{"id":5535,"date":"2016-12-08T19:15:11","date_gmt":"2016-12-09T00:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/?p=5535"},"modified":"2021-08-03T09:15:50","modified_gmt":"2021-08-03T13:15:50","slug":"choosing-wrong-handgun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/choosing-wrong-handgun\/","title":{"rendered":"Choosing the Wrong Handgun"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As a follow up to my guide on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/handgun-recommendations-new-shooters\/\">choosing a handgun for new shooters<\/a>, I made a video covering the flip side of the issue. What happens when we try to get by with a handgun that&#8217;s less than ideal? Sometimes we can find a way to make it work, but inexperienced shooters often struggle. Bottom line &#8212; using a sub-optimal gun is no fun, and when shooting isn&#8217;t fun, we&#8217;re less motivated to get better. Watch the video for details, or skip down to the transcript below.<\/p> <p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vWeJKTR2FVI?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p> <hr \/> <p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A couple of weeks ago, I gave some guidelines for choosing a handgun for self-defense and I recommended a few specific models that I think would cover the needs of most people who are new to shooting. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That list wasn\u2019t intended to be exhaustive. There are a ton of other suitable handguns out there. But there are also a lot of really bad ones and today I want to talk about the potential consequences of choosing the wrong handgun. I think this is relevant for less experienced shooters, but also for those of you who are going to end up helping out friends and family members who are trying to pick out their first gun.<\/span><\/p> <p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Any handgun could be the wrong choice if it\u2019s not a good fit for the shooter and their specific situation. And some handguns are just objectively terrible because they\u2019re either poorly designed or poorly made. In either case, there is a valid argument to be made that we in the shooting community place way too much emphasis on gear selection. And that\u2019s probably true. So I\u2019m not going to try to tell you that you will be killed in the streets if you choose a gun that\u2019s not on my approved list.<\/span><\/p> <p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In reality, people manage to defend themselves all the time with crappy guns. The type of gun we have with us at the time of a violent attack is not likely to be the primary deciding factor in whether we survive that encounter. At the same time, there are some limitations to that clich\u00e9 analogy, \u201cIt\u2019s the Indian, not the arrow.\u201d The Indian didn\u2019t learn how to shoot using a broken bow and crooked arrows.<\/span><\/p> <p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I think it\u2019s important that people start out with good equipment whenever possible. The guns you choose for self-defense and the guns you practice with &#8212; particularly for inexperienced or untrained shooters &#8212; can have a huge impact on how you develop as a shooter, and whether you even decide to keep trying at all. Choosing your handgun wisely can make it very easy to develop some basic self-defense skills. But trying to power through with a gun that is less than ideal can lead to unnecessary roadblocks to improvement and can even negatively influence your mindset toward self-defense in general.<\/span><\/p> <p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, one of the most common mistakes people make when they\u2019re picking out a self-defense pistol is to insist on a gun that is too small for its caliber. This could be a magnum snub nose revolver or a pocket .380, but lately, I see it most often with sub-compact polymer .40 and .45 caliber pistols. These are some of the most miserable little guns out there, but unskilled shooters get suckered into buying them all the time &#8212; usually men who believe Newton\u2019s third law of motion doesn\u2019t apply to them. Almost without fail, these guys end up struggling to achieve anything close to competent shooting. Compared to their 9mm counterparts, the larger caliber subcompacts are really difficult to control. They are usually uncomfortable to shoot for more than a couple of magazines at a time and the excessive recoil makes it really easy to develop a bad flinching habit. Large calibers should be for large handguns.<\/span><\/p><p><\/p> <p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another common mistake is to overlook hand size when choosing a handgun. And I don\u2019t just mean whether it \u201cfeels comfortable\u201d in your hand at the gun store. You need to be able to reach the trigger with your index finger without that finger touching the frame. If there\u2019s a manual safety, that needs to be within reach of your thumb without shifting your grip. It should not be a strain on your fingers or your wrist to manipulate the pistol. If the gun doesn\u2019t fit your hands, you\u2019ll end up wasting a lot of training time trying to figure out how to modify your technique just to operate the gun. That\u2019s training time that could have been devoted to fine tuning your skills if you had started with a gun that fit better. <\/span><\/p> <p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One more example of a common mistake is choosing a gun based solely on price. I understand being on a tight budget and having some very real financial limitations. If that\u2019s your situation, obviously, you do the best you can within your budget. But a lot of people who can afford a decent gun just refuse to believe that a $400-500 pistol could possibly be better than a $250 pistol. I\u2019m not saying there aren\u2019t any decent low cost guns out there, or that expensive guns are always better. But usually, the companies that offer the cheapest handguns are cutting corners on quality. On average, cheap handguns malfunction more often at the range and under actual fighting conditions than moderately priced guns. Maybe that budget pistol will work when you actually need it, but why would you want to take that chance if you can afford an extra $100 for a gun that\u2019s statistically more likely to function?