Jamie Jackson

I find the .38 wadcutter to be a viable option. It was a round and design championed by the late Jim Cirillo of the famous NYPD Stakeout Squad. He even collaborated with Fuzzy Fletcher to produce the SafeStop round a number years back. There are quite a few trainers in the self defense industry that still recommend the full wadcutter round. Ed Harris makes some good points in the article below. I've seen and traeted wounds from multiple handgun calibers. The overwhelming majority of entry wounds look nothing more than a pinprick. IF a hollowpoint expands, it'll do it's tissue damage inside the body. Quite a few don't expand unfortunately. A full wadcutter, with a sharp ogive, should "cut" rather than push aside tissue. This is the principle that drove Cirillo's development of the SafeStop round. Not to mention inherent accuracy and low felt recoil in a lightweight small revolver. It's a consideration imho. https://www.luckygunner.com/lounge/wadcutter-ammo-self-defense/ http://www.grantcunningham.com/2011/11/ed-harris-revisiting-the-full-charge-wadcutter/

I think a .22 is a viable options hipower, and it sounds like you guys found a solution to your problem. Good for you guys! I know most of us feel that a .38 spl or 9mm are the starting point for self defense, but there is a lot to be said for a reliable, smaller caliber handgun that a person can shoot well, and will be willing to practice with. Claude Werner aka "The Tactical Professor" has a good body of working demonstrating that having a handgun and having the will (and ability) to use it are the most important factors. Greg Ellifritz of Active Response Training wrote a great article a few years back on handgun "stopping power" that yield some surprising results. "An Alternate Look at Handgun Stopping Power" http://www.activeresponsetraining.net/an-alternate-look-at-handgun-stopping-power

This is an important question, especially since you mention she doesn't have strong hands. Is hand strength a concern as it relates to operating the slide on a semi-auto? Please bear in mind with a revolver you'll have a trigger pull weight that is much greater than the weight of the handgun itself in the double action mode necessary in a self defense scenario. And physics weigh in here as well...the lighter the gun the greater the perceived recoil impulse. Also managing the heavy double action trigger and maintaining good sight alignment minimizing muzzle movement all the way through requires decent hand grip strength. It's certainly manageable, but proper instruction initially will save you both a bit of aggravation along the way. TNWNGR is spot on on the training recommendation. Also, are you/she planning to carry or is this primarily for range shooting? I ask because speedloaders are pretty darn bulky. (They are necessarily the size of the cylinder of the revolver). I carry speed strips for my J frame Smith because they are compact, not because they are "speedy" LOL. I prefer S&W revolvers, but Ruger and Colts have solid reputations. My J frame Smith is a model 640 and I've carried it since 1992... so I may be biased in that regard.

Thanks for posting Deputy Weems. I appreciate the muzzle aversion, especially with the "competition" pressure of a man on man shoot. Keeping our training and practice oriented towards a 3D real world is a must. And...it looks like it'd fun as well.

I'm attaching a photo for Randy Harris. This is a variation of the Rastoff Challenge Randy shot at Training day today. I'll ask him to fill in the particulars. Darn fine shooting if you ask me! Jamie

Excellent tutorial! Thanks for posting and arranging the discount.

You are a bolder man than I am trying to grow rice K.! I've probably mentioned this before, but store brought dried beans, like red kidney beans from Walmart or Kroger's make great "seeds". I usually get better than 80% germination and no beans taste as great as fresh picked red kidney beans! Don't give up on them Ronald. Increasing your gardening can lead them to figuring out how to store the extra bounty...maybe canning or dehydration? Ease them into it buddy. Those yard onions are delicious, potent in their garlic like flavor, but really make a tasty addition when sliced thin, sauteed, and used in soups and stews. 100% agree nOrlf! Good suggestions on the buckets too. I've gotten quite a few free 5 gallon icing buckets from Kroger's and Ingle's bakeries over the years...just gotta wash them up.

Just saw this, signed up, received the confirmation email immediately (Gmail). The site is smooth and easy to navigate. Thanks for the head's up.

