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Use, view, and interact with these resources at your own risk. All products from FamilySurvivalSystem.com and its related companies are strictly for informational purposes only. While all attempts have been made to verify the accuracy of information provided on our website and within the publications, neither the authors nor the publishers are responsible for assuming liability for possible inaccuracies. If you’re new to shooting or self defense in general, purchasing your first weapon for defensive use can be intimidating. Store shelves are lined with row upon row of similar looking black or silver handguns and it’s tough to tell them apart – or pick which one’s best, without some help – which we are here to give you. Most Americans are somewhat familiar with firearms as the rate of firearms ownership in America is one of the highest per capita on Earth, but having said that, your average American is much more familiar with sporting firearms. These are guns like duck hunting shotguns, scoped deer rifles, all manner of .22 varmint guns, and things like that. In a pinch, any of these weapons can be used as a home defense weapon, but they don’t really make a good choice. For home defense, you need a dedicated tool, a weapon that does just that one job and nothing else. Keep in mind that multitasking is great when it applies to computers or cell phones, but it doesn’t work in the real of home defense weapons. You really do want a “jack of ONE trade” to do that job. Overwhelmingly, we recommend a pistol to new firearms buyers as their first home defense weapon to purchase, and their go-to weapon to deal with home threats thereafter. If you were hoping for another conclusion to this article, we’re sorry to disappoint, but here is why a pistol beats almost anything else hands down for home defense: 3 . Pistols are compact and can be used to clear even the smallest of apartments of any threats. If you are so inclined, you can wear your holstered pistol around your house all day long – a rifle slung over your shoulder is a bit much, even by our standards. Pistols are less intimidating for new shooters to learn due to their compact size and intuitive ergonomics. While new shooters often have superior accuracy with rifles as opposed to pistols, the differences at the ten yard or less distances seen within a home are negligible. The cost of a home defense pistol is a little less than the initial cost of a rifle, and about the same as a shotgun, yet pistol ammo is still cheaper than either to repeatedly practice with. Pistols can be loaded with hollow point ammunition, which is the best ammo for stopping an attacker. Hollow point ammunition expands to many times its size when it strikes a target, causing a massive wound channel and internal trauma, and at the same time, this expansion means that the bullet will not over penetrate past the attacker like rifle and shotgun rounds will. Pistols can easily be kept in compact biometric style safes close at hand, meaning that they are far more likely to be where you are – when you need them – than any long gun. As a rule, most people automatically store long guns in safes. We’re not saying that pistols are the only weapon for home defense, nor are we saying that they are superior to rifles or shotguns in some home defense applications. What we are saying is that they should be your first purchase for home defense, especially if you know nothing or very little about firearms. 4 SEMIAUTOMATIC VERSUS REVOLVER Pistols are broken down into two subgroups – semiautomatics and revolvers. The semiautomatic pistol uses a magazine located within the grip of the gun. This magazine feeds cartridges into the chamber as the trigger is pulled – all the shooter needs to do is keep pulling the trigger until the pistol goes empty, and then reload another magazine. A revolver uses a rotating cylinder to store cartridges, usually between 6 to 8 depending on the model of revolver and caliber. Here are the pros and cons of each: Semi auto pistols: Pro: . Detachable magazines mean ultra fast reloads. Most pistols have magazine capacities that are 10 at a minimum, and can be as high as 20 rounds depending on the model of pistol. That equals lots of firepower. The calibers most semi autos use are also in use by the military and law enforcement, meaning there is always a good pool of ammo out there to draw from. The police and military have overwhelmingly selected semi auto pistols as their go-to side arms. Con: . Semi auto pistols are initially more complicated to shoot than revolvers, and have more buttons, knobs, and levers than any revolver. 5 . Semi auto pistols quite simply have more moving parts. Revolvers: Pro: . Revolvers are stupid simple to use and don’t even have a safety. Anyone can be taught to use a revolver in five minutes or less. Revolvers often have longer barrels than semi autos, which usually makes them feel more accurate to the new shooter. Revolvers are available in some powerful magnum loads, like .357 Magnum and .44 Magnum. Con: . Revolvers hold fewer cartridges than even the most compact semi autos. Reloading a revolver can be accomplished quickly in practiced hands, but at the end of the day, the average revolver shooter will never be able to reload as fast as the average semi auto shooter. Few revolvers have accessory rails to fit things light lights or lasers – in fact, only one revolver that we know of comes with a rail. While it remains an individual choice, we really can’t recommend that your first pistol for home defense be a revolver. There are two reasons why we can’t in good conscience tell you to buy a revolver; 1) ammunition capacity, and 2) reloading speed. This isn’t the time to engage in one of those theoretical discussions on shot placement, either. We know that just one well placed shot is enough to bring down 6 an attacker, but we also know that it is extremely difficult to make that perfectly placed shot even if you’re well trained during a high stress situation. Also, there is nothing to say that there will only be a single attacker. For that reason, we recommend you purchase a semiautomatic pistol as your first home defense weapon. Even if you had one fifteen round magazine in the pistol, and two more fifteen rounders in your pocket, you’d still be bringing 45 rounds to the fight. At best, with a revolver, you’d have eight rounds (six on most wheel guns!), and then two more eight round speed loaders for a total of 24 rounds. Plus, you’d be hard pressed to use those speed loaders as fast as the average person could do a magazine change.