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be careful about using only factory ammo for self defense…there can be all kinds of issues that come up in court when someone hand loads .
a prosecutor will try to get the jury to believe that factory ammo wasn’t deadly enough , so you had to create your own .
plus there was a now well known case where the amount of powder residue was showing the good guy was actually farther away from the bad guy when he shot him . he used hand loads
they couldn’t just test another factory sample to gauge distance and it was a tough case for the good guy
How tedious/involved is it to clean a semiautomatic?
Understand that cleaning means to disassemble, field strip, the gun, .........
Depends on the pistol. Colt M1911, tedious. Kimber Ultra Carry, a little easier but still difficult.
Heckler Koch USP or an Uzi? Dirt easy! Some guns are just better designed for cleaning than others.
Finally, there is something to be aware of and then, it depends on the person. I avoid automatics that have a magazine safety. That is, if the magazine in not inserted, they will not fire.
Now, this is a safety feature to prevent a "Rebel Without a Cause" mishap, of taking the magazine out of the gun but still having a round in the chamber that could fire, supposedly a cause of many cleaning mishaps.
Great for cleaning safety but a potential fatality if one is combat reloading under fire (change out magazines with one round still in the barrel, waiting for the trigger to be pulled). BUT, as said, it depends on which worlds we come from, how we are trained.
Last edited by TamaraSavannah; 03-12-2024 at 04:51 PM..
OP, you are at a disadvantage living in NJ with all the imposed fees and mag restrictions, but if you can get to a range to rent any guns before buying, do yourself a favor and go try the Walther PDP-F Series with the 4” barrel. Walther designed this pistol specifically to fit a woman’s hands. I’ve been shooting mine in IDPA matches for the past two years and I just love it! Walther makes great guns that are nice to shoot, accurate, and simple to field strip and clean.
If you are interested in social shooting, as well as further instruction and support, there is a national organization for women called A Girl & A Gun with a Central NJ Chapter that meets in Flemington at Tactical Training Center once per month. The chapter was recently taken over by a new facilitator who I don’t know, but I am confident she will do an outstanding job. This organization is a great place for beginner shooters.
And, get yourself an UpLula mag loader. Works like a charm! I too have arthritic hands, but shooting is my passion!
I didn’t have too many problems with the slide, except for keeping my other hand where the instructor wanted it to be while I was doing it. The bigger issue was loading the magazine. But the revolver was definitely easier. Are there drawbacks to revolver aside from it holding less bullets and not being semiautomatic?
I have a Ruger .22 LR carbine and had a S&W MP shield.
I am a very good shot with both.
I love the carbine for FUN shooting and have possessed it for over 40 yrs... it's my old friend.
I purchased the 9mm for home defense 9 yrs ago.
I could rack the slide but could not load the entire mag with ammo.. annoying but not fatal. But I have small hands and could NOT rack and LOCK the slide in the open position for transport.
I HATED that I did not have total command of my weapon.
So it lived in it's lovely case in a corner of a walk-in closet.
USELESS.
So I sold it last year.
be careful about using only factory ammo for self defense…there can be all kinds of issues that come up in court when someone hand loads .
a prosecutor will try to get the jury to believe that factory ammo wasn’t deadly enough , so you had to create your own .
plus there was a now well known case where the amount of powder residue was showing the good guy was actually farther away from the bad guy when he shot him . he used hand loads
they couldn’t just test another factory sample to gauge distance and it was a tough case for the good guy
I don’t think I would be doing that lol. I can barely name the parts of te gun at this stage. Thank you though. In NJ, I am very aware how careful I have to be. We are a “Duty to Retreat” state.
Nothing illegal about what he was doing, he was loading for police departments. It was his business. He's passed on now.
I don't think there's restrictions about reloading now in our state, but it's been awhile since I wondered about it and laws don't often move in the right direction when one isn't watching!
Not trying to be a p... ant. Let's assume he had a manufacturing license. I am sorry to hear about his passing.
We have been reloading forever and started with a manual click-click thing from Lyman. It has improved. One of SO's play dates runs 1400 rounds in three days. No way with factory ammo. May I ask - what state are you in?
Understand that cleaning means to disassemble, field strip, the gun, .........
Depends on the pistol. Colt M1911, tedious. Kimber Ultra Carry, a little easier but still difficult.
Heckler Koch USP or an Uzi? Dirt easy! Some guns are just better designed for cleaning than others.
Finally, there is something to be aware of and then, it depends on the person. I avoid automatics that have a magazine safety. That is, if the magazine in not inserted, they will not fire.
