The cowboys were onto something.

Back in the day, it made logistical sense to carry a handgun and rifle chambered in the same caliber. With only one type of ammo to carry, the “horse unions” couldn’t complain too much about excess weight and their riders could get by with using just one bullet mold over the campfire.

Even when using a “handgun” cartridge in a rifle or carbine, there are some essential benefits. The longer sight radius of the rifle makes aiming at distant targets easier. Much easier. The additional weight of the rifle over the handgun helps mitigate recoil, and that also helps improve shooting performance, especially when firing more than once. Last, and certainly not least, those extra inches of barrel length enhances the performance of the handgun cartridge, at least in terms of velocity. Until the point where friction becomes the dominant force, you’ll get an extra 20 to 50 feet per second of additional speed for each extra inch of barrel length.

Read the rest: Ruger’s Security 9 : A Basic General Purpose Pistol