Posted by
Drail:
MIL-DOT, I am one of those old guys who actually believes that if you are convinced that you need more than 5 rounds then you must plan on missing a lot.
How many times do you think you
might miss in a violent surprise encounter against a fast moving assailant, shooting very fast while under stress?
How many hits do you think may be required to stop him (remember, you have to hit something vital, not just "center mass")?
How many of them do you think there may be (considering that, based on a couple of data samples,
if one is attacked, chances are greater than even that there will likely be two or more)?
Do you want any kind of a safety margin?
If you carry five; if the answer to the last one is no, and that does not sound prudent; if there are two or more of them and you must use deadly force on two; if it takes two shots to stop an assailant before they harm you (that could be on the low side); and if you would hit three times out of ten and
if you can stop shooting immediately after scoring an effective hit on something vital; you will come out unscathed three times out of one hundred encounters.
That's very basic statistical analysis.
The number goes up rapidly with additional rounds. Colt's ads for "that all important sixth round" really meant something.
I moved my Centennial to a backup role immediately after going through the numbers (thanks to member JohnKSa, who ran them),
and after realizing that the fact that I was unlikely to need the gun on any given day was completely irrelevant to the decision process.
I do like the SP 101, a lot; my wife has one with a three inch barrel, a bobbed hammer, and CT grips. But I would really,
really rather have more capacity. We do, when we are together.
My carry gun holds 7+1; that improves the odds markedly.
