by Brandon Friede
The saying goes, “God made men, but Sam Colt made them equal.” Setting aside concerns about gender-specific pronouns in an age of rampaging political correctness, it’s difficult to think of a situation where this applies more than that of the physically disabled. Stand your ground laws may have put an end to the legal duty to retreat (check your jurisdiction), but some of us lack the simple ability to retreat from a threat. While I have always been a firm believer in avoiding trouble, sometimes trouble finds you, and I cannot for the life of me think of a good reason why self defense should be the sole domain of the able-bodied. I hear a lot of talk about disability rights, but without the right to defend ourselves none of it really means anything . . .
Moving beyond the realm of defensive shooting, everybody needs a hobby and depending on the nature of an individual’s disability, marksmanship can be a field on which the able-bodied and the handicapped can compete on equal terms. After all, the ballistics of a given cartridge are the same, regardless of who’s firing it.
So, what is the perfect handgun for someone with a disability? Like so many things in life, the answer is “Well, it depends.” The specifics of someone’s condition are likely to be as unique as the individual. A person with a spinal cord injury in their lower back may not require any special considerations when selecting a handgun. An amputee may not be able to rack the slide on an autoloader. Someone with muscular dystrophy may not have the grip strength for a double action trigger. There are a myriad of options to consider, and you probably won’t get it right the first time. I highly recommend visiting a range with firearms to rent, or going with friends who have a variety of different guns you can borrow for the afternoon. What looks good on paper (or your computer monitor) may not feel so good in your hand. I’ll run down a few of the things I think are important when looking at a handgun.
1.) Can I actually shoot this?
I don’t mean “Can I fire it once?”, I mean “Can I aim and fire this repeatedly, in a controlled fashion, with some semblance of accuracy?” If the weapon itself is too heavy to hold up and aim, or the trigger is too stiff for your grip strength, or the recoil causes you physical pain, then maybe you should look at something else. If you really have to have that 500 Smith & Wesson, then I won’t tell you no, but you were warned…
2.) If I limp-wrist this, is it going to jam?
If your arms and hands are strong, you don’t have to worry about this one, but it is something myself and others have to consider. Revolvers are immune from this concern, and the open-slide Beretta designs don’t seem to have a problem with it either. Remember, if the gun jams, it has to be cleared. If it’s your gun, you should be able to clear it.
3.) Can I load this?
Some people have trouble racking the slide on an automatic, I know, I’m one of them. It doesn’t have to be easy, necessarily, but it does need to be doable, at will. Also, plenty of able-bodied people have bruised and bloodied their thumbs putting rounds into their magazines. Make sure that you can get your handgun loaded yourself, or else it’s just a tactical paperweight. Fortunately, so many people have fought with magazine springs over the years that various magazine loaders have hit the market. I’ve had great luck with the UpLULA made by maglula. Again, revolvers are immune to this concern.
4.) Can I take this down for cleaning and basic maintenance?
It’s your gun, you’re going to need to clean it at some point. With some pistols you have to pull the slide back to a certain point, line up some notches, and then pull a pin out, or drop a lever someplace, push a button, stand on one foot, cross your eyes, check the location of Jupiter, etc. I might be exaggerating slightly, but you get the idea. Just make sure that you have the necessary grip strength and manual dexterity to take your gun down enough to get the dirt, lead, and gunpowder residue off of it, oil it, and put the pieces back together. Revolvers are generally easier in this area.
5.) Do not be afraid of the unconventional choice.
This is probably the most important point I have to make. You have unconventional needs, it follows that the best choice for you may be an unconventional one. There is absolutely nothing wrong with sporting a Single Action Army when all your friends like to Glock around the clock. A gun you can shoot accurately is worth infinitely more than one you can barely operate, and it will certainly be more enjoyable at the range.
Well meaning able-bodied people may have some recommendations about cartridges or particular firearms, feel free to consider their advice, but don’t let them pressure you into something that doesn’t work for you. For example, I’ve heard the Smith & Wesson Model 10 mentioned before as a self defense firearm to someone with poor grip strength (an elderly gentleman who couldn’t rack his 1911 anymore). It’s not a terrible suggestion, but an Uberti Horseman in .357 Magnum can fire the same ammunition, and instead of a double action pull of 8-9 lbs (potentially difficult), it has a much more manageable single action trigger pull in the 2-3 lb range. Uberti also makes the Stallion OWD (Old West Defense), a slightly scaled down Colt SAA clone in .38 Special. It is very concealable, and fires the same ammo as the Model 10. The Ruger Vaquero would be good competition here as well. These are unusual choices for a self defense weapon, but they are well suited to the particular condition of the individual in question, and any one of them could stop an assailant with a single well-placed shot.
Frankly, I could talk for hours about the pros and cons of different firearms and cartridge choices, but I’m not the one who’s going to shoot this thing, you are. Make sure that it’s the gun you’re going to shoot well.
“There’s a man with a gun over there telling me I’ve got to beware.”
OK. This is 2013. They’ve simplified it. You just have to afraid all the time. Because we said so. “We’ll protect you, ’cause we’ve decided you can’t be trusted to protect you.” They went to New Haven CC. You go to Yale. Obviously they know better than you. Get used to it.
Never mind!
Thanks Nick- great review. Thanks to the commenters too.