I finally had and took the time to watch this in it's entirety. Thank you David! While already familiar with Officer Reston's story. this video lecture is more than worth the short time it takes to watch. There is an incredible amount of pertinent and useful (needed) information within. Heck...I took notes! I wholeheartedly agree that "mindset" is to a large degree developed, or grown. I was taught this from my first professional training classes back in the early 90's, witnessed it within myself, and had it reinforced over the years by many of the professional trainers I have had the good fortune of learning from. Being in health care, starting my 45th year, I am particularly appreciative of Officer Reston's discussion of the need of self care and buddy care and having the appropriate minimal gear and skills to apply it. It is an act of intentional negligence, imho, to ignore this facet of our training. I am also very thankful for Officer Reston's discussion of the reality of gunshot wounds, realistic expectations of such and the absolute need to develop integrated fighting skills. Reality is probably not gonna be as neat and clean as our mental movies we play in our heads. I have seen way too many gunshot wounds over the decades to recall them all. But my involvement has always (thankfully) been after the fact..as in an Emergency Room or ICU. But I will 100% agree with Officer Reston that (1) Handguns rounds are weak and anemic (2) People that are shot won't necessarily react the way you think they should (hell, they won't necessarily even know they've been shot!), (3) prior exposure can negate the mental response you think they should have. It simply pisses some people off! If a person doesn't see or understand the value of professional training and understand the difference between "practice" and "training" after viewing this... well, I don't know what to say...maybe Good Luck?

I know many here at TGO are active, to one degree or another, in working towards lessening their dependence on structured entities (i.e. .gov) and working towards self sustainment. One of the many things we do, besides gardening, canning, dehydrating etc, is to incorporate the use of some of our stored items into everyday use. A minor example happened just yesterday. My bride of 30+ years mentioned she'd love some homemade chicken soup. Great cold weather heart warming food! I have some home canned turkey in the pantry, but used one of the many vac sealed bags of chicken we have in one of our freezers (purchased in bulk when on sale). The veggies were dehydrated sliced carrots (Honeyville Farms 2011), dehydrated celery (Honeyville Farms 2010), dehydrated green bell peppers (our Excalibur Dehydrator 2010), fresh onions (WTH...we had them on hand). We have a shelf area dedicated to vac sealed containers of various pastas... so grabbed a bag of egg noodles to toss in at the end of the process. We keep bulk stored seasoning as well...salt, whole peppercorns, Old Bay, Tony's, and Seasonall...in the basement pantry. We have a dozen plus jars of dehydrated vegetables on the lower shelf of an island in our kitchen that we use on a regular basis. We keep buckets of various dried beans, rice, flour and cornmeal in our kitchen pantry and everything stays in rotation. Anyone else incorporate their long term and intermediate term stored items into their everyday life? It doesn't have to be just food. What do you do to insure your preps are in order and you are comfortable with your ability to use those items?

I've flagged this full video for review my next day off. Thanks for posting it. I've listened to a couple of podcasts with Jared Reston as a guest (Ballistic Radio comes to mind). Mr. Reston epitomizes what we should be thinking of when the term "Mindset" is tossed out. "Quit" simply isn't something in his DNA. Remarkable gentleman! We should also consider how difficult it could be to stop an adversary in such a situation and train accordingly.

Ronald...Brother...You need more mags! Seriously though. I've taken as many as 20-25 loaded AK mags to classes. I've seen folks bring even more. Having a box full of loaded mags when you begin a practice session or class allows you more time to listen and learn, interact with the instructor and other students. As I type this I have boxes of AK and AR mags loaded and labeled as such. If I find time to hit the range it's as simple as grab and go. It's an option to consider.

I didn't even know we archived back as far as ... OP sounded a bit bitter anyway.

Prayers out and a speedy recovery Doug. God Bless.

I've never met Gabe, but I've followed his progress as "OragamiAK" on youtube for some time. Paul Gomez alerted me to Gabe several years back. Gabe will post his efforts, good and not so good. But his "not so good" is still quite remarkable for a mere Earth walker. His work on Todd Louis Green's FAST Test is incredible. See vid below...then go try it. It's humbling. Gabe also demonstrates and deep understanding of the mechanics involved and an ability to teach this information. I only wish I could attend. It'd be more than worth the time and money.

I agree with Dave about Targetsport. I have some .32 S&W on order from them now. It should arrive the first of the week...so about 2 weeks from order date. That's tolerable.

Thanks for the update shotgun! Mr. Farnam is a remarkable gentleman and a source of information I trust and value. I can only hope the new owners of CorBon will continue to hold their standards high.

