Does anybody want to hazard a guess regarding his caliber of choice?
He asked me about handloading ammo.
I responded by asking him about his intended uses. A firearm is a tool just like a drill. It makes holes. Before you purchase a drill you consider whether you want to put holes in concrete, paper, lumber or metal.
It is the same with a firearm. Do you intend to plink tin cans or shoot angry mama bears? It makes a difference.
I would suggest a .357 mag. You can load 180 or 200gr hard lead for the bear, 125gr hollow points for protection against human or dog threats and light 38 special loads for plinking cans. What more could you want.
ReplyDeleteMagazines. The ability to reload quickly.
DeleteI agree, the .357 Magnum is a superb choice. But on a dark and rainy night on the bad side of town...there are better choices.
1911. Like the AR is for rifles, the 1911 is for pistols - Barbie doll for men. You can leave it plain, or you can accessorize to your heart's content, from a pampered bullseye gun set up for powder-puff loads to a race gun for playing around, and somewhere in the middle is a darned good reliable pistol. That's usually the one you had before you started adding all that crap to it.
ReplyDeleteThat is a profound insight. Saint John Browning and Saint Eugene Stoner did fabulous work. The people who came later "interpreted" their work and distorted it one way or another. But if you want a robust tool, it is difficult to surpass the original system, original tolerances, etc.
DeleteI agree with you. However, my brother is an adult and has sufficient income to afford a .45 ACP.
ReplyDeleteIn his defense, the 1911 has a sweet trigger and a slim profile.
Any gun you have with you is better than any gun sitting in your safe. If a 1911 gets him excited then I say "Cool!"
I like .45ACP and 1911. I own a rather low-end one that was my carry gun for a few years. But I came to realize a couple of things. One is that in a world with Antifa and other violent leftists, capacity is going to be your friend. My current 9mm carry gun has 13+1 and a 16 to back it up on my belt. It would take me 3 reloads to get that many rounds touched off from my 1911, vs. just 1 reload for my 9mm. And with modern projectiles, 9mm is quite effective, so I don't feel like I'm losing capability there.
ReplyDeleteNow, there are more modern designs that fire the .45ACP and have a much higher capacity than the 1911. I would love to get a Glock 21 to scratch that itch myself! If that's the caliber he wants to use, and there aren't any other limitations (like my problem of having short fingers that can't get a proper grip on some of the double-stack .45's) I would recommend going that direction.
All that being said, a quality 1911 is something special!
Whoops - forgot the second realization! Which is cost. For me that is an issue, and I can buy or build a lot more practice ammo for my 9mm than I can for my .45. You did mention that cost wasn't necessarily an issue.
DeleteI might add another thing to consider: are there any others in the house that might be intimidated by the .45? If this is a community "things that go bump in the night" gun, a 9mm might fit that situation better for a less experienced user.