{"id":2858,"date":"2014-09-04T09:24:11","date_gmt":"2014-09-04T13:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/?p=2858"},"modified":"2014-09-04T09:24:11","modified_gmt":"2014-09-04T13:24:11","slug":"power-factor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/power-factor\/","title":{"rendered":"POWER FACTOR"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Rifle, <\/em>one of my favorite gun magazines, I always enjoy reading Terry Wieland\u2019s thoughtful column, \u201cWalnut Hill.\u201d\u00a0 In the May 2014 issue, he cited an important quote from a great authority on firearms, Bob Hagel.<\/p>\n

The quote was, \u201cYou should not carry a rifle that will do the job when everything goes right; you should have one that works when everything goes wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Words to live by, and they don\u2019t apply just to rifles.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s looking as if the FBI is going to scale down from .40 caliber Glocks to 9mm, starting next year. The 9mm has long been approved as an option for agents, and a recommended one for those who find the recoil of the .40 too difficult to manage in training and qualification, even though .40 Glocks have been standard issue for the Bureau since the late 1990s.\u00a0 The .45 caliber Glock 21, if privately purchased, is also approved, and I can think offhand of at least three agents I know who carry them, all \u201cgun guys.\u201d\u00a0 I hope that option remains for field agents if and when the Bureau goes to 9mm as its primary caliber.<\/p>\n

It comes at a time when, as discussed here, there\u2019s a push in the military to go back to .45 from the 9mm that has been standard issue for most elements since the mid-1980s.\u00a0 Non-expanding ball ammo being the norm for military pistols, I can certainly see the .45 argument: it\u2019s what I\u2019d definitely prefer if I suffered under the same limitations of bullet configuration.\u00a0 With law enforcement hollow points, current ammo has made the 9mm a much more viable defensive choice than it used to be. Of course, the same new designs make .40 S&W and .45 ACP more potent than they used to be, too.<\/p>\n

Lower ammo cost, and smaller rounds allowing more cartridges on board, favor the 9mm over the .45 in a pistol, and the 5.56mm over 7.62mm in the rifle.\u00a0 Yet if there\u2019s time for only one shot \u2013 whether it\u2019s the winter venison or your own life that\u2019s at stake \u2013 all of a sudden, more powerful cartridges seem more comforting.<\/p>\n

Each of us has to assess our needs and our abilities, balance them, and make the right decision.<\/p>\n

Where did you <\/em>find your <\/em>balance?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Rifle, one of my favorite gun magazines, I always enjoy reading Terry Wieland\u2019s thoughtful column, \u201cWalnut Hill.\u201d\u00a0 In the May 2014 issue, he cited an important quote from a great authority on firearms, Bob Hagel. The quote was, \u201cYou should not carry a rifle that will do the job when everything goes right; you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":6428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2858","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-firearms"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}