What gun for car carry?

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jwalk

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Hey everyone,
My sister is in South Carolina in the army. She's going to drive her car back home to Oregon by herself before she's shipped overseas. I told her to get a gun to come home with and she agrees. Since I'm in Idaho I really can't give her one or go look with her. I'm thinking she either needs a 38 or a 357 and put some 38 +P's in it. She's a novice shooter, and doesn't have a ton of cash to drop on a pistol. What suggestions does anyone have? She's probably looking around $300. New is probably preferable since she'll have no idea what to look for in a used handgun. I've also told her she needs to find an indoor range and go shoot whatever gun she finds.
 
The Taurus 85 has remained a popular (and good) choice for sub-$300 wheelguns. Other than that, she will need to go used or go over budget.
If she shops around a little bit, she should be able to find a used K-frame .357 for under $300. I paid $199 for my 90% S&W 19-4 in June.
 
Go used and pick up any one of the Ruger family of autos. Ugly but reliable, cheap and good capacity. Should be able to find one for well under $300.
 
Thanks for the suggestions, and pictures. I was thinking taurus would probably be her best bet. Does anyone know if South Carolina will let military members buy handguns? I've bought a shotgun in Arizona will on TDY, but that's AZ. Is SC a whole lot more strict? Could you ship one there to an someone with a FFL and go that route instead?
 
A cheap gun is better than no gun.

With that said, a couple of options...as I see it:

You can find MANY decent Taurus guns out there in the price range.

Also...I paid $339.00 for my S&W 642, brand new from www.sportingarms.com. This is a gun that will be totally reliable, easy to carry and will last her a lifetime, let alone a short trip across the country. I know she has a budget, but I bet brother can help her with a few bucks to make it work for her. Academy sells these guns for $354.00 if they have those in her area.

Best of luck, but help her stay armed.
 
And of course, she must be aware of the legalities of firearms transport in the various states she will be crossing. In some states, she can have the loaded handgun in the passenger cabin with her while in other states, it will have to be unloaded and locked into the trunk with the ammunition stored separately.
 
MillCreek....

Great advice. I was thinking that as I was typing, but failed to engage the brain-finger switch before I hit the submit button.
 
On the different carrying laws in different states, will a police officer haul a
20-something year old girl driving by herself across the country off to jail if she has the weapon in plain sight like on the seat? I don't know maybe it's my naivity or ignorance of all the other state laws, I wouldn't see that as a big problem. Of course I've grown up in the west my whole life where we didn't have to store our "self-defense" weapon and its ammo seperate. I guess BG's more civilized back east.
 
I would recomend a Ruger SP-101 .357 with a 3 inch barrel. The three inch barrel allows you to get more out of the .357/.38+P load, than a 2 inch snubby would.

Practice is cheap with .38's, and she could load the SP-101 with some .38+P JHP Hydra-Shoks, If a .357 has too much recoil.
 
IMO, it depends on what kind of situations she would likely encounter.

My car gun is a S&W SW9VE. It holds 16+1 rounds of 9mm. Loaded with hot FMJ's, it will be great if I should need to unload a bunch of rounds at someone driving in a car. From what I've experienced, in my area I am more likely to have someone aim a gun at me from their car on the highway, and a lot of rounds that would likely penetrate are what I would want.

If that's her case, there's a bunch of cheap high-cap 9mm pistols around that would do the job well; my Sigma fills this role well, and it costs currently around $300ish.

If she's more worried about rest areas and the such, the same gun would work fine, but I might prefer a short-barrel'd .357/.38+p.
 
On the different carrying laws in different states, will a police officer haul a 20-something year old girl driving by herself across the country off to jail if she has the weapon in plain sight like on the seat?
Click to expand...

In some cities and states, absolutely. Especially back East and in the Midwest states that have severe restrictions on civilian handgun ownership and carry. Many of the Western states do have a more tolerant attitude.

I would never keep a weapon in plain sight on the seat. It seems to me to be asking for trouble, as someone driving by in a truck or SUV could see it, and call in a 'person with a gun' call to the local PD. That will pretty much guarantee a police response. I myself at a minimum would keep it under the seat or would use one of the center-of-mass car gunsafes.


http://www.nraila.org/GunLaws/Federal/Read.aspx?id=59 or www.packing.org are good resources to start researching the legal issues.
 
My sister is in South Carolina in the army. She's going to drive her car back home to Oregon by herself before she's shipped overseas.
Click to expand...
Does anyone know if South Carolina will let military members buy handguns?
Click to expand...

If the base in SC is her permanent duty station, and it sounds like it is, then yes, as long as she is 21 or older she can buy a handgun in SC. She will need to bring her Military ID, current drivers license from whatever state issued it, and a copy of her PCS orders that assigned her to the base in SC. Under federal law if she is permanently stationed in SC then she can claim it as her state of legal residence for firearm prchases.
 
The gun writer Sheriff Jim Wilson asked his readers about this some time ago.
The general opinion was that a large bore revolver was best.

1. subsonic, less likely to destroy hearing

2. large heavy bullet for stopping power

3. a bad guy pushing on the front of the gun won't make it fail to fire or eject

4. big hole in front may produce behaviorial changes in those at which it's pointed

5. easy to draw

Most of the writers suggested a revolver in either .44 special, .45 Colt, or .45 ACP.
 
Jwalk,

My daughter was in a similar situation. She ended up finally finding a classmate that drove with her from Vermont to Oregon, His dad is an FFL and the son has a CCW. So he carried as legal, but at least had it available in some form in the car. For the trip back I took her to the range a couple of times and let her choose from any of mine or the rentals. She liked the Glock 19 and XD 9mm subcompact pretty well. But she finally chose the Ruger GP100 with .38 +P 158 gr LHP. She just liked a revolver best.

One factor was that she had difficulty quickly and reliably racking the slide on even the Glock. Your sister being in the military has probably fired the M9 at least. If she is OK with racking the slide, then maybe a used Glock or SD 9mm for about $400.

Otherwise I would suggest a Ruger SP101 or GP100, or Taurus or SW in .38 or .357. A 3" - 4" barrel is pretty good balance of velocity and handiness.
 
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Thanks run and shoot and others. SC is a training stop for her she was in Okalahoma, so I'll research if she can legally buy or not, but I was thinking along the lines of a revolver. I would recommend an XD 9mm if she ever shot a semi-automatic much, I have the same gun. Unfortunately she's only shot a M-16 or M-4. However for the time being, I think a ruger or taurus is probably her best bet. Now the trick is getting her out to a gun shop and actually purchasing one!
 
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