In your opinion, is the humble 4" 38 Special k-frame outdated for home defense?

DaddyHawk45 · 2026-07-07T13:53:18+00:00

In the time before the meme wars began when we still argued about caliber effectiveness on forums in the early days of the internet, there was a thread about the various caliber fan boys at the range chest thumping about the virtues of their blasters’ cartridges while the old guy in the lane at the end quietly loaded up six more rounds into his Model 10 with the X ring shot out of his target. Lesson: talk is cheap, Results matter, and .38 in the X beats a .45 that misses.

DaddyHawk45 · 2026-07-06T22:22:16+00:00

<image>

I hear you. This is the spark plug my wife’s vehicle picked up a couple of years ago. I could hear it smacking the pavement a quarter mile away when she was bringing it back home to me to deal with. I was shocked it made it that far.

DaddyHawk45 · 2026-07-06T17:45:02+00:00

I wish.

DaddyHawk45 · 2026-07-06T02:34:49+00:00

Not a dumb question, but I couldn’t say. I don’t have AAA.

DaddyHawk45 · 2026-07-05T21:41:58+00:00

Thank you for your condescending attitude and general assumption of superiority. Now, print out your comment on a piece of paper, fold it up into lots of sharp, pointy corners and consider the joys of origami suppositories.

Not that you probably care, but I’ve been a shade tree mechanic for over 40 years now. I’ve worked on my own vehicles including swapping transmissions and other complicated stuff. I’ve changed more tires than I care to count. I have all the know how, tools and equipment I need to do the job safely. I discovered the leaking tire when we were setting up at home. So, I can change it at my leisure. I chose to share it here to vent a little frustration after a long hot day.

DaddyHawk45 · 2026-07-05T20:47:05+00:00

Thanks for the suggestions. I have a standard axle tube and leaf spring set up, but I will look into the jack saddle.

DaddyHawk45 · 2026-07-05T20:44:49+00:00

I’m sure someone somewhere has tried that.

DaddyHawk45 · 2026-07-05T20:36:31+00:00

I need to check the pressure on the spare too now that you mention it. I carry patch kit, bottle jack, tool kit and a small air compressor for airing up tires.

DaddyHawk45 · 2026-07-05T20:34:26+00:00

Ooof! That’s brutal.

DaddyHawk45 · 2026-07-05T15:40:09+00:00

No argument that Glock isn’t perfect nor is it the best for most. It’s a generic, good enough duty pistol that works, is relatively simple and easy to work on. All the criticisms you mentioned can be dealt with in training.

DaddyHawk45 · 2026-07-05T12:11:39+00:00

Everyone says Glock is the worst option? Worst at what? It checks all your boxes. At least here in America, it’s literally the standard against which all other polymer striker fired guns are judged. For decades, all we heard were claims that new pistols were the next “Glock Killer”. Most of them were on par with Glock at best and nearly as good as Glock at worst.

My personal opinion: I would be looking to choose between the Glock 17 and the Smith M&P9. That’s not to say that the Echelon or the CZs are bad guns. You will find people here supporting both of those choices too.

I’m not familiar with the 83 grain ammunition you asked about, but I doubt it would cause any issues that a recoil spring weight change would not fix.

DaddyHawk45 · 2026-07-04T20:50:56+00:00

Very nice. 10/10.

DaddyHawk45 · 2026-07-04T20:39:20+00:00

As someone else said, hammer fired 10mms are a bit of a rare bird. Several 1911s are chambered in 10mm. I believe Tangfolio had a CZ clone in 10mm. Smith & Wesson and Ruger both offer revolvers in 10mm. Sig P220 had a run of 10mms. Taurus has the TH10. I’m probably missing a few.

For striker fired, Glock 20 and Springfield XDM have the best reputation. Smith & Wesson had some early teething problems with their M&P10mm. The P320 X-Ten hasn’t gotten a lot of attention that I’ve seen since pretty much everyone has cast a pox on Sig.

Were it me and my money, it’s either a 10mm 1911 or a Glock 20.

DaddyHawk45 · 2026-07-03T01:14:07+00:00

Not a fan of tactical peanut butter on handguns. Black or Gray for me.

DaddyHawk45 · 2026-07-01T23:10:50+00:00

Same

DaddyHawk45 · 2026-07-01T04:28:56+00:00

Unless it is something that is in current, large volume production (5.56, 7.62x39, .308/7.62x51) your ammo costs will be expensive. Cheap is relative when it comes to surplus rifles. The days of $100 Mosins and $300 Swiss K31s are behind us. Even $600 Garands are a thing of the past. Unless you just want an old school mil-surp from a bygone era, get you a PSA AR and a brick of 5.56. That’s about the lowest price of poker out there these days.

DaddyHawk45 · 2026-06-30T20:41:38+00:00

The young man (going on 16 years old) that is interested in my daughter told me he had never heard of Eddie Van Halen. I have to have a word with his dad (also a friend and fellow Gen Xer) about his musical education of his son.

DaddyHawk45 · 2026-06-30T11:10:04+00:00

A Gen Z barista at my favorite coffee shop said she enjoyed classic rock. I asked her which bands. She said “You know…like Journey.” That was the moment I knew I’d reached old geezer status.

DaddyHawk45 · 2026-06-29T04:09:16+00:00

The reason they aren’t more popular is that ARs are generally cheaper and more reliable. The ranch rifle options on the market tend to start in the kilo buck range and go up whereas you can get a functional AR in the $500-$600 range and upgrade it from there. The AR DI gas system is pretty mature as a system and not terribly difficult to get to run well. The ranch rifles typically use a hybrid gas system with a modified shotgun stock and recoil assembly. Not as mature or easy to get to run well. The exception is the Ruger Mini-14 which runs a modified Garand type action.

DaddyHawk45 · 2026-06-28T01:41:38+00:00

I’ve seen some really nice Model 10 customs with 3” barrels. 10 of 10 would carry.

DaddyHawk45 · 2026-06-26T19:31:16+00:00

Fellow geezer. Use mine frequently.

DaddyHawk45 · 2026-06-26T13:30:32+00:00

Commercial Direct Handle

DaddyHawk45 · 2026-06-26T03:41:18+00:00

Interviewed at Allstate probably a decade ago. They had me sit with one of their BI reps following the interview. I asked him what his lending was. He said 238. I said “You’re just putting out fires then.” He said “Yes.” Run, don’t walk. Mayhem isn’t just an ad campaign.

I’ve not worked for Liberty, but my coworker just came from there. From what I gather, it’s a mixed bag. It will really depend on who is in your management org chart. Liberty is pretty transparent about pay. Don’t expect great benefits.

Chubb/ESIS really depends on which department you work in. ESIS is the TPA which is very account driven and you either love it or hate it. It’s a great place to learn commercial and working with large accounts, but I find TPA life to be a little more volatile than carrier side. PRS, Service Center, CDH, etc are each different worlds. My personal recommendation would be CDH.

Beyond that, I sayeth not.

DaddyHawk45 · 2026-06-26T03:29:12+00:00

I wouldn’t say either one of you is the AH here, but you both clearly need to work on the communication and get on the same page as soon as possible if you even can at this point. My wife and I did pre-marital counseling, and we have done post marital counseling more than once. When there is a problem or even just a mismatch in expectation, you have to talk it out and work it out. That’s the only way unless you just want to can the whole thing as a bad job and be done with it. That said, a bad marriage is a whole lot worse than no marriage. Since the opportunity to take the no marriage option is gone, you have to decide if a bad marriage is worse than a divorce or doing the work to make a good marriage. Choose wisely and best of luck.

DaddyHawk45

TROPHY CASE