Kalashnikov Classes with Gabe Suarez

Earlier this summer I had a chance to take five days of AK classes with Gabe Suarez in Prescott. The five days were divided up into three classes: Kalashnikov Rifle Marksmanship, Advanced Kalashnikov Rifle Gunfighting, and Kalashnikov Rifle Force on Force. This was a really great set of classes and they increased my comfort level with the AK tremendously.

In addition to Gabe, we also had the services of SI Instructors Dale Hunter (for the entire class), Doug Little, Uli Gebhard, and Richard Coplin (for several days each).

I shot these classes using my Arsenal SLR-107F in 7.62x39mm. Everyone in the classes were using an AK pattern rifle, with a mix of Arsenals, nice Fuller builds, and various other rifles. 7.62 rifles were the most common, with a minority in 5.45mm. My rifle was set up with a forward mounted Aimpoint Micro on an Ultimak rail. There were lots of other folks in the class with optics, with Ultimak mounted Aimpoints being the most common. One fellow had a Russian optic, while another brought out a rifle with a scout scope on it later in the day. While there were a lot of optics, many rifles had only iron sights. I fed my rifle out of a sneaky bag, as did many in the class. The majority of shooters were using more tactical gear of some sort or another, including plate carriers, tactical vests, chest rigs, and other similar equipment. This class included some work with pistol transitions. I recently bought a Glock 17 and I figured this would be a good opportunity to put some more rounds through it, so I carried it instead of my usual Glock 21. Glocks of various types were by far the most common pistol, with a substantial number of XDs and a few other models.

Kalashnikov Rifle Marksmanship

This was a basic course, intended both as an introduction for some, and a refresher for more experienced folks before the Advanced and Force on Force classes.

We started off with the safety lecture. In addition to the standard gun safety stuff, Gabe also discussed how to avoid some of the unique hazards of training in Arizona: the heat, the altitude, venomous insects, and snakes. This was followed by a discussion of the AK system. Gabe discussed the basic features of the rifle and did some compare and contrast with other systems, particularly the AR. In addition to the weapon itself, he also talked a bit about support gear, like slings, sneaky bags, and chest rigs.

Before going hot, we did some dry practice, working the AK safety, magazine, bolt, and trigger. This was followed by some dry fire in the different shooting positions. We paired up and had one partner work the charging handle while the other worked the trigger. Since I’ve become an instructor, I started looking at some of these things a bit differently. In this case, I noticed that while the announced purpose of the drill was to get us a chance to work the different shooting positions, everyone also got a bunch of practice on the trigger reset. We did the drill in prone, sitting, kneeling, squatting, and standing.

Finally, we went hot and did our first shooting, firing a three round group from prone at about 25 yards. As with all of the shooting in today’s class, this was slow fire, marksmanship oriented shooting. One of the goals for this particular exercise was to get a decent zero on everybody’s rifle. I was dead on with both my optic and irons, but many in the class needed some adjustment. This was also an opportunity for Gabe to show off the new sight adjustment tool that OST is selling. We all fired a second three round burst to allow anyone who made an adjustment to confirm the results.

We broke for lunch, with everyone eating at the range as there were no restaurants within any sort of reasonable drive.

After lunch, we picked up with the position shooting, shooting three round groups from sitting, kneeling, squatting, and standing. During this sequence, one of the students had some real trouble. Gabe did a great job working with her, isolating the problem, and helping her overcome it. As a new instructor, watching that alone was worth the price of admission for this class.

We also had one gun malfunction during these drills, and Gabe seized the opportunity to talk about malfunction clearance (given the AK’s legendary reliability, you need to seize these teaching moments when they come up). He went throughout eh SI non-diagnostic malfunction drill for the AK (reload, if that doesn’t work, unload, run the bolt, then reload).

Dale gave a lecture on how to field strip and reassemble the AK. He offered us a chance to take our guns apart (I declined, figuring I’ve stripped my AKs enough already).

We finished up the day by doing some longer ranged shooting on steel. We shot at about 35, 75 and 100 yards, shooting from prone, some intermediate position (sitting, squatting, kneeling) and standing at each range. At the closer ranges this was pretty easy in all positions. As the distance increased, the benefit of the more supported positions became apparent to everyone. However, some subtle features of the range made some of the disadvantages of prone apparent. The range was not perfectly flat, it sloped downhill, with a slight bulge in the middle. The bulge was barely apparent when standing, or even kneeling. When prone, however, it made it impossible to hit the two steel targets placed directly on the ground and made it more difficult to hit the ones placed a bit higher on the berm. These sorts of micro-terrain features can create obstacles to shooting from prone.

This was a very worthwhile class. It was quite basic, focusing on the fundamentals of marksmanship and shooting positions. It was a good introduction to the AK platform for some folks who were new to it and attending the more advanced classes the next four days. For those with previous experience, it was a good refresher. This was my first time seeing Gabe run a basic class, my previous experience with him has been in intermediate level classes. I think seeing how he handled this class is going to be quite useful to me as an instructor. This class was an excellent introduction to to five days of AK training.

Advanced Kalashnikov Rifle Gunfighting - Day 1

The class began with some dry drills. Gabe had us all get in a big circle around him and practice reloading. We began by working it stationary, both right and left handed. Then we started walking in a circle and reloading on the move, then did the same at a light jog. We combined reloading with a get off the X drill. We walked in a circle until Gabe signaled a threat by lighting off a round into the berm. At that moment, we had to get off the X and move to cover or drop prone while performing a reload.

Next, Gabe demonstrated 360 degree position shooting. Almost everyone is familiar with the standard rifle shooting positions: kneeling, squatting, sittingand prone. While these positions are more stable and offer a somewhat lower profile, they limit your mobility. It’s important to be able to address threats to your sides or rear from these positions. It’s also important to be able to do so without standing up to face your adversary. There’s probably a reason you dropped down to a lower position, and it likely involved incoming fire. Raising your profile could be hazardous to your health. From the kneeling position, this involved turning to your right and left, with the occasional shoulder transfer or Spetsnaz prone thrown in. From squatting, you either go to kneeling, or spin around into a seated position. Sitting, you either twist left or right, or come up to kneeling. From prone, you have to roll over onto your back and address targets to your sides or rear from there.

After static dry practice, we put these skills to practice by going back into the circle drill. When Gabe shot into the berm, we immediately dropped to a lower position, then kept our rifles trained on him as he walked around. Then Doug or Dale would put one into the berm and we had to reorient on the new threat.

We had a brief discussion on why you would want to get off the X and the dynamics of the OODA loop, then broke for lunch.

Gabe announced that we would be going live after lunch, so during the break I went to load up my Glock. I inserted the mag and went to rack the slide only to find it quite immobile. After I dumped the mag and applied a bit more force, I managed to get it loose, but it was very gritty. I disassembled the gun and poured out about a teaspoon of dirt and sand from the frame and slide. Because we were working dry, I had been rolling around in the dirt without a magazine in the gun. This provided an entry point for all kinds of crap. What I should have done was empty out a mag and used it to plug the magwell, rather than leaving it open.

After lunch we loaded up our rifles and went hot. We started out working the ‘Caveman EOTech’. This is the rifle equivalent of metal on meat point shooting. You look over the rear sights and put the front sight assembly on the target. As long as the target is bigger than the front sight tower, you’re probably going to hit. This isn’t a precision shot, but it will put bullets pretty much where you want them at CQB distances. For those of us with red dot scopes, Gabe asked us to turn the dots off and just shoot through the tube (at least with my setup, you can actually do both: put the front sight tower in the center of the Aimpoint tube.

With the caveman EOTech down, we moved on to position shooting. We started working with contact ready, with the rifle in the shoulder and just lowered an inch or so until we can see the target’s hands over the gun. This gives us a good view and lets us pop the rifle up to a shooting position very quickly. For closer quarters, close contact ready places the butt stock in the armpit, rather than on the shoulder, but serves the same purpose. We fired several bursts starting in each position using the caveman EOTech.

Next were the movement readies. Sul is perhaps better known as a pistol ready position, but it was originally developed for long guns. It’s quite good for moving through confined spaces or crowds of noncombatants. For moving quickly, Gabe showed port arms and the high noon ready (a much more dignified sounding term than the ‘rifle Sabrina’). This is also useful for rapid movement. The vertical orientation makes it less likely that you will cover anyone and leaves one hand free for other purposes (to catch yourself if you trip and fall flat on your face, for instance).

After a few bursts from those positions, we moved on to the last ready position. Patrol ready, sometimes known as Rhodesian ready (though Gabe confided that when he taught in South Africa he met several Rhodesians and they had no idea what heck he was talking about when he mentioned the Rhodesian ready). This is an important one just because if you spend any substantial amount of time with a rifle in your hands, either on the march or just standing around, you’re eventually going to end up in a relaxed ready position about like this. We let loose a few bursts starting in patrol ready to finish up the ready position section.

The next subject was shoulder transfers. One of the big emphases of the SI rifle program is being able to run the gun ambidextrously. Effective use of movement and cover really requires the ability to shoot from both shoulders. A vital part of this skill set is the ability to move the gun from one shoulder to the other. Gabe teaches the ability to shoot from the partial transfer: moving the buttstock to the other shoulder but keeping your primary hand on the pistol grip and your support hand on the forearm or magazine. From there, you can switch hand positions and shoot from a mirror image of your standard shooting position. For right handers, one thing to remember when shooting an AK is the charging handle. Taking the reciprocating charging handle on the thumb hurts (I can say this from painful previous experience). On stamped receiver AKs, there is a pair of rivets right there that make a good index point. Milled receiver guns have a depression cut into the receiver there that can serve the same purpose. We shot a transfer drill that involves firing one shot from the primary shoulder, transferring the support side shoulder and firing a shot, swapping hand positions and firing a shot, transferring back to the primary shoulder and firing again, then switching the hands and repeating from the beginning. This isn’t something you’d do in a fight, of course, but it really isolates the shoulder transfer skills and lets you work them intensively (it also looks really bitchin’ on the DVD trailer).

