Is .45 too much gun ?

[skyracer]

How difficult is it to defend carrying a powerful gun such as .44 magnum in a civil suit? In other words, wouldn't it be easier to defend a client who is carrying what the local police carry such as a 9mm or .40? I wonder if those carrying so called big guns are at a disadvantage when the criminal's family decided to do a civil suit.

[JERRY]

any attorney worth their suit can get a civil suit because of caliber used tossed out during pre-trial for those in states that allow meritless civil suits to be filed.

[Ram48]

Your job when being attacked is to stop the threat. It makes no difference what cal. you use. I would imagine that unscrupulous lawyers would be quicker to argue your unloading four or five rounds of say 380 or 9mm then one or two .45 cal.
Just my thoughts.

[Longitude Zero]

Caliber choice is so easily defeated in a righteous shooting. Now you will never see a case tossed based upon caliber alone. It is a combination of many factors unique to each case. My only concern is that the recoil of a 44 Mag is sufficiently large to preclude rapid follow up shots if needed.

Frankly I consider 380 so feeble a round as to be not worthy of consideration for a self defense weapon. 9mm is the aboslute smallest I would go.

[Armybrat]

That crap wouldn't fly in any Texas court.

[les strat]

.45 ACP is nowhere in the league of .44mag, but .44mag is still legal to carry.

.45 is considered a standard caliber for SD carry. There are no laws discerning calibers for SD carry that I know of.

The only legit argument between calibers is that concerning capacity vs man-stopping ability. If the DC nazis ever limit capacity to under 7 (like in NY), you can bet your a$$ I will be packing a .44mag revolver.

[knkali]

Caliber choice is so easily defeated in a righteous shooting. Now you will never see a case tossed based upon caliber alone. It is a combination of many factors unique to each case. My only concern is that the recoil of a 44 Mag is sufficiently large to preclude rapid follow up shots if needed.

Frankly I consider 380 so feeble a round as to be not worthy of consideration for a self defense weapon. 9mm is the aboslute smallest I would go.

I agree but not sure if I would carry a 9mm with the same capacity as most .380's either. Since the .380(9mm Kurtz) and the 9mm have the same bullet size, I would only carry either if I had 16 or 17 rnds available.

[Longitude Zero]

Since the .380(9mm Kurtz) and the 9mm have the same bullet size, I would only carry either if I had 16 or 17 rnds available.

Thats why the gun mounted under my steering wheel is a Glcok 19.

[OldLincoln]

If concerned about it carry a .45 and no questions will be asked. A DA may attempt to paint you as a killer by the gun you use to support the recent events and attempting to outlaw some. A 44mag is a show stopper for sure but I wouldn't carry one.

[jocko]

any attorney worth their suit can get a civil suit because of caliber used tossed out during pre-trial for those in states that allow meritless civil suits to be filed.

suits appear all the time.hot coffee a tMcDonalds and utter **** like that. One can file a civil suit for damn near no reason. If the shooting was justified, the calibershould have no bearing.If the shootingborderson legally,then a damn BB gun could bring about alawsuit.

I certainly would not worry about the caliber for my defense purposes.Also dead BG can't telltheir storyt either. Put 6 good rounds in him, call the cops, makes some coffee and figure out ur story.

[JERRY]

also, if handgun caliber made a difference....anybody who has used a shotgun or rifle would be in the hooskow by now.

negligence and some other jazz must be proven regardless of caliber.....

[josp]

Around here the local and state police carry 45's. so do I

[jocko]

glock 17 for Indiana state boys. Sig sauer 45 for Indiana conservation boys.Glock 19 for our sheriff dept. Our local city cops is six of one and one half dozen of the utter.

[CJB]

Ya know, if you have to ask, its too much gun for..... you.

[newCW45guy]

Your first fear is being charged for something criminal. Local police or sheriff would do that or forward to DA for a charging conference.

It's been suggested by many CC instructors that you not exceed the local PDs chosen round or exotic bullets. I interpret that to mean when things aren't perfectly clear the local PD might naturally be a bit intimidated by anyone with more gun than them and more likely to charge or pass on to the local DA. Remembering you might spend a night or two in jail during that determination. It's all situation dependent.

That said I carry a .45 and have planned to only draw and fire when absolutely needed. My local PD currently carries .40s but has carried .45s in the past.

Lawyers in any civil suit after you have been cleared on a justifiable shooting have a real uphill battle. But if you have anything worth sueing for they'll likely try.

Lawyers are going to win either way... It likely will cost you to defend yourself from the moment you utter I am the victim and I want to consult my lawyer before uttering any more. Do not subject yourself to investigation without counsel. You know you were right but a few stupid words said or even taken out of context can cost you dearly. Witnesses can say all sorts of wierd things...

Either tattoo your lawyer's number on you someplace, memorize his name and number or at the very least carry his business card in your wallet.