I’m looking for one AR pattern weapon that can do most of what I need:
(well, ‘want’, to be precise… at my level of current hunting success its infinitely more efficient to go to Costco’s meat department…)
semi-auto accurate and heavy enough to 300 yds for hog-hunting, deer, and coyote, now and elk/bear someday,
and
that insurance factor for the 1% chance you might need it for something else-
(caveat “I dont think it will, and i even more really really hope it never comes to it, BUT I’d feel a LOT better having spent time in the field to know I could use it)
‘just one quality long-gun to grab and go’, for civilian self-defense.
Nick- if you do buy it, and I hope you do, I’d really like to see how this shoots with different ammo in the wild, and on the range vs the M&P, and maybe even the LMS, as a couple have suggested, so a guy like me could decide if its worth it to pay up to higher performance, to use as a hog hunting gun out to 300yds.
Maybe you can get Robt and SHWAT to sponsor a field hunting test?
I know you know your stuff on stats at the range, and I look forward to what you find there – heres a good review here with some of that info, but its limited to 3 rd groups: http://www.realguns.com/articles/549.htm
If the group sizes are to be believed,
then perhaps this rifle can do better, with more time out of the box, and a replacement trigger, which is what I imagine would be the first thing you do, so maybe SHWAT or Geiselle would lend or help with that too.
What I like about Ruger is theres a reputation for good service, and with a lot of these guns being sold, there will be aftermarket support, and in a while, some guns to buy second hand, at an even better price than the average $1600 retail I see advertised now, by those who didnt do their due diligence.
If so, then its starting to make sense as a hog hunting gun out to 300 yds if one spent the time on practice, with a BIG savings for that extra MOA for another $1500, that I’d rather (uh, actually ‘need’) to spend on bullets first…
I’ll defer to those who know ammo more than I ever will, but from a newb KISS kinda guy, who has more things to learn before handloading, clearly the .308 seems to have the advantage of being more readily available in a wide variety of good factory loads, and for bigger game at distance the capability vs 5.56 is obvious, and some of the lighter bullets in a 16.5 inch barrell compare fairly the same to .270 in a bolt gun, as far as bullet drop and hitting power out to 300 yds.
If you dont have time for that Nick, no worries- I’ll wait to see what Ruger does with this in a VT setup, like they came out with after the first version of the SR556, with a two stage target trigger and 20″ barrel.
I dont see any AR10 platforms that are particularly light, so unless you go to a light bolt gun, theres no advantage one vs the other, and if I could get decent groups without the heavy barrell, so much the better.
I do recall dyspectic and jwm making the very good point that the extra weight gets very old if you were humping up and down hills- trust me I get it- theres a lot of up and down here so I’d be using this with bipod prone at a distance, after glassing to find the feeding or bedding areas, but also wanting the ability to also use it in heavy cover after a sneak to get in close for multiple shots on big dangerous pissed off animals. Theres quite a lot of mountain lion out there too…
One more comment- made elsewhere that maybe you could speak to Nick, on the next review- the ability to dial down the recoil is a subtle point, that lends itself to using different loads, and lighter recoil means faster followups and faster side to side tracking on hogs.
Comments?
I kinda wish blogs and news reports would omit the shitter’s name whenever possible. Avoid giving him the infamy he wanted and give him the obscurity he deserves.
What we have so far is a “Summary Report” — the Reader’s Digest version of the case that’s been written up by a select inner circle chosen to cherry-pick the facts and present the case that the State of Connecticut wants to present.
We will never know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Comment left. It’s sad to see there are only 2,7xx comments thus far. There should be 200,000+. I guess most people don’t understand what’s a stake.
I see those guns save lives posters all the time around here 😮 didn’t know there was a legal challenge
I have to agree with a couple folks above-
why make it more complicated than necessary?
Keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.
Reholster slooowwwllyyy.
It seems to me the Grebner ND was due to a habit pattern of trying to put his gun away hastily while getting ready for next timed shot. I’ve heard of and read stories of similar range habits that got cops in trouble when those habits kicked in during real world shootings.
I’m interested in hearing from those who have been in a real gun-fight –
how often are you really going to need to holster your gun in a rush?
From what I’ve been taught and read you most likely would be in low ready looking around keeping the weapon pointed in a safe direction while moving to cover, etc. When all is safe, REALLY safe, then you would want to stow the weapon. Sloowwwllly.
IN re the guy who caught his holster on his trigger- well, I guess it should go without saying you keep your gear clean and snag free.
And finally, If you are worried about blowing body parts off:
a. dont carry that way, or
b. use a different gun with as many safeties as you need
c. carry israeli style with empty chamber.
d. dont carry at all.
You’ve seen a Uberti Horeseman? I’ve seen the ads, but they are unknown in my neck of the woods, and I have yet to see one on Guns America or Gun Broker. Certainly not an “authentic” SAA, but by following the Ruger patterning of transfer bar and spring system, is probably a better and safer firearm.) Even Cattlemen are in short supply; my local gun store, which is a Uberti dealer, has a single SAA in stock, a .357 with a 4 3/4 barrel. It has a VERY slick action, and feels well balanced in the hand. The 5 1/2 inch that I picked up at another gun store seemed awkward by comparison. I’d have bought it, but I have my heart set on one in .45 LC.
There were 11 million Gandhis in Nazi Germany.
Funny thing is $50 of ammonium nitrate mixed with either diesel or aluminum powder can disable these $500,000 vehicles. Occupants will probably be okay, if they are securely buckled up and are wearing helmets. But we know that all cops follow the rules, right?
Anybody notice that Michalski, the ex NYC cop that Warren County SWAT went after, had nothing left to lose?
Clearly a sad situation.