Current Location: Home : Firearms : Juuhoukata Chap. 3-2

Size, Caliber, and Recoil

After than comes size. Smaller guns are much easier to conceal and easier to carry; but they carry fewer rounds and the shorter barrel length affects accuracy. However, at self-defense combat distances, 15 yards and in, long-range accuracy is unimportant. If you are smaller in stature, a smaller gun will be more comfortable to carry. Comfort is more important that most people think; if you dislike having the gun on you because it's uncomfortable, you won't carry it, and probably won't practice with it as often as you should. Again, personal preference will play a large part; but you should definately avoid tiny guns, such as derringers- these are notoriously unsafe and of limited practical application- and huge guns- you really don't need a .44 magnum with a 7 inch barrel.

Next comes the largest bone of contention amongst shooters- caliber. The smaller the caliber, the greater number of rounds the gun will hold; but each round will be less effective than a larger caliber. As a rule, I suggest carrying nothing smaller than a .380 Auto round. Loaded with a brand-name hollowpoint, these can be effective at close range. Any smaller and you reduce your odds of a quick stop dramatically. On the other end of the spectrum, the .45 Auto or 10mm for semi-automatics and the .357 magnum for revolvers are the largest rounds I would reccommend. Larger than this and you run afoul not only of increased recoil and difficulty in shooting effectively, but also of how it looks in court when you've shot a perpetrator with a .44 magnum or .50 AE.

Moving up the scale for revolvers, your choices are generally limited to .38 Special and .38 +P or +P+; and the .357 Magnum. .38's have been the choice for police departments for a number of years, although they are falling out of favor. They are still acceptable rounds. The .38 Special +P and +P+ are more powerful loadings of the .38. They should only be fired in guns marked as being able to handle these rounds. The .357 magnum is a very effective round, and most all .357 revolvers can also shoot .38's. My favorite gun in this catagory is the Ruger SP101 5-shot .357 magnum.

In semi-automatics, you have a much larger range of choices. Again, the .380 Auto is the smallest I can reccommend; but guns such as the Grendel P10 and others hold a fair number of rounds and are very small and light. Some also favor the .25 Auto, but I feel the cartridge lacks appreciable power. The 9mm is a very popular round, and a large number of guns of all sizes are chambered for it. A relative newcomer is the .40 Smith and Wesson, laying somewhere between the 9mm and the .45 Auto in size and power. It is, more or less, a compromise between the two rounds; and is gaining increasing acceptance amongst law enforcement agencies. Next in size is the 10mm; a bastard child for a long time until the infamous Miami FBI shootout prompted it's acceptance at the FBI. It is a difficult round for many to shoot... is is quite a bit more powerful than the 9mm and .40 S&W, and is hard on both guns and shooters. Then there is the venerable .45 Auto, which has been around for nearly one hundred years and is still a very servicable cartridge. Some people dislike it's recoil, but we'll discuss recoil shortly. The .45, .357 and 9mm lead the statistics for highest percentage of one-stop shots; taken from their performance in actual shootings. I didn't have any data on the 10mm as of this writing.

A few words on recoil. It is the force you feel against your hand when you fire a gun, and generally moves the gun upwards. The amount of recoil each gun produces is measurable, but the way it is perceived by the shooter is entirely subjective. What seems like objectionable recoil to one shooter may seem insignificant to another.

You should not be overly concerned with recoil. If you can fire the gun comfortably and can bring it back on target quickly, it isn't a concern. A lot of people have an inordinate fear of recoil and avoid larger calibers because of it. Don't let yourself become intimidated by recoil. If it's uncomfortable, then you should choose a different caliber or gun; but enter into shooting with the idea that recoil isn't such a big thing, and it won't be intimidating.

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