Smallest good caliber gun for carry?

I carry either a 642 in 38 or a SP101 in 357. I figure my chances are about as good to be attacked by a two leg critter as I am a four legged one. I feel pretty well protected. I figure with a four legged critter trying to reason with it may not be as effective. I love animals and think they are great. I however have two small kids and I would not hesitate in the least to dispatch an angry or aggressive dog if it were to threaten them.
 
Kahr PM9

My most carried handgun is a Kahr PM9. Hides well and is potent with the right 9 mm ammo. I recently added a CT laser and it works well.
 
this is the way i look at it, you are carrying a gun for one reason, to defend yourself. do you really want to risk that your small caliber gun isn't going to stop the bad guy? a .32 is too small to be sure that it is going to put them down, same goes for any 9mm. any auto round smaller than a .40 isn't big enough for me and seeing as i don't like autos for cc i would go with the 38 special as the bare minimum and only if it's +p rated. i carry a .357 with a 3 inch barrel and 5 round cylinder. if you can't hit a target at least twice in 5 shots then you might as well spend time at the gym running cause that's what you're gonna need to get good at. if you have more than one baddy aiming a gun at you you should just cooperate, if they want to kill you you are probably going to die.
 
My "low end" is what I gun can carry where I'm going.

My all the time gun is either an old 9 shot .22 revolver or an even older .25 auto, with extra mag. Yeah, I know - but they are both very easily concealed and both have been extremely reliable...the .22 is much more accurate, and I even have a couple of speed loaders with it. (It's a 1955 High Standard Sentinel 3".)

I go up to .45 acp 1911 when I feel the need.

mark

the .22 is in my pocket right now.
 
While opining is fine, let's not be spouting silliness. I've sat through professional level lectures on firearms and read the literature. Some of the things being said are wrong about caliber effectiveness, chest pounding about marksmanship, etc.

We want to run a more professional debate - take the hint.

Glenn
 
There are many factors affecting concealed carry.

After weighing all the factors that affect me personally, this has been my choice for quite a while now. And I do continue to try different guns, but this one continues to work best for my situation.

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Different strokes for different folks, as they say.
 
@ lord tio

the 9mm is actually much more powerful than the .38 special, i would say about twice as powerful. even the makarov has more power than the .38 special. the .38 special is often percieved as being a strong round because it is a revolver round and because it is long but it is actually quite weak.

it goes like this:

.380 <<<<<<<<<< .38 special < makarov < 9mm

there are certain .22 lr rounds out there that pack more of a punch than the .380.
 
Excellent thread, some nice guns in here!


I daily carry a Ruger LCP in a Desantis nemesis in my front pocket, and a Glock 36 in a Comp-tac MTAC on my strong side. I do take the Glock off at times, and don't take it everywhere, but the Ruger stays all the time
 
Ok, if you want to give comparisons - go do some research on loads and post them. Saying X is twice as powerful as Y is not what I suggested.

This is a strong hint.

BTW, Doc450 - love that gun. I have one also. Like the grips. I'm tempted to change mine out. Rubber is not pretty.
 
Let's Just Say....

...the camp is so divided on this it doesn't make sense to ask it, it comes down to whatever you feel comfortable with. If you have to ask better go with a big gun.

The more you personally know the answer to this the smaller you can go.

My definition of small isn't about power, it's about accuracy. The smallest gun that can be shot really accurately is going to set the bar on size for me. It's somewhere around or between a Beretta model 86/87, SIG, or Walther.
 
the 9mm is actually much more powerful than the .38 special, i would say about twice as powerful.
Click to expand...

A quick look at my Sierra manual says different: About 350 ft/lbs for most "hunting loads" for the .38 Spec, around 400 for the hottest 9x19mm ..... I am sure there are +P loadings for both by Cor-Bon, Buffalo Bore, etc, but to be "twice as powerful" as the .38 special in terms of ME, you have to get into 700+ ft/lbs- That's .44 Magnum territory. Maybe by comparing the lightest .38 special target load to the hottest 9mm +P load out of a 6 inch barrel, you could make that statement true..... but you'd only be fooling yourself.
 
"even the makarov has more power than the .38 special"

Think again.

Even Corbon 9mm Makarov ammo isn't as powerful as Corbon .38 Special ammo.

Getting lost in discussions of "this cartridge is more powerful than that cartridge" misses a VERY important point -- in my opinion, the most important...

Raw foot pounds of energy isn't important. No handgun cartridge really has that much.

Bullet penetration and expansion is what is important. If you have to shoot someone with a bullet that generates 500 foot pounds of energy, but because of the bullet design it won't penetrate deeply enough to reach vital structures, then the only thing you've done is create a nasty flesh wound.

That's why I carry Speer 125-gr. Gold Dots in my .38 Special. They're proven to both expand full AND penetrate deeply. And they only churn out 248 ft lbs of energy.
 
Old school .38 Special (not +P) w/158 grain lead slug produced the Lee Harvey curl.

Modern +P Corbon DPX w/Barnes Bullets work even better.

Ammo is but one factor in the overall equation.
 
Nah...

The one real equation is shot placement, when that's right they all work. :D

The better the bullet the more latitude for a bad hit there is.
 
I'm probably going to start a rant with this, but oh well. one of my twins was attacked by a pit bull when they were young and the owner was connected enough that nothing was done to it. My other twin daughter got a pit when she moved out of town. It's not allowed at my house. you hear so many stories of the so called well mannered house pet pit bull turning on its owner or there children with no provocation, it's a fighting dog and was bread for that specific reason, even the most docile pit can turn in a second. my opinion, if it comes in the yard shoot it then worry if it was going to attack.
 
I have a S&W 6906 that is my usual carry. It's about 32 oz loaded. I am looking for a comfortable gun for carry, particulalry since I see my new neighbor has a pitbull that doesn't look friendly. I'm out in the yard with my kid all the time. I prefer a safety on a semi auto, so Glocks are out. I had a S&W 642 that was great to carry, but I never liked shooting it and I'd rather stick with a semi auto. I looked at the S&W CS45, but it's nearly the same size and weight as my 6906. Opinions would be appreciated.
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Homer,

You can get a Glock with a NY-1 or NY-2 trigger and up the triger pull to 8-10 lb. It can easly be fitted.

But the weight will not be much less than your 6906.

So maybe, as many suggested, a 6 shot DA revolver. Hard to find good Colt Detective Specials but you sure can find a S&W M10 2 inch snub. The Ruger DA revolvers, even snubs, are in the Glock 26 weight range.

Only the new, and expesive, 'TI' S&W revolvers will be light enough but easy to shoot well. And they ARE expensive!

How about a Makarov 9x18 Bulgarian pistol? They don't cost an arm and leg, have a safety, and with JHPs not really all that bad in power. And they are VERY reliable.

Deaf
 
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