<\/span><\/p> <p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even if you make one of these mistakes when you buy your pistol, you will probably still end up with an adequate self-defense tool. But let\u2019s consider some of the indirect consequences. An inexperienced shooter who buys a sub-par gun for self-defense can easily become discouraged by how difficult it is to consistently hit the target at the range.They can be turned off to shooting altogether because of a pistol with sharp recoil. Or they may be quickly frustrated by trying to figure out why their gun can\u2019t make it through a full magazine without a malfunction.<\/span><\/p> <p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dealing with these issues when you\u2019re trying to learn a new skill can have a powerful demoralizing effect. Shooters who have bad experiences early on are less likely to practice or seek out training. They are less likely to develop safe gun handling skills which makes them a liability every time they touch a firearm. \u00a0If shooting their carry gun feels like a chore and they don\u2019t ever make any serious improvement, they will probably either lack confidence that they will be able to use the gun successfully in self-defense, or they will overestimate their ability. Either way, they are in a poor position to make good decisions under stress about when and how to apply deadly force.<\/span><\/p> <p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ultimately, the gun itself is a small part of the self-defense equation. That said, I really believe that in a lot of cases, people buy the wrong gun before they understand what kind of gun they actually need and that has a domino effect that results in a lack of confidence and skill. Without those two things, I think it\u2019s questionable whether they are any better off than before they bought the gun.<\/span><\/p> <p>&nbsp;<\/p> <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As a follow up to my guide on choosing a handgun for new shooters, I made a video covering the &#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/choosing-wrong-handgun\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[47,22,21,142,17],"class_list":["post-5535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-toolbox","tag-concealed-carry","tag-gear","tag-handguns","tag-new-shooters","tag-self-defense"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Choosing the Wrong Handgun - Lucky Gunner Lounge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Chris lays out some of his thoughts on what happens when you pick the wrong handgun and why selection is a key factor in your improvement.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/choosing-wrong-handgun\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Choosing the Wrong Handgun - Lucky Gunner Lounge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chris lays out some of his thoughts on what happens when you pick the wrong handgun and why selection is a key factor in your improvement.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/choosing-wrong-handgun\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lucky Gunner Lounge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lucky.gunner.chris\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-09T00:15:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-03T13:15:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/wrong-gun-featured.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2261\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"940\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Baker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris Baker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/choosing-wrong-handgun\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/choosing-wrong-handgun\/\",\"name\":\"Choosing the Wrong Handgun - Lucky Gunner Lounge\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/choosing-wrong-handgun\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/choosing-wrong-handgun\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/wrong-gun-featured.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-09T00:15:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-03T13:15:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/#\/schema\/person\/e5f16064c8ef9168e878956da3123dc7\"},\"description\":\"Chris lays out some of his thoughts on what happens when you pick the wrong handgun and why selection is a key factor in your improvement.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/choosing-wrong-handgun\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/choosing-wrong-handgun\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/choosing-wrong-handgun\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/wrong-gun-featured.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/wrong-gun-featured.jpg\",\"width\":2261,\"height\":940},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/choosing-wrong-handgun\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Choosing the Wrong Handgun\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/\",\"name\":\"Lucky Gunner Lounge\",\"description\":\"Reliable shooting advice for regular people.