To apply these shoulder transfer skills, we worked the pacing drill. You basically walk three steps to the left, then three steps to the right, transferring the gun to shoot from the shoulder in the direction you’re going. This gets you used to doing the transfers on the move.

To finish up the day, Gabe provided an application for these skills. He went through the theory of how, why, and in what direction to get off the X. Then we went back out to the range and practiced getting off the X to the 1 o’clock and 11 o’clock directions, shooting on the move and doing shoulder transfers as appropriate.

At this point, class was finished for the day, but the fun was not. One of the students in the class (gunplumber) brought out his pair of PKM machineguns and offered the rest of us a chance to shoot them if we paid for the ammo. I happily ponied up and ran a 100 round belt through the gun. Mounted on the tripod, I found it very easy to control. It was quite accurate, and easy to get short, controlled bursts. I was even able to get down to single shots if I was quick in manipulating the trigger. I’ve shot full auto before, but never a belt fed gun. It was a real blast. I want to thank gunplumber for giving us the opportunity.

Advanced Kalashnikov Rifle Gunfighting - Day 2

Gabe opened up the second day with some discussion of various AK accessories and modifications. He showed his ‘pimp daddy AK’, equipped with a front sight gas block, flash suppressor/muzzle brake, and full Ultimak handguard system. We talked about various optic and stock options, and what modifications were useful in what context. He also teased us about all the cool stuff that was coming from U.S. Palm that he couldn’t tell us about because he had signed a NDA.

As an introduction to the day’s first drills, he recapped the get off the X discussion and talked about the various lines. He demonstrated how to get off the X to the rear obliques, the 5 o’clock and 7 o’clock directions. These angles make it difficult to keep the gun in a conventional shoulder mount or achieve a traditional cheekweld as you torque yourself around to shoot to the rear. It may be necessary to angle the gun either inboard or outboard, or even float the butt off the shoulder entirely.

We ran the 1 and 11 o’clock lines again, repeating yesterday’s last drill, then moved on to the 3 and 9 o’clock directions. As promised, the 5 and 7 o’clock lines came with some more issues. I tried canting the gun both inboard and outboard. I’m running a Surefire G2 in a VLTOR mount on my Ultimak gas tube, which puts the light above and to the left of my handguard. I found that when I canted the gun outboard on my right shoulder, I could use the caveman EOTech technique with the flashlight instead of the front sight tower. On the left shoulder, it seemed easier to cant the gun outboard and just point shoot along the barrel.

We moved on to after action drills. Just because you shot, or even hit, an assailant doesn’t mean the fight is over. Your hits on the target may not have had the desired effect, or he may have friends around. The after action procedure is a structured way to deal with such possibilities. The sequence goes like this:

Did I hit him? Did it work? (drop the rifle to contact ready and take a good look at the guy you just shot to make sure he isn’t a threat any longer)

Does he have any friends? (scan to the right and left looking for additional threats)

Does he have any friends behind me? (do a Sul scan to the rear to make sure there isn’t anyone sneaking up on you)

How is my gun? (reload if appropriate)

How am I? (look down and check yourself for injuries).

In between each of these steps, you return your attention to the target to make sure that his status hasn’t changed. We went through the drill dry a couple of times, then did it live, getting off the X to the 3 and 9 o’clock and running through the full after action checklist.

The next subject was transitions to pistol. Gabe talked about when and why you would want to transition to pistol instead of reloading or clearing a malfunction. He went through various alternatives, including keeping the rifle in hand and running a sling that attaches you to the rifle. He made the case for his favored transition, which involves shoving your support side arm though the sling, raising the rifle over your head, and dropping it so it hangs diagonally across your back. When you get good at this, it becomes more of a ‘toss the rifle over your head’ movement rather than specific steps. As your hands leave the rifle, they drop into a normal draw stroke and produce the pistol.

We worked transitions dry first, starting slowly and increasing the speed. After several repetitions, we went live. Gabe had us insert a single round in the rifle magazine and chamber it. He asked us to pull the trigger three times. The first time would fire the round, the second would get a click as the hammer fell on an empty chamber, and the third would be a dead trigger. Under the stress of a fight, this is probably what you will end up doing, rather than immediately recognizing the click. Upon feeling the dead trigger, we performed the transition and put a burst into the target.

At this point we broke for lunch. After lunch, we did the transition drill on the move. We loaded 3-7 rounds in our rifles and started out down on one end of the line of targets. As we ran down the line we put a round or two into each one until we got a click, then transitioned to our pistols on the move. While everyone had done pretty well on the static transition drills, doing it on the move messed a lot of people up. One AK ended up in the dirt, and a lot ended up hanging either around the neck or on one arm, rather than diagonally across the back, which inhibited both movement and the use of the pistol. Some pistols clearly weren’t in a good position to draw on the move, mainly on guys who were carrying in more tactical rigs like thigh holsters or vests, rather than CCW type belt rigs.

We ran the drill twice moving from left to right (putting the targets on our left side), meaning right handers could shoot the rifle on their strong side and the pistol two handed. Then we did it once moving from across the range from right to left (putting the targets on our right side), forcing most students to shoot their rifle on the support side and their pistol one handed. The weak side transition is a bit more complicated than the strong side one and even more students had trouble with it. I bobbled it a little bit, but at least I managed to get the rifle hanging crosswise on my back. You could tell that some students probably hadn’t taken any of the SI Close Range Gunfighting classes, because when they transitioned with the targets to their right (for right handed shooters) they still tried to shoot two handed. This generally resulted in them ending up sidestepping or walking backwards, rather than keeping their toes pointed in the direction they were going. Guys with SI pistol experience just shot one-handed.

Gabe gave a brief explanation of the basics of fire and movement, where two guys work as a team and one lays down suppressive fire while the other moves up. He illustrated this using some empty shell casings on the ground. Given that this was an AK class, the good guys were a pair of 7.62x39mm casings while the bad guy was a .223.

Before we tried any of the team tactics stuff, Gabe had us do a muzzle aversion drill. We lined up and pointed our rifles towards the targets, then had to either drop them to Sul or pop them up to high noon ready when one of the instructors or a fellow student walked in front of us. Confident that we could keep from muzzling anyone, we lined up into parallel lines, perpendicular to the targets. The front person of each line fired a burst at the target in front of them, the raised their rifle to high noon ready and peeled off to the left or right to file to the back of the line. Everyone had a chance to go through the line and shoot a couple of times, and everyone kept their muzzles pointed safely towards the sky, even when reloading.

These exercises led up to the two-man team drill. We paired up and each pair started down at one end of the line of targets. One shooter would put rounds into the target, while the other moved behind him and took aim at the next target in line. We leapfrogged down the firing line this way until we reached the end.

The shooting part of this really isn’t very challenging. The challenge is to communicate with your partner to make sure at least one of you is putting fire on the targets at all times. You call out “Moving!” to indicate you’re ready to move up. The partner calls out “Covering!” to indicate that he has responsibility to maintain fire while the other moves. The first shooter moves up to the next position (perhaps reloading on the way). When he reaches the firing point, he resumes shooting and calls out “Set!” The process then repeats with the roles reversed. If it’s your responsibility to provide fire and you run out of ammo, you yell out “Checking!” indicating that you’re unable to provide continuing fire and that your partner needs to take up the slack (without explicitly saying that you’re out of ammo).

This seemingly simple procedure proved surprisingly difficult for many of us to execute in practice. Shooters often forgot to yell commands when it was their turn, ran out of ammo, fumbled reloads, etc. My partner and I managed to run out of ammo at the same time, but probably had a smoother run than some other folks. Doing this sort of thing well clearly takes a lot of practice.

Our last exercise was the Columbian Special Forces drill. There were five steel plates set up down at the bottom of the 100 yard range. You started out at the 100 yard line and dropped prone, firing on one of the plates until you got four hits. From there you moved to each of four barrels representing pieces of cover from about the 75 to 25 yard lines, dropping prone and firing until you hit four times form each of these positions. The magazine in your rifle was loaded with just 24 rounds, meaning that if you missed more than four times, you would have to do a reload. Dale set up the cover so that you could only see some of the plates from each position. Dealing with these micro-terrain obstacles and figuring out which plates to shoot from each position was really half the battle. I helped him position the barrels, and made my own subtle contribution by positioning the barrels on the right hand side of the range so it would be more difficult to shoot around the right side of the cover so that students would be encouraged to shoot from both shoulders. It seemed fitting, given SI’s embrace of ambidextrous use of the rifle.

Only two students managed to get through the course without any misses. Some had a lot more. I went towards the end of the class. Many of the previous students ended up leaving pieces of gear, especially magazines, on the range as they went down to or got up from prone. I wanted to avoid this, so I snapped the flap of my sneaky bag shut. This made it less likely that I would leave gear strewn all over the range, but it meant a reload would be a long and painful process. I gambled on my ability to shoot accurately. I was doing quite well at first, making eight straight hits at the first two firing positions. At the third position, however, I missed three times in a row. This is usually the way these things go. You miss once, and you get flustered, causing you to miss again, making you even more frustrated and degrading your performance even more. After the third miss, I told myself to calm down, took a deep breath, reestablished my sight picture and made the hit. After that I went through the rest of the course without another miss, leaving one round left in the gun. Made it through with no reload!

Advanced Kalashnikov Rifle Gunfighting - Final Thoughts

This was a great class. Gabe did an excellent job teaching, ably assisted by Dale, Doug, and Uli. We had a very squared away group of students. In particular, I want to call out the performance of gunplumber’s fourteen year old daughter, who did a great job in the class. Everyone had solid, safe gunhandling skills and was able to deal with the physical demands of the class. Gabe says that the rifle is a physical weapon. It’s much bigger and heavier than a pistol and if you want to use it to it’s maximum potential you have to master getting into and out of shooting positions. This is Arizona, and it was dry, on the warm side (though not as hot as it could have been) and at an altitude of about 5000 feet. These can combine to really kick your butt physically but everyone handled it well. I would highly recommend this course to anyone who wants to learn how to use the AK to it’s maximum potential or who wants an excellent education in the combat use of the rifle.

