Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire This is why I carry a gun I can fight with.

Pardon stepping on the thread, but......

yup, G20 works


















but the Sigs will do in a pinch!










ya!

GWB

Hell, I bumped that 1/2" so many times over the years it deserves a mention.

Gotcha beat with my Raven Arms MP25.

Gotcha both beat with a pair of Phoenix Arms HP-22 pistols.

Haven't shot 1 of them but surprisingly the one I have fired was pretty reliable for the 2 or 3 magazine fulls I shot through it.

Stays in a drawer at the loading bench.

The unfired one I got when the wife's grandmother passed. I need to put a few mags through it to check reliability.

Really nice
Mine is kinda funky dull black looking
with black plastic grip panels

This one ^ ^ ^ ^ must be the BDL model

Gotta give it one thing. It's never jammed with
whatever excuse for ammunition went inside it

I don't want to get involved with the all the discussion here but just want to defend the good folks in Maine. I had the same thoughts about no one carrying a gun in a Constitutional carry state. Then it was pointed out to me that after Constitutional carry passed the democratic administration in Maine proceeded to make many places gun free zones. The bowling alley had a bar attached and as such was deemed a gun free zone due to being an establishment where liquor was served making concealed or open carry illegal.

Mackay,

I like your choice of tools. Carry what you’re willing to fight with - words to LIVE by!!

I've been pocket carrying a Glock 20 for years. The G29 is just a little more discreet while out in public. Not much problem if you're not a manlet.

New rendition is called P32. Not surprisingly not easy to find for sale. Prices >$300.

How are they too fat to carry. I don't even notice I'm carrying mine, and it conceals extremely well under an untucked pull over shirt. As for shooting, for me, it's not much inferior to a 19.

Mackay and others who have multiple EDC pistols. I understand that you might have a different gun for hot weather and cold weather applications. But from a tactical standpoint, thinking muscle memory here, would the best approach be to have as few platforms as possible and for those platforms to be similar? Say a Glock 19 and a Glock 48. Grip angle the same, controls in the same place, sight picture the same etc.

When I was on active duty in the Coast Guard we were carrying Beretta 92s. I started working part time as a reserve deputy for Harrison County. I went with a stainless 92 so that there was no relearning, retraining etc and muscle memory was identical. Seems like there would be similar value in being as standardized as possible with EDC.

Just thinking out loud.

Not even close to the worst.

Sincerely,
Every 22lr, 32apc, and .380 on the planet.

😁

Excellent thread, Mac, lots of insight from varying points of view. I have three EDC choices for the most part, a P-365XL (12 rounds) a Colt LW Commander 45 ACP and a Glock 31. Mostly here in Florida the 365 gets the nod. I was turned onto one by JWP and it's just a practical tool with an adequate caliber and 12 rounds.

A G30S is a pretty decent little gun in terms of size, weight and on board capacity, for its caliber. With my hand size I had to undercut the trigger guard on mine to get my hand further up on it. Plus I removed a finger groove to make the front strap flat. I have carried mine a good bit it the mountains for when weight is important, but still want a large caliber. Normally it is in a chest pack. I still prefer a full size gun, like the G21 for carrying in Grizzly country, but the G30S is not a bad setup, if it fits your hands.

Much respect for Mr Sagebrush’s post and his perspective. Over the 45ish years of choosing to be my own protective circle I have carried 1911, sw29, sw586, Taurus 66, Taurus 85 and even a 45lc in the platform the young Sagebrush is busting ballon’s with. I did what it took to be proficient with all of them, carried all of them well and as deep as requirements dictated and all with enough ammo to carry the fight forward.
The most important point is that I chose to do so.
We are entering a time of great choosing. The choices we are facing will be clearer as time progresses.

I love the concept of the 30S, but I bought one very early on upon their release, and kept getting false lockbacks, i.e., the slide locking back while there's still ammo in the mag. I experimented with different ways to grip it, to make sure I wasn't contacting the slide release, but nothing worked. Sent it back, and they told me they couldn't find anything wrong with it, so I sold it at a gun show.

I was really disappointed I couldn't get it to work for me. My Glock 30 never does that, nor any other Glock I own, and that's like a dozen different models. Not once. But on the 30S, I couldn't get through a magazine without at least one false lockback.

I love the attention but people are starting to talk.

You need to quit thinking about me so much.




P

The answer is "It depends".

