Is A .38 Snub Enough? Article By Ayoob, 2000

[sjl127]

Worth reading.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...65910638/print

[Thekatar]

.38 snubs work just fine. I wouldn't routinely carry it as a primary, though.

[mrnyman]

Snub nosed revolvers are not for everyone especially me i were never able to hit the broadside of a barn with one, they do nothing for me , they feel awful in my hand, on the other hand my Bersa .380 is extremely reliable and will hit anything i point it at.

Nyman

[God's Country]

A .38 snub is a good choice for many situations. I carry mine more and more.
It's a tool with a function.

[sjl127]

I have a lot of handguns, and carried all of them. I am finding that I am partial to the snubbies. They just feel solid to me. A no-nonsense, get-to-the-point tool.

[axmdr40]

I carry a snub many times when i need more concealability....357mag or .38+p. I am actually more accurate with the snub than i am with my 4" semi-auto.

[ar15jules]

I enjoyed the read, thanks.
Jules

[TAC]

Good enough for me. My 'Always' gun is a .357 snubby loaded with .38 Special +P.

[synergy]

I'll see your Ayoob...and raise you a Suarez.

KILLING SACRED COWS

Some COMBAT TRUTHS ignored in most gun schools.

The fight will be what the fight will be. Period.

If you are one of those guys' whose proactive fight will be solved by a 5 shot snubby revolver with no reload available, great for you. If you do not get one of those fights, and all you have is a snubby 5 shot, you will wish you were carrying something else. Simple.

Force on force is as close as you can get to a real gunfight. Is it a real gunfight? No. You want to know what that is all about, go to a Crip/Blood neighborhood in L.A. wearing a KKK outfit, or to some of the places we hang out at in South America. You will find out. If you don't want to do that, FOF is your only test.

What we have learned from FOF (and Gunfights because some of our guys have actually shot for blood).

Fights are either ambushes or reaction to ambush. If you can guarantee 100% 24/7/365 that all your fights will be ambushes because you eat live and breathe in condition orange all the time, then go practice your marksmanship and don't worry about anything else. But I would ask if you are so tuned and alert, you can probably avoid all those fights anyway which would make the carry of ANY weapon unnecessary.

If you agree that at least 50% of the time (perhaps more) you will be reacting to the ambush, then what we teach here should make sense to you. Too much range training in search of marksmanship is like too much kata in search of visual appeal. Both drive you away from combat truth.

When you are reacting to ambush, standing still and trying to out-draw and out-marksman the other guy will simply get you shot. I defy anyone to show me otherwise at a FOF session.

When you realize you have to move dynamically off the x or get shot, we move away from range-based marksmanship to what is adequate marksmanship. Marksmanship on a paper, cardboard, or steel is all well and good and easy to pull off on a sterile range where you are in no danger. Its another thing altogether when you are being shot at.

Hit ratio? I will say that most shots hit. Once the guys get used to "letting go" of old range habits, the ratio improves. Think you can guarantee 100% hits by standing still? Great. Do it with out getting shot by the other guy when he has started the fight. Show me against a man who is trying to hit you, don't just tell me what you can do on a target.

Do you miss? Yes you do. It is inevitable. Don't want to miss? Too bad. Again, show me you can do this in a reactive fight (you don't get to start early).

Do your hits go to peripheral areas like hands, arms and legs? Yes they do. If this is the trade off for you NOT getting shot it sounds like a fine deal to me. Again...if you have a better way, show me in a live FOF drill with an uncoop opponent trying to shoot you.

If your hits go to peripheral areas, you will need to keep shooting until the bad guy has had enough, physically succumbs to the damage, or you hit a vital area. If you can do this with 5 shots, again...great for you. Now do it with a 200 pound MMA fighter running right at you from 5 yards fully intent on knocking your block off with a tire iron. What's that? It affects your flash sight picture a little bit when you have to haul ass away from him? Yes...we know that.

The other thing is that Americans are some of the toughest and biggest people on earth. I have seen guys get hit in the chest wioth just about every type of SD caliber out there and still keep fighting. I know of a case where it was a shotgun slug no less! If you give him your best five and he is not impressed what will you do? Reload while running away? Do you train that?

Some of you say "Is spraying fifteen plus rounds around as good as shooting five rounds and accomplishing the same results.?" Again, taking into consideration the difficulty in stopping an angry shooting American, and hitting him while you yourself are getting shot at, I would ask that you show me how you do this.

Are we assuming that one hit = one stop? If that is the case, best of luck to you.

"Where are the other ten plus rounds? In the bad guys also or through a window, wall and into an innocent victim?"

Choose right now.

1). Guarantee all your rounds will always hit what you aim at, but you also get hit with the bad guy's rounds. You will be shot, and maybe injured or dead, but you will be liability free.

Or

2). Do your best, but accept that some of your shots may not only over-penetrate, but not even hit the bad guy...but you will not be hit by his bullets. But you may incur some legal problems due to your gunfire (MAY not SHALL).

Pick now. But talk is cheap. Show me you can back up your choice 100%, 24/7/365 in a force on force drill.

Listen guys...I think my staff and I are pretty good shots. We get to shoot all the time. We have run probably close to 1000 FOF students to date, and none of them have been able to replicate the marksmanship they were so proud of at the range under these circumstances. I know full well that none of us is a superman and all of us are liable to the dynamics of the fight.

That is why I carry a Glock 22 with a couple of extra magazines and train in stress-proof gun handling drills, and shooting while exploding off the X. I like snubbies, but selecting a 5 or 6 shot revolver in today's world is like choosing a lever action rifle when you have FALs and AKs in volume. You can make them work if everything is working for you. But if things are not working for you, you will be screwed. So do you feel lucky?
__________________
Gabe Suarez
Suarez International USA, Inc.

[Tony Fly]

Great insight! Appreciated, Thanks.