Once those three things have been decided, then it is time to go to a dealer and find the particular brand that fits you. Keep in mind that if you cannot get comfortable with the weapon, it will never get comfortable with you and perform to its potential.

Let's get started. Virtually all of the weapons that are suitable for self or home defense will fall into two categories. They will either be a revolver or a semi-automatic pistol. I know that there are derringers but they are usually too small a caliber and/or are not enough of a handful for a repeat shot if it even has that capability. There are also shotguns. While these are excellent *home* defense weapons and will be covered later, they are not concealable and therefore, not acceptable for normal personal defense.

Revolvers

A revolver is a weapon that hold from five to nine cartridges in a revolving cylinder that brings each one into line with the barrel for firing with each actuation of the trigger and/or hammer. Revolvers come in two types, single action and double action.

Single action revolvers are guns where the hammer is manually cocked by pulling it back. The cylinder revolves during this action and aligns one of its cartridges with the barrel for firing. The hammer will remain cocked until it is released by the pull of the trigger. The trigger pull is very light and allows for precision shooting. They are not, however, considered to be personal defense weapons (although they will work for that purpose) as they are designed to be carried in an outside holster in plain view. They are usually just too big to be carried concealed except under certain circumstances. They are also slower on the second or subsequent shots than a double action revolver or any action of semi-automatic pistol unless they are in the hands of an extremely practiced expert.

Most revolvers that used for home or personal defense will be of the double action variety. The trigger pull is much heavier than in a single action revolver as the trigger pull must rotate the cylinder and cock and fire the hammer all in the same sequence. Double action revolvers are the simplest to use of the self defense weapons.

For the beginner (or someone who can't practice as much as they like) revolvers are the easiest weapons to master. They are basically what I call PHD weapons. (PHD means Pull Here, Dummy) There are no safeties to release, no de-cockers, no slide locks, no "Tap, Rack, Bang" procedure to memorize and practice. They carry from five to nine rounds of ammunition, come in a variety of calibers, are not the least bit fussy about what ammo they are loaded with as long as it is the proper ammo for the gun. They can function with the hottest loads in that caliber and they can function with the soft loads in that caliber. The disadvantages of revolvers is that they are hard to load while under the stress of a very tense situation. My philosophy, however, is that if you require more than five or six rounds, you are in a fire fight not a self defense situation. Do your damnedest to get the hell out of there. Civilians being involved in firefights are frowned on by the local law enforcement guys.

The best over-all brand names in revolvers are Smith & Wesson, Colt and Ruger, There are others like Taurus and Rossi where some of the newer choices are absolute jewels but, unfortunately, some of the older ones are not. When purchasing stick with the brand names, go with a friend who is knowledgeable or know your dealer.

The caliber choice in revolvers ranges from the ubiquitous .22 to a .454 Casalls and other very exotic cartridges. From the sublime to the ridiculous as far as self defense is concerned.

• .22 - This is a cartridge that absolutely must be left to the experts. It is an excellent plinking round and can be used for learning to shoot and practicing the fundamentals, but for a self-defense round it is pathetic. It is used for an assassination round by certain organizations that specialize in that line of work, but it takes an extremely well placed shot on a target that is not high on booze, drugs or adrenaline. None of these conditions apply in self defense work.

• 9mm - This is a cartridge that is usually associated with semi-auto pistols. It also makes a fine revolver cartridge although not that many revolvers shoot it. In a revolver, it is a fine performer but loads using clips as the cartridge does not have a rimmed case. With a lot of practice, clips may be loaded almost as fast as a speedloader. Good revolvers in this caliber are the Ruger SP-101 or Smith & Wesson 940.

• .38 Special - This cartridge was the common police cartridge until the move over to semi-auto pistols. It is the smallest caliber that should be considered for self defense in a revolver. It has good ballistics in the +P or +P+ versions of Federal Hydra-Shock, Corbon, Winchester or Remington cartridges. They should be purchased in a 110 grain version. Good revolvers in this caliber would be a Smith & Wesson Ladysmith or 38/49/649 , Colt SF-V1 or DS-II, Ruger SP-101, Taurus 82 or 85 and Rossi 68 or 88. Make sure that whatever you purchase will handle occasional +P loads. Whether or not you use them, it is nice to have the extra strength provision from the manufacturer.

  BTW, one advantage to this caliber is that there are a lot of used police revolvers available from reputable dealers at a very competitive price. Many of those will be in excellent mechanical shape as many of the police officers only fired it once a year for range qualification. They should show mostly holster wear on the bluing.