This class really left me looking forward to the AK Force on Force class!

Kalashnikov Rifle Force on Force - Day 1

This class is run with a mixture of dry rifles and pistols, and airsoft guns. Airsoft AKs are expensive and (as we found out) fragile, so Gabe didn’t expect everyone to bring one. Usually, in a Force on Force class the rule is no live weapons on the range. In this case, because we were working with empty rifles, the rule was no live ammo or any weapons other than empty firearms. We divested ourselves of all knives, blunt weapons, and ammunition and had a partner search us to ensure that nothing dangerous would be introduced into the FoF environment.

We started out doing some stretching. FoF classes are very physical and we don’t want anyone getting hurt. After everyone was loosened up, Gabe had us form two lines, about with about two arm widths between each student. The front student in each line would turn around and slalom through the line, treating each student in line as a corner he has to maneuver around. When he gets to the end of the line, he takes his place there and the next student moves back through the line. Since this is SI class, you are expected to switch shoulders with every corner, always keeping the gun on the outside of the corner you’re working. In the beginning, a lot of people were very tense and hesitant in their movements, but after a couple of runs, they smoothed out quite a bit.

Once we were comfortable running the slalom with rifles, Gabe started out calling for a transition to pistol. Some interior spaces are tight enough that you may be better off negotiating them with a pistol than a rifle. Unlike the reactive transitions we were working on in the Advanced AK class, where you ran out of ammo and needed to get the pistol out as quickly as possible, this was a proactive transition. The number one difference is that for a proactive transition, rather than an inoperative (empty or jammed) rifle, you would have a live round in the chamber, making it necessary to engage the safety before transitioning. Also, rather than the priority being to get the pistol out as quickly as possible, the priority is to have a weapon up and ready to fire at all times. Rather than throwing the gun on your back and drawing your pistol, draw the pistol then sling the rifle. Conversely, when going from pistol back to rifle, get the rifle out, then holster the pistol. Slinging and unslinging the rifle one-handed isn’t something I’ve really practiced, and it showed. This is definitely going to get added to my dry practice regimen.

When we had pistol transitions under control, we added knives to the mix. Gabe illustrated how to use a knife in one hand and a pistol in the other to increase retention when working in close quarters. You hold the gun in a standard retention position and the knife in a reverse grip in your support hand at about neck level. If anyone comes around the corner you’re working and try to grab for your gun, he gets the knife first, then you shoot him off your knife with the pistol. We ran the slalom drill switching between rifle, pistol and both pistol and knife a couple of times.

At this point, there was a discussion of hitting people with guns, including a rather vivid discussion of an occasion when Gabe dealt with a hostage holding bad guy using the muzzle of his pistol. We also talked a bit about contact shots as well.

Back to the slalom drill, we introduced vertical displacements. Most folks tend to see things about eye level, not paying much attention to what’s above or below. Gabe hasn’t quite worked out that combat levitation thing, but getting below eye level is pretty easy. We did the drill again, crouching down or going to Spetsnaz prone as we worked the corners. This finished up the slalom drill.

Gabe discussed the basics of the Pekiti takeoff: unweighting your feet, orienting the feet and hips, loading up the drive leg, and ducking the shoulder. This process helps you get off the X much quicker than simply stepping stepping off. In addition, dropping as you unweight the feet and ducking the shoulder provides vertical displacement, which gets you out of the opponent’s sights faster. Especially against a rifle, you literally drop out of the sight picture in an instant. Though he didn’t refer to it as such, the takeoff that Gabe taught was what those of us who have been around a while know as the enhanced Pekiti, rather than the classic Pekiti that we’ve been doing for the past couple of years. I talked with Gabe after class and he said that he feels the enhanced Pekiti is superior enough that he’s moved to teaching it as the default.

We worked the Pekiti takeoff against the rifle, first with empty hands, then drawing the pistol as we stepped off. We were training for the absolute worst case scenario, being held at gunpoint with the finger on the tripper. The student doing the takeoff initiated the drill while his partner holding him at gunpoint tried to shoot as soon as he saw movement. Generally, the fellow doing the takeoff could get out of the way before the guy with the rifle could drop the hammer. After running the takeoff for a while we broke for lunch.

After lunch, Dale showed how to disarm someone holding a rifle. You grab the gun at the forend and stock and twist the rifle around, either pushing (if you’re on his primary side) or pulling (if you’re on his support side). The comb of the stock gets driven into his neck and he’s either going to let go of the rifle, end up on the ground, or get choked out by the pressure of the stock against the arteries in his neck. There are some tricks to getting the leverage right, but the technique is simple, effective, and usable by a smaller person against a larger one.

He also went through a method for using the AK as an impact weapon. The normal firing grip on a rifle isn’t very natural for using it as an impact weapon. You certainly wouldn’t try to work with a Kali stick that way, for example. From the normal firing grip, you rotate your hands so that the primary hand is grasping the stock from below, just behind the receiver and your support hand is grasping the forend from below. The rifle is held at about shoulder height, muzzle forward.

To employ the rifle as an impact weapon, you follow a simple sequence Dale calls ‘paddling’. Jab the opponent with the muzzle, swing the rifle down and bash him with the stock, jab him with the butt, then swing the rifle up and slash him with the front sight tower. Repeat as necessary. To integrate the footwork with it, you shuffle forward on the jabs and take a step forward on the swings. The overall motion ends up being a lot like paddling a canoe.

Gabe pointed out that when attached to the rifle, a ComBloc bayonet has the sharp edge on the upper edge of the blade. This sort of attack illustrates why. When you do the second swing with a bayonet attached, rather than hitting them with the sight tower, you’re performing a slashing attack with the bayonet. When Gabe started talking about the bayonet, he asked if anyone in the class had one with them. One student, named Ivan, went to get one from his car. On the way back, rather than walking around the long way, he came over the berm. Only at an SI AK class do you really have Ivan coming over the berm with a bayonet!

We talked a bit about what to do if someone tries to disarm you, using either this or some other technique. The standard solution is to let go of the rifle and shoot them with your pistol. You should be able to draw and shoot them long before they get the rifle turned around to shoot you. The flip side of this is that if you disarm someone of their rifle it’s important to immediately turn it into an impact weapon, rather than trying to shoot them with it right away.

One of the things we discovered working the disarms is that if they manage to get the stock out of the shoulder, it becomes much more difficult to get the rifle away from them. Instead, Gabe recommend immediately giving up on the disarm, stepping behind them, and going for the choke. One student pointed out that from the support side you could actually us the rifle to choke them out, turning their efforts to hang on to the rifle against them.

Gabe brought out the airsoft rifles and we resumed work on the Pekiti takeoff and getting off the X. Since we only had three airsoft guns, we split up into three groups. One student in each group tried to get off the X and get his dry rifle on target while another pointed in with the airsoft gun launched a round at the spot where he was standing as soon as he saw movement. I found myself getting hit quite a bit on this drill, much more than I had in previous pistol focused FoF classes. I couldn’t figure this out until Dale pointed out that I was telegraphing the takeoff by dipping my shoulder before I started my drop. I’m used to the regular Pekiti, so when I was trying to do the enhanced Pekiti, I was thinking about the shoulder drop to the point that I started it before the rest of the move. After he pointed this out I had somewhat more success, but I definitely need to practice the enhanced Pekiti, preferably on video or in front of a mirror so I can see if I’m telegraphing.

As we were doing this, it started raining pretty hard. After running the drill a few times, Gabe had us start tracking the student getting off the X and trying to hit him with follow up shots, rather than just launching one round at the X. This emphasized the need for continued movement, and gave students an idea of how long the takeoff gave them to get rounds on target before the opponent’s muzzle will catch up with them.

Around the time the rain let up, we began our last drill of the day. This time both students involved were armed both students with airsoft rifles. Rather than holding the other at gunpoint, the bad guy student initiated the drill by coming up from low ready while the good guy tried to get off the X and shoot the bad guy before he got shot himself. Several students fell, one of them on the stock of one of the airsoft rifles, snapping it. Dale managed to get it back up using copious quantities of duct tape, but the airsoft AKs definitely aren’t as durable as the real thing. We ran through the once each, then wrapped up for the day.

That evening, we were all invited for dinner together at SI headquarters. This was an excellent chance to talk with other students, SI instructors, and staff (including Gabe’s junior staff). It was also a chance to go through the One Source Tactical warehouse and buy stuff directly. They probably more than covered the cost of the food with the profit from the stuff that students bought. I saw lots of AK accessories go out the door.

Kalashnikov Rifle Force on Force - Day 2

In a surprising move for a rifle class, we began the second day with some kettlebell exercises. As Gabe said many times during the class, the rifle is a physical weapon. Compared to a pistol where you usually stand there and shoot (or move and shoot if you’re in an SI class), with a rifle you’re getting down into lower, more stable positions and getting back up, moving around hefting a heavy, somewhat awkward object, and even hitting people with it. All this requires a certain level of physical fitness if you want to get the most out of the weapon. Gabe really likes the kettlebell as an exercise tool, and many kettlebell exercises work muscles that are useful in combat rifle shooting. He and Dale demonstrated kettlebell swings, D.A.R.C. swings, the sumo lift, the high pull, snatches and the Turkish getup. Everyone had an opportunity to try each exercise. I’ve got a kettle bell, and I’ve done some training with it. I was really glad of the opportunity to do some of these exercises with some experienced guidance. Some kettlebell exercises, like the snatch, really rely on good form and if you do them incorrectly, you can seriously mess yourself up. Gabe also talked about integrating the kettlebell into rifle training, doing a set of snatches, then working with the rifle in dry fire. Or you can take the kettlebell out to the range and see how your live fire skills hold up after some vigorous exercise.

