Gun Digest’s Choosing a Handgun for Self Defense eShort: Learn how to choose a handgun for concealed carry self-defense.
By Massad Ayoob
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About this ebook
In this excerpt from the Gun Digest Book of Concealed Carry, Massad Ayoob helps you choose the best handgun for concealed carry.
Massad Ayoob
Massad Ayoob owns and operates Massad Ayoob Group (massadayoobgroup.com), teaching thousands of students annually about practical shooting tactics and the many aspects of self-defense law. He has published thousands of articles in gun magazines, martial arts publications, and law enforcement journals, and authored more than a dozen books on firearms, self-defense, and related topics, including best sellers such as Deadly Force and Combat Shooting with Massad Ayoob.
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Gun Digest’s Choosing a Handgun for Self Defense eShort - Massad Ayoob
Contents
Cover
Choosing a Handgun for Self Defense
Copyright
(L) S&W Bodyguard (M/649) with shrouded hammer, DA/SA. (Center) factory bobbed hammer on DAO Ruger SP101. (R) hammerless
configuration of DAO S&W Centennial (M/40-1).
One can’t carry a concealed weapon without having a concealable weapon. Some are suitable for the concealed carry task, and some are not.
We can’t cover every possible choice here. A swing through the Krause catalog will show you whole books on the 1911, the Glock, the SIG-Sauer, the Beretta, the Smith & Wesson series, etc. al. Other good choices from Paladin include Living with 1911s and Living with Glocks by Robert Boatman, and the outstanding The Snubby Revolver by Ed Lovette. I think Lovette’s book should be read by anyone who owns or is thinking of owning a snub-nose.
It puts the whole genre in perspective.
As noted earlier, it’s more convenient to have a wardrobe
of concealable handguns, but it’s not entirely necessary. Generations of young cops have learned that it’s cheaper to buy a concealment holster for their full-size department-issue service handgun than to purchase a whole new gun and leather set for off-duty carry. Similarly, many armed citizens have learned that the full-size handgun they bought for home protection is concealable if they set their mind to it.
The competent shooter loses little going double-action-only with a snubby. This old M/36 Chief Special with Herrett stocks made 5 out of 5 head shots at 20 yards single action (left) and double action (right).
Cocked to single action as shown, this S&W 649 can be a problem waiting to happen in a tactical situation. Author prefers double-action-only (DAO) S&Ws.
Cops have picked up on this, too. In 1967, Ordnance Sgt Louis Seman of the Illinois State Police convinced the ISP to become the first large department in the nation to adopt the Smith & Wesson Model 39 9mm semiautomatic pistol as a duty weapon. The reason was not firepower. At the time, troopers were required to be armed off duty. They carried 4- to 6-inch barrel Colt and Smith & Wesson service revolvers in uniform, and generally wore 2-inch barrel small frame 38 versions of the same guns on their own time. At qualification, the snubby
scores were dismally inferior to those with the larger revolvers. Seman reasoned, correctly, that the Model 39 auto pistol would be light and flat enough for concealed carry, but would do fine