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DEFENSIVE HANDGUN SELECTION
Everything you always wanted to know about buying a gun,
but were afraid to ask!

By Tom Crawford
Copyright 2012 By The Author

   Having made the decision to be armed, with all the responsibilities that choice entails, we must now
consider the selection of a proper handgun for self-defense. This selection is a lot like choosing a spouse,
in many ways. First, you’ll be spending lots of time together, occasionally under unpleasant
circumstances. Second, you’ll be constantly aware of its presence, and there will be times that you’d
rather it wasn’t around. Third, in certain circumstances, you’ll be very happy you made the choice to get
one. So, it only makes sense to look around a bit before you “get married”. The good news here is that
undoing an ill-advised handgun selection is pretty simple and relatively painless, handguns being much
easier to unload than domestic partners.

It has often been said (mostly in gun magazines) that your choice of defense handgun may mean the
difference between life and death, but in the real world this is rarely true. While there are certainly some
poor weapon choices that could be made, the outcome of a defensive encounter is most often decided by
the mindset, preparation, and to a certain extent, luck of the participants. Almost never is the choice of a
specific handgun a major factor in such events, unlike what you often hear from what I’ve come to call
“Disciples of the One True Gun”. You fight with what’s between your ears, not anything that can be placed
in a holster. The “perfect” self-defense handgun would be tiny and near weightless, unfailingly accurate,
would be thought controlled requiring no manual dexterity whatever to use, even without practice, readily
available and dirt cheap, using ammo that could be bought for a penny in a vending machine. Clearly,
that isn't reality, and such a handgun does not exist. Having said that, there are certain features that
proper self-defense weapons should have and that you should look for prior to making a selection of your
defensive “partner”. To the extent that the gun you select has these qualities, it should serve you well in
an emergency if you do your part. So, let’s take a look at these features, in order of importance.

1. Safety – The handgun you choose must be safe, but this does not mean that your pistol must have a
“safety”. For those of you new to pistols, a “safety” is a lever or button designed to keep the handgun from
firing until activated by the user. These devices are the source of some controversy when it comes to
defense handguns, and some of the best defense pistols don’t have them. This does not mean that they
are “unsafe”. Whether you want one on your pistol or not is strictly up to you, more on this later. What we
are talking about here is whether or not your pistol has an intrinsically safe design by modern standards, is
made of good materials, and is in proper working order. Most accidental discharges of handguns are due
to human error, but when such a discharge happens absent an unsafe practice, it’s normally traceable to
an old or outmoded design, cheap or worn materials, a lack of maintenance, or unauthorized and poorly
executed repairs and/or modifications.

First, on the issue of design, your defense pistol should be engineered so that is safe to carry fully
loaded and ready to fire. There are some handguns, most often low-priced semiautomatic pistols, that are
so poorly or cheaply designed that they must be carried with an empty firing chamber, or they may
discharge if dropped. If you have chosen such a pistol, in an emergency you will generally have to use
two hands to get the weapon into action by chambering a round. While this looks really cool when some
TV or movie cop does it prior to entering a building, you don’t always get a lot of notice that you have to
use your pistol. When we do get the message that the fight is on, your support hand may be busy pushing
a loved one behind you, using your cell phone, opening a door to make an escape, or heaven forbid,
fighting off a determined bad guy.

You may be thinking, “No problem, I don’t intend to drop my handgun”. No one ever does, but let me
assure you, if you carry a gun enough, you will drop it. Based on over a quarter-century of concealed
carry, I’ve dropped enough pistols (as have countless others) that it’s almost a given that you will too. In
fact, at some point, you may join the ranks of the truly elite armed citizen, the permit holder who drops his
loaded self-defense pistol into a toilet. (Hint, when it goes off and blows the commode to bits, as happened
to me once, you’ll really wish it had been drop safe!) I’ll leave it to you to imagine how this happens, but
trust me, it does. No matter what type of pistol you carry, it must be drop safe. Some very well made
weapons, normally based on older designs, are not.

Even a good pistol can be made unsafe by unauthorized, unskilled tinkering with its innards. While there
is certainly nothing wrong with properly executed modifications that improve a handgun’s reliability,
shooting control, or operator comfort, any work performed on your defense handgun along these lines
should be extremely limited and professionally done. Let’s face facts; if you have to rebuild it, you bought
the wrong gun. Despite what you may have been led to believe, most modern handguns from major
manufacturers are perfectly fine “as is”, requiring only an initial test fire and break-in period. Almost all of
them could stand a little trigger smoothing, some need better sights, and you might want to change grips
to better fit your hand, but beyond this, leave your defense handgun alone. If there’s no strong reason to
make a change, don’t make one. If you want to investigate the mysteries of home gunsmithing, do so with
a pistol you don’t plan to bet your life on. Get used to the idea that you or your shooting buddy doesn’t
know as much about your pistol as the company that designed and produced it. When gun shopping, be
very cautious when considering the purchase of a used weapon that appears to have been considerably
modified from the factory configuration.

Along these same lines, well made pistols in proper working order can be made less safe by ignoring or
misusing the weapon’s controls. For example, some pistols with safety levers are not fully drop safe if the
safety is not engaged. If you have a double action pistol with a decocking lever, be aware that the only
safe way to decock the pistol is to actually use the lever, with the weapon pointed in a safe direction.
Lowering the hammer manually on such a gun by using thumb pressure and pulling the trigger (aside from
the obvious hazard if your thumb slips) may result in the weapon’s firing pin resting against or very close to
a live cartridge’s primer, an obviously unsafe condition. Trust me here, if the gun handling method you’re
using isn’t in the manual, there’s a reason it’s not there. By the way, this is as good a time as any to
mention that you shouldn’t own a defense pistol without the appropriate instruction manual. One should
come with a new gun, and if you’re buying used pistols, the manufacturer will normally provide a free
manual on request. I know that most male gun owners would rather take a beating than actually read a
manual, but you really ought to do it at least once when you get a new pistol.

