Hotguns

Thats a good question and one that I've heard at every CCW class I have ever taught. As an ArkansasCCW Instructor and a Part time Deputy Sheriff, I'll give you my observations on the subject and they may be different from the many opinions that you have already read.

Above all, make sure that whatever you decide to buy is absolutley 100% reliable. Some factorys suggest a minmum 200 round "break in" period before carrying to save your life. People have and will be continued to be killed in gunbattles where they expected a BANG and only got a "click". I know of one deputy in my hometown that owes his life to that fact alone.

Don't go cheap! How much are the lives of your loved ones worth? How much is yours worth? Go with a known manufacturer and leave the cheap stuff alone. You get what you pay for and its true with guns. It has to be accurate and reliable. See above paragraph.

In todays modern age, there is no sense handicapping yourself with the last centuries technology. You stated that you are a construction worker. IF you can use a skill saw without cutting your hand off or use a drill without drilling into yourleg you have the necessary skills for a good modern semiautomatic.

You are working near the border and are concerned about some of the recent events down there...and rightfully so. The drugrunners and alien mules always run in packs. Get a high capcacity pistol and keep a few mags in the truck. No one ever cussed themselves for having too much ammo. On the other hand, if you run out when you need it, you may not have to worry about it any longer.

Make sure that whatever you get fits your hand. Many folks handicap themselves with grips that are so big that they cant properly reach the controls with one hand. Dont make that mistake. Be proficent and practice,practice and then practice some more. If you ever actually NEED a gun, that is not the time to remember what this little lever does or what this button can do. It needs to be automatic,done without thought and that only comes with practice.

Make sure that the ammo that you by is reliable and the guns cycles and ejects everytime....not every other time or even 90 % of the time. Find a good ammo and stick with it. Just because Remington ammo works great doesnt mean that Winchester or Federal will. A small difference in the profile of the bullet can make a gun totally useless and it may not be apparent until it is actually fired.

Now lets talk about caliber. The ammo manufactures have come a long way in performance of bullets and in construction in the last 20 years. There is not as much difference as there used to be. The marginal differences between 9mm,.40 and .45 are small enough to be insignificant.The best bullets are close in performance and there is plenty of info on the net to study in actual shootings.I would rather have you be comfortable and accurate with a 9mm than a .45 that you could only hit with occasionally. With that being said, use the biggest caliber that you are comfortable and accurate with.

We hd a "suicide by cop"event here several years ago when a depressed young man went into a PDQ, left a suicide note on the counter, told the clerk to call the cops. He did and shot a 12 guage at the first cop that responded, luckily missing him from a range of about 8 yards.I belive that he missed on purpose. In the gun battle that ensued, he was eventually killed by a bullet that entered into his left arm above the elbow and entered the heart,killing him on the spot. The bullet performed exactly as it was suppose to. It was a 9mm Hornaday XTP. It worked. I do not feel handicapped with a high cap 9mm.

Forget about penetration on vehicles,If you are that worried about it, use your pistol to fight your way to the truck where you can migrate to a rifle, preferable a military type semi auto in .308 caliber. Its been noted here that auto windshields are hard to break. In fact, its not that they are so hard, its that the angle of them deflect the bullet so that the energy is spent elsewhere rather than on the glass. Another fact that is a good carry bullet with a hollowpoint will usually not penentrate the door. Although it can, it is not often that it does.

A pistol is a compromise of stopping power. A rifle is much better, but you arent going to carry a rifle with you everywhere you go. Many things that we never hear about much dictate how a pistol might "work" when you need it to. Mental attitude, stress, drugs, adrenaline and physical conditioning are all factors that must be dealt with. We've all heard of the hopped up crackheadthat was shot 14 times with a .45 and didnt die till he hurt someone. Likewise, someone that is extremely scared or pissed is goingto be harder to kill than someone that is sleeping in an easy chair.

Now, lets talk about carry methods. What works for your buddy may not work for you. If you are average, you"ll likely buy half a dozen holsters and setups before you find on that you like. You size has a lot to do with it. A fat guy wont feel comfortable carrying like a skinny guy does. Its a trial and error thing that you must go through to figure out what is best for you.

