No bad guys? Why carry?

[giese]

What other uses for carrying firearms can we think of other than defense from wild animals and human predators?

I was driving across a bridge with low guard rail the other day and thought what if I jumped the barrier, in my crappy car the electric windows only work half the time under the best conditions….. that is not being submerged in water. A carry weapon would allow me to have easy access to a way to break the glass once the pressure was close to equalizing.

I have also read an Ayoob article where he mentioned a guy who had lost his arm/hand some body part in some machine, the guy was convinced that if he had been in possession of his .44 he could have shoot the motor or other device and saved his limb. Ayoob also mentioned the use on domestic “animals gone wild†in the form of a bull, trust me it does not take a 2000 lb bull a simple 1000 lb cow once tossed me 12 feet in the air with a quick flip of her neck, and then she came back for seconds…… my pappys quick reactions and a shovel handle made her change her mind, though reluctantly.

Any other ideas on ways a carry weapon can be useful in these not so ordinary occations or maybe these are more ordinary ways than defense from attackers, matters how you look at it. I am always looking for other reasons to carry as well as situtations I can think about before I get into them.

 

[griz]

Elmer Keith wrote about being thrown from his run away horse and having his foot caught in the stirrup. He figured he would have been dead if he couldn't have drawn his gun and shot the horse.*

About the only thing I can imagine, and this is a long shot, is some situation where you were trapped by a falling tree or something like that. Even then it would have to be small enough to shoot through with the available ammo, so that is extremely unlikely.

*He also wrote of more than one horseman who was saddling a horse and had the stirrup fall and hit the hammer of his six-gun, shooting themselves in the leg. So maybe that's a wash?

 

[hso]

No.

A $10 carbide punch is cheaper, safer and more dependable than using a handgun to shoot your way out of a car.

I consider carrying a weapon to only be for defensive purposes.

 

[Mulliga]

I think the original poster meant knocking the window out with the 2 pound piece of steel in your hand.

 

[Grump]

Although this sounds like a hammerman looking for a nail, there are the factors that:

1. If underwater, your striking capabilities are limited by drag;
2. After a wreck, you *may* not be able (injury, trapped by crunched structure, etc.) to punch or kick your way out of a side or back window which is not already broken;
3. All those neato hard objects you coulda/shoulda/CAN't use have been tossed out of reach; and

last but not least

4. I really have no fond thoughts of using my firearm as a blunt instrument. As a last resort, perhaps, but I'd shoot out a window in a heartbeat, rather than crunch my gun (butt-strokes with a rifle excepted). Bullets are expendable, my gun's not.

If the situation leaves you with escape only through a windshield, shooting it out may be the only realistic option, too.

If MacGuyver didn't have so much grossly exaggerated physics, it would be a good primer on creative thinking and problem solving. But pine cones DON'T explode, no matter how much pitch you put on 'em.

Don't stretch the reasons to carry too far--it makes us look looney.

 

[Andrew Rothman]

4. I really have no fond thoughts of using my firearm as a blunt instrument. As a last resort, perhaps, but I'd shoot out a window in a heartbeat, rather than crunch my gun (butt-strokes with a rifle excepted). Bullets are expendable, my gun's not.

Heh. I think that facing drowning, damage to your sidearm isn't much of a consideration.

 

[walking arsenal]

plus touching your sidearm off under water without protection could kind of ruin your day, even more so if you carry hollow points.

 

[LiquidTension]

Gunshots attract attention, especially in odd places. If you're trapped somewhere you may be able to use your carry piece to attract help in the form of responding officers

With enough ammo you could signal S-O-S and still have rounds left.

 

[Correia]

Actually, walking arsenal, you can fire your gun underwater no problem. AS LONG AS IT IS TOTALLY SUBMERGED AND THERE IS NO AIR IN THE BARREL! All pressures must be equal.

Hollowpoints won't just expand. Bullets travel a shorter distance, and loose velocity faster underwater. Some semi autos will even continue to cycle.

 

[trickyasafox]

DONT SHOOT A GUN UNDERWATER THAT IS NOT SHOOTING A SUBSONIC LOAD
you will give your self a concusion or the shockwave bouncing off of the walls of the car will injure you and incapacitate you

has nobody here considered hunting?
carrying a 4in 357 is mighty nice during deer season

or sneaking off to the range when ur supposed to be doing something productive. . . .

i was always told the distress signal was fire 1 shot after dark then three more evenly spaced out

was that a farce?

and the added cardiovascular gains from carrying extra weight on your daily activities has to be substantial. . . ..

 

[Kamicosmos]

Not to sound too morbid or critical of the thread, but it's dark underwater. A friend of mine crashed a Piper Cherokee into a 6 foot deep pond. He got free of the seat belt, kicked the windshield out, but ran out of air trying to get through the windshield frame.

Divers arrived, and even though they could see the white airplane in the hazy water, they still had to use lights to find him (He had drifted back into the cockpit).

Just saying, alot of these ideas are kinda silly. You get your arm caught in a machine? You're going to be screaming and bleeding, not chambering a round and aiming for the control panel like an action star in a movie.