2. Reliability – The pistol you choose to bet your life on really must go bang each and every time you pull
the trigger. A defense pistol that doesn’t work reliably is a lot like a parachute that only opens sometimes.
The last thing you want in your hand when the trouble starts is an unreliable pistol. But, while everyone
acknowledges this intellectually, the number of people who carry guns on a daily basis whose pistols don’t
work reliably, or have never been tested continually stuns me. For some reason, emotional considerations
such as the image the gun conveys, how much we spent on it, or even who previously owned the pistol
seem to cloud the issue, and often result in people who should really know better carrying a handgun that
doesn’t function full-time. Some people actually place a new gun in defensive service without ever actually
test firing it, not even once!

Before using any new handgun for defensive purposes, after reading the manual, the prospective user
should clean the pistol to remove excess oil and packing grease. A general function check should be
performed to see if everything seems to work as the manual says it should. You’re looking for buttons that
can’t be depressed easily, cylinders that spin when they shouldn’t, magazines that don’t lock in the gun,
levers that are sticky, sight blades that you can wiggle by hand, and so forth. I think the average person
would be surprised at how often brand new guns don’t work, right out of the box. Obviously, if you are the
purchaser of the new gun, any problems encountered here should prompt a trip back to the dealer for a
replacement. You should clean and function check any used handgun you buy as well, because there
may be a reason it was traded in, and you can only do so much checking at the dealer’s counter.

Now that we have a clean, properly lubricated handgun, we’re ready to head to the range with a supply of
ammunition. I suggest new factory ammo for this part of our testing, just to eliminate any possible
problems with re-manufactured ammunition of questionable quality. The cartridges you purchase for this
job need not have hollow-point projectiles nor be anything fancy, we’re just checking that the gun can be
loaded to its stated capacity, and will reliably fire standard ammunition. I recommend at least 100 rounds
fired during this initial testing. It’s not at all uncommon for new guns, especially semiautomatics, to exhibit
some function problems when first fired. Many of them will require a “break-in” period. However, if any
function problems (feeding, extraction, ejection) do not go away during the first 100 rounds, then it’s back
to the dealer for an adjustment. At the end of this successful break-in period, check all controls to make
sure they still work, and check everything attached to the pistol to make sure it’s all still bolted on tight.

But wait, you’re still not done. Assuming your new defense handgun has passed the function check, you
have one more step to complete. Clean the pistol again, and run 50 rounds or so of the actual hollow-
point cartridges you intend to carry, through the gun. (You can probably skip this step if you’ve selected a
revolver, since they don’t care much about bullet shape.) I know, I know, this stuff is expensive, but we
want to make absolutely certain that our defense pistol is compatible with the actual ammo we intend to
use. I think that 50 defense style rounds fired without a hitch through a clean, broken-in pistol probably
will tell us what we need to know about reliability.

Test this ammo with the gun fully loaded to start, with the gun carried in the normal condition of
readiness. Test fire with two hands, and with both the strong and weak hands singly. Some problems with
ammo feeding will only show up with a full magazine, or when the gun is fired using only one hand. We do
all of this testing because handguns come in two flavors, Cherry, and Lemon, and they don’t mark the
boxes! If you get through the 50 rounds without difficulty, face the direction of the pistol’s place of
manufacture, say a small prayer of thanks, and clean your handgun. You may now consider it acceptably
reliable to carry in the street, with the type and brand of cartridges you tested in it. If you feel the need to
change your ammo type, you test again. If for some reason your pistol doesn’t work 100% with the
defense ammo you have, continue testing until you find a brand that does, or have a competent gunsmith
(your buddy with lots of screwdrivers, emery paper, and a file doesn’t count) modify your pistol so that it
functions reliably with what you want to use. The good news here is that most modern pistols will function
well with a number of different brands of hollow point cartridges.

It should go without saying (oh hell, I’ll say it anyway) that during any practice session with a previously
reliable handgun, should you have a failure to feed, fire or function in any way, you need to stop and
investigate the cause. You may just have a bad round of ammo, or something may have broken in your
pistol. In any case, satisfy yourself as to the cause of the malfunction and attend to it before placing the
pistol back in defensive service.

3. Simplicity – Keep in mind when that when you select a gun for self-defense, this is probably the only
weapon you’ll be planning to use when you are scared to death. There is a highly technical term for the
condition set encountered in life and death situations, known as “Pants Pissing Stress”. When considering
any handgun for use under such conditions, evaluate its overall level of complexity, and the manual
dexterity required to use it effectively. Remember, in life threatening encounters, cognitive (learned
thought) processes are compromised, as is fine motor coordination. While I’m not suggesting that a well-
trained person forgets everything he or she has ever learned, complicated task lists and unfamiliar
operating drills that you haven’t practiced much go completely out the window. Ditto for your ability to do
cute little human tricks with your hands, which are going to feel a lot like you are wearing thick gloves when
you try to use them. You can forget about successfully operating any control that isn’t fairly large and well
positioned, especially if you’re injured and in pain, or your hands are covered with sweat or worse yet,
blood. I know this stuff is tough to think about, but if you’re serious enough about self-defense to carry a
gun, you must.

