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The following article was published in our article directory on October 21, 2010.
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How To Select A Firearm For Self Defense

Article Category: Sports

Author Name: Ron White

Selecting a handgun is more than just your personal taste or what feels good in your grip. Although those play a role in deciding what firearm to purchase, the real factor is what we call your use case. Simply put, what is the situation for which you want a handgun? What is the use case for which you want to solve?

For me, it was easy. I wanted a weapon that I could deploy to stop more than one attacker during a hot home invasion. That was my use case. I envisioned a situation where I needed to stop two or more attackers in my house. That was it. If I could find a gun to solve that problem, I'd be happy.

Secondary requirements were simplicity and reliability. If I was awakened in the middle of the night to the sounds of people breaking in my door and running up my stairs, I wanted to aim, pull the trigger, hear a loud noise, and repeat. No questions asked.

Once I had written down my requirements, it was simply a matter of evaluating my use case and deciding where that led me.

Since at the time I was more interested in home defense than personal defense, concealed carry wasn't on the top of my list, so a full-sized service pistol was where I was heading. A larger weapon is generally more accurate due to the longer barrel, so you only want to go smaller if you have a use case that requires it, such as concealed carry.

I wanted something that would stop multiple attackers. "Two or more" was my requirement. That effectively eliminated a single-stack pistol and all revolvers in my opinion. That's not to say that you'll need more than 8 shots to drop two people, but remember I also wanted simple. I don't want to reload, and I know that when the fine motor skills go, if bullets are coming back at me, and assailants are behind cover, it might take more than four or five rounds each.

In flying there is a saying, "there is no such thing as too much altitude or too much fuel." In personal defense, that saying should be "there is no such thing as too much ammunition." For me, I needed a double-stack pistol.

So far, by breaking down and analyzing my use case, I had narrowed the wide range of firearms down to double-stacked, full-sized service pistols.

Next, I looked at reliability and simplicity. To me, that spelled G-L-O-C-K. Glock was designed for reliability. It's famous for taking abuse and still working flawlessly. When the Glock was unveiled, they supplied the media present with boxes of Glock parts. The reporters pulled parts out of the boxes, assembled their own weapons and took them to the firing line.

Simplicity also pointed to the Glock. It has no external safety to mess with. If you rack a round into the chamber, it's ready for business. Field stripping a Glock leaves you with four parts: the polymer frame, the slide, the barrel, and the spring. That's it. It doesn't get much simpler than that.

Since the time that I bought my Glock, there has been some movement and competition in the industry with the addition of the Smith and Wesson M&P, and the Springfield XD. Both are platforms aimed directly at Glock's marketshare.

So I've evaluated my requirements and they led me to a full-sized Glock. The only question left was caliber. A lot of people get hung up on this. I don't. Well placed 9mm rounds will drop a man just as fast as well placed .45 ACP. Once you wrap your mind around that, then there is no point in going with the expense, size, and weight of the .45, other than personal taste.

After breaking down and evaluating my use case, I came to the conclusion that a Glock 17 was a gun for me, but that's not the end. The final step is what we started this article with - the feel of the gun in your hands. If I was doing this today, I would go to the range, buy a couple of hundred rounds of 9mm, and rent the Glock 17, Smith and Wesson M&P 9mm, and the Springfield XP 9mm. I would choose these because I think they all solve my use case, but I think I would lean toward the Glock as it has 30 years of reliability in it's current configuration, and realiability was big on my list of criteria.

Don't just go to the range and shoot.

When you go to the range to evaluate, go with a new American Sharpshooter LDR System, Handgun Edition Logbook. You are buying a new firearm, so you'll need a new book anyway. Use the first page of Dry & Live Fire for your evaluation. When you do this, you'll only carry over to the subsequent pages the data for the gun that you end up buying.

Use the American Sharpshooter 9-Dot target for the evaluation. If you are alone, shoot the Back to Basics and Skillbuilder drills. If you have a shooting partner, swap out the Skillbuilder drill for the Shooting Partner drill. Try each drill at a close range, such as three to five yards, and also at a long range, such at 15 to 20 yards. You should use a new target for each gun, each drill, and each distance. You should also mark the targets accordingly.

For example, if you are trying the Glock, the Springfield, and the Smith & Wesson, you'd end up with 12 targets - 2 drills x 2 distances x 3 guns (2 x 2 x 3 = 12). You will label each target before you shoot, such as "Glock, Back to Basics, 3 yards".

If you have ever patterned a shotgun, then you'll recognize this process. You are going to shoot and then analyze the targets later.

As I said earlier, be sure to log your drills in the LDR System Logbook. You should take careful notes, focusing on sight picture, grip, trigger, and recoil. If you need more room, use the Notes section in the back of your logbook.

Once you have finished shooting, take your logbook and your targets back home and look at the results. You will probably find that one firearm stands out from the crowd. That is the gun for you.

When you're ready to shop for a new gun, be sure to follow this simple process. First, write down your use case. Next, break it down and analyze it until you've narrowed down your options. Finally, go to the range and let the guns tell you which one is right for you.

Keywords: firearm, handgun, pistol, self defense, home defense, concealed carry

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