Speaking Of Being Prepared

Soon after my very first Conceal Carry for Self Defense class I started forcing myself to look at different crime videos and reading stories of victims of crime in order to see what I could learn from those people involved. I try to look at each from a variety of angles and discern what if anything I can apply from their situation in order to help me be more prepared.

In the story I pointed to yesterday for instance I found several things that made me stop and think.

One was that in some respects this woman got lucky because when her gun ran out of ammo, the bad guy didn’t notice and he didn’t come after her, he ran away. That is good. Very good.She is alive, her children are alive, she did exactly what she needed to do! Luck is good, but as Tom Given says, if your in a gun fight, it already isn’t your luckiest day(paraphrasing). I will take luck if I can get it, but I don’t want to rely on it, so for me, I look at that situation and think, more bullets is better.

That kind of scenario is why last year  I went from my Glock .27 to my M&P…more magazine capacity. Just something to think about. Probably the average conceal carry citizen will not need 17+1, but I would prefer to have bullets left over as opposed to running out.

Something our legislators might want to think about too.

31 thoughts on “Speaking Of Being Prepared

  1. I thought the same thing when I read — she was very lucky (and note she hit him with 5 out of 6 rounds, and he still got up, got to a car, and drove away). To her credit, she made some of her luck: she did not panic. In the story I read she bluffed him with the empty gun, then took the opportunity to get her kids out of there and over to the neighbors.

    Capacity is one of the big reasons I went from a revolver (which I really really liked to shoot) to an semi-auto – a Glock 17 initially. For defensive purposes it just made more sense to be able it carry significantly more rounds in the same basic space.

  2. Well said. I spent a good amount of my Friday night responding to people who don’t seem to understand that shooting someone who is attacking you once is unlikely to stop the attack. I used her story as an example, thanks to you and Kathy. There is also an autopsy report circulating around where bad guy was engaged by two LEOs — one of whom was badly injured — who had to put 22 rounds into him to stop the fight. He had several fatal wounds but not immediate. Combination of .40 cal. and .223. It was a .223 fired from one of those “why would anyone need one” that finally stopped him.

  3. I’ve finally come to the conclusion that the antis simply do not know guns or ballistics. That ignorance we can fix with knowledge where there is a willing student. Of course there is also stupid, that I can’t fix.

    • But they still seem to think they’re some kind of authority on firearms, tactics, ballistics and self-defense with firearms.

      • Because they all watch TV and movies, which as they all know, are the final authority on all things firearm related. Experts be damned.

  4. You know. As a mom who frequently is by herself with or hauls around three boys the round count my magazine can hold is a HUGE concern.
    I have a Springfield XD9 sub- compact that I love, but because of my body shape have had challenges carrying. I can’t tell you how many nights my husband and I have discussed me carrying, he would love it of course if I could carry a whole arsenal at all times- but he knows how hard it was for me to tote the XD so he suggested a ccw with less rounds. My point was that if there is ever a situation that requires me to use my ccw, chances are I’m gonna have three wiggly screaming scared boys with me. The last thing I want to do is have to switch mags while holding them down. So… I kept working at it and finally figured out two systems that work. Now thinking bug…..

    • Yes, we all have challenges and limitations and make the best decisions we can and hope and pray it will be enough on game day.

  5. It might make sense to reiterate here that many times, when someone who has used some type of drug attacks you, it could take a lot of rounds to stop them. If they are headed toward you with a knife, then stopping them quickly would be particularly important. This is one reason that my primary carry is a 40 s&w. It is more likely to stop and knock down someone headed your way.

  6. One of the things Mas Ayoob points out in his lectures is that people almost NEVER know how many rounds are fired… If the shooter isn’t counting, I really doubt the bad guy is either…

    • Agreed here. I have a friend who was involved in a self-defense/road-rage shooting last year, he said could have sworn he only fired off three rounds, but the cops counted seven (confirmed by spent brass).

      • Not counting rounds I am sure, but he still could have tried to fight back maybe assuming he could over power her. I don’t know I wasn’t there, but regardless, running out of bullets is not something i want to happen if i can help it.

        • Good point, and ANOTHER reason to carry reloads… But in her circumstances, she’s certainly happy she grabbed a loaded gun period!

  7. Sound to me like she was using ball or FMJ ammo, judging from the report of four exit wounds from the perp. Which is why hollowpoints are recommended for so many defensive guns, they tend to stay in the body and be far more disruptive to critical systems. If this guy were shot with five hollowpoints, it is very doubtful he would’ve gotten up at all, and may well have died there in the house (which really wouldn’t have been a bad thing, other than cleaning up the mess).

    • Anything that reliably penetrates deep enough to be considered an effective defensive load WILL exit a target hit in the frontal arc nearly as reliably.

      Modern defensive ammo is generally loaded to penetrate deeply enough to do the job under worst case scenarios. . . which a full frontal aspect shoot is not. A round that, say, hits his outstretched arm, has gone through a few inches of fleash, and has likely lost significant penetration capacity by the time it actually hits his torso.

      The FBI recommendation is 18 inches reliable penetration into ballistic gelatine, for a HANDGUN.

      Think about how thick YOU are, front to back, then think about the minimum recommended penetration distances, then recall the penetration tests are run in ballistic gelatine — which is supposed to be regulated to simulate dense muscle tissue rather than fat (which is less dense than water — after all, it floats).

      So, if you shoot him with anything much bigger than a .32, EXPECT exit wounds — because if your load doesn;t generally punch deep enough to “overpenetrate”, it probably doesn’t go deep enough for anything but a “perfect” shoot.

  8. I had similar thoughts when I read that report. Like you, I give major kudos to that woman for what she did, but as you say, having ammo left over is a very good thing. I am deeply concerned our so-called “leaders” are going to do all they can to strip that ability away from us.

  9. I cannot remember which was the first author who wrote in a western that “you can go without food for a couple of days. without water for a couple of days, but if you need bullets you need them now”. It was true in the 19th century and it is still true. What is also true is that the bullets need to be big enough to stop the target. So there is no point in using something that will only enrage an attacker.

  10. I had a very bad dose of “rude awakening” tonight. I was checking my .357 revolver. Then I was fiddling around with my Sig 9mm. I pulled back on the slide, and couldn’t finish the pull. I’d been noticing my elbow going into periods of intense pain, and now I must start fearing that I can’t operate my semi automatic.

    I really don’t know what’s in store for me, but I am afraid to even go to the gun range. I don’t think my elbow can take the kick now.

  11. A couple of points I would like to make, most of which are predicated on the fact that the magazine is the least reliable part of a semi-automatic pistol. If this part fails or is somehow separated from the firearm (it happens!) the pistol is now little more than a rock.Carrying a semi-auto pistol for defensive purposes means a spare magazine, or two, is a MUST!

    As for giving up your G27 you do know that the 15 & 13 round mags for the G22 & G23 work perfectly well in that pistol? Just add the adaptive sleeves to fill the gap in the grip if you need to. Although I’m a .45 Combat Commander type, I sometimes carry a similar arrangement using a G26 and G19 mags. Carrying two spare mags gives me 46 readily available rounds. The leftover 4 rounds from the box go in my right jacket pocket.

    If a revolver is your carry of choice I would like to suggest that reloads are also necessary because of the limited capacity. I would also like to suggest that the best reload for a revolver is another revolver. A couple of speed strips wouldn’t hurt either.

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