First off, ask yourself, “Am I a revolver person, or do I prefer the semiautomatic pistol?" (Hint: If you really
have to ask, you’re a revolver person.) Each pistol type has its proponents and detractors, its advantages
and disadvantages. For every advantage of one style over the other, a fair analysis reveals a
corresponding advantage or disadvantage for the opposite style. Anyone who tells you that in the context
of citizen self-defense there is any serious superiority of the semiautomatic over the revolver is simply a
ninny, and you shouldn’t listen to a word they say on the subject thereafter. A gross oversimplification of
the issue would be to say that revolvers, while more complicated to manufacture or repair, are easier for
the minimally trained user to understand and work with, while the semiautomatic requires more operator
training and dedication to effectively use its features. It is beyond any intelligent argument to say that
those who are not going to train regularly or frequently, but still insist on owning a handgun would be
better off with a good double action revolver. This description fits more citizens and police officers than
most of us would care to admit. In short, if you are a gun enthusiast, you won’t be able to sleep nights until
you have the latest, whiz bang semiautomatic pistol. If you are the sort who perceives the gun as a
necessary evil in today’s society, but wish you really didn’t have to own one at all, you’re a revolver
person. I know some very well protected “revolver people”.

When looking at the features of a self-defense handgun you’re considering, ask yourself, “Is this feature
really necessary? Do I have to do something to enable or disable it in order to fire?” If so, am I prepared
to perform the 2,500 to 3,500 practice repetitions necessary to make this act unconscious and automatic?
There are good reasons that manufacturers place certain features on handguns, but some are optional
and reflect the philosophy of the designer or market demand. For instance, the presence or absence of a
safety lever can be a two-edged sword in that the lever can prevent certain types of negligent discharges
that occur when basic gun safety rules are violated. However, the safety lever can also prevent firing the
weapon in a tight spot if you forget to thumb it off, automatically and without conscious thought, every time
you draw the weapon. Now clearly, anyone who can be trusted with handgun ownership and concealed
carry has the capacity to learn to do this given sufficient training time and motivation. The question here
is, do you want to do this? Will you really practice this psychomotor (mind-body) skill, or will you take the
path of least resistance, blow this practice off, and carry a gun that probably won’t fire when you need it
most? It’s your call.

I’m not bashing the manufacturers who put safety levers on their guns. In fact, if I were back in uniform
enforcing the law, and wearing a gun exposed to public view, or doing high-risk prisoner transportation, I
personally wouldn’t want to wear a pistol that didn’t feature an external manual safety. In such a situation,
the likelihood of a gun snatch is much higher than it is for concealed carry scenarios, and I’d like the bad
guy to be a little confused at first as to how to make my pistol go bang. But, in such a case, I’d also train
religiously to operate that safety as second nature, every time I presented the weapon. (By the way,
“presenting” the weapon is a fancy term for drawing and pointing a gun at someone or some thing. We
trainers use the word in an effort to make you believe we’re teaching you some kind of rocket science for
which we must be paid a princely sum. Sorry.) If I were back in uniform, I’d probably also want a magazine
disconnector, which is an interlock system that doesn’t allow the pistol to fire when the magazine has been
removed. Then, if someone did try to grab my pistol and we struggled, I might be able to hit the release
button and drop the magazine, thereby shutting off the pistol. The downside to this feature is that when
that button is hit inadvertently, which does happen, the pistol can’t be made to fire the one shot left in the
chamber.

But, I’m not in such a situation any more, and seriously doubt that at my age I ever will be again. I’m
carrying a concealed personal defense weapon that the public isn’t supposed to know about until the
shooting starts. In that context, I simply don’t need either of the two features I’ve just described. The pistol
is always in one of two conditions, either concealed on my person, or locked up, and the likelihood of a
gun snatch attempt is quite remote until after the pistol is “presented”. By this time the safety would be off
anyway. So why would I bother with the extra training and practice needed to make the use of these
“safety” features automatic? The answer is that I don’t. It’s been my experience that I can get real stupid
in a real hurry when someone is trying to kill me, and when the “feces impacts the oscillatory blade” so to
speak, I want the simplest, most reliable pistol I can get. I just wanted to let you know that there are two
sides to this issue, both have merit, and there are good reasons why certain companies have decided to
incorporate these features on guns, while others haven’t.

This is also a market driven thing. It has been my observation that our least experienced and committed
gun owners often buy pistols laden with so-called safety features, looking for some mechanical device to
save them from themselves in cases of operator stupidity. These people, who probably won’t practice
realistically or regularly, really need the simplest gun they can get their hands on, if they should have a
gun at all. Never buy into the idea that any device built into your pistol can keep you from having an
accident. We can’t invent a foolproof gun, because no one yet has figured out how to invent a foolproof
fool. Be especially cautious about pistols that come with built in locks that completely disable the pistol
until a special key is inserted and turned. These may seem like a great idea, but require a great deal of
manual dexterity to use. I’ve also seen these keys wrung off in the lock, making the pistol impossible to
use, and the whole concept encourages leaving a “locked” pistol accessible, but unsupervised which is
generally unwise. If you have a pistol with such a feature, I suggest you unlock the pistol, secure the key,
and forget about this so-called “improvement”. The bottom line is that if you can remember the three basic
rules of gun safety, (muzzle direction, trigger finger position, and access control) all guns in good repair
are safe for you. If you can’t, then no gun is safe in your hands. It’s also been my experience that experts
in the area of defense handguns tend to prefer the simplest pistols they can get..

