Gun Pundit is helping with a Personal Protection Survey for Shooting Illustrated. Before reading farther, go take it! Then come back and hit more for my take on it.
I’m not sure what Shooting Illustrated is trying to find out here, but it sounds interesting. The poll questions are rather difficult to answer, because I don’t really like any of them in most cases. For instance, I’m not sure I’d pick a .22LR pistol over pepper spray, just because spray can deal with a wider variety of situations I’m likely to encounter, and I don’t have much information on the type of firearm we’d be talking about. Why does it have to be an either or? What kind of .22LR are we talking about? Pocket semi-auto? Derringer? It’s such an unclear question, I’ll pick pepper spray.
Second choice, are we talking penetration in ballistic gelatin, or penetration in the human body? Because those are two different animals. For penetration in ballistic gel, I believe a .22LR will go as far as a .45 ACP. But to reach vital organs in the human body, which is usually necessary to stop a threat quickly, you usually need to break bone. It’s momentum that helps you break bone, and that’s where a light bullet is going to be a problem.
Third question is about which firearm you’d pick for personal protection. None of them would be my answer, but I’d go with the .32 over the .25 or .22LR. Â Not crazy about the fourth question either, since the correct answer would be “Hit the right spot as many times and as fast enough as is necessary to stop the threat.”
Question 3: dog. It’s a much better deterrent both before and after someone tries to enter your property. I have boxers. They’ll either stop the perp or at least preoccupy him until I’m done calling 911 and getting a bigger weapon. Even small dogs that bite are intimidating. They cannot be reasoned with, they cannot be appealed to, and they’re much harder to sweettalk than humans.
Thanks for the link, Sebastian. And I like and agree with your comments.
As for dogs, I was once skeptical of them unless trained guard/attack dogs, but I’ve changed my tune. Ours are great alarm systems and though not fighters would probably help give the bad guy at least a moment of pause if it came down to it.
Seconds count, and a dog can buy several of them even if it does nothing else.
First, thanks for linking to the poll on GunPundit.
Second, thanks to all that have completed and will complete the survey – honestly.
Third, I especially appreciate the comments. Keep ‘em coming.
Finally, for those that did not like the “push poll†nature of the survey, that think my conclusions are forgone or would like additional background information, http://www.ramworks.net/blog/?p=154
I actually would go with the .25 over the .32, if for no other reason than I’ve found that most “defensive” .25s are easier to shoot well than a pocket sized .32 ACP. At those levels, you’re not exactly talking “hammer of thor” stopping power anyway, so shootability becomes a lot more important.
My parents have had Golden Retrievers for some time now; when a 60lb. female Golden starts growling in the dark, there’s really no way to tell it’s not a 200lb. German Shepard, and I don’t think I’d want to stick around to find out. for some reason, theirs have always liked to sleep blocking the front door, too.
Caleb, what about a VZ 62 Skorpion! That’s a pretty nifty .32!
Also I’ll note that I’m allaergic to dogs, so the chances of my life being made miserable by a dog in my house is 100%, the chance of it saving my life is much smaller.
I’m not allergic to Skorpions!
neat survey.
Also I’m not sure about the .22 LR vs .45 ACP in penetration. Certainly the heavy .45 will be less dissuaded by contact with bone.
Also I’m curious about their definition of “Expanding” most of the ballistic gel .22 tests I’ve seen the round rarely expands, even if it’s a hollow point….
Useless and pointless, the questions are slanted to get a positive result for a .22 for self defense. Self defense is about stopping a threat and a .22 is the poorest hand gun cartridge for that purpose. Not only is it woefully underpowered, rim fires are far more likely to misfire than any center fire cartridge.