The "Ideal" Urban Warfare cartridge? I keep coming back to it. I own several long guns in .308 Win-7.62x51. They are all fine long-range rifles. As we saw in the recent anarchist attack on the Dallas, TX PD, some rifles are a must, if for no other reason than to put up harassing fires to keep the snipers' heads down until the streets are cleared and the heavies come in for counter-attack. DPD had damn few long guns of any kind to bring to bear. When they called their Code Zero, they had dozens of cops respond very quickly. You saw the video, cops, under sniper fire, with drawn pistols, herding civilians to safety (or where they thought it was safe, no one had eyes on the sniper's hide for a full 10-20 minutes). Then, you saw the occasional AR-15, MAYBE one for every 30 officers.
Dallas PD was outgunned in that fight. Yes, they had numerical weapons superiority. Yes, they had mobility. Yes they had comms. No, they never ID'd the threat until maybe 20 minutes into the attack, and they offered NO counter-fire until the SWAT got the perp pinned down in that parking garage, at which point the threat to the core are of the city was managed.
My what-if.
What if each officer had been carrying a handgun suitable to present fire at 200 meters? THEY USED TO. Those were heavy, six-shot revolvers with 6" barrels, firing the .357 Remington Magnum cartridge. In certain loadings, such as this, this and this, the .357 Magnum is perfect against thin-skinned targets out to that range. The longer barrel is key, as you can see by those ballistic comparisons. You have to be able to SEE the target, and there are all sorts of fine revolver scopes which will give the edge out to those ranges. 2.5 magnification is sufficient.
Imagine if 25 of those officers covering the "protests" had been equipped with those revolvers. As the first shots rang out, they could have returned fire effectively enough to keep the sniper's head down. If the sniper shifted position, they could have shifted fire to follow.
Okay, I hear the howls now, "Your handgun only gets you to your long gun." Oh, very well, but your handgun is ON YOUR HIP. Make it the most effective tool you can. Drop back 50 years, will you?
Oh, and that long gun? Here it is. Put a good Scout Scope on that handy .357 carbine, and it will get the job done with the same ballistic authority as a 30-30 centerfire, which is the same ballistics as what that sniper was using.
No, I don't like the poodleshooter.
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