CHAPTER XL
PISTOLS FOR SELF-DEFENCE
These can be divided into two classes.
Pistols to be carried on the person and pistols to be kept by the bedside against attacks at night.
The pistols to be carried on the person can again be subdivided into pistols carried openly, and those carried concealed.
For a pistol carried openly, the big army pistols are the best, my choice being the U. S. .45 Army Colt Automatic (see Plates [13] and [14]).
Such pistols, it must be remembered, have great penetration, and if fired in a room the bullet can go through a closed door or a thick partition, as if they did not exist.
Hiding behind a door or closing and locking the door is no protection against a bullet from an automatic pistol, even the very smallest calibres having great penetration.
The only way in which closing a door may protect those on the other side is that the one shooting cannot actually aim at them.
As very few men can hit what they aim at with a pistol, this is not much advantage. In fact, the person shot at by a bad shot is safer than those at the sides. It is difficult to hit what is desired but something else is sure to be hit however badly the pistol is aimed.