Getting back to firearms, we looked at options for being held at rifle point. When we worked rifle disarms yesterday, it was in the context of moving in from 5-10 feet away. Today, we started out at contact distance, with the rifle armed individual jabbing you in the back with his muzzle. Generally, you want to turn away from the muzzle and get yourself out of the line of fire as quickly as possible, then turn into the opponent and go for the disarm (if the muzzle is in the middle of the back, just pick a direction). If the fellow with the rifle is pushing or pulling you with his hand in addition to jabbing you in the back with the rifle, go with the direction of the push or pull. The hardest situation is when the muzzle is up against the back of your head. Gabe suggests flinching down and to the side to get out of the way of the barrel, then completing your turn and going after the gun.

While this wasn’t a pistol class, we also worked some pistol disarms, in part to illustrate how some of the same concepts work across categories. Pistols can be harder to disarm than a rifle, because they offer far less to grab on to. On the other hand, handguns expose much more of their operating mechanism, and by grabbing them in the right places you can either prevent them from firing (by preventing the cylinder of a revolver from rotating, preventing the hammer from going back on a double action gun or going forward on a single action gun) or make sure they only fire once (prevent the slide from cycling on a semi-auto). Gabe demonstrated a couple of simple disarms and had us work them a few times.

Our next subject was the AK versus contact weapons. We did most of this versus sticks, but it could apply to an opponent armed with a machete, tomahawk, knife, club, or even using his rifle as an impact weapon. The method we studied was to catch the incoming weapon in the crook between the magazine and the forend. For those who have seen the Die Less Often DVDs, this is like a premade dogcatcher, with the advantage that since it’s not made of your arms, you can catch blades in it as well. If you work it right, you can actually use the crook to strip the other guy’s weapon. This worked particularly well against the tomahawk, but if you twisted the rifle the right way, it also worked against the stick.

After a short lunch break, we did some AK versus knife work. This time, rather than starting at contact distances like we did with the stick, we gave the AK guy some standoff distance. We started out a 7 yards, representing the standard “21 foot rule”. With the rifle in patrol ready and getting off the X promptly, this was ridiculously easy, so we moved it in to 5, 4, and then 3 yards. As the distance closed, it became harder, and you needed to get a good takeoff to avoid the guy with the knife. In particular, the ability to move to the 5 and 7 o’clock lines while still getting the rifle on target becomes quite important. Guys who could do that well had a big advantage.

Gabe broke out the airsoft and we practiced versus the knife. Again, if you got off the X promptly and used the rear oblique lines the guy with the AK could get a few hits on the one with the knife before the blade got within range.

We switched back to airsoft AK versus airsoft AK and did a bit more GOTX practice. After duplicating what we’d done yesterday a couple of times each, Gabe talked about taking corners with a rifle. I’d learned the classic way of dealing with corners: pie the corner until you see your opponent, then roll out and shoot him. Gabe pointed out that if you can get a good, solid center of mass shot on the target, he can probably see you. Alternatively, if you work the corner well, you can get a look at his elbow or knee before he can see you and shoot him peripherally. This may be a good strategy if the corner you’re working is cover rather than concealment. If the corner is just concealment, the target’s reaction to being shot in the foot may be to empty his magazine into the wall where you’re hiding, which would really ruin your day.

Instead, Gabe suggested applying the same basic principles of getting off the X to working a corner. Pie the corner until you see some sign of the opponent, but he can’t see you. That’s the line of decision. Rather than peering gingerly across it, move explosively across that line and shoot the target on the move. When we ran this with airsoft the guy who was set up watching the corner almost always shot behind the guy who came around it.

As we were talking about corners, Gabe talked a bit about the basic principles of room clearing and how to handle it with one or two people. This was a bit of the preview of the CQB class coming up in August, and it has me looking forward to it even more.

We wrapped up the class with some discussion of the things we’d learned, not just in this class, but the previous five days. We talked about the need to shoot ambidextrously, getting off the X, point shooting the rifle, and the need to be physically fit to take full advantage of the rifle.

Kalashnikov Rifle Force on Force - Final Thoughts

This was a really great class. It flowed well from the Advanced AK class we did the previous two days, but it pushed things much further. I was really glad to get some zero to five foot stuff with the rifle. The rifle disarms and using it as an impact weapons are things that many people don’t pay enough attention to. I’ve been exposed to the get off the X stuff and the Pekiti takeoff before, but it’s always good to get it again. In particular, it was good to learn I was telegraphing the shoulder dip on the Enhanced Pekiti. The stuff on how to work a corner was really great, and has me chomping at the bit for the CQB class in August.

Kalashnikov Rifle Force on Force is an excellent class. It’s really the capstone of the Suarez International AK curriculum.

Annual Night Shoot coming up

There’s a Utah Polite Society night event at Hendricksen Range Friday,
July 11.

We plan to have four courses of fire at the night event.

Prior to the first exercise we plan to go over the use of several
techniques for using a hand-held flashlight with both a sidearm and a
carbine.

The first exercise is a skills exercise that will let you exercise several
different light techniques both free standing and from behind cover. You
will have the opportunity to shoot this exercise with either a sidearm, a
carbine, or both.

The second exercise is a simulated encounter where you respond to a home
invasion that starts with you in bed under the covers and involves opening
a door and clearing the adjacent room. You can use either a sidearm, a
carbine, or both for this exercise.

The third exercise is a simulated encounter where you are followed home by
a group of young gentlemen who pull into your driveway behind you and you
have to discriminate threats against the glare of headlights.

The fourth exercise is a skills drill that practices target
discrimination, shooting on the move, and utilizing cover while using a
light.

If you bring a carbine, make sure to arrive with it secured within a case.
A sling that allows muzzle down carry from one shoulder is also
recommended.

For those of you who are new to the use of flashlights with firearms, you
may want to purchase one that has a momentary tail cap switch. Big 5 has
a pretty good Smith & Wesson brand light on sale for $30.

Please bring your handgun (and related equipment) at least 70 rounds of
pistol ammo and a good hand-held light. If you have a carbine that you’d
like to shoot, bring it and 30 rounds of ammo.

As we would like to review flashlight techniques and do course of fire
walkthroughs before it gets dark, please plan on arriving at the range by
8:30 p.m. We plan to start shooting as soon as it gets dark.

As it’s more important you be familiar with our safety and range
procedures in a low light environment, we ask that only those who have
shot with us before attend.

We plan to limit the number of attendees to 25 in order to keep the group
to a manageable size. If you would like to attend, please reply to this
email, and I will send you a confirmation.

Event fee is $12.00.

June Event

Folks:

There’s a Utah Polite Society event at Hendricksen Range Saturday, June 7.

We plan to have two handgun exercises, a demonstration of handgun takeaway
techniques, takeaway exercises, and a set of carbine exercises.

Prior to the handgun exercises, we will demonstrate techniques for
shooting from the supine position. These will include shooting forward,
left, right, and upside-down and backwards.

The demonstration will be followed by a skills drill that has you shoot in
all these directions. If you’ve ever wanted to shoot upside down and
backwards, here’s your chance.

The second handgun exercise will be a simulated defensive encounter that
has you respond to a home invasion while flat on your back (as if you were
knocked down when your front door was forced open).

After the handgun exercises, Brinna will demonstrate several techniques
for disarming and/or disabling an adversary that’s holding you at
close-quarters gunpoint.

After the demonstration, we’ll team up with training partners and practice
these techniques with training guns.

We’ll break for lunch after the takeaway exercises. The kitchen at the
range has several menu options available for lunch in the $5 range. They
make a very good burger as well as other very tasty items.

After the lunch break, Robert’s going to start teaching us how to run our
carbines. If you don’t yet have a carbine, this would be a very good
chance to handle and/or shoot a few different kinds.

Here’s what Robert has planned.
Safety, establishing a working zero (the shooting part of the afternoon);
the pros and cons of zeroing at various ranges with the caliber of one’s
choice; problems created by a high line of sight over the bore line;
manual of arms for AR, AK and M1. The intent is to help someone, even if
they are starting from scratch, to get their rifle up and running.

When you bring your carbine to the range, please either keep it in its
case or place it in one of the rifle racks until Robert’s had a chance to
go over safety and range procedures with the group. There will be no
handling of carbines while others are downrange until carbine safety and
range procedures have been formalized.

Please bring your handgun, carbine, and related equipment. Bring 50
rounds of pistol ammo, and 80 rounds of carbine ammo (bring extra, if you
would like to shoot additional exercises or shoot steel after the
exercises).

Set up starts at 8:00 a.m.

New shooter orientation starts at 8:30 a.m.

Registration starts at 8:45 a.m.

Handgun shooting exercises start at 9:00 a.m. followed by hand-to-hand
exercises.

Lunch break will be at about 11:30 a.m.

Carbine exercises start after the lunch break.

Event fee is $12.00.

June Event

I thought I’d give you an early heads up for the June 7 Utah Polite
Society event and some other things we have in the works. For the June
event, we have pistol exercises, disarming exercises, and carbine
exercises planed. As we have quite a lot planned for this event, we’re
anticipating running the event into the afternoon. As always, the event
fee will be $12.

The pistol exercises will focus on shooting from the ground, as if you
were knocked down in an altercation prior to engaging your target(s).
These exercises are still in development, but we plan on demonstrating
ground shooting techniques, running a skills drill to reinforce them, and
then running a simulated defensive encounter that exercises them.

After the pistol exercises, Brianna is going to teach us some martial arts
techniques that can be used to disarm and/or disable a close-quarters
adversary holding you at gunpoint. After she’s demonstrated these to us,
we’ll each work with a training partner and a dummy gun to get a little
hands-on with them.

After the disarm exercises, we plan to take a short lunch break. The
kitchen at the range is now serving lunch, and will have a menu of lunch
dishes available in the $5 range. We took advantage of the lunch dishes
available at the range during last month’s Gunsite class, and they were
very good.

After the lunch break, we’ll start the first in our series of carbine
exercises that will run through the summer months.

