https://www.reddit.com/r/SocialistRA/comments/9rabkw/what_comrades_should_know_35_caliber/"What Comrades Should Know: .35 Caliber
Although inferior in performance to long guns, a rifle or a shotgun slung over the shoulder attracts unnecessary attention from community members and agents of the State in a way a concealed handgun does not. Every comrade who has made the decision to carry weapons needs to own a personal defense handgun that can be carried discreetly, and outside of highly irregular circumstances, that personal defense handgun should be chambered in one of the .35 caliber rounds: specifically 9mm Luger or .38 Special.
1. The Calibers
I. Why The .35 Caliber?
Why do we even have to make this decision? Why is it necessary to select the one sidearm caliber that we must expect to do it all? The only point of agreement among the otherwise divided gun community is that there is no one round that is the best choice for all scenarios. Wouldn't it make sense to diversify?
In a world of unlimited resources, this would be the best course of action. A comrade with a limitless budget and infinite time to train could wear a Glock 17 on their hip, a .454 Cassull Super Redhawk in an Alaskan chest rig, and a .32 ACP mousegun in a boot holster for good measure.
Reality demands that we be more practical. The first, and most important, resource any comrade must consider when deciding on a new firearm is time. Training is single most valuable contributor to mastery of any skill, and marksmanship is no different. All comrades have demands on their time, which necessarily limits the amount of training available. Efficiency dictates that a comrade select one platform and train extensively with that, rather than training partially with several different platforms with different manuals of arms. So, even though it will require compromise and sacrifice, we must approach this question with the understanding that we can only have one sidearm.
Acknowledging resource constraints also means taking into account affordability and availability. If price were no object, then there would be nothing wrong with a comrade stockpiling obscure or archaic ammunition. But no matter how interesting it would be to be the comrade with thousands of rounds of .442 Webley, we must take into account the dual truth that many comrades have limited funds, and sufficient training requires sufficient supplies of ammunition. The 9mm Luger and .38 Special are affordable enough that an adequate reserve of ammunition can be acquired inexpensively, and common enough that it can be found in unfamiliar territory in emergencies. For comrades who do not have the time or capacity to load their own ammunition, factory loads for these two cartridges abound; for those who do, there is a tremendous amount of data available.
The 9mm Luger and .38 Special are powerful enough to transfer adequate energy and achieve sufficient penetration to fatally incapacitate two-legged threats without being so powerful that it generates a level of recoil too sharp for follow-up shots. Their bullets are large enough to shatter bone and travel through barriers, but not so large that ammunition capacity is limited, especially with modern pocket semi-automatic handguns. And 9mm Luger and .38 Special are well-suited for the short barrels required for a concealed carry handgun.
The 9mm Luger and .38 Special have more power than rounds like the .17 HMR, .25 ACP, .32 ACP, .22 LR, and .22 WMR. These diminutive calibers can be effective in the right circumstances (such as plinking or hunting small game), but only in the worst-case scenarios should comrades depend on them for personal defense. We can accept that these small rounds can be, and certainly are, lethal [1]; but a personal defense handgun must be more reliable.
On the other end of the spectrum, the .35 caliber family lacks the killing power of the big-bore handgun hunting cartridges like the .460 Rowland, .44 Magnum, .454 Casull, or .50 Action Express. But those heavy-hitters demonstrate much more aggressive recoil, and get most of their power from long (in some cases 8" or more) barrels, whereas the 9mm Luger and .38 Special are far more manageable.
The 9mm and .38 Special are among the cheapest centerfire pistol cartridges, with the 9mm available for as low as $0.13/round and the .38 Special for $0.18/round. [2] This makes these rounds more affordable than otherwise valid options, like some of the modern high-velocity bottleneck rounds, like the .22 TCM, .357 Sig, or .32 NAA, or semi-proprietary self-defense rounds, like .45 GAP or .327 Federal. The same problem faces some military rounds, like the 5.7x28mm, and, although they may hold a certain nostalgia for some comrades, the 9x18mm Makarov or 7.62x25mm Tokarev.
The 9mm Luger and .38 Special are rarely the best round for any situation, but they fulfill all of the practical considerations that comrades should consider when deciding on a first handgun. However, they are not the only rounds that do so.