Not too say that people can't do something like that, there was that hiker that cut his own arm off with a pocket knive awhile back.

Guess I'm just saying: A gun is a defensive weapon. Any secondary 'tool' it might be used as is simply a bonus.

 

[USP45usp]

Usually, when a car (vehicle) hits the water with the windows up, the air trapped inside will allow it to float until it starts to fill with water. That is the time to shoot out (or break out) the window.

BUT, most of your window glass is safety glass, which means that you can shoot a hole through it but then you have to use your hands/arms/feet to bust out the glass.

Even though water is dark you can still follow your bubbles. If you can't see your bubbles then use your hand to "feel" the bubbles. Put your hand against your forehead and let out some air. If the bubbles hit your hand and then go up. If they don't hit your hand then you are upside down. Me, I carry a water proof flashlight in my pocket but that is just me.

As for just using the gun for defense, you can use it for other things (as you can do with all tools):

Paperweight
Hammer (I have seen this and it wasn't me that did it)



Wayne

 

[Texian Pistolero]

No bad guys?

You need to get out more.

 

[lycanthrope]

BUT, most of your window glass is safety glass, which means that you can shoot a hole through it but then you have to use your hands/arms/feet to bust out the glass.

Windshields are, but I'm unfamiliar which newer cars use it for the side windows. None of my cars have it in the sides or rear.

I wonder if you could sharpen the guide rod of a 1911 to a sharp point?

 

[walking arsenal]

I stand corrected.

like correia said.

i guess i paraphrased a lot more than i should have.

oh well

 

[Island Beretta]

you could be trapped in a building as well and need to take out some locks..

hey, movies have a lot of scenarios, ensure you carry a silver bullet or 2, never know when you could run into those vamps'..

 

[Zach S]

Gunshots attract attention, especially in odd places. If you're trapped somewhere you may be able to use your carry piece to attract help in the form of responding officers

This is what I was thinking.

BUT, most of your window glass is safety glass, which means that you can shoot a hole through it but then you have to use your hands/arms/feet to bust out the glass.

I think you thinking of the laminated glass (not sure if thats the correct term) in the windsheld, which is basicly two sheets of glass with a plastic sheet in the center. Saftey glass breaks in chunks, rather than knife-like peices regular pane glass. Shoot a glass pane with a BB gun, and you'll get a nice bull-eye in it, or it will break. Shoot a car window and the glass "shatters," yet holds itself together. A strong gust of wind can knock it loose. You'll simply have to push it out.

 

[RyanM]

DONT SHOOT A GUN UNDERWATER THAT IS NOT SHOOTING A SUBSONIC LOAD
you will give your self a concusion or the shockwave bouncing off of the walls of the car will injure you and incapacitate you

I hate when people make stuff up like this. :banghead:

The speed of sound in water is 4862 feet per second. That means you'd need a .50 BMG necked down to .223 to get an underwater shockwave of any magnitude. People that have fired boomsticks (basically a 3" barreled 12 ga. shotgun on a stick) underwater have reported that the sound is basically a muffled "thump" with absolutely minimal concussion, including in enclosed areas, like caves, and including when firing at a nearby wall or other object to stun a smaller fish instead of blowing it into bits.

Here we go. More real info. Enjoy. http://home.sprynet.com/~frfrog2/miscellj.htm#water

 

[Otisimo]

If lost in the woods, you could use your blaster to strike a piece of flint to start a fire.

Also, if you were in a windy office it would make a dandy paperweight.

I only go to places where guns are not allowed now so I really don't need a firearm anymore, this thread is particularly timely for me.

My house and cars have no guns allowed signs (except for mine) so no danger there either.

Each of my garments also has a no shooting zone sign affixed to them.

It am good to have this life problem solved.

 

[R.H. Lee]

I'm somewhat more polite and docile when I'm carrying, so it's a good attitude adjuster.

 

[yesterdaysyouth]

assuming your head is under the water too, i would hate to fire off a weapon. could you imagine how loud that would be? you can beep a watch under water and hear it anywhere in a HUGE pool...

you probally wouldn't hear a thing thanks to the brain, but i bet you'd have some bloddy ears...

 

[Diggler]

If'n you're in an old-west shootout and you get hit and you're bleedin', just pull the head off a cartridge, pour some powder in the wound and light 'er up. Seals the wound right up!

 

[Dave R]

If lost in the woods, you could use your blaster to strike a piece of flint to start a fire.

Didn't I read in Filed & Stream that the best way to start a fire with a firearm is to pull the bullet from a cartridge or two, put the powder under your tinder, and then shoot the cartridge with "primer only" with the barrel right next to the powder in onrder to ignite the powder?

If you shoot a normal cartridge at a flint, the muzzle blast will "blow out" any fire you manage to start. Or more likely, it'll just rearrange your tinder & kindling into random wood chips.

 

[Diggler]

There is quite a bit of force behind a primer, it would blow the powder everywhere. We shoot .38 plastic rounds in the basement and it will puncture a cardboard box with no problem.

 

[griz]

You can use it to turn off the TV if you lose the remote