Here’s what Robert has planned for the first of the carbine series at the
June event.
Safety: Establishing a working zero (the shooting part of the day); the
pros and cons of zeroing at various ranges with the caliber of one’s
choice; problems created by a high line of sight over bore line; manual of
arms for AR, AK, and M1. The intent is to help someone, even if they are
starting from scratch, to get their rifle up and running.

Here’s what he’s planning for the carbine exercises in July.
Marksmanship: Basic skill drills (the shooting part of the day). The
other subjects he would like to cover here are support systems: slings,
mags, mag carry system, sights, and maintenance. On day 2, a person can
use the sights that came on the rifle, a simple web, no sling, and load
from a back pocket. However, from here on, one needs to start building a
support system.

In the succeeding months.
Future subjects: Transition to pistol, low-light, the effects of cover on
various calibers, operation of a carbine with one hand only, and whatever
else the group would like to cover.

Keep in mind the carbine exercises aren’t exclusively for those with
“black rifles.” If you have a Ruger 10-22, a lever-action 30-30, or even
a bolt-action rifle that you would like to learn how to use defensively,
bring it to the event in June.

Also in June, we’re planning to do some longer-range carbine shooting in
Skull Valley. As part of this, we plan to do penetration tests on car
doors and windshields, as well as on sheetrock wall sections. In parallel
with the carbine exercises, we plan to run a 360-degree pistol exercise in
an adjacent canyon that offers 360-degree backstops. The tentative date
for this is Saturday, June 21.

In July, we plan to run a night event that will include both pistol
exercises and carbine exercises. This will be in addition to our regular
event, and is tentatively scheduled for the evening of Friday, June 11.

More later,
Harold Green

Lichtenberg Research

Yesterday, we spent the day building rifles with Rodger from Lichtenberg Research. I had a great time. Suggest that everyone check out their site. They have some cool AK 9mm conversions.

Good people
Good guns

Check them out.

Lichtenberg Research Link





Check out the Handguns sales page.


Robin Hood

Range info

When I talked with Dave at Hendricksen Range last weekend, he mentioned there was quite a bit of lead piled up behind the target backers on the public range that he’d like to get rid of. This is from bullets that stopped in the snow bank behind the targets over the winter and is now just laying on the surface of the ground behind the targets. If you cast your own bullets, are interested in free lead, and are willing to pick itup off the ground, stop in and see Dave.

Dave also mentioned he’d like to organize a work day or two sometime inthe next couple of months, and would very much appreciate any volunteerhelp anyone is willing to provide. He’d like help with some major maintenance issues like resetting the roof over the safety area on the fifty-yard range, and with several smaller cleanup and maintenance projects. We haven’t set a date for this yet, but it will likely be sometime in May and involve free food. If you think you might be willing to help with this, please reply in the comments.

Choosing a Defensive Handgun

In the previous article on What to Bring to a Utah Polite Society Event, I wimped out. Rather than delve into the potentially controversial topic of what sort of handgun is best for self defense, I just talked about what makes and models we commonly saw at our events. This post is intended to address choosing a defensive handgun more thoroughly.

Before we begin a couple of caveats: Which gun and caliber are best for self-defense is a controversial topic. Everyone from true high-speed low-drag operators to armchair commandos has an opinion. The advice in this article is based on my opinions. These opinions stem mostly from shooting at Utah Polite Society events, taking some classes from Gabe Suarez, and perhaps most importantly, watching other people, particularly novice shooters, at our monthly events.

The advice in this article is intended for novice shooters. I’d like to think that even some more experienced folks may be able to get something out of it. However, if you are an experienced shooter and you find something you disagree with, keep in mind just be something that doesn’t apply to you.

Second, this article is intended for folks who haven’t yet bought their first defensive handgun. If you have a handgun please don’t go run out and buy another gun just because your original choice runs contrary to the advice in this article. You will probably be better served bringing your current gun to a few of our events before making a decision. The gun you have may end up working fine for you. If you do decide to go out and get a different gun, having a bit of shooting experience under your belt will help you make a better choice. Reading this article is not a substitute for actual experience.

What Are You Buying a Defensive Handgun For?

A defensive handgun is not a magic talisman that will keep you safe from harm. Nor is it a magic wand that will force a bad person to do what you say. A handgun is a fighting tool, a killing tool, a tool of last resort which you may someday have to use to save your life or the life of a loved one. The ultimate question when trying to decide on a defensive handgun is, “Which gun will do the best job of keeping me alive?”

A lot of folks, particularly those who are new to concealed carry or who don’t have any practical shooting experience, seem to loose sight of this. Rather than thinking about a pistol’s fighting qualities, they concentrate on comfort or concealability. “How many rounds are shot in the average gunfight” is a perennial question on internet gun forums. The people asking it generally want to know the absolute smallest, least capable gun they can get away with carrying. This makes about as much sense as buying the minimum possible airbag, fire extinguisher, or parachute. A defensive firearm is a vital piece of emergency equipment, your life will depend on if you ever have to use it. Comfort and concealability are important, but they pale in comparison to a handgun’s fighting qualities. As Clint Smith says, “A handgun should be comforting, not comfortable.”

What’s Important When Choosing a Handgun?

If you frequent gunshops or internet discussion boards on the subject, you will be bombarded by opinions about what sort of pistol is best for self defense. Some folks will tell you that if your pistol isn’t a .45 you might as well be armed with a sharp stick. Others say that you need at least a dozen rounds before you can even begin to consider defending yourself. Every make and model has its own cheerleading squad trying to convince you that their favorite gun is the best.

The truth is the most important thing to look for when choosing a defensive handgun is a pistol that you can shoot well. Caliber and magazine capacity are important features, but the biggest hip howitzer in the world isn’t going to do you a bit of good if you can’t hit your assailant with it. Unfortunately, personal fit is where most gun buying advice, particularly on the internet, falls short. As I said in the equipment article, most people who tell you which gun you should buy are telling you what works for them, which may or may not have any relevance to what will work for you. That’s why this article is titled “Choosing a Defensive Handgun” rather than “What Defensive Handgun You Should Buy”.

The best pistol buying advice comes from someone who has some experience, and who has seen you shoot a pistol. If someone who knows what they are doing watches carefully while you are shooting, they can give you a lot of good advice. They can tell you how well your current gun is working for you, and where it may be falling short. They may be able to point you in the direction of some better options. This is another reason to hold off on buying a new pistol until after you’ve come to one of our events, since we have quite a few folks who can give you very good advice.

So what qualities are important in choosing a defensive handgun? Most importantly, you need to be able to shoot it accurately, misses don’t stop an attacker. It needs to work absolutely reliably, if it jams or breaks in a fight it could get you killed. Similarly, you need to be able to operate it in what will probably be the most stressful situation of your life, with a full fledged fight or flight reaction and adrenaline coursing through your veins. Finally, the rounds it fires need to be powerful enough to stop an assailant and the gun needs to hold enough rounds to disable all of the assailants.

Personally, I carry a Glock 21. It’s big, heavy, and ugly as sin. It has no character. It’s not going to impress firearms aficionados the way a high-end 1911 or a fine revolver might. No matter how long I carry it, it’s not a gun I’m ever going to love. None of that matters. What matters is that I shoot it well, it’s extremely reliable, and it carries 14 rounds of .45 ACP. I have concluded that it’s the handgun I want to have in my hand if someone is trying to kill me.

Finding a Pistol that Fits

The two most important parts of choosing a gun that will shoot well for you are getting a gun that fits your hand, and choosing a gun and caliber combination with recoil you can handle.

In finding a gun that fits your hand, the most important feature is the trigger reach. Trigger reach is the distance between the back of the grip and the trigger. When gripping the gun with your index finger held straight and resting on the trigger guard, the trigger should be next to the index finger’s middle knuckle. If the trigger reach is much too long, a shooter often tries to correct this by holding the gun incorrectly. When a pistol is gripped properly in one hand, the barrel should be in line with the bones of the forearm. If the trigger reach is too long, the shooter may grip the gun so that it ends up to one side of the forearm bones, rather than in line with it.

Proper Grip: Gun is aligned with the forearm.

Improper Grip: Too long a trigger reach means the gun is to one side of the forearm (exaggerated for effect).

While an inability to grip the gun properly is the most dramatic result of too long a trigger reach, there can be more subtle effects as well. If the trigger reach is too short, or slightly too long (but not long enough to force an improper grip) it can lead to “pushing” or “pulling”. When firing a handgun, it is important to pull the trigger straight back. If you pull to one side or the other, the act of pulling the trigger is going to push or pull the gun out of alignment with the target, moving the point of impact.

When shooting a gun with a single-action trigger (see Operating Systems, below, for a discussion of single vs. double action) the trigger should touch the pad of the trigger finger. A heavier, longer, double action trigger should touch the finger at the first joint. If the trigger reach is too long, the contact point will move towards the tip of the finger, pushing the gun to the left (for a right handed shooter) when the trigger is pulled. If the reach is too short, the contact point will move away from the tip of the finger, and a right handed shooter will pull the gun to the right. This is a much more subtle effect than an improper grip. One way to check is to “dry fire” the gun (pull the trigger when the chamber is empty and the gun is pointed in a safe direction). When dry firing, the sights should stay in alignment and not move as you pull the trigger. It is also possible to spot the results on the range. If you are consistently shooting to one side or the other, then your trigger reach may be too short or too long.

While the trigger is the most important control, you also need to be able to reach the gun’s other controls with your shooting hand. On a revolver, the cylinder latch should be within easy reach. On a semi-automatic you should be able to activate the magazine release and slide lock lever easily. If the gun has a decocker or a manual safety (see Operating Systems, below) you need to be able to reach those without moving your hand. When shooters with small hands are using a gun with a large grip, they are often tempted to activate these controls using their support hand, rather than the hand that’s holding the gun. This should be avoided, because the circumstances of a confrontation may require you to run the gun one-handed. Your support hand may be occupied carrying a baby, or holding onto a child, or it may have been disabled by injury earlier in the fight. One-handed operation is a critical skill that my not be possible if the gun is too big for your hand.

