I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while now, but I’ve been waiting to craft the appropriate words for it. But I can’t. So, I’ll just come out and say it. Ladies (and fellas thinking of getting your woman a gun) – I think everyone should stop buying pistols that look “cute”. Every class I’ve taught has one (at least one) new shooter that shows up with a .380 caliber semi-auto with a 2-inch barrel. Admittedly, that last part was facetious. I haven’t seen any that small, but I have seen plenty of sub 3-inch barrels out there…and most of them look like they were dipped in a cotton candy machine. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against the color pink, but the way certain manufacturers are marketing to women is pretty two dimensional. I’m glad gun makers are marketing to women, but painting poorly designed firearms pink will only discourage women that are new to shooting. For example, flip through any gun magazine and there will be at least one full page advertisement for a petite, curvy, pastel colored gun. And nine times out of ten it will be in .380 with a barrel shorter than my thumb. In my experience with new shooters using this type of gun, they will be met with many malfunctions. At worst, they may have a bad range experience and will be turned off to shooting altogether. The first issue I have with these types of pistols is the barrel length. The shorter a barrel, the harder it will be to manage recoil. This is because physics is increasingly working against you as barrel length decreases. Caliber size notwithstanding, the amount of recoil becomes more manageable the longer that barrel is. Maintaining a good grip to manage recoil will increase in difficulty and lead to increased malfunctions, mostly likely stove pipes. Another thing I hate about these guns is that the slides are difficult to rack regardless of hand size. A fun exercise to demonstrate what I’m referring to is to pick up a needle off a tile floor. Do you notice how you are dependent on the fine motor skills of your fingers? The narrow and curvy slides on these pistols prohibit faster moving gross muscle movement. My hands aren’t that big, but even I feel like I’m trying to pick up a needle when cycling the slide. Relying on fine motor skills and fine motor muscle memory takes time. And time is a precious commodity in a gun fight. The last issue I have with these guns is that the magazine capacity is tragically insufficient. I’ve referenced before about Dr. Dave Grossman’s fantastic work concerning deadly force encounters. His book, On Combat, deals with the physiological aspects of these encounters. Referencing the examples from Grossman’s book, the human body can still function after being shot an unbelievably high number of times. Barring any trauma to the brain stem, shooting your assailant 6 times and waiting for them to bleed to death is a poor strategy when one’s life is at risk.
In closing, I’d like to invite everyone to thoroughly vet the handguns they want prior to buying them. I always recommend renting (if possible) from your local range and putting at least 50 rounds through it to see how you like it. I’ve had the misfortune of buyer’s remorse concerning a firearm purchase, and I sincerely do not want you to be in the same situation. Ladies and gents – I’d like to hear from you about this. Leave a comment below about the highs and lows of your most recent gun purchase. Be safe. Be accurate.
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MattMy two cents. Archives
December 2020
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