• .357 Magnum - This is the probably the best self defense round available in a revolver. Full house .357's, however, are a real handful in the smaller, more easily concealed revolvers. The first round will not be as bad as you think, the second round will make you think twice about what you got yourself into and by the fifth round you will be looking for the exit. It is not a good situation for a lot of practice. Fortunately there are softer shooting rounds available. If you are going to carry a small five shot .357 then I suggest that you use a .38 Special +P load as it is almost as effective and has much less recoil. Believe me, the .357 has very snappy recoil and when fired in a small dark room (such as at night in a bedroom) from a short barreled revolver you will be blind as a bat and unable to hear clearly for a week. Use the .38 Special +P's and you will have much less muzzle blast and recoil. You will have the ability to accurately place a second shot.

  There is a plethora of excellent handguns available in this caliber in addition to many good bargains in used police revolvers as they upgrade(?) to semi-automatic pistols. Stick with the name brands such as Colt Cobra or Python with 4" barrel, Smith & Wesson 586 or 686 with 4" barrel, Ruger GP-100 with 4" barrel, and Taurus 65 with 4" barrel for all around home or self defensive use. An excellent used weapon would be either a Ruger Security Six or a Speed Six as they are considered by many to be a couple of the finest and strongest actions in this caliber.

  Take a look at the Ruger SP-101 or Taurus 85 for a carry weapon in this caliber. Both of them come with shorter barrels for greater concealability.

• .44 Special - If you prefer a large caliber, slower and heavier bullet to get the job done, this is the one. This cartridge was forgotten for a long time, but now it is back and with a vengeance. This weapon has an extreme amount of intimidation factor to anyone looking at the receiving end of those large slugs. The hole in the end of the barrel will resemble the mouth of the Holland Tunnel.

  Some favorite loadings for self defense in this caliber would be something from 200 to 220 grain. Try Winchester Silvertips or Federal Hydrashoks.

  Good revolvers in this cartridge would be the Rossi 720 (medium frame), Taurus 441 (large frame) or 445 (small frame) or the new Smith & Wesson 696 which is built on the same frame as the 586/686.

  If Ruger was to produce the GP-100 in a .44 Special, I would purchase one in a heartbeat.

• .44 Magnum - Although Dirty Harry made a name for himself with this cannon, unless you are extraordinarily practiced with a firearm, this one is not for you! It is far too heavy in recoil (although not as snappy as a .357), and physical size. You could fire it using .44 Special ammo, however the weapon itself would be just too bulky as it is constructed to contain the .44 Magnum chamber pressures. The same would hold true for .454 Casalls and other large powered exotic cartridges.

Semi-auto Pistols

There are many semi-auto pistols on the market and it is the fastest growing segment in the self defense industry. They come in a multiple of varieties but we will just consider them to be in three groups. We will look at the best weapons for home and self defense from each of those groups. The dividing factor in those groups is how the weapon works. Some of them are single-action only, some are double-single action and some are double action only. Of the three groups, most experts agree that the best group for the normal self defense usage will come from the double action only group. I will cover the reasons for this as I cover each group.

Single action only

In this group, the weapon is loaded by the shooter manually racking back the slide to load the first round into the chamber and move the hammer to its cocked position. The weapon is then fired by the pulling of the trigger. The advantage of this type of weapon is that the trigger pull is light on all shots as it is not needed to cock the firing mechanism as that was done previously by the shooter. The action of the weapon firing will then load the next round and re-cock the hammer without any action on the part of the shooter. Normal usage would be for the shooter to load the magazine, rack the slide (loading the first round), and set the safety with the hammer back. At this point, it is considered to be "cocked and locked" (Round in the chamber and hammer cocked, safety on). All that is required to fire the weapon is for the safety to be released and the trigger pulled. Unless you are an experienced shooter this is not a good situation for the normal person seeking a weapon for self defense. One problem is forgetting under stress to release the safety. The second is that the trigger pull is very light and too easy for negligent discharge under stress.

The Colt 1911 .45 and its clones fit into this category. Although, they are excellent weapons that can be used for self defense by someone who is *very* familiar with them, they may be too much of a handful and/or liability to someone who does not participate in a lot of practice.

Double-single Action

This action is a combination of the double action only and the single action. The weapon is loaded by the shooter racking the slide. loading the first round into the chamber and then decocking the hammer. The weapon is then carried in this mode (Round in the chamber and the hammer not cocked, safety on) The first shot is fired in a double action mode which means that the trigger pull is heavy as it must cock the hammer or firing mechanism and then release it to fire the weapon. Second and subsequent shots are fired in single action mode as in the single action only. The act of firing the first shot operates the slide (through recoil and/or gases) loading the next round, cocks the hammer or firing mechanism and then waits for the next pull of the trigger. The trigger pull is light on the second or subsequent shots as the only action performed is to release the hammer or firing mechanism. The disadvantage to this type of action is that there are two different trigger pulls. The first round being fired double action and the the rest in single action. this means that without a lot of practice the placement of the first two rounds will not be in the same area under stress. I hate to keep pointing at the way things work under stress, but that is the condition under which these weapons will be used.

