I've heard the stories about the BG hyped on meth and took a full magazine to the chest and kept coming.....I've also heard about BG's that were stopped with one shot placed well. There's no guarantee which BG you will be faced with...... or someone in between...... or the BG that stops and falls to the floor crying....."don't hurt me!" at the sight of your weapon.

The whole point here is...you simply don't know how the BG will react, and you don't know how you will react either until you are in a situation, under pressure and stress, like that.  The confrontation...even a small one will sure get your adreneline flowing. After it's over..... I guarantee that you will look back and say to yourself...I could have done this...or I should have done that..... but all that matters is that you came through it...and learned something from it. If no one was hurt... no regrets... move on and be ready in case you have another encounter...on another day.

Not exactly the same. It is closer to a .38.  A .357 caliber pistol round is very different from a 9mm. Not only is the charge larger, the round is heavier and longer. I could use less expensive 38 cal ammo in my S&W 686 .357  (and they were more accurate) but that is because there is a fair amount of tolerance in a revolver. However it was a lot more fun to use cheapo 357 Blazers slugs as they made a lot of noise, flash and smoke and tended to wake people up that his was a high powered hand gun.

Technically caliber is a relationship between bore and barrel length. Somewhere along the line we slurred into exclusively relating to the inside diameter of the bore in inches.

SteveStrummerUK


 
What's a 'BG'?
 
 
Is Albert now legally allowed to shoot Bill Gates

Butt Grunt?

BG= bad guy


You guys and gals that don't shoot guns very often should take about 30 to 60 minutes one day...assuming you live in a country and state that still has gun shops... and just walk in. Once inside...take a deep breath of some of the free-est air on the planet...and know that you are in one of the safest places you could possibly be. In a gun shop, all the clerks are packing loaded weapons. Most of the customers are too, but their guns are unloaded from respect for the shop and state law in some cases. They are all tax paying, red blooded, American, law abiding citizens. And most are as friendly as your grandma. (this assumes your grandma was friendly like most are) So walk up to one of the sales people.... be honest and tell them you know nothing about guns and bullets and you would like to learn a few things.

First and foremost, you will make a new friend. Second, he or she will begin your instruction into the fine art of modern firearm weaponry.

If you buy a weapon.... rifle, shotgun or handgun..... it's totally up to you.

But nothing beats the unique pleasure of pulling the trigger, and having the sights aligned on a target...such as a tin can on a fence post, (also called "plinking")and seeing it fly off the post for the very first time..... or even the ten thousandth time, then making it dance in the dust. It's fun to shoot for pleasure and sport and watch as the bullet holes in your targets tend to get closer and closer over time as you become a better marksman.  And the first time you fire 5 rounds at a target, and only count 4 holes..... knowing for sure that you didn't miss...then it dawns on you that one bullet passed exactly through an existing hole..... wow! what a feeling. 
Or as you yell "PULL" and the black and orange clay "bird" flies out of the "house" and your sight picture and lead is perfect...you squeeze the trigger and as the 12 guage roars  the clay  bird dissolves in a cloud of dust and fragments.....

You should try it.

I frequently see guys shoot a box of fifty and then walk up to the target... look at a few holes in the mark and call hat a "group".

LOL.... that's funny.... but true. Then they walk away thinking they are Wyatt Erp...... dangerous stuff.

It takes time, persistance, lots of practice, thousands of rounds fired, and determination to become a marksman with a handgun. 

Going back to the police as an example..... and I have a number of friends in law enforcement, so I'm not running them down..... but as much as they practice, when they are under stress in a live situation and fire their guns in the line of duty, they do have a very high percentage of misses. That means a bullet went downrange from the intended target. Not good.

So you place the average civilian who fired their weapon one time with 50 rounds when they first bought it, in the same scenereo..... what are the chances this untrained person will have a higher hit frequency than a trained LEO?
Guitars and guns..... both require much practice time to get good with either.

Warning: Firing a rifle into the air is dangerous and just plain dumb.... and is illegal in some areas. In NC.... I don't hunt... but I think I heard that deer hunting from the ground with a rifle is not allowed. All rifle bullets must be fired so that they contact the ground if the target is missed......and not 4 miles away either.

anyway........

Back 30 years ago, I played in a full time band. Everyone in the band was into guns. We would go out to a huge corporate tree farming plot of land with our guns. We'd shoot targets and tin cans mostly. This land was so expansive  it was not a big deal to shoot a 22 into the air as long as it was away from town. The forest ran more than 10 miles. So after we had gotten bored with targets and the tin cans were so shot up that they were useless...we would turn our sights to pine cones in the trees. whoever took one down with the fewest shots won the contest. More than three shots to hit a pine cone called for major ridicule of the shooters ability and called into question their skill level. All in good fun. And although we drank at night when we played music.... when we had guns in our hands and shooting on our minds...... no alcohol was allowed or permitted.

