Top 5 handguns for self-defense!

January 2, 2013 - Every day, people who have never owned any sort of gun - perhaps have never even shot one either - decide to buy a self defense handgun. They aren’t gun people and are not going to become fanatic gun people; they aren’t going to hunt or target shoot. They just want a home defense handgun, and they want one appropriate for concealed carry if they decide to go that route.

With all the positives and negatives and ifs, buts and ands factored in, this is a list of handguns for self-defense. This article assumes that the gun owner is a healthy being, with an average intelligence or better.

Long-time gun users will undoubtedly find the selection process interesting, and may wish to use this Top 5 article as a basis for their own recommendations.

1. Smith & Wesson 686 .357:

Most revolvers like this are simple and reliable. One major advantage of the Smith & Wesson is that it is small in size and will easily store in safe places.

Why number 1? Smith & Wesson L-Frame revolvers like the 686 are built to suit the needs of the most serious firearms devotees. Available in six and seven shot cylinders, the L-Frame has a strong, durable frame and barrel built for continuous Magnum® usage. As thug cops and hunters will attest, this firearm is made to endure the heaviest usage.

2. Glock 21 .45 ACP:

This is the best home defense gun on the market. It’s both practical and reliable. This is quite useful for gun owners who live in cold areas where they require practice drawing from under heavy coats and firing with gloved hands.

For the caliber of choice in a home defense situation, I chose the .45 Auto round. It’s very powerful as well as accurate, and has ample stopping from close distance. The overall size of the round is smaller than some of the revolver loads such as the .44 mag and the .550 S&W, which gives the guns a much greater capacity. Even though it isn’t the biggest round available, it has ample stopping power in a home invasion.

The Glock 21 also has the safety built into the trigger, which makes it ready to shoot at any time. There is no need to worry about switching the safety when you want to begin firing. The Glock is simply meant to fire when you pull the trigger, period.

3. Rugger LCP:

Rigid is the key here, despite the Rugger LCP having a poor trigger and refined finish. Rugger has been developing some new good models lately that combine the three elements stated above. The gun is now licensed for home protection and law enforcement and was designed with both men and women in mind and is quite practical.

4. The Glock 17:

It is one of the most reliable handguns on the market, often referred to as the Glock Safe Action Pistol. It belongs to a series of semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by the famous Glock Ges. m.b.H. The founder, Gaston Glock, had no experience in the design of firearms, but had extensive experience in advanced synthetic polymers. This knowledge helped him build a successful line of pistols with polymer frames.

5. Bond Arms Derringer Model 95:

In the late 19th Century, an American gunsmith by the name of Henry Deringer became known for his inventive pocket pistols. His name, also spelled as “Derringer,” became synonymous with any pocket-sized single- or double-barrel pistol. But most recently, the derringer label became synonymous with an offensive denunciation of a pistol’s quality. This is because various companies produced poor quality replicas of the famous Remington Model 95. This resulted in the over-under double-barrel pistols getting a reputation for being cheap, unreliable, and even unsafe to use.