4. Portability – Handguns only have two real advantages over other types of small arms. The first is that,
in a pinch, they can be operated with a single hand. The second is that they can be carried on the
person, discreetly concealed. It has been said that rifles and shotguns are carried, while pistols are worn.
There is a lot of truth to this simple statement. It makes very little sense to me to give up one of only two
advantages the handgun has by selecting a pistol that is too damn big to actually carry on a regular
basis. Now should you be choosing a handgun strictly for home defense, get as big a gun as you like.
Hell, it can be a crew-served weapon that you have to trot out on wheels. There is no question that a
physically larger, heavier gun in any given caliber is easier to shoot well. Bigger guns normally have better
sights, often better triggers, and typically hold more ammunition. But you know; we have a term for the guy
who has a really nice gun that he left at home because it was too big to carry with him. That term is
“unarmed”. There are rules for gunfights, and the first one is that you need to bring a gun. It really is bad
form to show up at one of these events sans pistol because yours was too large, heavy, and inconvenient
to carry on a daily basis.

Yes, yes, I know all about the old statement, “Select the biggest damn gun you can carry”, and the more
recent, “Handguns are not supposed to be comfortable, they’re supposed to be comforting”. These are
designed to be admonitions from gun writers and trainers against selecting tiny, anemic pistols for self-
defense. But keep in mind that the folks who write and teach this stuff are generally cops or self-employed
loners, you know, guys like me. This means that if they are spotted carrying concealed, they can show a
badge or a permit, and experience no real negative consequences.

When you work for yourself, mostly at home or on the firing range, you can usually wear just about
anything you want. This includes the near universal “photographer’s vest”, that has recently come to be
known as the “middle aged white guy wearing a gun” uniform. Given that they don’t have an office
wardrobe to conform to, or a boss who will probably fire them if so much as a holster is spotted, much less
a handgun, it’s pretty easy for these guys to recommend full-size, full-power ordnance. You should
understand that for most of us in the real, civilized world these days, “dressing a gun” is probably not a
realistic option. Our weapons need to be more discreet, and ideally should not involve a major change in
our attire, or clothing that looks out of place in our environment.

Where you live and what you do for a living have a lot to do with what type of handgun you can conceal
effectively, without suspicious bulges or throwing your back out of joint. For example, I live in a part of the
country that has a four-season climate. Unfortunately, two of those seasons are summer. It’s really hot
and sticky for a good part of the year here, and wearing a covering garment year-round to hide your pistol
will absolutely get you noticed by all the wrong people, especially if you never take it off. This kind of
defeats the idea of concealed carry, don’t you think? Around here, in the business world, men normally
work at their desks in shirtsleeves, only putting on their suit or sport jacket to go out, or for added
formality. It would look seriously out of place to leave the jacket on all day because you have to hide your
gun. Oddly enough, women get a little break here. It is much more usual to see a woman seated at her
desk wearing a sweater or vest full time than a man wearing a jacket. In this case, the woman has more
options without raising suspicion.

I don’t know about your workplace, but everywhere I’ve ever been employed has wanted me to wear
pants, and they’ve insisted that I keep them on all day. In my experience, at least for men in the world of
private citizens, trouser pocket or ankle holster carry makes the most sense for daily discreet carry. My
personal preference is for pocket carry. Provided you wear trousers with generous pockets, there is
absolutely nothing wrong with just dropping your defense handgun in your strong side front pocket, and
going about your business. You need to limit the weapon’s size and weight (less than 6 inches overall
length, no more than one pound empty weight, and no more than about 1.5 inches thick at it’s widest point,
your pocket may vary), but there are plenty of adequately powerful weapons that will fit in the space
provided. You shouldn’t have anything else in this pocket except perhaps a handkerchief (to the outside
of the gun to break up its outline) or a pocket holster. A good pocket holster will keep the gun from
shifting around, while keeping you from wearing a hole in your pants leg from muzzle contact. You should
also be aware that the pocket is a dirty little place, full of lint and dust. Your handgun needs to be dusted
off regularly if you carry it there. Typically, you’ll see snub-nosed, lightweight .38’s and small .380 ACP
pistols in this role, although some 9mm pistols have been made that serve as well. Lots of people are
buying .32 ACP pistols for this type of carry. Although I’m not enthused about the effectiveness of this
cartridge when fired from short-barreled guns, the .32 is certainly better than any .22 or .25. It has been
my experience that most lightweight double action revolvers are more reliable when carried in such places
than are very small semiautomatic pistols. I carry my revolver in a pocket with a single piece of masking
tape over the muzzle to keep out the dust bunnies, and in an emergency just shoot through it. It works fine.

There are some access difficulties encountered with ankle carry, especially if you are attacked while
standing. So-called “experts” normally bash ankle carry, but it beats the hell out of having no gun at all.
Drawing from the ankle can be more discreet when seated behind a desk than accessing anything from
your hip or pocket, and isn’t at all bad when behind the wheel of a car. Obviously, wearing shorts or boots
makes ankle carry unworkable, not to mention pointless. If your daily dress is on the casual side, you
might want to look at the various gun-oriented “fanny packs”. These have the advantage of keeping the
handgun accessible and on the person at all times, hidden in plain sight, so to speak. They can be noisy
to operate, generally require both hands, and look seriously out of place with certain types of clothes. But,
they are an option.

If you plan to conceal your handgun in such a pack, or in a day planner with a gun compartment, a coat
pocket, or other such location, then you can tolerate a little larger pistol than can be fit in a trouser pocket.
In these areas, the most generally useful pistols we have are the so-called “compact” models. Shorter in
length and height, and normally lighter than full-sized service pistols, they normally shoot the same
calibers as their bigger brothers, and retain much of the larger gun’s shootability. While they may have
slightly lower ammunition capacity, this is of little real consequence in the concealed carry context. When
looking at such a pistol, be aware that the pistol’s height, width, and weight are normally larger issues than
most people give credit for. Try to get a pistol for this role that is less than 5 inches tall, 7.5 inches long,
1.5 inches thick at it’s widest point, and weighs less than 30 ounces empty. It makes very little sense to
buy a “compact” pistol that has the same dimensions as a full-sized gun, merely featuring a shortened
barrel.

