Dave Nowlin

I won't shoot at any range that won't allow me to keep my brass.  Period, end of story!!!

It seems you did a good job on undercutting the trigger guard.  I have done that to every Glock I have owned in addition to removing that ugly hook from the front of the trigger guard.  The trigger guard then is shaped more like a 1911 when viewed from the side.  In fact Glock did a poor engineering job on the placement of the first finger bump on many of their pistols.  Before the guard is undercut the top bump is in the middle of your middle finger not below it as it should be.  Apparently Glock's engineers have very skinny fingers.  As for that ugly hook on the front.  It serves no practical purpose.

The 158 grain is not the standard defense load in the .357  All of Evan Marshall's data pertained to a 125 grain load used by law enforcement.  That is also what was being attempted to equal when the .357 Sig hit the marketplace.  The 125 grain .357 had the best record of one shot stops from the data studied not someone's ideas.  I will grant you that in the 38+P the 158 is the standard loading.

a 9mm LCR or one chambered for .357 mag  If you do your homework the result will surprise you.  In the 1 7/8 inch barrel of the LCR in the 124-125 grain range the 9mm is actually faster without all the muzzle blast of the .357 and is more pleasant to shoot.  How can this be?  Well if you study both pistols you will find they both have the same length cylinders and the 9mm when loaded in the cylinder has much more freebore than the .357  that gives it more barrel length even though some of it isn't rifled.  Therefore the bullet is subject to being pushed by the propellant for a greater distance before exiting the bore.  In a few days I will shoot my .357 SP-101 against the +P 9mm in the LCR and chronograph both.  This is a valid test as both pistols have roughly the same barrel length.  If you go to a web page called ballistics by the inch you will see that in a 2 inch barrel the 9mm +P loading is faster than the .357  These tests are actually run through a pressure barrel with no cylinder or cylinder gap.  The advantage shown here doesn't even take into account the extra gain due to the 9mm bullet being further away from the cylinder mouth than the .357  Who would have thought that?

I have a PM9 and a CM40.  I had a Shield 9 in the past.  I put a Hogue slip on sleeve on mine and MUCH prefer them over the Shield.  I have also had a Shield 40 in the past.  I reworked the sear in my Shield 9 but it still wasn't the equal of my Kahrs.

I have a Shield 9mm and a Kahr PM9. I have worked the sear in my Shield and it has the lighter trigger pull but it is bigger than the PM9 and doesn't have night sights. The Kahr trigger pull is very smooth and deliberate. I'm now carrying the Kahr.

I had an interesting conversation with Kevin at Underwood Ammo the other day.  He has a +P+ loading with 124 grain Gold Dots that is rated at 1,300 fps from a Glock 19.  I asked what pressure those loads are running and he said they have been tested at 39,500 psi.  There are several law enforcement agencies which use the Winchester Ranger T 127 grain +P+ loading.  It tests 100 fps slower.  This loading challenges the .357 Sig.  It really helps to level the playing field.  Flatter shooting and more capacity.

This is the answer that makes sense.  Civilians don't normally use FMJ for self defense.  With all the wonder bullet designs we have at our disposal 9, 40 & 45 all do a good job.  The funny thing is that according to recorded results from real life shootings even the .44 mag isn't always a one shot stopper.  A very large percentage of folks shot by police with hollow points survive.

Well I read an interesting article from Bill Wilson of 1911 fame the other day.  For compact 1911s he recommends 160 grain copper bullets.  These projectiles come from Barnes Bullets and when loaded properly will yield about 1,050 fps from a 4 inch 1911.  This load has lower recoil than a standard pressure 230 grain load, even though the 160 grain load is +P.  It works better with the 4 inch and shorter barreled 1911s.  That will do for self defense and I already have quite a few 200 grain SWCs.  So I suppose I am O.K.

I ain't disclosing what I have in store for someone who breaks in my house.  He won't be telling anybody either.

Actually I'm very happy with my Shield 9mm.  I carry it in my cargo shorts and nobody pays any attention to it.  It is obvious that something is in my pocket but it doesn't scream gun.

This is just plain silly.  Have you ever had someone hit you in the nose and break it?  I have.  It happened while I was I service.  I never saw the punch coming.  My eyes watered so badly after he hit me I was defenseless.  This same idiot later hit an officer and broke his jaw.  He spent time in the brig and got a bad conduct discharge.  My point is a punch in the nose when we were little kids and not as strong simply produced a bloody nose.  A single punch in the nose from an adult or even older teen, can easily result in a broken nose.  Then there is the punch that was thrown by a teen that resulted in the death of the soccer umpire.  Any physical attack by a physically fit individual could turn deadly.  You argument reminds me of the situation where a woman is threatened by an ex-husband or boyfriend and goes to the police.  She is told they can't intervene regardless of what kind of verbal threats were made until he does something.  A short time later the police are called to a murder scene where he has shot her or beaten her to death.  My point is simple.  You can't wait until your last fleeting breath as you are being beaten to death to defend yourself.

9mm, 38 special, .357 mag, 40 S&W, 44 mag, 44 special, .45 long colt, .45 a.c.p. for handguns    .223, 30-30, .308, 300 WSM, & 45 long colt rifle.  12 guage

When you are 70 years old, there is nothing new about you unless you have had some joints replaced.

How do you determine at what distance a shot is sporting? An old Apache would say that when you can touch the animal with your arrow, that's about right.