What do you folks think of this....

Unless it has an easy drive to a beach, your last sentence is untrue.

where exactly do you live?

I'm not a beach lover myself. It is pretty & relaxing, but I've never spent enough time near the ocean to really develop a fondness for beaches. I love mountains though!

Mountains, pine trees, alpine streams and lakes. Anything else is just a compromise.

Another new Mexican?

Fuck a beach, give me hills, guns and horses.

Just outside of Seattle, Washington. It's shit.

I've got all that plus a beach.

Yeah, but it's humid. I hate that shit.

my daughter lives near Seattle. The pictures she sends of the surrounding area look pretty nice - I'll find out myself when I visit her soon.

It's green, it rains a lot, most people are asswipes, too many communists, too many bums, no place to shoot, can't hike, only river fishing.......and everyone drives like shit. I think I hit the basics.

Yeah, but the percentage of douchebags where your are is bordering on 100%.

Here, as long as you stay out of Austin and Dallas, the douchebag population is next to nil.

Yes my daughter (and my wife when she visited her) said it's bum and hippie central and the drivers are SUPER AGGRESSIVE just like everywhere in the west. But I'll find out for myself soon.

You can go fishing in Pugget sound and there are a few lakes. The sound has some pretty major environmental problems though like highest in the country PCB levels which making the orcas that live their die out. I am not sure I would want to eat the fish.

Even up there they are still desperately trying to compare themselves to California. So sad.

Yeah, you really wouldn't want to eat the fish out of the sound, or the Duwamish river. :gross:

There should already be a round in the chamber. No need to rack. The only time the bad guy should hear you rack your shotgun is after you shot him. If he's still alive.

Also it's very easy to miss with a shotgun at close range. Oldfella nailed it. The "you can't miss with a shotgun" saying is a myth.

But the main reason I'm replying is that you think perps are going to be scared if you rack a shotgun.

When someone is breaking into your house you the home owner have no idea what you're going to be facing. What are you going to do when you point that shotgun at someone and they shrug their shoulders and say, "so what?" A lot of criminals live in a world where death is a constant thing and eventually it turns into a cost of doing business thing. They don't want to die of course but the fear of dying is no longer there for them. At that point you better have shot that perp or he's going to take that shotgun and use it on you.

Also what happens when you find yourself standing in front of a criminal whose high on drugs and/or alcohol? Lot's of criminals in that situation think they are invulnerable. Remember they aren't thinking straight already.

I've dealt with people like that in the jails. They are so high that reality is no longer there for them. And here's something about people who are super-high or crazy: they have super strength. All our bodies have limitations put on it by our brains. You don't want to lift something that is too heavy of course so the brain stops you before you hurt yourself. But high on drugs/alcohol or just plain crazy that limitation is no longer there and you're facing someone where it might take 5-6 people to hold them down.

Some of these people won't even know you've shot them until they fall down dead!

Nope. Best thing to do when someone breaks into your house is to shoot. Don't try the whole "freeze or I'll shoot" thing. Don't rack the slide to try and scare them. If they are conducting a home invasion you should be shooting.

So did you get it? Frankly while any gun is better than no gun I think my spit has more stopping power than a .32 caliber. Hell you might as well buy a .22LR pistol that can hold thirty rounds and just pump all thirty rounds into the target.

If not just save up your money for a few months more and buy a .357 magnum revolver. The advantage is that you can use .38 specials to practice with or .357 rounds. Or you could just use .38 if cost is a thing for you. (and your ears since a .357 is hella loud )

Go through www.galleryofguns.com and use them. I just saw a Charter Arms revolver for $315. (before taxes and fees which bumps it up to $360)

If the bad guys aren't kicking in your doors you can probably go a few more months with the baseball bat and kitchen knives. Save your money for a good self defense caliber.

Heck if you don't care about brand or caliber you can get a new Taurus revolver in .38 Special for $245 before fees/taxes.

I know it won't put a pistol in your hand immediately, but any decent gun store will have layaway. You could get a good gun without having to pony up all of the money at once.

I bought my first rifle on layaway. Many years ago now.

Yeah, the pawn shop down the street has a good layaway policy, I might take advantage of that in the near future. In the meantime, Quick question: 380 acp, or 9mm?

9mm.

You can get compact and subcompact 9mm guns that are the same size as a .380 but without giving up the stopping power of the larger round.

Now those do have some...snap...when you fire them.

https://www.sportsmansguide.com/pro...ic-9mm-35-barrel-hard-case-8-rounds?a=1821444

Eh?

Unless they've improved their quality control I'd steer clear.

Against all advice a friend bought one a number of years ago and had nothing but trouble.

Plus they make the ugliest damn guns in the world.

9mm for two reasons......

1) Performance wise? Hands down the 9mm. It's simply a more powerful round and will out-perform the 380 ACP in everything. The 380 is basically a 9mm short. It's just not powerful enough to compete against a full size 9mm.

2) 380 ACP is a costly round compared to the 9mm. The 9mm is so common that it's costs to the consumers is lower per round than the 380 ACP. You simply have more choices in brands for 9mm then 380 ACP since 380 ACP is not produced in the great numbers that 9mm is produced.

Cost may not be a huge driver to you especially if you're not shooting thousands of rounds but it is one factor.

I've seen 9mm as low as 10 cents a round in FMJ. Good for practice. I don't have a 380 so I just checked the prices and the best I could find is 22 cents a round for a FMJ.

Obviously prices go up depending on what you're buying and whether you're buying for practice or for actual carry. For my Glock 43 9mm I shoot whatever FMJ 9mm I can pick up at Wal-Mart, Dicks or Bass Pro Shop for a good price. I'm not too picky on the brands. Last I bought was some Remington FMJ.

Now for what I carry when I have the gun on me is Hornady Critical Duty 9mm Luger +P 135 gr Flexlock. Twenty-five rounds for almost 25 dollars. Almost a dollar per round. But in a life and death situation I wouldn't care how much a round costs.

I'm thinking of switching to https://underwoodammo.com/shop/9mm-luger-p-115-grain-xtreme-penetrator-2
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If you have the choice I'd go with 9mm. No way would I pick up a .380 ACP if I could get a 9mm instead. Not for self defense purposes. If you wanted something to just play with at the range maybe I could see buying a .380 ACP but for CCW? Nope. It's gotta at least be the 9mm.

Nope.

I would suggest you stop looking at prices first.

Remember you're buying a gun not for fun. You're buying a gun because you feel you might need it one day to defend yourself or your wife.

I'm not saying you should go drop $1000 or more on some fancy handgun where often it seems you're paying more for the name on the gun than the actual gun but that the quality of the weapon should be the number one priority in your decision. How the weapon handles in your hand is second because the gun is no good if it gives you trouble while firing it. Price is third. Look of the weapon? Dead last.

You need the gun to work every time you pull that trigger. The wrong time to find out your gun sucks is when your life is on the line.

That doesn't mean price isn't a factor. It just means that it shouldn't be the first factor in the decision tree.

And cheap semi-autos like that Hi-Point is why Hi-Point may be in business but it will never be bigger than a gnat in the gun industry. You'd be far better off buying a revolver before buying that Hi-Point if it's CCW you're looking to do with the weapon.

those are pretty good. One place where I briefly worked as a security guard though wouldn't allow you to carry Taurus because they were a Brazilian company. You could only use US brands for some reason.