You can take the idea of a portable handgun to extremes. There are plenty of very small handguns such
as the tiny mini-revolvers and little semiautomatics in .22 and .25 caliber that simply are so small that they
can’t be shot effectively under stress. I’m not recommending that you go buy one of these. A slightly
larger weapon will be more inherently shootable, giving better results when you actually have to use it, with
no significant decrease in carry comfort or discretion. On the other hand, there is a very popular class of
gun these days that we refer to as “testosterone specials”. These are very small guns in large calibers
that are designed to appeal to experts who shoot a lot, and very well. These guns are very hard to shoot
well with adequate control (think of bystander safety), without extensive training and very frequent practice
at other than very short range. Professionals understand these limitations, and buy such weapons as
special purpose tools.

I’ll admit to one of my “dirty little secrets” here. I own a small, lightweight chopped down 1911-style .45
Auto from Kimber that I have had for years, and to which I have an unreasonable attachment. For most
people, it would definitely be a “testosterone special”. But, I have been shooting handguns for over 30
years, own my own range, load .45 ACP ammo on my own equipment, and shoot this gun an awful lot. I
have small hands for a man, and can get all my fingers on the abbreviated grip just fine. I love how the gun
carries and shoots, except for the recoil, which I learned to tolerate a long time ago. Therefore, for me, this
gun is a reasonable choice, but not one in ten of my students can shoot it well. If your situation is like mine,
go ahead and buy one. If not, well…enough said.

  Unfortunately, many more of these guns are sold to people who believe in the idea of the “free lunch”, or
something for nothing. If you really could get a very small, light, gun in a major caliber that did everything
we needed a pistol to do very well, we’d all be carrying them. Just as unfortunately, many of the writers
who review such guns are expert shots who don’t consider the training and practice limitations of their
audience when recommending such weapons, or worse yet don’t really test them under real time pressure
to the high standard of control necessary when a handgun must be used in public. Clean missing the
target may be acceptable on the range where there is a safe backstop, but it simply won’t do in the street.
Remember, unlike governmental entities that enjoy a certain level of immunity in these cases, you will pay
full retail price for every stray shot that hits anyone except the bad guy. By the way, when your buddy has
bought one of these guns, and doesn’t shoot it well, he will rarely, if ever, admit to it. It just seems unmanly
to say, “Damn Bob, this new handgun I got kicks the snot out of me, and when I shoot it fast, I miss a lot!”
Don’t fall victim to the testosterone special. These guns are not for you. My advice is that if you can’t get
all four fingers (plus the thumb) on the gun comfortably, don’t buy a gun in a caliber that starts with a
“four”.

5. Adequate Power and Capacity- The handgun you choose for self-defense should be capable of
deterring or slowing an aggressive assault by one or perhaps two humans, or in some cases a feral animal
(you’d be surprised how many times citizens use their handguns against attacks by free-roaming dogs).
Understand at the outset that the concept of “knockdown power” is a myth, at least as it relates to
handguns. We’ve all seen the scene in motion pictures where the bad guy is shot with a handgun, is lifted
off his feet, and is propelled backwards through a plate glass window. This really doesn’t actually happen
in the real world. Handgun bullets simply do not have the energy to knock a grown man off his feet, unless
he’s already off balance anyway. Based on rudimentary laws of physics, any handgun that would have the
power to do this would also knock the shooter down as well. Remember that “equal but opposite reaction”
thing?

The majority of predatory criminals at whom you’ll point your handgun will quit their offensive behavior
and leave, or allow you to leave, simply because they would rather not be shot. Some, though, will have
been shot before, and don’t mind, or are under the influence of drugs and or alcohol, and don’t care.
Many of these will give up when shot, simply because it hurts, and they’d rather not be shot again. When
the handgun works in either of these two ways, we refer to this as a “psychological stop”. It’s a lucky thing
that most people who are shot are psychologically stopped. That’s because that leaves a very small group
of people who for any number of reasons don’t stop when shot, until blood loss and/or interruption of
messages from the central nervous system force the issue. These cases are referred to as “physiological
stops”. In short, a few very bad cookie monsters have to be hammered to the ground, and handguns just
aren’t very good at this. Certainly, the larger, more powerful calibers do a better job of stopping
aggressive assaults than the smaller ones, but this additional effectiveness comes at the price of larger
weapon size, increased recoil, decreased control, and increased frequency and expense of required
training and practice.

Some handgun cartridges are just too small and weak to be seriously considered as self-defense
choices. For example, the .22 and .25 caliber cartridges work in stopping an aggressive assault
something less than half the time when they are fired. Either of these pistols is better than no gun at all, in
that you’ll be better off having the inevitable fistfight with a man who already has several holes in him.
Having been to more shooting scenes involving these little guns than I care to remember, my thinking is
that if you shoot a man with one of these cartridges, and he finds out about it, he’s going to beat the hell
out of you. Some people who sound like they have lots of experience will tell you that the .22 and .25
caliber cartridges have “killed lots of people”, as though that were the issue. Anything used in as many
altercations as these little guys are each year is going to figure in a high number of deaths, just based on
opportunity. But, consider this…more people die by drowning in the bathtub in a year than are killed in the
electric chair in a decade. Does this mean that we should change the method of execution in capital
cases, hoping the condemned man falls asleep in the water? I don’t think so.

