Jeanne a former graduate student of mine had been a victim of polio as a young child. Required to wear a brace on her right leg for most of her life things got worse when she hit forty years old. As the medical profession was learning, those who were stricken by polio as children were being victimized again as they grew into middle age. Forced to leave her once fruitful career as a manager for a state agency Jeanne was now trying to remain mobile and cheerful for the sake of her two teenage daughters, while also learning to cope with the economic pressures of being a single mother. Even though she was now on a disability pension she was working very hard to try to make a good life for her family on the reduced income that now came her way.
Jeanne’s mind was as quick and as agile as ever and I always enjoy exchanging observations about the world’s events and political developments via email. When a week went by without an email I became concerned and so I gave a call to her home across the river in the neighboring state. The story she told me still makes my blood boil and the resulting failure of the legal system only heightens my disgust at a court system that protects the guilty at the expense of the innocent.
Jeanne was taking her nightly therapeutic walk through her neighborhood and literally steps away from her front door a young urban thug stuck an aluminum baseball bat in front of her face and demanded money. Jeanne had gone out carrying only her keys, her driver’s license, and three single dollar bills on her and so the disappointed cretin became rather angry that his crime was not going to make him the richest guy in the projects that evening and in anger he jammed the bat into her abdomen and knocked her to the sidewalk. To add further injury to insult the jerk stole the cane Jeanne used when exercising her leg muscles.
Jeanne was lucky she has good neighbors and two of them came to their doors when they heard unusual noises. This was enough to frighten away the pile of dung who had mugged her before that creep had the time to hurt her badly. The mugger however was even luckier. Caught by patrolling cops three blocks over and easily identified in a photo line-up by Jeanne, he was released the next morning when the state’s attorney chose not to press charges. He felt that in a city with juries that tend to be sympathetic to youthful inner-city criminals he could not make a case with only Jeanne’s identification. Sadly the fact that the cops found her cane and driver’s license just a few feet from where the mugger was apprehended was not enough to convince the prosecutor that he could win the case, and so the habitual felon was quickly released. Too make matters worse for Jeanne; she swore that she saw her attacker leaning against the wall in front of the supermarket down the block from her house four days after she was attacked.
During our telephone conversation I was surprised to learn that Jeanne owned and knew how to use a firearm but found it too difficult to conceal and carry the weapon. In relaying the story to me I could not help but find the facts to be a real eye-opener on the subject of the ideal personal defense firearm.
Although her home was in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood in a large Midwestern city the area Jeanne lived in had been the site of two home invasions and several muggings in the first two months Jeanne had lived in the neighborhood. She decided that she could not let herself and her daughters become victims so she decided to purchase a firearm and train to use it effectively. During a discussion about what firearm option would be best for her, the folks at the local sporting goods store told her something we have all heard for years – “the only caliber worth having for self-defense starts with the number 4.” She purchased and tried to practice with a good double action semiauto pistol in .40 caliber.” The store gave her an excellent deal on a used firearm in like new condition with a good holster and several boxes of high quality shells thrown in for good measure. As part of the deal they also provided her some range time and the personal lessons she would need to qualify for a conceal carry permit. The retailer was a stand-up guy. The problem was not the price, or the service, or the quality of the gun but rather the type of gun she purchased. As something to keep in her nightstand or in a draw by her front door the weapon might have been OK. What the salesperson failed to consider is Jeanne’s size and physical condition. To expect a 105 lb. woman with a stiff leg who has to wear a full leg brace, and carry a cane to carry on an everyday basis a loaded firearm that weighs 2 pounds is an error in judgment. Even if she was able to stand up to the recoil, the use of a cane was likely to force Jeanne to try and accurately shoot this rather large weapon with one hand. So Jeanne was only carrying a whistle on her key chain that night when she was confronted by the punk with the bat and as a result she became the victim she had hoped she would never be.
I made a couple of telephone calls and after a quick and actually a rather pleasant conversation with the owner about Jeanne’s limitations as a shooter and her aversion to the recoil of the .40 caliber the store owner volunteered to make things right through a trade in and some firearm transfers. After testing a number of weapons we found that Jeanne shot two weapons very well. One was the Charter Arms, Undercover Revolver in 38 Special. She found that the weapon’s recoil was manageable but found the revolver a little difficult to carry at her waist because of the revolvers shape. The other was a Phoenix Arms HP 22 which she found extremely easy to draw and shoot well when she placed the gun into the pocket of her slacks or secured it in a small holster at her waist. She felt that when she was wearing a fanny pack or was carrying an easy to open shoulder bag the Charter Arms 38 was going to be an excellent companion, but when traveling lighter she decided she was going to pack the Phoenix HP-22.
I had always been surprisingly impressed with the accuracy and reliability of the Phoenix Arms HP-22’s that I have owned and tested over the last five years. I have found the weapon to be a fun "plinker" and an excellent first gun for young people. Despite the often harsh comments one hears from the “mine cost more than yours” experts on the internet I knew the gun was a shooter. Numerous tests I read and my own experience comparing the Phoenix HP-22 against much more costly 22’s like the Taurus PT-22, Sig Sauer Mosquito, Walther P-22 and the Beretta Bobcat in 22LR showed the bargain priced gun to perform as well or better than those weapons which often cost more than twice as much. I also knew from both a number of magazine articles and my own experience that manufacturers such CCI, Remington, Aquila and Winchester were producing high quality, effective .22LR products that were changing how people viewed the reliability of rimfire cartridges. Still I remained hung up on the low percentage of “one shot stops” that even the best 22 LR ammo could produce. It was Jeanne who opened my eyes to three very important factors; one, with limited practice she was already able to place 7 shots into the head of a silhouette at 15 yards with every 10 shots she takes and she has no problem hitting center mass with each of the 10 shots. This level of accuracy was more than twice as good as she was shooting with any other weapon; Two, the low cost of the ammo for both the .22 and the .38 meant that on her fixed income she and her daughters could practice once per week until they all got proficient with both weapons. Three, had she owned an HP-22 when she was mugged she would have been carrying it and that would have placed her in a much better position than she had been in that evening. When she added that if she had the Phoenix HP-22 with her that night she still probably would have been willing to give the bum her three dollars but she never would have allowed him to get close enough to her to physically assault her, I became convinced that perhaps she knew best.