[SSL]

Carrying a .44 Mag is kind of a head-scratcher. That's a lot of iron to lug around and full-house loads would create a big concern about collateral damage from shoot-through situations. As has been mentioned, control would also be an issue. Assuming the use of .44 Special loads (which makes a lot more sense than typical .44 Mag loads), you still would get awfully tired of that weight. One of the reasons defense experts suggest hollow-points is to limit over-penetration and its possibility of harm to others. Full-metal jackets of pretty much any caliber tend to sail through the target for parts unknown unless serious bone is encountered.
As to caliber, as most others have suggested, it isn't going to make much difference (legal-wise) if the shooting takes place in a defense-unfriendly area. Some bleeding heart will cry "foul" and do all they can to prosecute. In knowledgeable areas, most won't even notice.

[JERRY]

SSL, you will miss more shots than you hit with generally speaking...that negates caliber.

[dkmatthews]

Had my first experience with .44 mag and .357 mag, about two weeks ago, thanks to a friend visiting from TX. Those two revolvers were SWEET to shoot. I agree with OldLincoln that I probably wouldn't carry a .44 mag, but a .357 mag wouldn't be too difficult.

Now I just need to find a lever action carbine in .357 mag so I'll have more than one gun shooting that cartridge!

[SSL]

SSL, you will miss more shots than you hit with generally speaking...that negates caliber.

Very true. As they say; a hit with a .22 beats a miss with a .44!

[sharpetop]

glock 17 for Indiana state boys. Sig sauer 45 for Indiana conservation boys.Glock 19 for our sheriff dept. Our local city cops is six of one and one half dozen of the utter.

Hey jocko, our Indiana State Boys are transitioning to the Glock 21, .45 acp.

[muggsy]

Caliber choice is so easily defeated in a righteous shooting. Now you will never see a case tossed based upon caliber alone. It is a combination of many factors unique to each case. My only concern is that the recoil of a 44 Mag is sufficiently large to preclude rapid follow up shots if needed.

Frankly I consider 380 so feeble a round as to be not worthy of consideration for a self defense weapon. 9mm is the aboslute smallest I would go.

I would be willing to bet that if someone pumped seven .380's into you center mass that you would quickly change your opinion. A lot of LEOs carry a .380 as a back-up gun. Feeble they used to be. With modern ammo they come very close to equaling a 9MM.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&v=ebKAr4CyscE&NR=1

[KCAutoBob]

My choice of caliber- either .45 ACP or 9 mm Parabellum- is basically determined by the size of the gun I'm comfortably able to conceal and shoot best. There's a lot of wicked good ammo out there to choose from- in any caliber. It's what I can shoot best that counts, and I'm afraid my magnum days are past. Those things hurt- on both ends!

[wyntrout]

+P .380 can approach and even surpass some .38 Special loads, including the +P, when you're talking about those 2-inch or less snubbies... plus, you get more shots and faster reloads.

Here's a comparison chart by Ballistics by the Inch:

Site: http://www.ballisticsbytheinch.com/index.html

Chart:

http://www.ballisticsbytheinch.com/mepngs/380auto2010.png

In the chart below you can see as the barrel length decreases, the .380 in +P can equal or exceed some of the .38 snubbies.

Wynn:)

[Armybrat]

How do they get .380 ballistics for all those long barrel lengths? I've never heard of a .380 pistol barrel longer than maybe 5".

Somebody been makin' .380 rifles?

My Remington M-51 .380 only has a 3 1/4" bbl:

http://i522.photobucket.com/albums/w349/ScoPro/2-4-11snowguns002.jpg

[muggsy]

How difficult is it to defend carrying a powerful gun such as .44 magnum in a civil suit? In other words, wouldn't it be easier to defend a client who is carrying what the local police carry such as a 9mm or .40? I wonder if those carrying so called big guns are at a disadvantage when the criminal's family decided to do a civil suit.

There is no such thing as too, much gun. If it does the job it was just enough gun. If it doesn't do the job it was too, little gun. There is also no such thing as too, many guns, although rumor has it that Mrs. Muggsy may disagrees with that assessment. That's how much she knows. :)

[muggsy]

How do they get .380 ballistics for all those long barrel lengths? I've never heard of a .380 pistol barrel longer than maybe 5".

Somebody been makin' .380 rifles?

My Remington M-51 .380 only has a 3 1/4" bbl:

http://i522.photobucket.com/albums/w349/ScoPro/2-4-11snowguns002.jpg

To my knowledge (Vast IMHO) no one is currently making a .380 rifle, but they should be. I'm sure that it could fill a niche. I'm know that Barth would buy one and several spare barrels to go with it. Bawanna would buy one just for the novelty of it, though he'd probably want to restock it in some exotic wood. Shag Bark Hickory with a monkey wood fore end tip and grip cap for instance. Jocko would have it ported and shoot the fokker like he stole it. JFootin would order a PJ Holster scabbard for it. Just sayin'. :)