As for the brand of guns...the best thing you can do is try them all out. One of them will appeal to you for one reason or another but it is a very personal thing. Do some research, get some hands on and come to your own conclusions. Dont be swayed by someone elses opinoin, they dont have hands like yours and their likes and dislikes are different. FWIW,I carry a Sig P220 .45 on duty and am partial to Sigs. I also carry a .40 P239,a .357 P226 and have been known to carry a P225 in 9MM. I can highly reccomend all of them. I also carry a Colt Combat Commander in .45. I love the single action Government models and own several of them.

You are on the right track. You already know that protection of yourself and your family is your responsibility and are asking the right questions. Hopefully I provided you with a few things to think about.

Good luck in your endeavors...

reddog132

Great post Hotguns. As a police firearms instructor myself I couldn't have said it any better. Welcome to the forum.

Reddog132

underdog

Hotguns, You deserve an attaboy for taking the time to compose such a comprehensive and knowledgeable post. Attaboy!

You were more articulate than me in noting that the border gangs/smugglers/whatever run in gaggles and a high-capacity gun is a good idea. So is the fact that an encounter in a vehicle is probable and that's why I threw in the comment about a poor man's assault weapon in the truck and the auto glass.

A lot of talk on guns so far, but the best idea is to always keep your head on a swivel and stay out of harm's way.

gkellys

Hotguns pretty much summed up my opinion as well. I am not LEO, but I have been carrying concealed for a long time and have owned / tried no less than 30 different pistols. Though I carry a Wilson KZ-45 1911 Compact currently,that is not what I recommend for your situation. I too like the SIGs. Just a matter of which model / caliber fits your hand. I would stick with 9mm or .40 for optimum capacity and ammo availability. Don't worry about stopping power of the 9mm. That is a once valid, now obsolete report. There are newer loads out there that will get the job done well enough. If weight is very important, you will find the Glocks to be lighter to carry. The G19, G23, G30 are probably the most commonly carried CCW. None of us know your hand size so go to a gun show or well stocked store and try some on for size. Pick 2 or 3 you like best and try to find a range that has them for rental.I like shooting SIGs best, but I like carrying Glocks best (weight). You will find that all of them have weaknesses and strengths. If you pushed me for a rec, I would say G19 or SIG 228 for your purposes.Both are 9mm. Alsoif you are going to be out in the boonies, a beater SKS in the trunk would keep banditos movin along if you should have a break down on a very lonely stretch. Practice, practice, practice!!!

Charley

Very good advice from Hotguns. Like gkellys, I'm not an LEO either, but have legaly carried concealed for as long as Texas has had CHLs, and carried when needed before that. Judging by the posts here, way too many people subscribe to the "magic gun", "magic caliber", and "magic bullet" theory.

Handguns can help you stay alive, but a rifle in the truck can be awfuly handy, too.Even a garden variety '94 Winchester or an SKS will shoot thru any cover badguys are likely to have at hand in S Texas, and they are both far more lethal than any handgun round.

Hotguns

Cant argue with that. The brain is by far the best weapon one can employ. Unfortunately, some people have very small weapons...

As for the SKS, they are crude guns that look like they were inletted with a chopping axe. For the money you pay, they are hard to beat.They have good capacity and are fairly accurate. They are great for truck guns and do a fair job or penetrating things. They are common and they are ugly enough that you cant hurt the looks of one with rough use and abuse.Ive owned several of them and always seem to keep one in the safe. For a 100 bucks, one could do much worse...

uwpce

Think about it for a second....

It was mentioned that thekmack is more or less inexperienced with shooting a pistol. Therefore inexperienced with shooting or reloading a pistol under a stressful situation. That coupled by the fact that the odds of being out numbered, hence out gunned is very possible, do not present a favorable outcome no matter what pistol is used.

Please do not let the idea of carrying a concealedpistol give you the false pretence of protection. Use your head and avoid confrontation. Don't bring attention to yourself.