  The reality is that the bulk of people who die from being shot with .22’s and .25’s die of infection in the
hospital, after they have beaten, knifed, or shot the person who shot them. Lots of men who don’t really
understand the issue buy these kinds of guns for their wives and girlfriends, in the mistaken belief that
these are “ladies guns”. How condescending and insulting! Such men should know better, and those that
do know better and persist should be hung upside down and beaten with a stick. (Just kidding, this would
be a waste of a good stick.) Realistically, the better prepared you are physically to handle the inevitable
close quarters fight that often results from shooting a human, the better you can afford to carry a small
gun. If you do find yourself forced to fight with one of these little guns, understand that the appropriate
target for your shots is the face, below the brow line, and you will probably have to empty the gun.

At the other extreme, we have certain handgun cartridges that were never designed for self-defense use
against humans. Most loadings of the .41 and .44 Magnum cartridges are designed for game hunting
rather than defense, and tend to zip right through a human attacker, expending lots of energy downrange,
or worse, in somebody else. In actual human shootings, most loadings in these calibers are somewhat
less effective than defense specific smaller calibers such as the .357 Magnum or .40 S&W. If you choose
such a caliber for self-defense, you will need to choose a reduced load that has been designed for human
self-defense, rather than off-the-shelf hunting style ammo.

Some other cartridges must be removed from consideration, simply because nobody makes good self-
defense ammunition in the caliber. The old .32 S&W Long, and the .38 S&W are examples of such
cartridges, for which we still see guns chambered, but for which there is no modern effective self-defense
ammo readily available. The .32 H&R Magnum could be a very good citizen’s pocket gun defense choice,
but only one or two companies make hollow point ammunition for this gun. Other older cartridges such as
the .44 Special and the .45 Colt could be quite good as defense rounds, but modern defense ammunition
selection is limited. If you have such a gun and can find good ammunition, buy a bunch and be happy. If
you can’t, you may need another gun.

Don’t be taken in by the reams of crap written in gun magazines about drastic differences between
cartridges in what is referred to as “handgun stopping power”, a contradiction in terms as it relates to
pistols. The truth is that there are classes of handgun cartridges, and while there are measurable
differences in effectiveness between these classes, there is really no significant difference between
cartridges within a class. For example, cartridges in the lowest power class, that I refer to as “mouse guns”
(.22’s, .25’s, some .32’s) will never be as powerful as the more effective cartridges in the “pocket gun”
category such as the .38 Special and the .380 ACP. However, if you’re trying to pick a winner within the
class, any differences are likely to be small. I seriously doubt that a felon will know the difference between
being shot with my .38 snub or your .380. When we move to the “service gun” class, full power cartridges
such as the 9mm Parabellum, .357 Magnum, .357 SIG, .40 S&W, .45 Auto, etc., you can defend yourself
quite well with any of them provided you exercise a little care in ammunition selection, and learn to shoot
well.

There are certainly some cartridges that are better suited to certain roles than others. In law
enforcement, it’s now generally accepted that the .357 SIG, .40 S&W, and the old .45 ACP work better
than the 9mm Parabellum when shooting through car doors and windshields. So what? As a private
citizen, do you plan to be shooting through car doors and windshields? If not (and I hope not), wouldn’t a
compact 9mm be a better choice for you? Easy to shoot well with minimal practice, smaller guns, and
cheaper practice ammo are just some of the reasons this caliber is still the most popular handgun
cartridge in the world. In the pocket gun category, the same arguments can be made for the .38 Special.
Keep in mind that to get small increases in effectiveness within a cartridge class, you will generally have to
move to a larger, heavier weapon to maintain control, practice more frequently, and pay more for every
shot you fire at the range. My advice to you is to purchase a handgun that is of a compact size that you
actually will carry regularly, in a sane caliber for that size, that you can shoot well with the amount of
practice you’re actually willing and able to do. Practice, practice, and practice some more until you can
shoot the gun very well without much conscious thought. Load the gun with the best reliable hollow point
you can find. Then stop worrying about whether or not you have the “best” caliber.

How much ammunition does your gun realistically have to hold? Well, it’s hard to have too many
cartridges in a gunfight, but there’s a practical limit to what we can comfortably carry around. I’m certain
that there are many who feel that a high magazine capacity is essential in a defensive firearm, and if you
don’t shoot very well, this is probably true. However, there comes a point where having lots of shots in the
gun forces us to choose a weapon that’s too big to carry regularly, and then we’re back to the ultimate in a
low capacity weapon. You know, zero shots because we left it at home or in the car.

I’m not wild about the idea of the two-shot Derringer (yes, I know that Henry only spelled his name with
one “R”, but now everybody spells it with two), given that in my mind, just about anybody worth shooting is
worth shooting twice. Further, we know that in almost half of today’s shooting cases, you’ll be dealing with
two attackers. Do a little bullet math, and you’ll see that somebody is going to have to share, if all you’ve
got is a two-shooter. Three- and four- on- one events where everyone is armed are pretty rare, and in the
real world (as opposed to the practice range where paper targets never shoot back) your choices in these
encounters are simple, run or die. I really don’t see carrying a gun with high capacity specifically for these
events as realistic, unless you have a more exciting lifestyle than most of us. If you want the magic
minimum number that floats my boat as a private citizen, it’s five cartridges in the gun, provided that I get
to carry some spare ammunition on me somewhere so that I can quickly reload my gun if I’ve shot it, and I’
m now hiding behind a dumpster waiting for the cavalry to arrive. I carry my revolver ammo in a Bianchi
Speed Strip. It’s light, flat, universal to all .38 and .357 DA revolvers, and pretty stress-proof.

