Thread: S&W 640 and 642
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Old 08-06-2010, 04:38 PM
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Martial Warrior Martial Warrior is offline
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Again, thank you for the welcome everyone. Many good points being brought up here. Some that bear further discussion.

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My recently deceased brother in law was a Federal police instructor and we used to shoot together regularly and he taught me a lot. His advice is always in the back of my mind. He used to go crazy at my 5 shot revolvers, telling me that those guns would get me killed in a fight. He was adamant that 6 shots was the minimum.
Having more rounds is always comforting. And we all base our opinions upon research and personal experiences. And not to disrespect your brother-in-law (RIP) in any way, shape or form but I would wonder what experience lead him to believe that a 5 shot revolver would get you killed vs. a 6 shot revolver?

As I mentioned, we all base our opinions upon research and personal experience. I've been on both ends of the barrel. I've been in four deadly-force situations in my career. The first was with my S&W 64 and the bad guy was approx. 7 feet away from me. The second was much later in my career with my Beretta 9mm. This was standing outside the driver side window and the bad guy in the passenger seat. Perhaps 5 feet at most. The last time with my side arm, this time my Glock 21 .45 ACP I was approx. 10 away and the bad guy was elevated about 12 feet above me. Direct line (without doing the math) would be about the same I suppose 10-12 feet. The longest was about 25 yards, but that time I had a 12g shotgun with rifled slugs and an aim point sight. That was a situation though I doubt any off-duty or private citizen would ever fing themselves in so it is the odd ball of the four.

My point is that typical situations are most often up close and personal. Statistically, most real world shootings are very few rounds. There is the odd 'rampage' types of shootings and of course Hollywood would have us believe different, but the last statistic I saw (and it was a while ago so might be dated) was something like 2.2 rounds per fight. That is both good guy and bad guy shooting. Don't hold me to that number, I'm going off memory and it very well may have gone up. But I don't think were looking at any where near double digits. Might be an interesting thing to research....

So most shootings are close range. But not all of them, and we could all be in a situation where a long range shot is necessary. But ask yourself this (anyone), would you take that type of shot? Shooting at a range, under no duress and with all the time in the world to line up the sights, squeeze the trigger, make adjustments etc is quite a bit different than being in a SHTF situation where your heart is pumping out of your chest and bystanders are a real possibility. Regardless of revolver/semi and regardless of how many rounds we have on us. Just a thought.

I like semi-autos and don't want to give the impression that I'm against them. Carried them for many years. Too be honest though, the two Glock 19's I had were nice, but overall just wasn't totally comfortable with them. Mostly because of the finger grooves. Worst thing Glock has done. I had an old generation one Glock 17 that I should have hung on to. Thing fit my hand like a glove and I could shoot very well with it. In fact, that was the gun I used not only at the FDLE firearm instructor academy but the Israeli firearm instructor academy as well. Should have hung on to it (20/20 hindsight).

My strategy for a deadly force situation is to remain as calm as possible. My last situation was on Memorial Day of this year so it is pretty fresh in my mind. During it, I never got an adrenaline dump and was able to calmly and logically think through the entire situation step-by-step. And I don't mind saying that a previous prayer for calmness in this type of situation was answered. I want to gain cover. I want to shield loved ones and get them to cover as well. Fortunately the Israeli training covered this sort of thing in great detail. It was also the most brutal combat training I've ever had. Imagine standing at the 3 yard line. Then you pick up your partner who is simulating that he's injured and put him in a firemans carry. You then run backwards with him on your back as you draw your sidearm, chamber it off your belt and engage multiple targets live fire while gaining cover. That was just one of the drills.

I'm probably being long-winded again, but what I'm trying to say is that my game plan involves more than the type of firearm I'm carrying or the amount of ammo. It is part of the equation but not the totality of it.

Just some rambling thoughts to throw out there
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Last edited by Martial Warrior; 08-06-2010 at 04:42 PM.
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