On the subject of magazine releases, some pistols come with a “heel” magazine release (sometimes called a “European style” mag release). Rather than being located near the base of the trigger guard, the magazine release is on the butt of the gun, near the bottom of the magazine. This position complicates the reloading process because you have to use the support hand to activate it. Pistols with this style of magazine release are not recommended.

Left-handed shooters face particular challenges in reaching the controls because, as with everything else in the world, most guns are set up for right-handers. Accommodations for southpaws come in three flavors. Left-handed controls are on the opposite side of the gun from their normal positions. Reversible controls can be placed on either side of the gun, allowing it to be set up for either right-handed or left-handed users. Ambidextrous controls are on both sides of the gun, allowing both right-handed and left-handed shooters to use the gun without requiring any conversion. Safeties and decockers are probably the most important controls that need to be set up for left-handers. Thankfully, ambidextrous and left-handed safeties are becoming increasingly common on modern pistols. Ambidexterous slide locks are available on some pistols, but unlike an ambidexterous safety or decocker, their absence is not a deal breaker. Whether you’re right or left handed, it is generally better to train to release the slide by pulling back on it, rather than using the slide lock lever. Some pistols also sport reversible or ambidextrous magazine releases. While convenient, these are not really necessary. Most right-handed magazine releases can easily be activated using the tip of the left index finger.

While the primary problem for people with smaller hands is reaching the trigger and other controls, the biggest problem for people with larger hands is having enough gun to hold on to. This problem comes in two distinct flavors, the length of the grip, and the circumference. It is far easier to shoot a pistol when you can wrap all of your fingers around it. However, some subcompact autoloaders leave the pinky finger dangling below the butt of the gun. Some guns come with finger rest extensions which attach to the bottom of the magazine to give your little finger a place to sit. In my opinion, if you need a finger rest to grip the gun properly, you might as well get a gun with a longer grip, since this will probably get you a higher magazine capacity as well as giving you someplace to put your little finger.

It’s usually quite obvious if a gun’s grip is too short. If the grip has too large a circumference the problem is more subtle. The best test of a handgun’s grip circumference is how well the support hand fits on the gun. If the grip is big enough, there should be a gap between the tips of the fingers and the base of the thumb. This gap is where the base of the support hand’s thumb should go in a proper two-handed grip. Fitting the base of the hand into that gap locks the support hand into your grip and helps it control the gun’s recoil. If the gun’s grip circumference is too small, there won’t be enough room to fit the support hand in there. The support hand may not have any direct contact with the gun at all, which means it isn’t contributing that much to handling recoil.

Too small a grip: Not enough room for the support hand between fingers and the base of the thumb.

Correct size grip: Room for the support hand between fingers and the base of the thumb.

This is actually a problem that I ran afoul of. My first defensive handgun was a Heckler and Kock USP Compact .45. The USPc is a fine gun, but it has a fairly narrow grip, especially for a .45. Since I didn’t have a lot of experience shooting other firearms, it took me several months to even realize a bigger grip might suit me better. I think that a big part of the reason I can shoot my Glock 21 better than my HK is that it has a nice fat grip, rather than the USPc’s slim one. This is a good example of how personal the fit of a gun is. Someone with smaller hands would find the USP compact’s grip just fine, but they might have trouble with the fatter grip of the Glock 21. This is why you need to find a gun that fits you, rather than a gun that fits someone else.

It is also possible for a guns grip circumference to be too large, but this is usually associated with too long a trigger reach or difficulty reaching other controls. It would be quite rare for a person to find a gun with a short enough trigger reach that also has a grip fat enough to give them difficulty.

Finding a gun that fits your hand is a lot like trying on clothes. With clothing, however, there is a standard sizing system that will at least put you in the ballpark. There isn’t really anything similar with handguns. Most manufacturers don’t even publish the length of the trigger reach for their firearms. I can provide some general advice so you don’t have to try out every gun in the gunshop to find one that fits you. If you have large hands, you’d be best off looking at pistols with high capacity “double stack” magazines. These generally have beefier grips with large circumferences. If you have very small hands, your best bet will be to look for guns with single stack magazines. You may also want to stay away from .45 caliber handguns, because the length of the round contributes to a relatively long trigger reach. If you have average size hands, you have the biggest range of options, since all but the biggest and smallest grips will probably work OK for you.

Several manufacturers have introduced pistols with replaceable backstraps. These are plastic inserts that attach to the back of the grip that can be switched out to accommodate different sized hands. They primarily alter the trigger reach, but adding a bigger backstrap will also increase the circumference somewhat. Currently, the Smith & Wesson M&P and the Heckler & Koch P2000, P3000, and HK45 pistols are available with interchangeable backstraps. Most gunshops display these guns with the medium size backstrap. If you are looking at one of these pistols and it seems too large or too small, ask which backstrap is on it at the moment, and if they could let you hold it with a larger or smaller one attached.

Handling a gun and seeing how well it fits your hand is a good way to tell if a gun isn’t going to work well for you. If you know what to look for (which you hopefully do after reading this article) it’s easy to tell whether the grip is too big, or too small, or it’s too difficult to reach the trigger or other controls, just by handling the gun. However, the only way to really know if a gun is going to work for you is to shoot it. If you know a friend who owns the same gun, ask if you can put some rounds through it. Otherwise, try to find someplace that rents the gun you want to buy and try it out. Popular guns are usually fairly easy to find. Almost any place that rents guns will have Glock and Springfield XD pistols available. However, if the gun is an uncommon or niche model, it may be difficult to find someplace to rent it. This is another argument for following the crowd when it comes to handguns. I would recommend putting at least 50-100 rounds through the rental gun before you decide to buy. In the Salt Lake City area, you can rent pistols at Impact Guns (4075 W 4715 South in Salt Lake City and 2710 S 1900 West in Ogden) and Doug's Shoot'n Sports (4926 S Redwood Rd in Salt Lake City).

The biggest things to look for when test-shooting a pistol are how accurately you can shoot the gun and how well you can recover from recoil. Determining how accurately you can shoot is fairly easy, the target will tell the tale. If you are new to pistol shooting, it may be worthwhile to attend a basic class, like the NRA’s First Steps or Basic Pistol courses so you can learn enough fundamental shooting technique to compare different firearms.

Recovery from recoil is a little more subjective. The biggest factor here is generally not the rearward force of the recoil, but muzzle flip. Muzzle flip is how high the muzzle of the gun rises during the recoil. With the proper stance, the entire body can absorb the rearward recoil force, but absorbing muzzle flip is largely dependent on how well you can grip the gun. With a high muzzle flip, it will take longer to get the sights back on target for the next shot. The amount of recoil depends on both on the characteristics of the caliber and the characteristics of the gun.

In general, larger, more powerful cartridges will produce more recoil (see Caliber below for a discussion of different cartridges). However, the feel of the recoil can vary with different calibers. High velocity cartridges like the .357 SIG, .357 magnum, and .40 S&W tend to have a very sharp, “snappy” recoil. Lower velocity rounds like the .38 Special and .45 ACP have more of a push. Because of this many people find the recoil of a .45 easier to handle than the .40, despite the .45 being a bigger, more powerful round.

The most important feature of the gun itself that affects recoil is its weight. A heavier gun will help absorb the cartridge’s recoil better than a lighter one. Some manufacturers make essentially the same gun in a variety of frame materials, which can substantially affect how much they weigh. 1911s and revolvers are available in both steel and aluminum alloy frames. Kahr makes most of its pistols with a choice of steel or polymer (plastic) frames. The alloy and polymer-framed guns are lighter and easier to carry, but more difficult to shoot. Barrel length also has an effect on recoil (in addition to the heavier weight of the longer barrel). Longer barrels help soak up recoil and reduce muzzle flip by moving the gun’s center of gravity further forward.

The other big factor that affects a gun’s recoil is its bore axis. Bore axis is the vertical distance between the top of the shooter’s hand and the centerline of the barrel. Guns with a high bore axis have a lot of muzzle flip. While guns with a lower bore axis tend to have less muzzle flip, they have more of a direct backwards “punch” into the web of your hand. Revolvers tend to have a very high bore axis, as do some models of autoloader, like the Heckler & Koch USP. Glock pistols are known for their low bore axis.

Finally, semi-automatic pistols have less recoil than revolvers, because some of the recoil energy is used to cycle the slide. Effectively, the slide functions as a shock absorber.

All of these factors combine to produce a gun’s felt recoil. There is a tendency to focus on the cartridge when talking about recoil, but you cannot look at it in isolation. For instance, the .45 ACP is a much more powerful cartridge than the .38 Special. However, a .38 fired from a snub-nosed lightweight alloy revolver with a high bore axis will have a much more punishing recoil than a .45 fired from a long barreled, steel framed, semi-automatic. If you find the recoil on a gun that you’re test firing too severe, consider moving to a larger gun or a smaller cartridge (see Handgun Sizes below for a discussion of different size handguns). The best case for recoil is a full-size steel-framed 9mm semi-automatic like the Beretta 92FS or the Browning Hi-Power. The worst case is a snub-nosed, alloy-framed .357 magnum revolver with a high bore axis. Shooting a box of full-power ammo through such a gun can even leave the web of your hand bloody. One additional thing to keep in mind if you’re a novice shooter is that your ability to handle recoil is going to improve quite a bit with training and practice.

In an effort to reduce muzzle flip, some shooters use compensated handguns. A compensated gun has holes or slits drilled or cut in the top of the barrel near the muzzle. When firing, some of the hot gasses escape through these openings and help reduce muzzle flip. While they can be effective at reducing recoil, compensated guns are not recommended for defensive use. If you have to shoot from with your gun close to the body, you’ll catch your own muzzle blast from the ports. The flash from the compensator ports can also interfere with your night vision.

