The Truth about Handguns Exploding the Myths, Hype and Misinformation

Every gun enthusiast will enjoy reading this lively look at the myths about the Colt .45; the hype surrounding handgun stopping power; the truth about Alvin York's incredible World War I firefight; the answers to the questions "Are revolvers dead?" and "How good is the .40 Smith & Wesson cartridge?"; and much more.

Chapter 1: THE KING OF COMBAT HANDGUNS
A disproportionate number of the insubstantial myths in the field of defensive handgun usage are propounded by devotees of the 1911 auto, aka the Colt .45. I find this sad, because the 1911 is such a good gun - there are enough logical real-world reasons to like it that there's no need for such fatuous reasoning (and large amounts of hot air) to justify its popularity. Be that as it may, here are some of the silly statements I've heard or read about the Colt .45 auto during my years of dealing with firearms on a daily basis:

Chapter 2: DOUBLE ACTION AUTOS
It is a commonplace of gunwriting, especially among devotees of the single action auto pistol, to bemoan the difficulty of firing a double action auto well, especially under the stress of a defensive emergency. We are told (a) that these weapons' long, heavy initial trigger pull makes a fast first shot all but impossible, (b) that the transition to the short, light trigger pull for the second shot will result in your first two rounds impacting to different points of aim, (c) that the two types of trigger pulls require different trigger finger placements, and (d) that switching between these two finger positions will screw up your rhythm so badly that any sort of speed and accuracy between your first two shots is unattainable (the so-called "crunch-tick" syndrome).

Chapter 3: HANDGUN STOPPING POWER
Perhaps the greatest myth in the firearms field is that of handgun stopping power. When you first start getting into handguns, you'll often hear people (all of whom seem to know more about the topic than you) tossing around the term "stopping power" as if was going out of style and they had to use it up quick, usually in sentences that go something like this: "Well, everyone knows a .45 auto has more stopping power than a 9mm." Or how about this one: "Yeah, in .40 S&W caliber I think the 155-grain ammo definitely has more stopping power than the 180-grain stuff." What the hell are they talking about? What exactly is "stopping power," and how do you get it?

Chapter 4: ALVIN YORK:

HERO WITH A .45 AUTO
One of the most incredible stories of heroism and individual feats of arms in the modern age occurred during World War I in the Argonne Forest of France on October 8, 1918. On that day, then-Corporal Alvin C. York, essentially single-handedly, whipped an entire German machinegun battalion, killed 28 enemy soldiers and, with the help of a handful of doughboys, captured and brought in 132 prisoners. This feat was called by France's Marshal Foch, "thegreatest thing accomplished by any private soldier of all the armies of Europe." (We pause to note that as an American soldier, York was not a memberof the armies of Europe...but you get the general idea.)

Chapter 5: FIREPOWER VS. THE "ONE-SHOT STOP"
There are basically two schools of thought on the topic of the high-capacity auto pistol. School #1 states that, in the middle of a real fight, it's absolutely amazing how fast you can run out of ammo. In all probability, the ammunition that's on your person when the balloon goes up is all you're gonna have to run with, so it's a very good thing to ensure that "how much ammo I'vegot on me" consists of quite a few rounds. School #2 says a high-cap handgun is a crutch for crappy marksmanship, that a high magazine capacity encourages shooters to spray ammo all over the countryside instead of focusing on the fundamentals of marksmanship. Salvation, however, is found in shot placement, and so you are far better off with a "low-cap" weapon capable of spewing out a few high-powered manstoppers, backed up by the skill to put them where they'lldo the most good. Two nice theories, right? Let's discuss just how well boththese arguments hold up in the real world.

Chapter 6: ARE REVOLVERS OBSOLETE?
The last few decades of the 20th Century have seen a tremendous transition away from the double action revolver and toward the auto pistol in police service. At the same time, this trend has been mirrored by the actions of armed civilians who purchase autos over revolvers for their home defense/concealed carry guns. Articles in gun magazines sporting titles like "Is the Revolver Dead?" have become commonplace. Well, I hate to be the one to say it, but really...the answer is YES! It is rather hard to make a case for the DA revolver as being anything but an adequate (but by no means excellent, by modern standards) fighting sidearm.

Chapter 7: JUST HOW GOOD IS THE .40 S&W?
In the few short years since its introduction, the .40 Smith & Wesson cartridge has become a very popular defensive handgun chambering. The "Big Three" of combat auto pistol calibers would be the 9mm Parabellum, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP. The initial idea behind the .40 S&W was to give you (theoretically, at least) more stopping power than a 9mm and more magazine capacity than a .45. A lot of shooters like that idea: "Big bullets and lots of 'em" is kind of like a mantra with some people. (We're assuming, of course, that our .40 will be running pre-Crime Bill, full-capacity magazines to maximize that capacity advantage.) There are high-capacity .45s; however, the butts on these things are huge, as are the guns themselves. Also, the .45 ACP requires a large-framed sidearm, but the .40 can be and is chambered in medium-framed guns exactly the same size as the 9mm. Still, the more I've learned about the .40 S&W cartridge, the more I've come to doubt that it's really all that great an idea.

Chapter 8: DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE VS. THE GOOD FAIRY
Two great myths (or maybe "logical errors" would be a better term) prevail when most people consider handguns. These are what I call the Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde Theory and the Fairy Godmother Syndrome. The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Theory is epitomized by the statement, "I don't want to have a gun around because I'm afraid I might kill someone I love in the middle of an argument." It's as if the person making that statement believes the gun is an evil talisman emitting invisible, personality-altering radiation, capable of twisting a well-adjusted, peaceful human being into a slavering killer by its very presence.

Chapter 9: GUN TRIVIA
I thought it might fun to have the last chapter in this book be a list of gun trivia questions. It may be argued (with some logic) that gun trivia does not fall under the category of "handgun myths." And that is true. It is also true that fun doesn't have to be logical!