Now, this is a safety feature to prevent a "Rebel Without a Cause" mishap, of taking the magazine out of the gun but still having a round in the chamber that could fire, supposedly a cause of many cleaning mishaps.
Great for cleaning safety but a potential fatality if one is combat reloading under fire (change out magazines with one round still in the barrel, waiting for the trigger to be pulled). BUT, as said, it depends on which worlds we come from, how we are trained.
That’s important because I have the world’s worst spatial skills. I failed my driving test twice because I can’t parallel park to save my life, and I’m the only person I know who has to call the IKEA helpline to assemble the furniture lol. Because it’s only pictures and it’s confusing to me. I wonder if I’d be able to put it back together properly? That might make me lean even more to a revolver.
I would probably feel better with a safety. To be honest I still feel nervous about having one. No one in my family did that I’m aware of, not even my grandparents. So it seems kind of alien to me. I will be so safety conscious it could affect my readiness, because Dave’s grandson spends the night sometimes.
OP, you are at a disadvantage living in NJ with all the imposed fees and mag restrictions, but if you can get to a range to rent any guns before buying, do yourself a favor and go try the Walther PDP-F Series with the 4” barrel. Walther designed this pistol specifically to fit a woman’s hands. I’ve been shooting mine in IDPA matches for the past two years and I just love it! Walther makes great guns that are nice to shoot, accurate, and simple to field strip and clean.
If you are interested in social shooting, as well as further instruction and support, there is a national organization for women called A Girl & A Gun with a Central NJ Chapter that meets in Flemington at Tactical Training Center once per month. The chapter was recently taken over by a new facilitator who I don’t know, but I am confident she will do an outstanding job. This organization is a great place for beginner shooters.
And, get yourself an UpLula mag loader. Works like a charm! I too have arthritic hands, but shooting is my passion!
What kind of gun is that, 9mm? I would like a smaller gun but the instructor felt I would be sacrificing accuracy, at least until I am much more experienced.
Long story short, use the gun that works for you, that you would be comfortable using and practicing with. Because if you are using it for self defence and you are not practicing with it, then it is not going to be as good because it is unfamiliar in your hands.
As to what do I use, well, two things. Me, I use .45 caliber but right now, I am grounded from shooting as my finger heals. My Doctor doesn't want my body to suffer that recoil. Secondly, ........ I am not the one to use as an example for different worlds.
Although.......you might want to take a look at this: https://www.zastava-arms.rs/en/pistol-m70a-m70aa/ I came across it when I was buying guns one year. It fits nicely to me (trigger guard is small by modern standards) and I like in that it is nice and slim and makes a nice concealment gun. So far, it has practiced nicely on the range.
A few things, however. It is a nice concealment gun, but it is not the gun I would want to take into a gun fight. My world for that calls for carrying 4 magazines, one in the gun, 3 spares. It is Serbian and I bought it because Serbians arms are good by their reputation.....but as such, it might be a little hard to get. Just a little, it is a popular gun.
One of my research projects in the past few years was for a .22 survival pistol. In the training scenario, it called for a pistol that could be used one handed because in a crash, it is not unreasonable to find one arm in a sling. So a pistol that can be racked, loaded, fired one hand. Magazines that are already preloaded.
Please name the 22 one handed operation pistol. Thank you.
On magazines, since you are not going to get into a long gunfight, you can have others load the magazines for you and have them around, as the scenario above could demonstrate. Rotate them seasonly or so inorder for their springs to expand. On magazines, avoid buying cheap. One of the pistols I use is a Kimber Ultra Carry, a 1911 design and hence, uses 1911 magazines (think Terminator II).
I could buy 1911 magazines at $15 a pop (in the past, don't know what the cheap ones are now) but don't for the Kimber. I buy the more expensive ones with a full stepped follower,
That tends to jack the price up by 3X but it is necessary. The Ultra Carry tends to jam because with cheaper magazines with its shorter slide action, round #4 or so tends to tumble at the top of the stack, leading to a jam.
Okay, I can get by that, train to handle it, equip to prevent it.........but for a novice, you want, you need that gun to perform perfectly at all times......so don't buy cheap.
Kimber Ultra Carry comes with 18 pounds of recoil or so. Not a good start for a beginner. Nice gun tough. Please check what you pay for magazines nowadays. I almost got in trouble for greeting a table of shooters with "hello kkk". Kimber Kinder Klub. Every time Kimber came up with something everyone had to have it.
Please name that 22. Thank you.
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