How much time and effort are you willing to spend on developing your skill sets?

You can master multiple action types if you put in the work. The flip side is that you will never master even a single one if you very rarely do anything other than buy a gun and shoot 100 rounds a year, just popping a few magazines at a piece of cardboard.

Delving further into this, there are 4 levels of competence. They are as follows:




1.Unconscious incompetence.

2.Conscious incompetence.

3.Conscious competence.

4.Unconscious competence.

For those not familiar, I cut and pasted the Wiki definitions below, as I honestly don't feel like writing my own lengthy definitions, and the wiki versions are close enough. I will briefly touch on them after the wiki definitions though.






Unconscious incompetence

The individual does not understand or know how to do something and does not necessarily recognize the deficit. They may deny the usefulness of the skill. The individual must recognize their own incompetence, and the value of the new skill, before moving on to the next stage. The length of time an individual spends in this stage depends on the strength of the stimulus to learn.[1]

Conscious incompetence

Though the individual does not understand or know how to do something, they recognize the deficit, as well as the value of a new skill in addressing the deficit. The making of mistakes can be integral to the learning process at this stage.

Conscious competence

The individual understands or knows how to do something. It may be broken down into steps, and there is heavy conscious involvement in executing the new skill. However, demonstrating the skill or knowledge requires concentration, and if it is broken, they lapse into incompetence.[1]

Conscious competence

The individual has had so much practice with a skill that it has become "second nature" and can be performed easily. As a result, the skill can be performed while executing another task. The individual may be able to teach it to others, depending upon how and when it was learned.





Now to go further into that as it relates to this topic.

Some gun owners do not recognize (Unconscious incompetence) that they are quite incompetent with a handgun. They are oblivious to the fact that they don't have even the most basic of skill sets and handle guns so poorly that often luck and infrequent handling is what keeps them from shooting themselves or others. In high stress situations they are basket cases and quite dangerous.

The next type (conscious incompetence) is not at all a bad thing. For example, I know that I cannot play a piano. That is conscious incompetence. Some people know their skill sets with a pistol, or multiple action types are poor. That is not a bad thing. It is actually good that it is recognized.

Next, being conscious competence. The person has to think about his actions while doing them but can get through an event if he maintains focus. However he really needs to concentrate, especially in stressful environments.


Last is conscious competence. This is where we don't even have to think about an action, we can simply do it at a natural level. The example I like to use is driving a stick shift vehicle after you have been doing so for 20 years. When you were first learning, you messed it up, and were consciously incompetent. Then you became consciously competent. Eventually you don't even pay attention and are at the level of unconscious competence. You simply drive and don't give it a thought.

Shooting various handguns (or any weapons system) is the same way.


If you put in the time and effort, you don't have to think about it. You can master it. It is a matter of how much time, training and effort you are willing to put into it. People who are operating at a higher level at a particular skill set were not simply born with it. They put in hundreds and usually thousands of hours of practice.

Most gun carriers who are casual shooters would be better off picking one action type, such as an S&W M&P or Glock w/o a thumb safety to manipulate, or a DA revolver, or a some other version. The brand is less important, as long as the gun is extremely reliable. If a person wants a thumb safety, that's fine too. Just keep it the same. Under stress people tend to fumble a bit, so keeping things simple is a very good thing.

Personally I tend to carry mostly Glocks and 1911s. The manner in which I draw both is the exact same. So if I was drawing a 1911 the thumb safety would come off. If the Glock somehow had a thumb safety it would come off as well, due to the way I draw. It is exactly the same.  I also consider guns like the Glock and 1911 very close to the same in terms if actions. What I mean by that is that they both have the same short trigger pull, and a very short reset. So in practical terms they do not operate much differently.

Now with that said, I generally don't have an issue switching between various action types. I can shoot a DA/SA semi auto fairly well. Something like an S&W 4563 works well for me. I don't shoot it quite as well as a Glock or 1911, but that is more due to the time and round count I have on the Glock and 1911s.

So in summary, most would be better off picking a single platform and practicing to the point of unconscious competence. When they can simply draw and shoot at a target and not even think about the draw process then they are doing great.

Outstanding response. I appreciate it.

Y'all got me to load up the G22 and throw that into the go-to lockbock in my shop. There's snow on the ground, and 15 rounds of .40 HST with a 22 round reload gives me warm fuzzies.