important considerations but shouldn't be the only considerations.
Thanks for the info on springs, Bones and Ferfal.
KeithC your grandma is actually quite experienced and proficient with guns.
If the person is going to get training then the recommended gun to start with is always a .22.
Problem is alot of people don't like guns and have no intention of practicing let alone seeking out further training. But they want a gun to protect themselves. In this case any gun is better than no gun.
A revolver is idiot proof and a glock with a round in the chamber and the instructions "just point and pull the trigger" is idiot proof too. (you might want to file down the magazine release too, just to be on the safe side)
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