By the way, I’ve never gotten a firsthand account of a private citizen in an encounter where the defender
ever had to reload their handgun in order to neutralize the bad guys, those that did reload did so just to
“top off” tactically after shooting. If you can’t sleep at night unless your gun holds six, eight, twelve, or
fifteen, then knock yourself out and carry as much ammo as you think you need. By the way, there are
some guys who carry high capacity semiautomatic pistols, but do not carry a spare magazine. They say
silly things like, “my reload is already in the gun”. These clowns have obviously never looked into how
many times under stress a gun is gripped improperly or too tightly, and while moving, the magazine is
dropped out of the gun, leaving them with at best one shot if they have no spare. Only an idiot would bet
their life on an essential detachable assembly never becoming detached. If you have a pistol with the
European style, heel-clip magazine release, such as on a Makarov or Sigarms P232, you could probably
get away with skipping the spare magazine. I’ve never even heard of one of these falling out of the gun. It’s
a superior system for a defense auto, but American shooters simply won’t buy pistols equipped this way.

6. Affordability – Okay, let’s start with the assumption that you’re not independently wealthy. If you are,
then congratulations. Buy any pistol you want, and while you’re at it, buy me one too. But, for us mere
mortals, what we pay for the pistol itself is a concern, and is only one part of the expense picture.
Remember, we still need accessories, ammunition, training, cleaning supplies, and probably a gun safety
box, not to mention dues for the gun club where we plan to practice. If you have a budget to maintain, and
you plan to spend, for example, $300 on arming yourself, you obviously can’t buy a pistol that costs $299
and skip the rest. You’d be better off to save a little more, buy a good, clean used pistol from a reputable
dealer, or scale back your pistol purchase amount so that you have money for the other essential items.

Fortunately, with handguns, the statement, “you get what you pay for” is only partially true. The retail
price of a new handgun is often influenced by factors that have nothing to do with the weapon’s intrinsic
quality or suitability as a defense tool. Obviously, you can, if you work at it, buy a junk gun, but it’s tougher
than it used to be. Your best defense against buying junk is not to shop at a junkyard. For your first self-
defense handgun purchase, buy from a reputable, licensed dealer who has a return policy, warranty
service, and an established reputation for good customer care. In contrast to the local stocking dealer, the
big “sport marts” and here-today, gone-tomorrow gun show dealers generally do not offer any service
after the sale in the event of a problem. There are exceptions of course, but the local dealer will generally
be your best bet. Keep in mind here that I’m not referring to a hardware store that sells a gun or two, but a
real, professional dealer. If the hardware store is all you have in your area, you might be better off to
travel to a major population center near you to shop for your gun where the selection and advice is better.

Professional dealers don’t normally sell guns that are going to give problems after the sale, because the
last thing they want is you, back in their face tomorrow with a gun that doesn’t work. Every factory can and
does crank out a lemon. You have the dealer to insure that you don’t have to peel and eat the sour fruit.
You should expect to pay something for this service, as well as his expertise, and the availability of lots of
inventory to choose from. Just like you, these guys and their employees have to eat. Professional dealers
should be able to connect you with training resources in your area, as well as places to shoot, competitive
events and the like. Competent dealers do not attempt to interpret laws relating to self-defense and
concealed carry, but are normally able to refer you to those who can. These professionals are experts on
laws in your area governing the legal sale of firearms, and will normally decline to make a sale in cases of
questionable legality or improper identification. You should expect this and support it, and shy away from
any “dealer” who offers to make a sale to you under conditions where another dealer has turned you down.

A little editorializing here, based on my time spent behind the gun sales counter. There is nothing sadder
than to see a “customer” make repeated trips to a gun dealer, paw over every gun in the place, pick the
poor dealer’s brain, get recommendations for purchase and prices, and then go buy the gun at a deep
discount chain or a gun show. These folks, far from being smart consumers, are thieves, stealing the
resources of the dealer and his staff, while ultimately insuring that his services will no longer be available to
other customers or themselves when he goes out of business. Think about that the next time you pat
yourself on the back because you got a bullshit $20 discount at the show, after taking up hours of some
local dealer’s time.

Generally speaking, you can buy a serviceable self-defense pistol for a low-end investment of about
$200.00. For that kind of money, it won’t be new, it won’t be pretty, and it won’t have the latest high-tech
features, but it should work safely and reliably. At that price range, it’ll be a well-worn police trade-in
revolver, or a foreign surplus semiautomatic from a former Soviet country. If you’re paying much less than
that, you’re probably buying junk, or someone else’s trouble. Beware of small semiautomatic pistols that
typically sell new for under $100.00. These little guns, normally .22’s, .25’s, 32’s, and sometimes .380’s
are always marked “Made in USA”. That’s because if they were made outside this country, our laws would
not allow them to be imported based on safety concerns. These pistols have parts that are so soft that
they can be melted on a kitchen stove, and no features that prevent them from going off if dropped. At
best they are only reliable 90% of the time, and normally only with non-hollow point ammunition. These
pistols appeal to people who literally have no money for anything better, or for the untrained who don’t
know the difference. You can do better.

When dealing with pistols of acceptable quality, the primary factor that influences price is what
manufacturing labor is paid where the pistol was made. When labor costs less, the finished product
normally costs less. A handgun made in Brazil, where labor is paid nearly nothing, will sell for less than a
handgun made by unionized labor in the United States. Newer designs that take advantage of modern,
lower cost materials such as polymer, or newer mechanized manufacturing processes such as CNC
machining will often cost less than pistols based on older designs and materials, while being stronger and
better fitted. Trendy, designer materials such as Titanium or Scandium are more costly and difficult to
machine. Handguns using these materials will cost more than when aluminum or polymer is used, with
questionable benefits when compared to the price difference. Even the currency exchange rate between
the U.S. and the country of origin impacts the price you pay, often more than any intrinsic quality
differences between guns.

