what caliber do you use, and what do bad guys use

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Does the spent case issue have more to do with fingerprints? I'm guessing most bad guys are loading by hand. Are conditions hot or rough enough in 9mm to erase prints?

One presumably retains the spend cases, with a revolver.
 
My handguns are scattered between 9, 40, 45 and 38\357 and of course 22.
And with the wealth of small 9mm guns available, why should I carry anything smaller?
My everyday carry is usually a 4006 S&W or a single stack 9mm. HD gun is what I carry. Never did understand special purpose HD guns unless u favor some type of long gun.
 
Indeed, what's in the safe, and the so-called Everyday Carry, can be a dozen different things.

Got darn near every popular pistol cartridge of the 20th Century represented in my gun safe.

Everyday in the console in the truck is a P220 in. 45 acp.

Just got back from a quick dash out to eat; Kel-Tec. 32 in the pocket.

People who carry guns should be realistic and pragmatic......not dogmatic.

What the bad guys are carrying pistol-wise has no influence on my immediate action drills.
 
9mm when clothing allows, otherwise a snubby 38 Special. The 9mm is a SIG P6, so it's comparatively heavy and bulky; I prefer its extra 3 rounds, but the snubby disappears far more easily. Either way, if I'm wearing pants, one of them is on me.
 
I did google research a year or so ago and could only find ONE(1) case that was aided by casing evidence. Two shootings were linked by casing data. However, at the time I searched, ZERO crimes were solved from the "fired case included with new gun data".
I've seen a number of cases where spent shell casings are compared against a suspect gun to determine if that gun fired the shots. This can be quite helpful in pinning things down. They may or may not also be able to compare bullets to the gun, depending upon how much of the bullet is recovered.

What do I have?
.45 acp
10mm
.38 spl
.357 mag
9mm
.380
.25 acp
.22

If anyone is interested, you can see exactly what is confiscated by police in Kentucky by looking at guns auctioned off by the Kentucky State Police. By law, all confiscated guns must be auctioned through KSP. Details from recent auctions downloadable at: http://www.kentuckystatepolice.org/conf_weapons/
 
Goolge ATF NIBIN. That is the ATF program that matches spent cases to the FA. It is similar to the FBI program that catalogs the projectile and matches it to the FA.

Numerous cases have been solved using this process when recovered casings get matched to recover FAs. Most PDs now test fire all their evidence FAs to catalog both the projectile and casing.
 
Just my $0.02 worth

What do bad guys carry? What ever they can acquire illegally. They do not care what they carry as long as they can get it. Bad guys 90-99% of the time carry what they can get their hands on. Nothing more.

There is too much TV influence on the apparent criminal opinion of the guns they carry. People watch "Sons of Anarchy" and other shows thinking bad guys have access to anything they want. Guns on the street are the most sought after items. Bar none. But they are, at a lot of times, hard to come by. They are sought after because they are not as available as you would think. They are out there, but not as easily accessible as one would think. Most criminal guns are simply stolen. The criminal gun is what ever is stolen. What ever is available. Most bad guys ditch their guns if they have any belief the police are looking into them and then seek another gun later.

And regarding what bad guys carry..? They usually carry what is popular for the general public. Because they steal what is popular with the general, law abiding public.

The law abiding public will generally follow police carry standards. Think about that. When did .40 S&W become popular? After the police adopted it, right? Just like 9 millimeter in the 80's and 90's. Prior to that it was the .38 Special. Cops carried .38 Special for decades. And yet it was the very popular while police carried it.

Remember, a self defense handgun is just that, as self defense handgun. The modern self defense handgun was NEVER designed to be a first shot kill weapon. It was simply designed for defense, not offense. Offense is for AK's and M4's on up... Yes, the modern magnum wheel gun like the .44 Magnum and up will produce first shot kills like an AK or M4. How many officers carry .44 Magnum or .454 Casull as a defensive sidearm? Dirty Harry was fiction.

So what is stolen today, will more than likely be used by the criminals.. So what you are carrying is what the bad guys will steal and carry.

Buy a good, strong safe. In home burglaries, firearms are the most sought after item. Secure your firearms..! We do NOT need to give more "ammo" to the left wing media to attack our second amendment rights.....
 
Fingerprints from a shell casing is an invention of TV. The heat from the powder detonation destroys the oil from the finger and any finger print.
 
I have owned a little bit of most everything over the years. 22, 32, 38, 357, 44 special, 44 Magnum, 45 Colt, 32 acp, 9mm, 45 acp...even a couple of 44 percussion handguns.

I've sold off most of my collection these days. Now it's a couple of 357's (Model 19's), and a 38 I carry (A S&W Model 12-2 airweight, IMHO the perfect carry revolver). Oh, I do have one 22 that I kept for plinking.

I figure they'll take care of anything I need or want a handgun to do.
 
WildBill45 said:
SO ... WHATS IN YOUR SAFE? For street use and home protection in regard to caliber, and why???

Both my HD and primary carry piece are 38+P because I like revolvers and I have confidence in the caliber.
 
The article referred to by the OP is from 1995. Hardly accurrate today. At that time, the Raven .25, and the Jennings .22 were about the cheapest thng you could find. .25 is pretty rare now, and budget companies are making cheap 9mm pistols. 9mm is probably number 1 for thugs, and thankfully they usually shoot cheap ball ammo.

.40 has become very popular for personal defense. 9mm is popular in small carry guns, and usually with good personal defense ammo. .380 is still popular as carry cartridge too, but underpowered to me. I'm still partial to the point and pull the trigger, snub nosed .38 with wadcutters for a carry gun, and a .357 w/JHP's for the home.
 
A lot of folks say they NEVER carry smaller than 9mm, but I bet folks that say NEVER, never carry everyday either...

That is a lost bet. There are lots of folks who carry 9 mm daily, including me (Glock 26). And I live in Florida, where it is hot for much of the year and people say it can't be done. Well, it can, and the G26 isn't even the most concealable 9 mm out there these days - there are plenty of 9 mm pistols that conceal easily.

My wife carries a little .380 (Sig P238) so that she can dress more stylishly with a smaller pistol.

We also have .22LR and .25ACP pistols that are, respectively, a range pistol and a novelty/keepsake, and other pistols in 9 mm that we don't carry regularly.

My reason for sticking with 9 mm is the usual combination of ammo cost and SD effectiveness, with minor considerations for capacity thrown in.
 
So far as the news items reveal, many crimes here in Memphis are committed with AK-47 lookalikes. Penetrate walls, windows, auto bodies. And they leave a bunch of empties around.

As for me, I carry a .44 Special as my daily companion:




Bob Wright
 
While interesting reading, the referenced report was produced in 1995. It details stats from the early 1990's.

Not exactly relevant two decades later: the OG's from that era have traded in their TEC-9's for walkers and canes ......
 
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