just a side note to Beeherder mention of the .177 air gun. I regularly use a .177 air gun with scope in my garden to fend off the squirrels as well as a Walther CP99 CO2 .177 pistol. The CP99 has a very realistic look & feel! Almost exact copy of firearm brother (P99). In fact, it's a back-up defensive weapon as it looks just like the P99. It's a semi-auto with an 8-shot rotary clip. Great backyard practice gun.
btw, my wife is very comfortable with a snub nose 38 special. it's the small frame "body guard" from S&W. great for "up close and personal." And that's the key. IMO, whatever handheld gun you use, the closer you get to your target, the better your odds. The snub nose is small enough to be easily concealed in your hand if you happen to be walking up to or around a possible threat. Every potential threat is situational and requires different tactics. If your threat doesn't have a gun aimed at you, it's better to get into your Oscar-winning role of acting naive, innocent as you get closer. Assessing the risk is pretty challenging if fear is present. I don't believe in pulling out your weapon as a means of deterring an attack. If you pull your weapon, you're going to use it. That's my strategy. Of course, you may not have to, but the idea is to embody the Dirty Harry ATTITUDE! And if that doesn't come naturally, it's not that easy to cultivate. Ahhh, I'm rambling. And I'm mostly thinking of home invasion as I ramble. Again and again, there are so many different situations to think about when considering the use of a firearm. That said, there are many others on the board who are very grounded in firearm use and will enlighten us on the subject.
I highly recommend you veer over to:
http://www.notpurfect.com/main/snub.htmlIt gives great insight into the Snub Nose and how it compares to automatics. There are also some good "compact" full-size automatics to consider as well.
The factsAll myths aside, the venerable snub nose is a pretty demanding weapon. The small size, full powered cartridge, short barrel and light weight conspire to make the diminutive little beasts a real handful to shoot. The short barrel decreases muzzle velocity, making the little guns somewhat less effective than their longer barreled brethren. The shorter sighting radius makes them more difficult to aim, and increases the muzzle flash. Their lighter weight significantly increases felt recoil. However, these pint sized revolvers do have two very important things in their favor, which explains their popularity; they are easy to conceal, and they look neat.
From a practical point of view, the snub nose is the most powerful gun on the market, for it's size. This is particularly true, if you discard tradition, and get yourself a 357 model or one of the medium frame 44 models, instead of a classic 38. The 38 is somewhat superior to the 9 mm, and the 44 Special is just below the 45 automatic. Though the snub nose revolver lacks the firepower of these guns, being limited to six, or even five rounds, it fires a full powered cartridge in the smallest possible form factor. Shown in the photograph to the right, is my current collection of traditional snub nose revolvers. These are the small frame Body guard from S&W with the shrouded hammer, the medium frame Colt Detective Special, and the slightly larger Dan Wesson medium frame.
When considered in the context of it's intended role, the snub nose revolver is not as handicapped by it's lack of firepower, and it's other deficiencies, as might seem to be the case. Most defensive encounters with handguns take place at very close range, twenty feet or less. They also tend to happen quite quickly, in a matter of a few seconds. Few rounds are fired, and it is rare for the participants to have to reload their guns, which is just as well for the snub nose revolver owner, since the shortened ejector rod does not have a long enough stroke to completely clear the empties from the chambers. In such situations, it is generally the first round or two that decide the matter. With it's lack of safeties to take off, hammers to cock, or slides to pull back, the revolver is often the quickest gun to bring into action. More important still, the revolver is able to accept and reliably feed any style of ammunition. A 38 snub nose can be loaded with +P rounds using one of the new frangible style bullets. Some of the more drastically shaped bullet styles do not always feed reliably in semi automatics. A revolver is a very simple, direct, and reliable device. Revolvers do not jam, fail to feed, or become useless after a misfire. Unless the shooter dedicates considerable time to training, and weapon familiarization, a revolver will always be faster to bring into action than a semi automatic. Even with practice, the semi automatic will still be inferior to the revolver in the areas of safety and reliability. The only place in which the automatic shows a clear superiority over the revolver is in the area of magazine capacity, and ease of reloading. These are significant advantages for the combat shooter, but are not necessarily important for the casually armed defensive shooter.
Though their cylinders can be bulky, this problem is often overstated and revolvers can be made very small indeed. Interestingly, both the revolver, and the auto are thickest in the place the ammunition is kept. No semi auto firing a full powered cartridge can be made as short as a snub nose revolver. The small frame models, like the J frame Smith and Wesson, use five shot cylinders which make the cylinders on these little guns almost as thin as the frame of a medium framed automatic. Other than in the cylinder area, revolvers are very thin, when compared to automatics, and their curves can sometimes make concealment easier than the angular dimensions, and boxy shapes of many automatics.
Short barreled guns do present special problems, whether revolver or automatic. The most apparent is the difficulty in accurately aiming a gun with such a small sight radius. Most shooters have a hard time getting better than 3 inch groups with a snub nose, and five inch groups are probably more common. Another impairment is the almost universal installation of fixed sights on snub nose revolvers. Though there are some models with adjustable units, these tend to snag on the users clothing, and are generally too delicate for the hard lives these little guns often lead. Cures for these problems are practice, and finding a load that shoots just about right with your particular gun. Fixed sights can be filed down or bent a bit more in line with the way the gun is shooting.
Another problem with all small guns, is the difficulty most shooters have in controlling them. A small gun kicks harder than a larger gun, because there is less weight in the frame to provide inertia against the force of the cartridge. This can make the shooter flinch, further degrading accuracy. Related to this is a significant increase in muzzle flash. Muzzle flash is caused by powder continuing to burn after the bullet has left the barrel. Not only is it distracting to the shooter, but it also indicates inefficiency, because powder which burns after the bullet has exited the firearm does not add to the energy of the round. There are two ways to reduce or eliminate muzzle flash. The first is to go with a longer barrel, which gives the powder time to burn completely before the bullet exits the muzzle. The second is to go with a faster burning powder, such as Bullseye. The use of fast burning powders is really the only option for the snub nose. The problem is magnified by the use of magnum rounds in snub nose revolvers. Magnums depend upon slow burning powders and long barrels to get their high velocities. A two inch barrel which somewhat reduces the power of a 38 Special, will drastically reduce the power of a 357 Magnum. At the same time, the 357 will produce greatly more muzzle flash and recoil, and be very difficult to control. Though the magnum round, even out of a short barrel, will have more energy than the 38, I do not consider this slight increase to be worth the extra difficulty in shooting such a gun. Because 357, and 38 snub nose guns are generally built on the same frames, the use of a magnum round also subjects the gun to considerably more wear.
Shown in the photos above are some side by side comparisons of a S&W J frame snub nose, in this case a model 649, and one of the new series of very compact full size automatics, as described below. Note how much more compact and concealable the snub nose is, despite it's bulky cylinder.
