chaim
Member
I tend to alternate them a little depending upon my mood.
Usually, I use my 3" S&W 65LS. Very handy and relatively easy to hide if you want to check out a noise without scaring someone if it is nothing. It is the revolver I've had the longest and the grips fit me perfectly so I'm very confident with it. It is a .357mag but I usually load it with .38spl or +Ps to avoid the magnum overpenatration issues.
Sometimes I use my 6"S&W 586. The longer barrel makes it a little less handy somewhat more cumbersome and impossible to hide if you may want to diffuse a situation that doesn't call for deadly force but that is somewhat made up for by the long barrel and great sight radius. Again, I don't use magnum rounds in the house. This is currently my favorite gun and I am more accurate with it than my others so I am very confident with it. When I get a 4" 586 and/or 686 I could see it displacing my 65LS as my primary HD gun (though if I move to a CCW state, or MD becomes one, the lighter K-frame 65LS would be my most often carry I think).
These guns are usually loaded with Speer Gold Dot +Ps (I don't actually remember the weight off hand, I think they are either 158s or 125s). Sometimes I even load them with regular .38spls (right now in addition to the Gold Dots I have a box of Fed HydraShoks in 110gr, and I like 158gr SWCs). I prefer (though as you see in the previous sentence, don't always use) heavier bullets. I feel these give more than adequate stopping power and greatly reduce the chances of overpenatration, a major consideration indoors, especially in your own house.
I sometimes use my Charles Daly 1911. It is the semi out of those I currently have that is my oldest and I love 1911s so I am very comfortable and confident with it. I think the .45acp (along with the .38+P) are just about perfect home defense rounds. Less overpenatration than many of the faster rounds and very good stopping power.
I use my CZ 75B sometimes too, though less often than the others. It is my favorite auto and until I got the 586 it was my favorite gun. I shoot it well (it was my most accurate until the 586 came). It fits my hand better than any of the others (though the 65LS and 1911 are very close). I really love this gun. However, the 9mm is a fast round and I'd be a bit more worried about both overpenatration and hearing damage than with the slower .45acp or .38spl/.38+P (not to mention muzzle flash issues in the dark- I want to keep my nightvision in case I don't stop the guy or even hit him the first time or if there is more than one).
I often have my Bersa loaded up next to one of these as well. It is a perfect size if I hear a noise I want to check out but don't think I will actually need it and just want it just in case (not all noises are necessarily an intruder- in the burbs its often a deer or raccoon). It is also the one that most often rides in my pocket during waking hours when I'm in the house.
Usually, I use my 3" S&W 65LS. Very handy and relatively easy to hide if you want to check out a noise without scaring someone if it is nothing. It is the revolver I've had the longest and the grips fit me perfectly so I'm very confident with it. It is a .357mag but I usually load it with .38spl or +Ps to avoid the magnum overpenatration issues.
Sometimes I use my 6"S&W 586. The longer barrel makes it a little less handy somewhat more cumbersome and impossible to hide if you may want to diffuse a situation that doesn't call for deadly force but that is somewhat made up for by the long barrel and great sight radius. Again, I don't use magnum rounds in the house. This is currently my favorite gun and I am more accurate with it than my others so I am very confident with it. When I get a 4" 586 and/or 686 I could see it displacing my 65LS as my primary HD gun (though if I move to a CCW state, or MD becomes one, the lighter K-frame 65LS would be my most often carry I think).
These guns are usually loaded with Speer Gold Dot +Ps (I don't actually remember the weight off hand, I think they are either 158s or 125s). Sometimes I even load them with regular .38spls (right now in addition to the Gold Dots I have a box of Fed HydraShoks in 110gr, and I like 158gr SWCs). I prefer (though as you see in the previous sentence, don't always use) heavier bullets. I feel these give more than adequate stopping power and greatly reduce the chances of overpenatration, a major consideration indoors, especially in your own house.
I sometimes use my Charles Daly 1911. It is the semi out of those I currently have that is my oldest and I love 1911s so I am very comfortable and confident with it. I think the .45acp (along with the .38+P) are just about perfect home defense rounds. Less overpenatration than many of the faster rounds and very good stopping power.
I use my CZ 75B sometimes too, though less often than the others. It is my favorite auto and until I got the 586 it was my favorite gun. I shoot it well (it was my most accurate until the 586 came). It fits my hand better than any of the others (though the 65LS and 1911 are very close). I really love this gun. However, the 9mm is a fast round and I'd be a bit more worried about both overpenatration and hearing damage than with the slower .45acp or .38spl/.38+P (not to mention muzzle flash issues in the dark- I want to keep my nightvision in case I don't stop the guy or even hit him the first time or if there is more than one).
I often have my Bersa loaded up next to one of these as well. It is a perfect size if I hear a noise I want to check out but don't think I will actually need it and just want it just in case (not all noises are necessarily an intruder- in the burbs its often a deer or raccoon). It is also the one that most often rides in my pocket during waking hours when I'm in the house.
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That typically is not a decision made when being rousted from sleep.