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/#\/schema\/person\/e5f16064c8ef9168e878956da3123dc7\",\"name\":\"Chris Baker\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/chris-profile-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/chris-profile-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Chris Baker\"},\"description\":\"Chris Baker joined the Lucky Gunner team in 2011 and, among other roles, serves as the editor of Lucky Gunner Lounge. Chris has a broad interest in all types of\u00a0shooting activities, but he's most passionate about firearms as tools for personal protection. Prior to working for Lucky Gunner full time, Chris taught basic handgun skills and concealed carry permit classes to a diverse range of clients in his home state of North Carolina. He is a Rangemaster-certified Shotgun and Advanced Handgun Instructor and NRA Handgun Instructor. His ongoing pursuit of knowledge in the shooting world has included over 500 hours of professional firearms and self-defense training from instructors like Ken Hackathorn, Tom Givens, Ernest Langdon, Craig Douglas, Gabe White, Darryl Bolke, Wayne Dobbs, Chuck Haggard, Claude Werner, John Hearne, Jim Higginbotham, Kyle DeFoor, and Randy Cain,\u00a0among others.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lucky.gunner.chris\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/author\/chris\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Choosing the Wrong Handgun - Lucky Gunner Lounge","description":"Chris lays out some of his thoughts on what happens when you pick the wrong handgun and why selection is a key factor in your improvement.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/choosing-wrong-handgun\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Choosing the Wrong Handgun - Lucky Gunner Lounge","og_description":"Chris lays out some of his thoughts on what happens when you pick the wrong handgun and why selection is a key factor in your improvement.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/choosing-wrong-handgun\/","og_site_name":"Lucky Gunner Lounge","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lucky.gunner.chris","article_published_time":"2016-12-09T00:15:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-08-03T13:15:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2261,"height":940,"url":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/wrong-gun-featured.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Chris Baker","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chris Baker","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/choosing-wrong-handgun\/","url":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/choosing-wrong-handgun\/","name":"Choosing the Wrong Handgun - Lucky Gunner Lounge","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/choosing-wrong-handgun\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/choosing-wrong-handgun\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/wrong-gun-featured.jpg","datePublished":"2016-12-09T00:15:11+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-03T13:15:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/#\/schema\/person\/e5f16064c8ef9168e878956da3123dc7"},"description":"Chris lays out some of his thoughts on what happens when you pick the wrong handgun and why selection is a key factor in your improvement.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/choosing-wrong-handgun\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/choosing-wrong-handgun\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/choosing-wrong-handgun\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/wrong-gun-featured.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/wrong-gun-featured.jpg","width":2261,"height":940},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/choosing-wrong-handgun\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Choosing the Wrong Handgun"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/","name":"Lucky Gunner Lounge","description":"Reliable shooting advice for regular people.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/#\/schema\/person\/e5f16064c8ef9168e878956da3123dc7","name":"Chris Baker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/chris-profile-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/chris-profile-96x96.jpg","caption":"Chris Baker"},"description":"Chris Baker joined the Lucky Gunner team in 2011 and, among other roles, serves as the editor of Lucky Gunner Lounge. Chris has a broad interest in all types of\u00a0shooting activities, but he's most passionate about firearms as tools for personal protection. Prior to working for Lucky Gunner full time, Chris taught basic handgun skills and concealed carry permit classes to a diverse range of clients in his home state of North Carolina. He is a Rangemaster-certified Shotgun and Advanced Handgun Instructor and NRA Handgun Instructor. His ongoing pursuit of knowledge in the shooting world has included over 500 hours of professional firearms and self-defense training from instructors like Ken Hackathorn, Tom Givens, Ernest Langdon, Craig Douglas, Gabe White, Darryl Bolke, Wayne Dobbs, Chuck Haggard, Claude Werner, John Hearne, Jim Higginbotham, Kyle DeFoor, and Randy Cain,\u00a0among others.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lucky.gunner.chris"],"url":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/author\/chris\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5535"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9674,"href":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5535\/revisions\/9674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}