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Old 04-28-2013, 05:51 AM
shawn mccarver shawn mccarver is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Der Biermeister View Post
Someone on here once said -- he believes that for self defense, his calibers should begin with a 4. Not bad advice.
I have said that same thing. However, I am willing to make an exception with the Shield based upon 3 factors:

1. Weapon reliability trumps caliber. I still read too many reports of .40s dropping magazines.

2. There is a certain threshold at which capacity of the 9mm trumps the better stopping power of the .40 or .45 calibers. That threshold may be a different points for different people. To make an extreme example, there is no way on Earth I would choose that 2 shot Heizer/Double Tap thing in .45 (if it ever goes into full production) over a Shield in 9mm. The XDs comes closer, but it is still marginal as far as capacity goes - yes, 5 is the same as a J frame, but with the 9c, or Glock 26, for example, I can do slightly better ballistically than the J frame 38 and have the equivalent of 2 Model 642s in the same size package. Capacity is less of an issue as the weapon gets bigger. Fifteen .40s trump 17 9mms for me.

3. Finally, the snappier recoil of the .40 would make me tend toward the 9mm Shield for the same reason (although not by any stretch to the same degree) as I would choose the Airweight 642 over the .357 Magnum Airlight.

Others will decide this issue differently and I acknowledge that. I am merely explaining my reasons for choosing the Shield in 9mm over the .40.
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