Is there no way for your construction company to provide some sort of protection? Better lodging or whatnot. How about your co-workers. Are you all staying in a group? How about staying somewhere better, and driving to work?

I'm not against concealed carry; I'm more concerned that you will not have the necessary skills in place in time.

IrishLad32

Sniper, I'm currently studying to obtain a criminal justice major. That doesn't make me much, but it avails me of some good knowledge from my instructors who have been police officers. One of my instructors worked as a police officer in Tennesee and in Ohio as well for 15+ years. He told me of some research he's done about shooting scenarios where police officers who shoot 100% on the range shoot about 12% in live fire situations. If a trained police officer who shoots 100% on the range can shoot 12% in live fire, how's the "average" shoot going to handle it? I've also seen a few videos of police shootings from the on board cameras of police cruisers. One video in particular was one in which a Georgia deputy sheriff was killed. From around twenty feet, the officer couldn't hit a guy that was around 6' well over 200lb (a big target). As the situation progressed, the deputy couldn't hit the guy from across his cruiser. The other guy shot somewhere around 20 times and hit the deputy around ten times. The deputy fired over 30 rounds and hit the guy once in the stomach, and it was a nonlethal wound. This was just one crazy motorist. There have been others in which officers stood just a few feet away and neither the assailants nor the officers hit each other. In a live fire situation, God forbid I ever find myself in one, I hope for one shot one kill. Reality has proven otherwise. That's why I would want more than just six rounds from a revolver.

Another thought is that there's a potential that the author of this post run into some drug smugglers. As Hotguns mentioned, they don't travel alone. They don't carry light either. Hopefully for his and everyone else's sake there won't be any such encounter. If, however, there should be, yes he is going into battle.

And I don't actually watch that much tv

Hotguns

Nobody that starts out carrying a gun has the needed "skills" unless they practice and do it correctly. Fact of the matter is, the police train as much as possible and they can only hope that they are better trained than the guy that they are going up against.

Carrying a weapon is pretty useless if you cant use it proficiently.It dosent guarantee anything other than a fighting chance, and that is better than nothing...which is what you would have if you were unarmed and met a gang of illegals that didnt want to get reported.

Its a fact that the average person thinks that they are "good" shots if they can score well on a B-27 target. In reality, that means nothing other than the fact that you can shoot a target standing still that dosent shoot back. Sounds good and looks good, but it does very little to prepare one for an actual shooting situation.

Thats the reason why many depts have used "Simunitions" to train with. Basically its a modified pistol or rifle that shoots 9mm paintballs around 600FPS. They sting when they hit and its about as realistic as you can get and still bragg about how good you did or didnt. They try to induce as much stess as possible.

The first time I ever participated, I was amazed at how many shots were fired without hits. Its a different world when people are moving, shooting, running for cover and juking and jiving. A fumbled reload in the middle of a firefight or even a slow one will get you painted. On a simulated traffic stop, I actually had a guy pull out a little snubnose and shoot at me from a range of about 3 feet and miss. I drew my modified Glock and popped him. Prior to that, I would have argued that NO ONE could miss from 3 feet. Having looked at many actuall police shootings that were caught on camera, some of the events make the hair on your neck stand up.

There are occasions when everything is done by the book, everything was executed perfectly and the good guy still ends up dying. Its a risky thing and its dangerous to get in a gunfight. The best thing you can do is be prayed up, ready to meet the Creator on a moments notice and practice as much as possible in dynamic situations. Anything that one can do to get an edge on the competition certainly cant hurt.

First, we must remember rule no. 1 of gunfighting.

Bringa gun.

CamoCop

since you're concealing it, check out a .32 semi-auto. almost all 9mm, .357, etc. are to large to be considered truly concealable. i know someone will argue my post but i am a cop. i don't argue with a construction worker on the proper pitch for a roof. alot of the officers i work with carry the .32 semi-automatics because they are small, concealable almost anywhere andlight. you are going to have to give up some knock down power to have a truly concealable pistol. it's all about shot placement, not how big the round is.