Almost two years later Jeanne is no longer afraid to go anywhere her limited legs can carry her and she and her daughters have turned their practice sessions into Saturday morning family recreation. Jeanne has bought a Sig Sauer Mosquito which her teenage daughters love and which they all shoot very well and a Taurus Model 82 which she keeps in her nightstand. While the 4” barrel makes it too heavy and too long for Jeanne to conceal she believes the longer barrel makes it a highly effective weapon for home protection. She still carries her Phoenix HP-22 everywhere she goes. She has fed the little semiautomatic a steady diet of standard velocity ammo in practice, but she loads it up with CCI Stingers when carrying for protection. Jeanne has also been carrying her Charter Arms "snubbie" more since she received a special shoulder bag as a birthday gift from her new friends down at the range. The old guys at the range seem to have adopted Jeanne and her girls and they have taken real interest in the wellbeing of this family. It makes me rest easier knowing that in an unsafe world these three women are less likely to be victims due to Jeanne’s dedication to maintaining her firearms proficiency and the fact that she lives in a state that permits law abiding citizens to carry concealed firearms.
For Jeanne the adage of “The small gun you have with you is better than the large gun you left at home” seems to sum up her reasoning for carrying a smaller caliber weapon for defense. As for me I learned that no one weapon is ever going to be right for everyone. Since no matter the caliber, the ability of a firearm to stop an attack must first be based on the willingness of its holder to accurately pull the trigger one must recognize that the best gun for an individual to carry is the one that he/she is always willing to have with them. Therefore I can say that with their newly gained proficiency and with Jeanne’s mindset that she is never going to be a victim again, she and the girls are safer today than they were when she owned her “big gun.”
While you and I might prefer a .45 to a .38 and almost anything to a .22, I also don’t know anybody willing to volunteer to be shot by any of Jeanne’s “cheap little” guns. So perhaps my former student has taught her old teacher something after all. I now have a different definition for the “one shot stop.” I have come to realize that it can also simply mean the ability to change the bad guy’s mind” with just one pull of the trigger.
Undercover Revolver
Manufactured by Charter Arms
Caliber- 38 Special Barrel – 2 inches
Weight – 16 ounces Capacity – 6 round cylinder
Sights – Blade Front, Notch Rear
Single/Double Action
Distributed by MKS Supply
MSRP $279.00 Blue $299.00
Also available in DAO.
Taurus Model 94 (Revolver)
Imported by Taurus International
Caliber – 22LR Barrel – 5 inches Length – 9.75 inches
Weight – 26.5 ounces Capacity – 9 round cylinder
Sights –Fixed Front, Adjustable Rear
Single/Double Action
MSRP $358.00 Blue
Phoenix HP22 (Autoloader)
Manufactured by Phoenix Arms
Caliber – 22LR Barrel – 3 inches Length – 5.25 inches
Weight – 20 ounces Capacity – 10 shot magazine
Sights – Blade Front, Adjustable Rear
Single Action
MSRP -$130.00
SIG-Sauer Mosquito (auto-loader)
Manufactured by SIG Arms
Caliber – 22LR Barrel – 3.9 inches Length – 7.2 inches
Weight – 24.6 ounces Capacity – 10 shot magazine
Sights – Blade Front, Adjustable Rear
MSRP - $390.00 blued
CCI Stingers .22LR
5” barrel 32 gr.
Muzzle Velocity – 1395 FPS
Energy - 138 Ft. Lbs.
CCI Velocitor (HP) .22LR
5” barrel 40 gr.
Muzzle Velocity – 1395 FPS
Energy - 171 Ft. Lbs.
Aquila Sniper Subsonic SSS .22LR
5” barrel 60 gr.
Muzzle Velocity – 817 FPS
Energy – 89 Ft. Lbs.
Remington Viper .22LR
5” barrel 36 gr.
Muzzle Velocity - 1,165 FPS
Energy –108 Ft. Lbs.
Remington Yellow Jacket .22LR
5” barrel 33 gr.
Muzzle Velocity – 1,248 FPS
Energy –145 Ft. Lbs.
Winchester Xpert .22LR
5” barrel 37 gr.
Muzzle Velocity – 1030 FPS
Energy – 87.2 Ft. Lbs.
Winchester LSWC .38 Special
4” barrel 158 gr.
Muzzle Velocity – 735 FPS
Energy – 189.5 Ft. Lbs.
Winchester USA FMJ .38 Special
4” barrel 130 gr.
Muzzle Velocity – 790 FPS
Energy - 180 Ft. Lbs.
American Eagle LRP .38 Special
4” barrel 158 gr.
Muzzle Velocity - 730 FPS
Energy – 187 Ft. Lbs.
MagSafe 38D Defender .38 Special
4” barrel 52 gr.
Muzzle Velocity – 1603 FPS
Energy – 297 Ft. Lbs.