II. Why Not _______________?
The .35 caliber family of self-dense cartridges shares many of its advantages with a handful of other rounds, specifically the .380 ACP, the .40 S&W, and the .45 ACP. These three rounds are inexpensive, widely available, and chambered in a variety of pistols suitable for concealed carry, and they all have passionate advocates. So why not consider them as well?
At this point, a certain amount of subjectivity is inevitable, and comrades are (as always) encouraged to exercise their own judgment and consideration, but the logic at play is that the ideal handgun round is the one that delivers the most energy with the least amount of recoil. For the majority of comrades, especially new shooters, that round will be either the 9mm or the .38 Special. The smaller .380 ACP can squeeze out some marginally impressive velocities, and comrades with smaller statures might enjoy the extremely petite platforms available for the cartridge. Experienced comrades who can handle the stouter kick of the .45 ACP and .40 S&W are encouraged to do so.
At personal defense distances, and assuming accurate shot placement, modern self-defense cartridges of all calibers will carry enough force to lethally incapacitate threats. From twenty feet away, your target will not feel the extra hundred or so foot-pounds of force offered by a .45 ACP bullet. Comrades should carry the biggest round that they can fire quickly and comfortably. If it turns out that such a round is the .32 ACP or the .500 S&W, so be it; the most important factor is training. But for most comrades in most situations, the best choice will be 9mm Luger or .38 Special.
III. Overview of the .35s
i..38 Special-1898
For the .38 Special, we can thank imperialism, colonial ambition, and "Benevolent Assimilation," the proclamation by which America declared it was taking ownership over the sovereign peoples of the Philippines. Following the Treaty of Paris that ended the Spanish-American War, Spain ceded control of the Philippines to the United States, which imposed colonial rule. The resulting war was a brutal initiation of a century of American Neocolonial Empire--civilization at the barrel of a gun. [3]
The standard-issue American sidearm round at that time, the .38 Long Colt, performed poorly during the fighting, and the United States commissioned firearms manufacturer Smith & Wesson to develop a better performing round, which they did with the introduction of the Military & Police revolver in 1902. Considered "one of the best-balanced, all-around handgun cartridges ever designed," it saw widespread use as a law enforcement cartridge until the advent of lightweight, double-stacked, polymer-framed 9mm pistols. [4]
Owing to its popularity, the .38 Special is available in a wide range of loadings, from mild wadcutter rounds meant for target shooting to heavy personal defense bullets. The .38 Special and .38 Special +P are adequate for self-defense, but are eclipsed by the more-powerful .357 Magnum, which has an identical bullet diameter but a longer case. Weapons chambered for the longer .357 Magnum can fire the .38 Special, but not the other way around. The .357 Magnum is an inappropriate choice for a concealed carry handgun because of its stout recoil, but in longer-barreled revolvers or rifles, it is an exceedingly capable round, with boutique loads meeting or even exceeding the power of the venerable .30-30 Winchester."
There is more:
"3. A Concluding Word
From a moral standpoint, the willingness to kill is indistinguishable from the act of killing, and every comrade who chooses to carry a concealed handgun has decided that they are willing to kill. This is, quite frankly, dangerous and spiritually toxic, and every comrade who chooses to carry should carefully and clinically reflect on the weight and responsibility they have taken on. Carrying a concealed handgun means holding the power of life in death in your hands during interactions with friends and strangers. It means assessing every encounter through the lens of the potential for lethal violence. There are good reasons to carry a handgun, but every comrade who chooses to do so needs to remain vigilant that they stay grounded in solidarity and mutual dignity.
Every comrade who carries a handgun also needs to be prepared for the (hopefully, vanishingly rare) possibility that they might be involved in a shooting. This means being familiar with, and prepared to engage in, the basics of lifesaving first aid. Training with a handgun should be coupled with training in the use of tourniquets and hemostatic agents.
As always, being armed is an individual choice, and individuals will not build a better world--communities will. Weapons are tools of death, and if we want to triumph over the forces of oppression and iniquity, we must be tools of life. Love your neighbors. Stand ever fast against the wicked."
