Hell... I'll take 2 shots (Derringer) over nothing any day of the week.

Not my preference but it beats nothing anyday/anytime.

We all have different needs and circumstances from what we can afford, how we carry, what we carry, thoughts on what and why.
Most people forget that just because you carry "X" or "Y" firearm in a "special ed" holster... doesn't mean everyone else does.

Also "everyone" that owns a firearm does not carry... I would like to see that change and I support anyone that is legally able to have a firearm to carry.
It's a choice... a Freedom most countries around the World do not have... Hell, there are parts of the USA that you can't either...

That means from .22 and up. Whatever "floats your boat"

So "carry on"

SO I was watching Bill Burr do comedy at some Atlanta club.... (I can relate to a lot of his material)

and he starts talking about guns.... saying how all he wanted was a .22... for home protection

and he explained it fairly well to IMO...
to paraphrase: he went shooting with some guy's .38... was mowing his lawn or something and the guy invited him to shoot. They walked down the street to some vacant lot with a burned out car... spur of the moment... no ears...

said he never heard the gun go off...he pulled the trigger and all he heard was "Whooooooooo" big time ringing... said he saw all the flashes from the muzzle but never heard a shot

so then her referred that to a home defense scenario...you're asleep, obviously, not wearing hearing protection or shooting glasses... and you pull you .38 or whatever on the BG...

Now you're hearing AND your night sight are gone (not sure a .22 would mitigate the effects of losing your night vision) and while you are blasting away at the bedroom doorway, and you can't hear him running around the end of the bed, and then you see this strobe-lit maniac swoop around the bed and get you with his sickle!

funny stuff, but it got me to wondering....

You're right. That's why operators fire one-handed (so they can keep one finger stuck in one ear) and close their eyes during each trigger press . . . .

Support the Hearing Protection Act. Also, weapon lights and having ammo to match your barrel length are both handy. Lights make the flash less blinding, and not having buffalo loads in short barrels will reduce the flash.

That's what a suppressor is for. Eliminates flash and makes the noise tolerable. Every bedside handgun should have one


I don't drive to work so it's not even an option. But if that ever changes, you'd better believe I'll have an AR pistol in some kind of safe in the trunk.

A guy could make a carrier for 75 round drums, six front, three each side, six rear carry, so, lots of rounds, and would double as body armor too.

Eighteen 75 round drums adds up to 1350 rds, plus the drum in your concealed carry AK pistol.

1425 rds. Dang, that would make you king of the fire fight, right ? Right ?

Reality...

That's roughly 60-110lbs - ammo, mags, body armor and firearm.
Not including the clothing to conceal, etc

For some that may be an issue but for me? No big deal. I switch back and forth from a Kel-Tec I can carry in my shirt pocket (when I really want "covert carry" to a Sig P-229 when I want more but still need compact, and the rest of the time I carry a CZ75 SP-O1 with 20 rounds onboard.

After 51 years of carrying just about every size of revolver or "semi" they all feel great and I have no problem finding them.

So ? That's nothing. Steve is carrying around at least that poundage in cake reserves.

Think of it as a fitness program that also keeps you fit. No extra cake needed.

Plus, you always got extra rounds available.

I have been carrying a Glock 29 for about 4 years day in and out. In the truck and boat and on the lawnmower. I use 180 grain ammo loaded for a short barrel with XTP JHP and fast burning low flash powder. I carry it in the same place all the time and put it on the nightstand when I go to sleep. Not that I need it in bed with the other bigger better choices I keep there. I instinctively put my hand on it ready to draw when I hear something in the dark or the dogs go off. Usually a predator of some kind or porcupine. It's killed more porcupines than I could count, (more than 20 this year). Porcupines are hard to kill with body shots. Their quills are like body armor and they're just tough. They are also a good real world study of ballistics and terminal effect of different calibers.
We're talking real life scenarios here of how many body shots it takes to stop a porcupine dead. They are almost always going head first into the brush so you almost always are shooting at them from behind. I shoot until they stop moving, dead, because I still have to remove them from the property so my dogs don't get into them. Exit wounds are not good because they leave blood and quills which have to be cleaned up or they end up in the nose and mouth of your dogs.

10mm JHP, It takes 2 to 3 shots to kill one. Usually no exit wounds.
9mm+P JHP, 7 shots will put them in a slow death crawl. (that's what the other half carries) No exit wounds.
45 acp ball, 5 to 7 shots and lots of exit material. I used to have a 1911 around a lot and handy.
22lr unknown, you have to shoot until you hit the spin, then head shot.
.410 #4 lead shot, 2 to 4 shots at a range of 3' or less. no exit wound.
.308 pistol, 1 shot, also = lots of clean up.
7.62x39 30 shots. My dogs had already gotten into this one and I did a mag dump on his ass.

My theory, which Elmer Kieth shared, is that you can't over kill something. You should carry the largest caliber you can conceal and are comfortable shooting and can shoot well. Period. Ammo picked to match barrel length and application.
We're talking about stopping a threat, not hunting.
If all you can conceal or shoot well is a .380 then so be it. Practice and learn your capabilities with that weapon. The key is to be proficient with what you carry.

I carry a 10mm and shoot it very well for what it is. I dress to hide it. It has served me well. I will continue to carry a 10mm until Glock makes a pistol in a more powerful cartridge which will be never.
I am so used to the 10mm now that I open carry it in a G20 in the woods instead of a 44 mag most times. I feel I can place the shots faster and more accurately with the G20 than the 44 mag. So it's the same theory for protection in the woods as on the streets to me.

The cashier at WINCO was liking my US Army grips the other day. Carry people!

I am always surprised by the supportive attitudes I encounter when OC'ing:

at the local 7-11 the different cashiers have always remarked, positively, and been engaging.

I've also taken to not disarming while working with clients. (One of the ladies, a widow of a LEO) voted FOR 594, and despite our heated debates on that subject and my OC in her house, she continues to engage me for different projects. Go figure. (*she has a really nice Mauser; presumably it was her husband's)

Leather knife pouches work for extra magazines, and don't really give away the fact that you have a gun.

Today people are so oblivious to what's going on around them, because they're busy with their smart phone, I doubt that any of them would even notice if you were open carrying a firearm.