I was out there by myself one day, at the pond we used as our shooting base. It was the middle of deer season, and the company did not permit hunting on it's land. Up pulls the game warden. Asks me if I'm hunting. I told him "No". My van was open and inside I had my guns layed out with ammo. I happened to have my Nylon 66, my .357 single action revolver, and my Navy cap & ball black power revolver. After a few minutes of talking.... I told him I had nothing against hunting but don't like hunting myself, and was out there simply trying to make small groups. Since I was not dressed for hunting, had no hunting equipment like ropes and game bags, and there was no deer carcass laying around he believed me.
I asked him if he would like to shoot the guns with me. With no hesitation...he said  "Sure" the way we say it down here in Carolina. We both loaded up the guns and had a blast fest for the next 30 minutes shooting everything I had and his service revolver too. After firing the Nylon 66 for the 5th or 6th tubular mag full... he handed it back to me with a huge smile on his face and said..."This thing ain't nothing but the damn truth!" He thanked me and said he had enjoyed shooting with me.... then he climbed back in his truck and headed down the road.

That's what it's about.

Wood Pigeon

dribble

ditto Philip.


I'd be dead long ago if we had any firearms around.   I'm surrounded by Irish/Italians.   I have to be careful to hide the steak knives.

I'd be dead long ago if we had any firearms around. I'm surrounded by Irish/Italians. I have to be careful to hide the steak knives.

Rick,

I tried shooting a steak knife once, it nearly had my eye out when I tried aiming it.....man, those things, they are more dangerous than guns.

Jonbouy

I'd be dead long ago if we had any firearms around. I'm surrounded by Irish/Italians. I have to be careful to hide the steak knives.

Rick,

I tried shooting a steak knife once, it nearly had my eye out when I tried aiming it.....man, those things, they are more dangerous than guns.

     Why does my emo-sense tell me you aren't completely joking????
   

In biblical times, weapons were carried my most people, especially if you were traveling from city to city. Mostly for self protection from wild animals, and bandits on the roads. Weapons consisted of staffs, swords, knives, slings, and probably a few other things as well. A rock made a pretty handy weapon too. After all, you couldn't dial 911 to call the local Roman police force.

As to the messiah..... he could walk on water, calm a storm, cast out demons, feed 5000 with a kids snack....all with a word..... he did not need a weapon...he simply spoke and things happened.

So you were a range master at LeJeune........ hummmmmm.  I spent some time there as well in the 70's.  I qualified pistol marksman and rifle expert. I came very very close to breaking the Parris Island range record in bootcamp. If the DI had left well enough alone I probably would have.  I was in a position at qualification, where my last 10 rounds at 300 yds prone, if all were bullseyes..... would have broken the range record by one point...IIRC the record at the time was 243. My 3 DI's were so excited. Anyway, one pulls me off the line and puts me on the practice spot... gives me 10 rounds and has me fire..... all 10 were bullesyes...but were NOT official qualification shots.... this guy was hyped..... and I became over confident. Back on the line with 10 "these shots count" rounds fired..... when the spotter called the hits...... it wasn't nearly as pretty. I ended up with 240 or there abouts out of 250 rounds...... it's been a long time ago now. Man did I suffer for that later that night.........ah..... memories....

"Guns --> death. 
Guns never save sinners.
A rock-star or Christian with a gun seems an anomaly."

Exactly my thoughts on the subject.   I can not imagine going about with a gun on me and not having the mindset that I am only confident because I am one click away from being able to kill another human being.     My mind is weighed down enough already without that cloud.  I do not have the temperment that goes nicely with a hand gun, and neither does ANYONE I know.

In Biblical times most people weren't Christians.  

If I were to reason with myself that I need a gun to live a normal life than there would be little need for faith (and a lot of need for a new address.)

I think it's an iffy game and one that is played out always second guessing and knowing that you can't be wrong.....although we often are.

Guitarhacker

You guys and gals that don't shoot guns very often should take about 30 to 60 minutes one day...assuming you live in a country and state that still has gun shops... and just walk in. Once inside...take a deep breath of some of the free-est air on the planet...and know that you are in one of the safest places you could possibly be.

Not to be argumentative, but actually the free-est air on the planet is where you are allowed to own/carry a gun but you don't because you don't feel the need to.

  It's one thing to enjoy firearms
  It's one thing to protect.

   But to "not be able" to leave the house "without" a gun on my side
is not a mental state of condition I'd want to have.

You just gotta love stats...

They are at least 20% - 40% better than any other way of getting a point of view across.

What if you carry a pistol, but don't feel the need to?