Mr Curious wrote:actually a Freedom Arms .22 5 shot revolver is quite small, they make a belt buckle that can hold it. It'll fit in the watch/change pocket on jeans.

Stroppy, see my edit

Fair enough. A Nokia fits pretty snug too.

But have you or any other civilian hand-gun carrier shot anyone yet? I draw and use my phone all the time - sometimes to protect my family from hunger, by calling the pizza company. Things like that..

I've never heard anything bad about the old FN FAL (except that they were really heavy). There's a reason it was one of the most popular rifles of its time. Canadians first adopted it followed by most of the Commonwealth and NATO members. Its popularity doesn't lie. The Belgians make good guns, that's for sure. The FN MAG is probably one of the best machine guns ever made. Designed in the 50s and still being used to this day. Way better than the .50 cal IMO (which, if I recall correctly, is WW1 designed).

Up until recently I owned an Isreali FN-Fal Heavy barrel and loved it. The isreali's used it for while as a long range sniper rifle until they could get a proper bolt-gun. When I first opened the gun up, white sand fell out of the stock area. I did have it rebuilt/accurized by a gunsmith who had worked at the factory.($$$) (1000 meter shots at a body mass target were common with the weapon.) I loved the FN-FAL and would take it any day over the POS M-16. The 7.62x51 round is a favorite, much better in my opinion than the 5.56x45. The Brits when they retook the Falkland Islands had semi-auto FN's. The Argentine forces had the FN that could go full auto. I read where the Brits would pick up the full auto version and use it instead of what they were issued.

Caliber not an issue with stopping power? I think that is wrong. It all comes down to physics. The larger the mass and faster the mass is traveling, the more damage it will cause. When the Americans were fighting the Moro tribes in the Philippine they were using the .38s&w cal revolver and it wouldn't stop the drugged up warriors. The US military introduced the Colt model 1911 semi-auto pistol in .45ACP (Colt Automatic Pistol), and when a drugger up warrior got hit he went down. I have owned/own pistols in both .38s&w and .45acp and give me the .45 any day. I do like the Russian T-33 semi-auto in 7.62x25 with its necked down case though. 9mm in any gun except a full auto weapon, no thank you.

Pelvic area, chest area? Its all irrelevant if your using a .45. In the heat of the moment unless you practice it all the time, you will be lucky to hit anyone at over 20ft away. You will be excited, your body will be telling you to run and you will get tunnel vision. Close in and personal? Two shots (to the head)( double-tap.)

I have both the Freedom Arms .22cal revolver and the Freedom Arms .22mag revolver. Very small, useful only at close range, well built, the .22mag is the smallest I did carry with the .22cal as a backup to my .45cal AMT semi-auto.

My all time favorite is the AK-47 (and AK-74). I have built/rebuilt a bunch of them and they always fired. Love the Com-Bloc 75 round drum.

Home defense? I like my Mossburg Ultra-mag pump with 3 and a half inch 12ga. shells and loaded with hollow-point slugs or OO buckshot. I also have 12ga "special" rounds in incendiary, armor defeating, and flechettes (little steel arrows.)

Fun shooting? I like my Ruger bolt-gun in .17cal HMR. Good to 400 meters for targets and varmit shooting. (would be good on nasty soi dogs.)

"Waste some mofo?" If you ever kill someone, never tell anyone. If you tell everyone refer to Forest Gump:
"Stupid is as stupid does"
Forest Gump

Well, if you really want home protection, I have this. It does waste a lot of money in Ammo, but its great fun to light off. BTW/ Use that phone to call the police (anywhere in the world you live), and wait while your house is ransacked, you maybe killed and your wife/children raped/killed. You can always throw the phone at them. Great for pizza, not so for protection.

Talking about small calibres, I can't imagine that you'd have too many problems with anyone if you popped them with a Rem .17 cal. A long time ago I did a bit of fox shooting with some mates and was pretty impressed with the hitting power. Sure compared to the hitting power of, say, a 30.06 it's chalk and cheese, but this thread is about small cal.

The .17cal HMR is a fun round and is not that expensive, but being rimfire its not reloadable. Its good for up to 400 meter shooting of varmints, but a little small for two leg varmints, plus most all rifles for it are bolt action so slow reloading. The scope on the Ruger pictured is made specially for the 17cal HMR and has a bullet drop compensator built in. You zero it in for 100 meters and its good for 200, 300, 400 meters. The only problem is wind as its a small bullet and you have to figure windage.

One of my favorite small caliber rounds is the 220 swift. A real barrel burner at 4400+ fps. Its a .224cal bullet with powder close to a 30-06 Springfield round. It shoot flat with no drop to 375 yards. With no or little wind 1000 meter shots are common.

Pictured is my 1903-A3 Springfield made by Remington Arms during WWII, Its in 30-06cal and they were used in WWI and WWII.

I am enjoying the topic drift on this thread and loads of very valid points but are we talking a personal protection weapon? Some of the fire-power options put forward, would require a small, hand pulled trailer, not really good for turning out of an evening, nor would a .50 browning, slip neatly into a ladies clutch bag. Where are a nice little PPK, loaded with some nice hollow point or GSS rounds might be there when it was needed but I do heed Kiwi's valid point about stopping some one high on something, so I would apply his pelvic shot recommendation

All that said, Carry a Gun ? ...three....two....one...open your eyes, you are back in the room.

Sailorman, being a former pro Counter-Strike (FPS) gamer, my favorite choice of weapon is AK47 too