Reliability

One of the most important characteristics of a defensive handgun is reliability. A defensive firearm is a piece of lifesaving equipment. It is absolutely vital that it works properly every time. If you are in a self-defense situation and your pistol fails to function properly it could well get you killed. You are betting your life on this gun, reliability is important! In fact, the only reason I didn’t list reliability first is that there are so many reliable handguns on the market today. It’s not difficult to find one. While certain brands, like Glock, have a particularly solid (if not legendary) reputation for reliability, a modern gun from almost any major manufacturer is probably going to be quite reliable. Manufacturers like CZ, FN (Browning), Glock, Heckler & Koch, Ruger, SIG, Smith & Wesson, Springfield Armory, Steyr, Taurus, and Walther all produce highly reliable firearms.

However, even the best manufacturer turns out the occasional lemon. This is why it’s important to test your carry pistol before trusting your life to it. It’s not enough to know that Glocks are reliable, you want to know if your Glock is reliable. To this end, I would recommend shooting several hundred rounds of practice ammunition and at least 50 rounds of your chosen self-defense ammo before trusting your life to a pistol. These rounds should be 100% malfunction free. This may seem like a very high standard, but it is your life that’s potentially at stake here. If there are any malfunctions, either figure out what the problem is and fix it, or if you think it was some sort of fluke, fire several hundred additional rounds (or another 50 rounds self-defense ammo) before deciding the gun is ready for service. Some manufacturers recommend a break-in period. Malfunctions during break-in are not necessarily cause for concern (that’s why there’s a break-in period, after all) but you should still fire several hundred additional rounds after the break-in is over.

As mentioned in the equipment article, magazines are the number one cause of malfunctions in semi-automatic pistols. Damaged or improperly manufactured mags are the quickest way to turn a reliable pistol into a jam-o-matic. Don’t buy cheap aftermarket magazines for self-defense use. Stick with factory magazines or a high-quality aftermarket manufacturer like Mec-Gear. If you are having trouble with a semi-auto, mark your magazines so you can tell them apart and keep track of which ones are in the gun when you have problems. If a magazine keeps giving you trouble, get rid of it.

Semi-automatic pistols can also be sensitive to ammunition. If the ammunition is too weak, it may not fully cycle the slide, causing feeding or ejection problems. Hollowpoint ammunition can cause feeding problems as well. Certain pistols just don’t seem to like certain brands of hollowpoints, which is why it is so important to test your carry ammo in the gun you are going to be carrying. If you have reliability problems and have eliminated magazines as the culprit, try switching to a different brand of ammunition

The one exception I would make to the general statement that most handguns are reliable is 1911 style pistols (the classic Colt .45 automatic, clones of which are now manufactured by many different companies). This is not to say that 1911s cannot be reliable; a great many of them are. However, the 1911 is an older design that demands more care and precision from the manufacturer than more modern designs. There are many different manufacturers of 1911 pistols and not all of them produce a gun with the same level of care and quality. The 1911 was also designed long before the advent of modern hollowpoint ammunition and was designed to feed round-nosed bullets. The feed ramp needs to be modified to feed hollowpoints well. Most current production 1911s come this way from the factory, but if you buy one that doesn’t, or have an older gun, you’ll need to take it to a gunsmith if you want to shoot hollowpoints through it. In addition, the 1911 is probably the most popular pistol for shooting competitions, which has created demand for very accurate pistols. That accuracy sometimes comes at the cost of reliability. Highly accurate pistols are generally “tight” with little clearance between moving parts. This is fine for competition, but the standard of reliability for self defense is different. If you pistol jams up in competition you may loose the game, if it jams up in a self-defense situation, you may loose your life. If you want to carry a 1911 for self defense, get one from a manufacturer with a good reputation for producing reliable, high quality pistols like Kimber or Springfield Armory. Buy high quality magazines from Chip McCormick or Wilson Combat. Shoot at least 500 rounds to break it in and test it rigorously with your carry ammunition before trusting your life to it.

While reliability is largely independent of the shooter, there is one type of reliability problem that’s going to vary from person to person. This is called “limp wristing”. For a semi-automatic pistol too operate, the frame of the pistol (the lower half, including the grip and trigger) needs to be held steady enough while the gun recoils so the energy of the bullet can cycle the slide. If you have a weak grip or weak wrists, you may not be able to hold the frame steady enough during recoil. This can be a particular problem with very small semi-autos, which don’t have as much mass to help you hold it steady. If limp wristing is a problem, you may need to develop more strength in your hands and forearms or get a bigger handgun. In extreme cases, switching to a revolver may be warranted.

Systems of Operation

So far, this article has talked mostly about what qualities a good defensive firearm should have. It should be reliable and it should be something that you can shoot well. Both of these are important, but also fairly abstract. You can’t look at a gun’s specifications on the internet and figure out whether it would be reliable or shoot well for you. Now, we’re going to get into more concrete characteristics. We will eventually get around to talking about caliber and capacity, but for the moment I’m going to focus on a gun’s system of operation.

Most defensive handguns can be divided up into four categories: double action revolvers, point and shoot semi-automatic pistols, semi-automatic pistols with decockers, and semi-automatic pistols with manual safeties. These four categories differ primarily in how complex the controls are: revolvers are simplest while semi-auto pistols with manual safeties are the most complicated.

Double Action Revolver – Double action revolvers are the simplest and most reliable type of handgun. Every pull of the trigger will fire a bullet until the cylinder is empty. There are no other shooting controls to worry about besides the trigger. If a revolver malfunctions, all you have to do is pull the trigger again and it will fire the next round. This simplicity makes the revolver a good choice for self-defense, but it comes at a cost. Most obviously, a revolver’s ammunition capacity is strictly limited. Most revolvers are limited to five or six rounds, while semi-automatics are available that can hold double or triple that (see below for a discussion of ammunition capacity). Revolvers also take longer and are more difficult to reload than a semi-auto. Finally, while learning to use a revolver is simple, the trigger of a double-action revolver is difficult to master. A double action revolver trigger has to raise the hammer, rotate the chamber, and release the hammer. In order to accomplish all this, the trigger pull has to be long and heavy which can reduce accuracy, especially for the novice shooter. Despite these drawbacks, they are still a good choice for many people.

There is one other type of revolver, the single action. Single action revolvers require the shooter to cock the hammer between each shot. They can be quite accurate, beautiful, and are historically interesting. However, there are much better options available for self defense. I would not recommend anyone rely on a single action revolver for protection. If you want to have fun shooting your old west style gun, take up Cowboy Action Shooting. Leave personal defense to more modern designs.

Point and Shoot Semi-Automatic Pistols – There is no established term that covers all the pistols in this category, so I’m going to call them “point and shoot” pistols because that’s all you’ve really got to do. Like a revolver, the only shooting control is the trigger. The first guns in this category were Double Action Only (DAO) semi-autos. DAO pistols operate just like double action revolvers, all you have to do is pull the trigger. Unfortunately, most DAO autoloaders have a very long, heavy trigger pull, which makes them difficult to shoot accurately. Long heavy triggers are necessary because the trigger pull has to cock the hammer, rather than just releasing it (a double action revolver trigger does the same thing, but due to mechanical differences between a revolver and a semi-automatic, revolvers are generally smoother and easer to shoot than DAO autoloaders). True DAO semi-automatics never proved all that popular, except with some law enforcement agencies which felt that the heavier trigger pull was better from a liability perspective (never mind that most of their officers couldn’t shoot well with it).

Rather than making the trigger do all the work, newer pistols in this category use the cycling of the slide to cock the hammer or striker most of the way. Pulling the trigger accomplishes the last little bit of cocking, then releases the hammer or striker. This gives these pistols a trigger pull somewhere between a double action and a single action. The first pistol with this sort of trigger was the Glock, but today it’s also available in on all Smith & Wesson M&P and Springfield XD pistols. SIG and Heckler & Koch also offer some of their pistols with this sort of trigger, under the names DAK and LEM, respectively.

Semi-Automatic Pistols with Decockers – Semi-autos with decockers, also called Double Action/Single Action (DA/SA) autoloaders, are somewhat more complicated to fire than point and shoot semiautomatics. These pistols have a double action trigger pull on the first shot, similar to a DAO pistol. For subsequent shots, the action of the slide will recock the hammer, giving a much lighter single action trigger pull. Jeff Cooper called these pistols “crunchentickers” because of the hard “crunch” of the first trigger pull, followed by the much lighter “tick” of subsequent shots. This difference between the first and subsequent shots makes DA/SA pistols somewhat more difficult to master than point and shoot handguns.

The single action trigger pull is light enough that it’s dangerous to carry a holstered pistol in this condition, so DA/SA autoloaders all come with a decocking lever. The decocking lever lowers the hammer, returning the pistol to its double action state with a long, heavy trigger pull. The need to operate this decocking lever adds an additional layer of complexity to the pistol’s operation. However, this doesn’t require quite the same level of practice that disengaging a safety does because you don’t have to deal with the decocker until after a deadly force confrontation is over. For safety reasons decocking the pistol needs to become an automatic part of your holstering process.

Semi-automatic pistols with decockers are available from SIG, Beretta, HK, CZ, and a variety of other manufacturers.

Semi-Automatic Pistols with Manual Safeties – All of the previous categories had one thing in common, if you need to shoot the pistol, you just point it at the target and shoot. With a semi-automatic pistol with a manual safety, you must disengage the safety before firing. It takes a lot of practice to be able to do this reliably in a stressful situation. The benefit of all that practice is a much lighter, crisper trigger pull than any of the other systems of operation. Autoloaders with manual safeties are Single Action (SA) pistols. All the trigger does is release the hammer, so it doesn’t need to travel nearly as far or be pulled with as much force. These pistols are carried in what’s called “Condition 1” or “cocked and locked” with the hammer back and the safety engaged.

By far the most popular SA autopistol is the classic 1911. Other pistols of this type include the Browning Hi-Power (a kissing cousin of the 1911) and some models from HK, Taurus, and other manufacturers.

