Becoming a swordsman?

Vortex · Post by **Vortex** » 05 Oct 2008, 17:12

The 1911 is however a pig to shoot.

Cut my hand open the one and only time I fired one.

Give me a Browning HP 9mm any day.

Vortex · Post by **Vortex** » 05 Oct 2008, 17:18

Good!

Bad!

Pip · Post by **Pip** » 05 Oct 2008, 17:24

To be honest, to your average Joe Public, is not the effect of a gun mainly psycological? To a non gun expert, if I see one, I have no idea whether it fires pellets or bullets, or what it's lb/ft is, all I know is I do not want it to go off while pointing my way.......surely even a relitavely cheap but convincing looking air gun would have this effect of self defence at least in the early stages of any collapse of society?

Obviously if you have the misfortune that your adversary knows what you're pointing their way wouldn't harm a fly you have a bit of an issue, but I'm guessing that amoung the masses, these people are actualy few and far between

Vortex · Post by **Vortex** » 05 Oct 2008, 17:29

Good point Pip.

If the gun looks small and the holder is a some yards from you .. run like hell!

Pistols are hard to aim and the small ones are not always (instantly) lethal.

However if the gun person looks like they know what they are doing and/or the gun is a rifle or anything chunky and/or the perp is very close to you then do what they say!

Kentucky Fried Panda · Post by **Kentucky Fried Panda** » 05 Oct 2008, 17:52

Vortex wrote:The 1911 is however a pig to shoot.

Cut my hand open the one and only time I fired one.

Give me a Browning HP 9mm any day.

Don't blame your lack of skills on the 1911

Moot point anyway, handguns are verboten on this island and likely to remain so for evermore.
So if someone is pointing a handgun at you, it's either a fake, a deactivated display piece, illegally imported or in a copper's hand...

Catweazle · Post by **Catweazle** » 05 Oct 2008, 18:10

A pistol carried every day for once in a blue moon use needs to be simple and reliable with minimum maintenance, able to fire whilst in a coat pocket or even whilst jammed between two bodies. For me that means a stainless revolver with a shrouded hammer. It also needs to be useable by someone without regular practice (you don't want to attract attention with constant target practice, and ammo might be short anyway) so that rules out the "magnum" calibres. Many studies have shown that unless the opponent is wearing body armour ( unlikely, I'd have thought) a slow heavy bullet works better than a light fast one, so that rules out the 9mm. So I'm back to the 0.44 Special.

Kentucky Fried Panda · Post by **Kentucky Fried Panda** » 05 Oct 2008, 18:27

That's funny Cat, coz the .44 special was the calibre of choice of David Berkowitz, otherwise known as the Son of Sam...

Vortex · Post by **Vortex** » 05 Oct 2008, 19:49

Don't blame your lack of skills on the 1911

Ahem! I am (or was) a good rifle & pistol shot.

.22, .357 magnum or 9mm .. or paintball or crossbow ... no problem.

It was just that .45 which caught me out! Faulty ammo I reckon!

Vortex · Post by **Vortex** » 05 Oct 2008, 19:52

a slow heavy bullet works better than a light fast one, so that rules out the 9mm.

The 9mm has a 50% chance of killing ... less than that of the .45.

This is why NYPD switched to 9mm ... because most officers are shot with their own weapons, so they wanted a better chance of survival!

It's a question of balance!

Kentucky Fried Panda · Post by **Kentucky Fried Panda** » 05 Oct 2008, 20:08

I thought it was because some of the NYPD can't handle .45 ACP as it hurt their little hands...

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 05 Oct 2008, 20:43

There are some of us who would not be prepared to kill another person under any circumstances.

And the more people there are who take this view the safer the world is.

Andy Hunt · Post by **Andy Hunt** » 05 Oct 2008, 20:58

biffvernon wrote:There are some of us who would not be prepared to kill another person under any circumstances.

Easy to say but if you are confronted with someone whose intent is to rape your wife and kill your kids, your instinct may have other ideas.

MacG · Post by **MacG** » 05 Oct 2008, 21:04

Andy Hunt wrote:
biffvernon wrote:There are some of us who would not be prepared to kill another person under any circumstances.
Easy to say but if you are confronted with someone whose intent is to rape your wife and kill your kids, your instinct may have other ideas.

Yea. Like they say in court later: "I did not INTEND to kill him - I felt terribly threatened and it was like... an accident"

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 06 Oct 2008, 11:34

Yes, I was expecting such responses, Andy and MacG, which is why I said not be prepared to kill. Owning a gun means that you are prepared to kill. I'd rather not own a gun and remain unprepared.

That court defence, MacG, is weakend when you have to explain that you sleep with a loaded gun under your pillow.

Andy Hunt · Post by **Andy Hunt** » 06 Oct 2008, 12:32

I have a full-size ornamental Celtic broadsword hanging on the wall above my bed. It's not especially sharp, being for ornamental purposes only, but it is a metal sword and it is reasonably heavy, and would most certainly smash someone's skull if it came down on them with some force as they were coming up our stairs or into our room. It also has a sharp point which would probably pierce flesh fairly easily with a thrust, not that I have ever tried it on anything.

Of course I don't want to kill anyone, but I would like to be able to stop someone killing me if that was their intention.

Anyone who keeps an iron bar, kitchen knife or anything 'handy' in the bedroom in case of an intruder is prepared to kill. They have thought about it and taken steps to prepare themselves. That's a big difference from actually wanting to kill someone.

I would suggest that in reality, most people are prepared to kill, in an us-or-them situation. I would also suggest that most people would have to be forced into such a situation and would try to avoid it at all costs.