How much pistol do you really need?

[Michael Tinker Pearce]

It's all about your plan. If you plan for what is most likely (1-2 attackers) you also need to plan what to do if you encounter a situation your carry-gun can't handle. If I encounter multiple men with rifles and armor and all I've got is a J-frame then my plan is going to be to disengage and escape, taking as many innocents to safety as possible along the way. If I'm in an environment where I can peel one of them off and take his weapon my plan will be to do that- then disengage and escape. I am not the police. I am not the army. It's not my job- my job is to safeguard my own life if possible and help anyone else I can as long as that isn't a suicide mission (or it is and I judge that the payoff is worth my life.) Ideally I would only intervene in situations where a) it makes sense and b) I have some likelihood of success. Otherwise I'm just a dead idiot.

We can come up with all kinds of scenarios to justify our choices and we probably should- but we need to recognize that the proper response is not always to fight.

 

[strambo]

In the military our operational planning is based on the intelligence estimates of the enemy's "most probable course of action" (MPCOA) and we contingency plan for their "most dangerous course of action" (MDCOA).

The most dangerous COA is still realistic though. We don't hypothesize that say ISIS makes a back-door deal with Russia for backpack nukes and come up with contingencies for that.

I think for civilian carry, the MPCOA is 1-2 assailants armed with something trying to assault or mug us. Our training and options should be to comply if we feel that is best in the moment and be prepared to resist. We should have a gun and train to employ it quickly while moving offline. Their MPCOA at this point is to run.

The realistic MDCOA is around 2-3 armed threats on the street (or as home invaders) who are going to fight it out and not run at the first sign of resistance. I think anyone prepared for that (to include some sort of stressful FoF type training) is as prepared as reasonable.

I don't think the whole multiple armed terrorist with body armor is a statistically significant enough event to consider it a realistic MDCOA. Sure, we've had a few instances, but our individual probability of being in one is probably less than a lightning strike. #2, offhand, I can't think of a terrorist linked shooting in the US involving armor and/or competent shooters. Good awareness/avoidance skills and prep for the realistic MDCOA of multiple criminals who don't run should be good prep for the few mass-shooting incidents we've had as well.

 

[Warp]

/\ /\. Or what if you are thrown down and have an attacker on you with a blade? Contact distance. What would you think was better? A j frame pressed up on a torso or a pistol knocked out of battery? Or what about a mugger pointing a gun at you? Your finger on a pocketed j frame or lcr or a small .380. Not saying one is better than the other to carry. Carry what you like but I can think of all kind of scenarios. Taking on multiple people with armor and rifles would be a loosing situation and less likely than my scenerios.

Since I never carry or carried a pocket gun in a coat pocket as a primary and only firearm...since I wouldn't press the gun against the attacker and wouldn't knock it out of battery...

 

[Gun Master]

/\ /\. Or what if you are thrown down and have an attacker on you with a blade? Contact distance. What would you think was better? A j frame pressed up on a torso or a pistol knocked out of battery? Or what about a mugger pointing a gun at you? Your finger on a pocketed j frame or lcr or a small .380. Not saying one is better than the other to carry. Carry what you like but I can think of all kind of scenarios. Taking on multiple people with armor and rifles would be a loosing situation and less likely than my scenerios.

Now we're getting into worst case scenarios. That's rifle or shotgun category.
As for me, sticking with the OP, .45 ACP or possibly .44 Mag or Sp.
For all my practical purposes, if I were able to use a .45, I'd have my shotgun or rifle handy. (But really all three, since I'd be at home).
In public, being an old patoot, with limited capabilities, it would probably be my J frame, backed up with my Kel-Tec P-32, backed up with Schrade 3" lock blade, but before all that, it would be, "Lord help me".

 

[armoredman]

The Good Lord is always the last and best reload.
A very experienced retired Detroit Homicide Detective Sergeant always carries two guns nowadays, even at being over 70, both in what we would call serious defensive calibers, and keeps a long gun in his vehicle. Evan Marshall - good man. I carry the biggest effective sidearm I can plus reloads simply because I would much rather have too much ammo than not enough. As I grow older and more infirm, I will bet my carry activities will change to reflect less physical abilities. I pray I will never need round Number One up the spout, much less round Number 50. How much "gun" do we really need? Every bit of it that will save lives at the time it is employed in lawful defense.