One last type I should mention are pistols that have both a manual safety and a decocking lever. These come in two different types. Heckler and Koch and Taurus make pistols that allow you to activate the decocking and safety functions separately. If you move the lever one direction (down) it acts like a decocker. If you move it the other direction it acts like a manual safety. These guns are quite versatile. They can be carried cocked and locked like a 1911 or decocked and unlocked like a SIG. It is also possible to carry them decocked and locked, but, like wearing both suspenders and a belt, this is rather redundant. If you buy one of these pistols I highly recommend picking one way to carry (cocked and locked or decocked and unlocked) and sticking to it.

The other combination of safety and decocker is seen on some Berettas (including the current U.S. military service sidearm, the M9), older Smith & Wesson autoloaders, and some pistols from other manufacturers. On these pistols the safety/decocking lever has only two positions. In the up position, the weapon is ready to fire. The down position decocks the weapon and engages the safety. Thus the gun cannot be carried cocked and locked. Your only choices are decocked and unlocked, and decocked and locked. As mentioned earlier, having both a stiff double action trigger pull and a safety is redundant. These pistols should be carried with the safety/decocking lever in the up position. As Jeff Cooper put it, “Don’t get caught with your dingus down.”

This is one place where I’ll give a more definite recommendation, rather than general guidelines. For defensive use, particularly for the novice shooter, I recommend either a double action revolver or a point and shoot semi-automatic pistol. For a new shooter who’s planning to come to a Utah Polite Society event, I would recommend a point and shoot autoloader. Despite a challenging trigger, the simplicity of a revolver makes it a good choice for someone who’s not going to put a lot of effort into learning how to run their gun. However, if you have enough interest in learning to defend yourself that you’re going to show up for one of our events, you are probably willing to put in the extra effort to learn to operate a slightly more complex firearm.

I’d like to emphasize that this doesn’t mean that guns with safeties or decockers are bad. Any of these systems can make a fine defensive pistol. However, pistols with decokers and safeties require more training and practice than revolvers or point and shoot autoloaders. If you carry a pistol with a manual safety, you need to be able to disengage that safety every time you draw, even when your heart is pounding, adrenaline is flowing, and you are in fear for your life. If you carry a DA/SA pistol, you need to learn to shoot with two completely different trigger pulls and transition between them under extreme stress. Building up your muscle memory to this sort of level requires thousands of repetitions to develop and regular practice to retain. Before deciding to carry a pistol with a manual safety or a decocking lever, be realistic about whether or not you are willing and able to put in that much time. In addition, keep in mind that until this becomes automatic, while you’re shooting you’ll have to devote more attention to running your gun and less attention to shooting skills, tactics, movement, and other skills that we try to develop at our events. This is why I recommend one of the simpler options for novice shooters.

Caliber and Capacity

The fundamental truth is that handgun bullets are wimpy. Regardless of what you see in the movies or on television, one shot is not going to catapult someone across the room and drop them dead in a heap on the floor. A rifle or a shotgun stands a pretty good chance of taking down an assailant with one shot, but with a pistol, physically stopping an assailant with one hit is unlikely. One bullet may be enough to discourage them from continuing to assault you, but unless you hit them in the head (a tricky proposition against a moving target in the stress of a gunfight) it isn’t going to physically stop them immediately. Stopping an assailant with just two hits is also unlikely. A more realistic assessment is that a determined assailant may soak up 3-6 hits before he stops.

A second factor to consider when deciding how large a magazine capacity you want is the possibility of multiple assailants. According to the National Crime Victimization Survey more than a third of all robberies involve two or more robbers. The need for multiple shots against each attacker and the threat of multiple attackers combine to make large magazine capacities seem like a really good idea.

The width and length of the magazine (and thus the width and length of the grip) and the caliber are the main factors in determining how many rounds a handgun can hold. The traditional pistol magazine is what’s called a ‘single stack’ mag. The rounds are stacked one directly on top of the other in a fairly thin magazine. Most modern pistols use a ‘double stack’ magazine. In a double stack magazine the rounds alternate between being offset to the right and left. Double stack magazines hold more rounds, but require a fatter grip on the gun, making them difficult for people with small hands to use. Recently some pistols have been introduced that have staggered rounds, like a double stack, but are narrower than a traditional double stack. These are found in the S&W M&P .45, and the HK USP Compact .45 and HK45. They can be a compromise between capacity and grip size.

While all handgun bullets are wimpy, some cartridges are less wimpy than others. Larger bullets will create bigger wounds, increasing blood loss and making it more likely that they’ll clip something vital. Faster bullets will penetrate more deeply and are more likely to reach an assailant’s vital organs, particularly after passing through cover.

The most popular personal defense cartridges for revolvers and autoladers are listed below. Each list is ordered from least powerful to most powerful.

Revolver Calibers

• .38 Special
• .357 Magnum

Semi-Auto Calibers

• 9mm
• .357 SIG
• .40 S&W
• .45 GAP
• .45 ACP

When using modern hollowpoint ammunition, any of these calibers will serve acceptably for self defense. In an autoloader, the 9mm, .40 S&W and .45 ACP are by far the most popular self-defense calibers. In my opinion one of these is probably the best choice. There’s nothing wrong with the .357 SIG or the .45 GAP. Either round provides perfectly acceptable performance for personal defense. However, the fact that these cartridges are less popular means there is a smaller selection of self-defense ammunition available and practice ammo costs considerably more than the more common calibers. How much practice you get has a much larger effect on how well you’ll do in a defensive encounter than which caliber you choose, so unless your ammunition budget is very large, you’re probably better off with one of the more popular calibers. This goes double for even more niche calibers like 10mm or .41 Magnum.

Some people feel that the .380 ACP is an acceptable self-defense cartridge. However, the .380 isn’t a very fast round, and hollowpoints in this caliber often fail to expand or, of they do expand, fail to penetrate deeply enough. I wouldn’t recommend it. I definitely wouldn’t recommend any smaller caliber (.32 ACP, .25 ACP, or .22 LR). None of these is powerful enough to perform reliably in a self-defense situation.

Larger calibers, such as the .44 Magnum, certainly pack enough punch to be an effective personal-defense round. However, these powerful cartridges have considerable recoil, slowing follow-up shots. Most shooters are probably better served by a less powerful round that can be shot more quickly.

The 9mm, .357 SIG, .40 S&W and .45 GAP all have the same overall length. This allows most manufacturers to use the exact same frame for pistols in all four calibers. If a pistol in one of these calibers fits your hand, the same model in another caliber will probably fit the same way. Their recoil characteristics do differ, so the main factor is going to be how each round shoots for you. A .45 ACP cartridge has a longer overall length, requiring the pistol to have a bigger grip and a longer trigger reach.

While more powerful calibers are better, there’s always a tradeoff between caliber and capacity. If you can wrap your hand around a double stack .45 and a double stack .40 and can handle the recoil in both calibers, the .45 is probably the better choice, even if it carries a few less rounds. Similarly, if your hand size limits you to single stack pistols, a .45 is probably a better choice than a 9mm (again, assuming you can handle the recoil). However, if the choice is between a double stack .40 and a single stack .45, I would take more rounds in the smaller caliber. A .40 may not be as powerful as a .45, but 15 .40s will probably serve you better in a gunfight than 10 .45s.

Gun Size

One topic that hasn’t been covered yet is how big a gun you should buy. Autoloaders are generally grouped into three size categories. Full size guns have a barrel around 5 inches long and full length grips. Compact guns have a barrel around 4 inches long and may have a somewhat shorter grip. Subcompact guns have a barrel length of around 3 inches and often have grips so short that they cannot accommodate most people’s little finger. These days the size of the gun and the size of the grip are somewhat independent of each other. It’s possible to find a full size gun with a small grip and a subcompact gun with a fat one, so most people will be able to find a gun that fits their hand comfortably in whatever size they want.

In general, large guns are easier to shoot. A longer barrel allows for a longer sight radius (the distance between the forward and rear sights), and their greater weight helps soak up recoil. A fullsize gun may also carry more ammunition than a compact, and the compact almost always has a bigger capacity than a subcompact. The grip on a subcompact may be short enough to make it difficult for a person with large (or even average sized) hands to keep a good hold on.

Many people feel that a smaller gun is more comfortable to carry and easier to conceal. While there is some truth to this, it is possible for most people to carry a fairly large gun, provided they are using a good holster and gunbelt (see the Equipment post for recommendations in this regard). If you can “dress around the gun”, concealing a fullsize weapon is quite doable. If your job or other activities don’t allow you to wear a good cover garment (a jacket, vest, or untucked shirt), then a smaller gun may be your only option. The other part of this equation are the consequences if someone spots your gun. If your employer has a strict no-gun policy and getting “made” means being fired, then a smaller pistol may be advisable. If having your gun spotted will prompt nothing more than some good-natured ribbing for carrying so obviously, then erring towards a larger gun could be the better choice.

Finding the Perfect Gun

At this point, I’m sure a lot of the novice shooters reading this are thinking, “Enough already! Can’t you just tell me what to get?” (the more experienced shooters are probably thinking, “This guy is an idiot! Why am I reading this?”) Because what pistol will work for you is such a personal thing, I’m still not going to tell you what gun to get. However, I do have a plan for deciding what gun would be best for you:

Go to a gun store. Ask to handle a variety of models of the following types: Glock, Springfield XD, Smith & Wesson M&P, Heckler & Koch pistols with the LEM trigger, and SIG pistols with the DAK trigger. These are all point and shoot pistols and are all good choices for a defensive handgun. Don’t forget to ask about different backstraps for the M&P and HK P2000 and HK45 models. Figure out which of these pistols fit your hands well (use the advice I gave above to figure out whether a pistol fits your hand or not). Once you know which pistols fit your hand best, find a friend with one or a place that rents them and shoot each pistol in as many different calibers as you can. Figure out which pistol and caliber you shot best. Find someplace that has that gun in that caliber for a good price and buy it. Fire a few hundred rounds of practice ammo and at least 50 rounds of self defense ammo through it. Buy a holster and magazine carrier (see the Equipment post for recommendations). Come to a Utah Polite Society event with your new pistol!