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The Range
Handgun Discussion
LCP vs TCP vs Bodyguard 380
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<blockquote data-quote="ez bake" data-source="post: 1349839" data-attributes="member: 229"><p>Here's my opinion <img src="/images/smilies/biggrin.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":D" title="Big Grin :D" data-shortname=":D" /></p><p></p><p>I'd go with a 9mm for several reasons.</p><p></p><p>1. Cost of ammo - 9mm is still the cheapest ammo you can find in most cases (both Self Defense rounds and plinking ammo). </p><p></p><p>If you plan on carrying it, you need to shoot it - often. Lots of folks fail to understand this and quickly loose proficiency on their CCW weapon (if you don't shoot it at least once a month, you'll be surprised how clunky you get from the time you have a good training / practice session to the 2-3 month period when you shoot it again.</p><p></p><p>Also, when carrying them around (even in a good holster), smaller semi-autos tend to collect things like dead skin, pocket lent, dust, etc... They need to be verified as reliable (and cleaned/checked/oiled) often. I've seen more "first malfunction ever" scenarios when folks are at the shooting range and I ask them to break out their CCW piece for some practice - some of these guys went out and pout 2000 trouble-free rounds to test their guns out and ensure they were reliable and then threw them in a holster for 6-9 months and had no idea that you needed to break them out more often than that or they get dirty/unreliable.</p><p></p><p>Ammo cost is key for all this to me - its more important than having a larger round (or a smaller, more expensive round like .380) for the most part for all my SD options.</p><p></p><p>2. Micro frame size - I'm also not partial to the micro-sub-compacts for this reason (that and capacity). The smaller the design of the gun, the more prone it seems to be to "needing to be shot/cleaned/cared-for" to ensure its reliability.</p><p></p><p>This is of course a pretty broad generalization and I'm sure everyone hasn't experienced it, but it seems to be a pretty good rule of thumb in my limited experience with most micros - if you disagree, the next range session, break out your CCW and hopefully its been shot in the last month or so and you have no issues <img src="/images/smilies/smile.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>Something the size of the Kahr K9, the Glock 26, the XD Sub-compact, Sig P239, etc... those are as small as I'll go in a semi-auto - the Sig P290 might change my mind on that, but only time will tell. My only interest in the P290 is that with the extended mags, I can get the capacity back up to what it needs to be for me to carry it.</p><p></p><p>3. Effectiveness of 9mm vs. .380 - I'm not trying to start a caliber war here and I'm the first to admit that "there is no such thing as knock-down-power" in that when you ask an LEO, a hunter, someone in the military, etc... what needs to be done to effectively stop a mammal weighing between 100Lbs and 300lbs, the answer will not be "knock it down with large caliber XYZ" - it will always be "put a large hole in the most vital part of the" attacker/game-animal/enemy to stop them - this is rarely done with the largest caliber they can bring.</p><p></p><p>Bullet technology has overcome a lot of the stereotypes that "this caliber is better than that one" over the years, and 9mm offers a ton of options out there (again for a good price). .380 has less options for the most part and I honestly would consider .380 as the smallest round I'd turn to in a SD situation (its almost on the edge of being too small to me, but I wouldn't rule it out completely if the situation required it based on reports of its use in SD and ballistic testing, etc... - still, far from the "most effective round" though - especially when considering cost).</p><p></p><p>4. The S&W J-frame revolver - If you want to carry a lightweight gun that absolutely has the max amount of versatility considering conceal-ability, weight, etc... its really hard to beat any of the Airweight J-frames (or all-steel models considering that weight is not necessarily a bad thing when you're in the act of shooting it). You suffer with only 5-rds of capacity (unless you step up to a J or K with 6rds - also plenty of options for those out there) and reloading is a different thing than with a semi-auto, so practice is just as necessary just as often, but not for reliability of the gun so much as reliability of the shooter (and for me, reliability of my speed-reloading).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ez bake, post: 1349839, member: 229"] Here's my opinion :D I'd go with a 9mm for several reasons. 1. Cost of ammo - 9mm is still the cheapest ammo you can find in most cases (both Self Defense rounds and plinking ammo). If you plan on carrying it, you need to shoot it - often. Lots of folks fail to understand this and quickly loose proficiency on their CCW weapon (if you don't shoot it at least once a month, you'll be surprised how clunky you get from the time you have a good training / practice session to the 2-3 month period when you shoot it again. Also, when carrying them around (even in a good holster), smaller semi-autos tend to collect things like dead skin, pocket lent, dust, etc... They need to be verified as reliable (and cleaned/checked/oiled) often. I've seen more "first malfunction ever" scenarios when folks are at the shooting range and I ask them to break out their CCW piece for some practice - some of these guys went out and pout 2000 trouble-free rounds to test their guns out and ensure they were reliable and then threw them in a holster for 6-9 months and had no idea that you needed to break them out more often than that or they get dirty/unreliable. Ammo cost is key for all this to me - its more important than having a larger round (or a smaller, more expensive round like .380) for the most part for all my SD options. 2. Micro frame size - I'm also not partial to the micro-sub-compacts for this reason (that and capacity). The smaller the design of the gun, the more prone it seems to be to "needing to be shot/cleaned/cared-for" to ensure its reliability. This is of course a pretty broad generalization and I'm sure everyone hasn't experienced it, but it seems to be a pretty good rule of thumb in my limited experience with most micros - if you disagree, the next range session, break out your CCW and hopefully its been shot in the last month or so and you have no issues :) Something the size of the Kahr K9, the Glock 26, the XD Sub-compact, Sig P239, etc... those are as small as I'll go in a semi-auto - the Sig P290 might change my mind on that, but only time will tell. My only interest in the P290 is that with the extended mags, I can get the capacity back up to what it needs to be for me to carry it. 3. Effectiveness of 9mm vs. .380 - I'm not trying to start a caliber war here and I'm the first to admit that "there is no such thing as knock-down-power" in that when you ask an LEO, a hunter, someone in the military, etc... what needs to be done to effectively stop a mammal weighing between 100Lbs and 300lbs, the answer will not be "knock it down with large caliber XYZ" - it will always be "put a large hole in the most vital part of the" attacker/game-animal/enemy to stop them - this is rarely done with the largest caliber they can bring. Bullet technology has overcome a lot of the stereotypes that "this caliber is better than that one" over the years, and 9mm offers a ton of options out there (again for a good price). .380 has less options for the most part and I honestly would consider .380 as the smallest round I'd turn to in a SD situation (its almost on the edge of being too small to me, but I wouldn't rule it out completely if the situation required it based on reports of its use in SD and ballistic testing, etc... - still, far from the "most effective round" though - especially when considering cost). 4. The S&W J-frame revolver - If you want to carry a lightweight gun that absolutely has the max amount of versatility considering conceal-ability, weight, etc... its really hard to beat any of the Airweight J-frames (or all-steel models considering that weight is not necessarily a bad thing when you're in the act of shooting it). You suffer with only 5-rds of capacity (unless you step up to a J or K with 6rds - also plenty of options for those out there) and reloading is a different thing than with a semi-auto, so practice is just as necessary just as often, but not for reliability of the gun so much as reliability of the shooter (and for me, reliability of my speed-reloading). [/QUOTE]
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