I've had excellent experiences doing business with Bone Frog Gun Club. Incredibly fast shipping and darn good pricing. I'm currently carrying 147 hr HST fwiw. https://www.bonefroggunclub.com/collections/ammunition/9mm Shotgunshooter... I read somewhere that the Pi family is venturing into another ammo business...that could be interweb rattling and wishful thinking. Anyone know?

Great post nightrunner. That's exactly my point about "storing" wealth or value as your explanation clearly demonstrates. Well said. I check Coinflation daily as it accurately reflects the precious metal markets.

Disclaimer: I probably don't know what I'm talking about! I don't own any large quantity of silver, and I ensured I had plenty of "Beans, Bullets, and Bandaids" (and skill development/training) before I put any silver back. The majority of junk silver (pre-64) coins I purchased was during a dip back in 2008-2009 when silver dropped to around $10.00/oz. I, and a couple of buds, picked up rolls of dimes and quarters off of E-Bay at this price, no or minimal shipping cost. I would not recommended that in this day and age. We were fortunate. Silver has been pretty steady around $15.00-$17.00/oz for several years now. I view it as a means to store value (wealth) only...not as a means of investment. Just my thought processes...see Disclaimer above. I totally agree with what's been mentioned regarding SHTF vs TEOWAWKI. Money (an item agreed upon as a means of exchange) would most likely only have value in a relatively stable economy. This is where I see my junk sliver having value in a worse case scenario. The ability to provide Food, Water, Shelter, and Security obviously come first in the context of this thread direction. I totally agree and the majority of my efforts and learning, reading, training are and have been along those lines. It's a journey, not a destination imho. Another thought...especially with the digital age, plastic "money", and the "online" economy. Not that many people even know silver coins exist, much less the value of silver. They may well only see a dime as a dime. I think the majority of trade, use of silver in a worst case scenario would be between individuals that share this group's common knowledge (and groups or individuals like this/us). I could be wrong, but it's something I would urge all to consider. At least don't be overly surprised in the event. I still pick up a few silver rounds each year...not many, but the past few years I've used GainesvilleCoins dot com and JM Bullion. The do have sales or specials at times. Murgatroy makes some excellent points above. This is not a Seller's Market as it relates to guns and ammo...but we are in the middle of one of the most incredible opportunities I've seen in many, many years to purchase self defense related items to fill in the holes in your stores. It's a great period for training and educational opportunities as well. TGO David's thread on 2018 goals has quite a few intelligent suggestions! imo following this thread. Staying on the journey.

The darn rabbits will eat everything I plant if I don't fence it in... I have several rolls of chicken wire I "wrap" all of the beds with. PIA but it works. This pic is from a couple of years ago. I'm in the process of moving and rebuilding the beds. I've learned landscape timbers last approximately 9 years.

That's certainly where my mind went when I read the thread title... being dyslexic didn't help any

You are indeed well covered David! I think the Ruger Carbine would make a decent "truck gun" (whatever that means to someone), a handy short range varmint or pest control gun, maybe even a handy house gun as Ruger's are generally catered to in the aftermarket sector as mentioned. I think they could shine pretty well for a handloader too. We've worked up some accurate and nice shooting 160 gr 9mm loads, have run some 130's at 1300 fps in Glock 9mm's. I believe some pretty decent heavier 9mm rounds could be worked up for it using new brass and a relatively warm charge... And with a 33 rd "Happy Stick"? Yeah, I could have some fun. On one level I regret selling a 9mm Camp Carbine I had many years back. But the money went to training classes so the regret isn't that great.

This is a solid thought process imho. I've carried Glocks (19 or 17) for a long time. But when I picked up my 9mm Shield (prior to Glock finally releasing the 43) I ran about 750-1000 rounds of ball through it, and 100 rounds of several different SD rounds through it before I felt comfortable carrying it for the reason btq mentions. The majority of those rounds were in various "Drills" such as TG's FAST Test, Bill Drill, Dot Torture and such, strong hand and non-dominate hand, as much to determine my capability with the gun as it's functionality. I still carry my 19 the majority of the time, but maintain familiarization with the Shield for it's niche applications. Sidecarist makes some good points as well. Lint, dust, and general grime certainly play into reliability. A little lube and spring maintenance can go a long way in keeping one up and running smooth. And changing out those recycled (repeated chambering of SD rounds) is a prudent thing to do I've seen quite a few quality manufactured SD rounds setback from this action.

Looking forward to hearing what you think Sir.