A high level of cosmetic finish will add to the cost of any firearm. While pretty guns certainly are nice, and
add to pride of ownership, they often don’t shoot any better than the plainer models. Resign yourself to
the fact that a gun carried on a daily basis is not going to be pretty for very long anyway, especially if you
train hard with it, as you should. All of my concealed carry guns are butt ugly, but they work well and I
have no plans to refinish any of them. Nicer looking guns will always have a higher resale value, as will
well-respected brand names, but well-made budget models can offer a very high level of protection for less
money. One last thing to consider when buying a “budget” pistol is the issue of durability. Some lower
priced handguns will do anything you ask of them, just so long as you don’t ask very often. While this may
be okay in the context of a pistol used strictly for self-defense, you may wish to consider spending a little
extra on a better brand if you contemplate high-volume shooting.

  When you do buy a gun, sometimes you will be offered a discount for a new gun that has been recently
discontinued. Before plunking down your money, find out why the gun was dropped from the line. If it was
replaced with a similar gun that merely has upgraded styling or other minor changes, there is no problem
with purchasing the gun, since most manufacturers keep parts for even long-discontinued models. But if
its replacement is radically different, there is a reason the change was made, so be cautious in deciding to
buy. Likewise, if the gun is a brand new model and design for a company, or the company is new to the
marketplace, wait a bit before getting in line to buy the new gun. It normally takes a while for problems to
surface, and some are only discovered after the gun is in the field. Generally, I try not to buy the first of
anything, or the last of anything.

Don’t forget to look into your dealer’s supply of used handguns. Buying a used handgun from a
reputable dealer is a lot safer than buying a used car. Just make sure that you’re purchasing from a
dealer with a clearly spelled-out return policy. Pass on guns that seem to have been extensively modified
from the original factory configuration, or those that have evidence of abuse as opposed to normal wear.
Rust or pitting on a weapon is evidence that the gun wasn’t cared for well by the previous owner, and is
cause for further investigation before the purchase. Ask for a manual for this gun, or a similar model.
After the purchase, clean and more thoroughly inspect the weapon, just as you would a new gun. Then,
schedule some range time and test the pistol for function and reliability as has been described already. If
any problems are encountered, take the pistol back to the dealer with your receipt for an exchange or
adjustment. Don’t forget that the price of a used gun is normally negotiable within limits, provided that you’
re paying in cash rather than credit, and you’re not trading in another gun. The dealer may be firm on the
price of the gun, but give you a discount on the accessories you purchase from him. New handgun prices
are rarely negotiable, since there is very little retail profit in new handguns these days in most markets.

7. Intangibles- After studying all the information and weighing all the factors, you are still likely to be
faced with more than one acceptable choice in a defense handgun. Now is the time to let emotion and
personal preference take over, which have previously been excluded from the selection process. One gun
may simply “feel” better in your hand than another, or may have more visual appeal. You may like the
weight distribution of a particular gun, or the trigger may be easier to operate. When you’ve gone this far
in the selection process, buy what you like, not what someone else tells you that you should want, even if it
costs a little more. If you like the pistol, and you selected it yourself, you will handle it more, practice with it
more, and be more competent with it under stress. Even if you make a choice that someone else
disagrees with, it’s your life and your call. Within sane limits, it’s more important that you like what you
have, than for you to have what I like. When you are tempted to buy a handgun for a loved one as a gift,
this really can’t be a surprise, unless you go the gift certificate route. Each individual really must make the
decision to be armed on their own, and should have the ability to pick their own personal weapon from
among acceptable alternatives. If you want to give one as a gift, do the hard part, and pay for it.

Summary

In summary, there is a lot more to selecting a defense handgun than just checking the price and buying
what your friend who’s a cop tells you to purchase, or worse yet, what the hero used in the latest
blockbuster action movie. Proper defense handgun selection involves a hard look at how you intend to be
armed, whether in the home only, or in the street. Your lifestyle, wardrobe, work environment and other
factors come into play. Your physical build, interest in firearms, dedication to training and opportunity for
practice, even financial resources are part of the equation. The selection process is a series of trade-offs,
attempting to balance one important element against another to come up with a workable compromise.
Your choice may not be perfect, and it may be different from mine. But, with a little intelligent thought and
analysis, whatever you pick will be miles ahead of where you would have been had you simply bought what
was on sale.

After reading this material, probably the ideal way to select a self-defense handgun is to go to the range
with a reputable teaching organization that maintains an inventory of commonly available firearms, and
who has no vested interest in what you buy. With professional instructors, as opposed to hobbyists and
hacks, you should expect to be allowed to handle a wide variety of firearms, and then to actually fire the
ones that capture your attention and appeal to you. While the instructor may not have every firearm on the
market in his or her kit, they should have a representative sample, and ideally these would be made
available without forcing you to rent each one, as is often the case on public ranges. Armed with this
experience and with an introductory lesson under your belt, you can then make a trip to a reputable dealer
to make your final selection and complete your purchase. Deferring a purchase until you have had your
initial range training often pays for the lesson, in terms of money saved on a bad choice that you might
well have made before this experience.

If you’ve already purchased a handgun you thought would be appropriate for self-defense, but having
read this material and/or participated in an introductory lesson, you now realize that what you have is
perhaps not your best choice, don’t despair. You can always ask a professional instructor for ways to more
effectively utilize what you have by modification, accessories, or training. If all else fails and what you have
is unusable or unsafe, as we’ve already covered, unlike your spouse, it’s pretty painless to dump the old
one and start fresh.