Originally Posted by 458 Lott
More important than what you pack is gaining the skills to use a handgun effectively. Having observed many shooters at the handgun range over several decades I've concluded few of them have any hope of using a handgun to effectively protect themselves from danger. Being skilled with a handgun takes a fair amount of time to develop, and takes continual practice to keep those skills sharp. I can not have fired a rifle in a year and still be fairly competent with it. With a handgun if I'm not practicing weekly my skills deteriorate. So if you choose to carry a handgun for self protection, plan on developing the skills to use it effectively or else it will be a false sense of security.

As far as what I carry, a Ruger SRH in 480 with a 400 gr cast bullet @ 1200 fps. It's the most powerful handgun I can accurately shoot.



Of the cartridges the. OP listed in the title I would choose the 454 load with the 360 grain WLN between 1300 to no more than 1400 fps.
Better yet is a 480, 475, or 500 properly loaded and accurately shot.

You chose wisely.


I got banned on another web site for a debate that happened on this site. That's a first