Double Action Only

These are the preferred semi-automatics for the average home defense individual by both the experts and lawyers. These work by the shooter racking the slide, loading the first round into the chamber. This does not leave the hammer or firing mechanism in a shooting configuration. The pull of the trigger will complete the cocking of the hammer or firing mechanism. (How much of that completion is required depends on the weapon.) As the first round is fired the slide will rack back (through recoil and/or gases) and load the second round. The hammer or firing mechanism will not be cocked (or fully cocked). The trigger must be pulled again to complete the cocking and firing sequence for the second and subsequent shots. These weapons usually will not have an external safety which means that there is one thing less to remember under stress. That doesn't mean, however, that they don't have safeties, it means that there are no safeties that need to be manually operated by the shooter. The big advantage to the double action only pistol are that all trigger pulls feel the same shot after shot and there are no external safeties or other levers to worry about when the action is going down and you are having a brain fart. You just point and pull the trigger. The disadvantage is that there may be no repeat shot ability. This means that if you have dud (a rarity) that you cannot just pull the trigger again. You must do the Tap-Rack-Bang drill.

• .22 or .25 - This is considered to be a mouse-gun caliber. Although certain assination groups have made good use of .22 caliber handguns, they are not considered to be good self defense guns as they are too light in caliber and don't have enough stopping power to protect you unless you are extremely lucky. They should only be considered under the conditions that *any* gun is better than no gun at all.

• .32 ACP - The definitive weapon in this class is the Seacamp. They have a very long waiting list and really only work with one cartridge. The Winchester SXT Silvertip. Although it can be an excellent investment, it is outside the range of calibers that I recommend.

• 9MM - This is the most popular cartridge in the world (Except for some diehard .45 fans). Ammunition is available almost everywhere. There are handguns available in this caliber from all of the major manufacturers. It is used by police and military forces all over the world. In some of the newer loadings it is a terrific self defense round. It has relatively low recoil, good stopping power and fantastic availability. It is easy to handle in a number of pocket pistols that are lightweight and easy to conceal.

  Excellent choices in this caliber include Smith & Wesson 3913; Taurus PT-92; Sig-Saur P-226 or 228; Heckler & Koch USP-9; Kahr K9; Glock 17,19 or 26 (for experienced shooters, not beginners); Ruger P-94 or 95; Berreta 92 series.

  Stay away from all the "Pacific Ring of Fire" arms such as Jennings, Lorcin, Raven or Davis. They are very cheaply built, unreliable and a joke. If money is a concern, you are much better off buying a good brand name weapon that is used.

  Recommendation: Kahr K9 (compact) or a Kahr M9 (mini compact). With a Kahr you simply point and shoot. A Kahr has a 10-12 pound trigger pull. This makes it the same as just about any double action revolver. So much so that many people feel that the Kahr is as close to a revolver as any semi-suto can be. The major difference being that you can reload a Kahr with a magazine much faster than any revolver with a speedloader. It is slightly larger than the Glock 26 and has a slimmer profile due to its single stack design in the magazine. You will have more firepower in the amount of ammo the magazine will hold than a revolver(7 rounds v. 5-6 rounds) and less (10 rounds) than a Glock, but it will conceal better than either of them.

  An excellent second choice (if you are an experienced shooter) would be the Glock. No external safeties to remember (although there are three internal ones) and it comes in a full size, compact size and subcompact size all with the same feel and operation. With a Glock you also just point and shoot. One caution is that a Glock works slightly differently than most of the double action onlies. As a result it has a lighter trigger pull than the others do. (Figure 5lbs versus 10-12lbs.) You can get a good gunsmith to change your trigger spring to a heavier *New York* style (8lbs). With either trigger spring, make sure that you keep your finger off of the trigger until you are ready to fire. That last advice applies to any firearm.

• .40 S&W - There are a lot of jokes about this cartridge like referring to it as the Short & Weak. It isn't. It has stopping power (on some of real world databases) equal to the .357 Magnum. It does not have the Magnum's raw power but it also doesn't have the recoil or anywhere near the muzzle flash. This is probably the best all-around self defense or home defense cartridge in a handgun when you consider the guns available for it and how concealable some of them are.

  Excellent choices in this caliber are Smith & Wesson 4046DAO or 4006; Sig-Saur P-229; Heckler & Koch USP-40; Kahr K40 or Glock 22, 23, or 27 (if you are an experienced shooter).

