[QUOTE=CrAz3D]These things have factory alarms?... I need to reread my manual

It was installed at the DEALER at the time I bought the truck. They said I could pay extra for it or they would have to take it out (they said part of it was in the truck already?). So I coughed up the cash and got it.

 

[QUOTE=TritonXLT]And i'm aware that the red light on the dash is not the alarm. If I said dealership alarm would that make you feel better!

 

I believe these truck has an alarm where if the break out your window and open the door from the inside after being locked with the keypad it woudl turn on. A friend's truck use to do this and he said it came like that. idk. My security is a Glock 26.

 

I haven't even gotten to shoot it yet but I've found a nice place it fits in my truck. lol... My previous cab gun was a S&W 915. I have a Mini-14 right now that I don't use. Thinking of cutting the barrel down to 16" and sticking a red dot on it and putting it behind my seat. lol. Have a nice reliable cab carbine. Sure the police will love to pull me over and get an anwer to, "Do you have any weapons or firearms in the vehicle?"

But if you're in Texas you can shoot to protect your property. There was just some story of a guy shooting someone who was sitting in his vehicle trying to hot wire it. Police showed up, took his gun until the investigation is over and didn't even arrest the guy.

 

Wrong forum for gun stuff, but just for the new shooters, hand guns are not the best choice for home defense. Too much penetration, you shoot some scum sucker and the 9mm etc. bullet passes through his skinny carcass and into your neighbors window. Worse with a high power rifle.
A shotgun with bird shot will mess a guy up better than any handgun on the market at 50 feet. And won't kill the little girl across the street in bed. And won’t look like murder in a court.
“Golly, your honor, I just had some number six stuff laying around, if I had wanted to kill the guy, I would have used buckshot, wouldn’t I?”

Hand guns are for when you have to conceal it, or if you are doing something that takes both hands, but need a gun handy.

If you absolutely must use a pistol for defense, use Glasser or Mag 'safety slugs' They wont penetrate a wall, but they will mess the perp up nicely.

And, in court, the next day, you can explain you use them because they don't ricochet, they don't punch through walls, and “Gee, I didn't know they would make such huge holes in people...”

Don't use Hollow points, or 'hunting ammo' or anything with a flashy name. I sat jury duty a few years ago, and while I managed to keep a store owner from going to jail, (completely righteous shooting) it took everything but a baseball bat to convince three jurors that hollow points didn't mean the store clerk was evil. Ask any attorney about this.
Of course, the safety slugs are probably the nastiest load on the market, and at 2-3 bucks a shot, you won't want to use em up at the range.
Chris

 

it is unlikely they could have stollen it unless they are a pretty safisticated thief. without your key in the ignition the engine. they would not be able to start it. it is a passive anti theft system. the only way they would have been able to steal it is to push it down your driveway and tow it away. just curious has any one heard of anyone getting there 04-05 f150 stolen. just curious how well the system works.

 

We seem to be high jacking this thread. Can a mod split this thread for us?

A 9mm bullet doesn't have that much penetration especially if you're using a hollow point or one of the self defense FMJ rounds. I can stop one with 1 1/2 phonebooks. I've got a bag with caught bullets from doing this.

I don't buy into those expensive bullets either. because you can never afford to shoot enough through your handgun to make sure they cycle reliably. Some gun's just don't like hollow points. Your biggest worry in self-defense shooting is to stop the threat. Don't say you shot to kill.

A shotgun is a good choice but a shotgun round with buck-shot or slugs has as much, or more penetration through regular house material than a High power rifle. SWAT teams use mp5's because they don't have to worry as much about over penetration and it's a 9mm.

Handguns are great for self-defense but you need to make sure you're good with it because they're more difficult to shoot than any rifle. An afternoon with a decent Carbine and you'll be able to shoot down targets faster than Rob Letham and his handgun. Handguns are just harder to shoot because of their short sight length. I put 400 to 500 rounds of 9mm a month through mine and close to 1000 through my 22/45. Stay in practice.

 

9mm and .22 caliber is the size of the diameter of the bullet. A 9mm I believe is .350 of an inch for comparison to the .22. A .357 Magnum is a 9mm bullet too, which is why you can use both 9mm and .357 Magnum out of a Ruger SP101 in 9mm with just a cylinder change. The bullet weight is also different with a 9mm being around 115 to 145 grain depending on what you get to a .22 being a lot less. Thinking 33 grains but I'm not positive. I never pay attention. Then you can get hot loads, etc. that shoot different speeds. Expect 9mm to be 900 to 1100 fps depending if you get standard loads, +p's, or +p+'s. The weight of the bullet will also make a difference on the fps.

FPS and Weight of a bullet makes a difference in the force of the impact also. Remember Force = Mass x Acceleration (in the case of a bullet impacting it would be negative acceleration but the force is still there.)

Cost wise you can get winchester white box target ammo for $12 for 100 rounds from Wal-Mart. You can get 500 round boxes of Winchester white box .22Lr for around $8. 22lr is only a target round though. Don't consider it a self-defense round. Self-Defense ammo expect to pay around $15 to $25 for 25 rounds of 9mm depending on what you get. I'd get the highest power load your gun can handle. +p and +p+ is hard to find in 9mm though.

 

9mm x 19 parabellum is 3.56 inch diameter, that's what most people call a 9mm.
A Makrov 9x18 or any of it's clones is 3.58-3.60 inch.
Both still minor calibers, too much penetration, very little stopping power with most loads, example, most hollow points do not open when shot into a two by four.
Performance is like a low end load in a 38 Special (3.57 diameter).

The 9's are very stylish, and were even adopted by the US military, with rather unfortunate results. The Army has requested that they go back to the 45 acp, a low power .451 inch load. The Special Forces types have already returned.

Politically correct ammo.. Never good for the troops.

Before anyone flames me, read General J. Hatchers study, The Thompson/LaGuardia report, and a half hundred others. The little fast calibers always win in the 'simulated' tests from the computer guys. Our GI's have never been too fond of the sub-calibers.
Those of us who have more than a few ‘slug-throwers’ have been through all the arguments and read all the studies. I’m going with the ten top experts from Elmer Keith to Jeff Cooper.
Yup, wrong forum.
Chris