  Recommendation: Kahr. see the reasons under 9mm. In the .40 you are giving up one round in the magazine (6) but you are gaining a more potent cartridge.

• .45 ACP - This is the venerable and effective Colt .45 that was used since 1911. It is a relatively slow, hard hitting bullet that has excellent stopping power. Recoil is heavier than the 9mm or the .40, however it is very different. Although the recoil feels heavier, it also feels slower. It does not 'snap' like the recoil on a .40. The .40, although a smaller caliber, is sharper in its felt recoil. There are some excellent arms available in this cartridge also including the old reliable 1911A1 and all the clones that have resulted from its success. You will see .45's from war surplus all the the way to full race guns used purely for shooting sports and not defense purposes.

  Recommendation: Glock 20 or 30; H&K USP45; SigSaur P-220, Para-Ordinance P-10 or P-12.

• 10MM - This was the forerunner of the .40 S&W. This cartridge was developed for the FBI when they decided that they needed more firepower than their .38 Specials or 9MMs had. The only problem was that some of the agents felt that they would prefer to be in front of it rather than shooting it due to the recoil. This would be fine defense weapon for the experienced shooter. It is definitely not for weekend Charley.

  Due to demand, the case length was shortened and the powder charge reduced, This became the .40 S&W which is now on its way to becoming the cartridge of choice of most police departments in the U.S.

  Recommendation: Glock. See the 9MM or .40 S&W

Shotguns

If you are looking for the almost perfect home defense weapon, do not overlook the possibility of using one of these. A shotgun has many advantages. It does not suffer from over penetration like, for example, the .357 Magnum does. When you are living in a house and planning how to defend yourself in it, you must take into consideration the construction of the walls. Are they block, brick, plywood, drywall (most interior walls) or some other construction? How far will a bullet carry through it and hit something on the other side? What is on the other side of those walls? Your kids? The neighbors? Using a shotgun will solve some of these problems as it is not a big penetrator (depending on the size of the shot) after the first impact. It is very definitely an intimidating weapon. It seems that everyone, everywhere instantly recognizes the sound of a shotgun's slide being operated, It garners instant and complete attention. The shot spreads and with an open cylinder will cover more territory in a room than a handgun will. It has a longer sight radius (even with a short barrel) and, under most conditions, it is easier to aim and control. For one thing if you need to hold a burglar until the police arrive, it is much more intimidating to him than a handgun.

For gauge, I would recommend a 20 gauge. A 20 gauge, in the distance that most home defenses occur in, is just as reliable for stopping power as a 12 gauge. It has less recoil and is easier to handle for a second shot, if necessary. A 12 gauge may have a more intimidating appearance, but the 20 gauge is much easier to handle. Too many times a 12 gauge intimidates the shooter almost as much as it intimidates the target. People don't like to practice with a 12 gauge due to the recoil while they will continue to practice with a 20 gauge. Perhaps, other members of your family will be the ones to have to shoot it or threaten with it. They probably will be more comfortable with a 20 gauge than they will with a 12 gauge. Besides, as far as your buddies are concerned, you can tell them you got the 20 gauge for your wife or son. :^)

For shot, I would recommend something along the line of a 2-4 birdshot. 00 or 000 has problems with overpenetration which is one of the reasons why we are looking at shotguns in the first place.

Another good reason is that a used shotgun for home defense may be purchased for as little as a couple of hundred dollars. You will not touch a quality semi-auto handgun, new or used, for that price, although some revolvers may be found.

After all this, what is the bottom line recommendation?

I feel that for the average homeowner the best all-around defense weapon in a handgun would be a small .357 revolver using 38+P or +P+ ammo in a revolver. I would recommend the Ruger SP-101 with either a 2 1/4 or 3 inch barrel for carry. A Ruger GP-100 with a 4 inch barrel if it is to be a home defense only.

For a secondary choice, I would not hesitate to recommend a .44 Special. In that caliber, I would recommend a Taurus 445 for a carry gun and either a Taurus 431/441 or S&W696 for a home defense gun.

If you would prefer a semi-auto, I would recommend a double action only in either 9MM or .40 S&W. You will have to shoot both in a weapon that you are considering in order to pick one of them. I would recommend that the weapon would be one of the Glocks or Kahrs. The G-26 (9MM) or G-27 (.40 S&W) for a concealable weapon. The G-19 (9MM) or G-23 (,40 S&W) for home defense. Another excellent choice would be either of the Kahrs, the K40 or the K9. The only drawback to a Kahr is that the slide has a heavy spring and would be difficult to operate for an elderly person or one who is partially disabled. Other than that, the Kahr is one of the most ergonomic handguns out there.