Wednesday, September 22, 2010

9 Myths

Plenty of other bloggers have covered this ground before me. Debunking 9 Classic Myths and Whoppers... But you know us gun-culture types... we love to hash over our contentious issues. Let me sum and see how far off base this guys is...

And I need fodder.

Myth #1 – Caliber Matters
Ok I can understand that. It the whole "if you find yourself in a gunfight, it's a good idea to have a gun." And since I got a .38 snubbie for the same reason RSKTKR carries a .22, I can't fault him too much there.

Myth #2 – Firearms Experts
Gun shop guys are often attributed more firearm knowledge than they probably deserve? Ok, I'll agree to this.

Myth #3 – Dryfiring Damages Weapons
I'll go along with this too. I like his example "The Marine Corps has made dry firing an art form with a week of Boot camp devoted to it." Heh.

Myth #4 – “I’m a Great Shot!”
This is the whole 'good on a square range, a shambles in a real situation' thing. Yeah, he's right about the people (myself included) that are a bit too confident in their untested abilities.

Myth #5 – “A (insert gun here) isn’t very accurate”
Pfff. True.

Myth #6 – “I know how to shoot I’m a Police officer, Marine..(Fill in the Blank)”
I don't know how to shoot and I was in the military, so proof positive it's a myth here.

Myth #7 – “Kneeling/Modern Isosceles/Monica/(insert technique here) isn’t comfortable.”
He concentrates on gun-fighting, the pudding-proof therein.

Myth #8 – “I can’t shoot a (insert gun here) because of the grip angle.”
True. You may not PREFER a gun's configuration, but... Pah! This is more gun fighting reference. In a fight, if you stumbled over a 19th Century French Pepperbox, loaded, you'd shoot it.

Myth #9 – “Guns need to be cleaned every time they are fired.”
I like to clean mine, but I don't always. Especially if I'm going to shoot it again in a week. And there are plenty of example on the internet of people consciously NOT cleaning their range gun to see how reliable it remains. And people have been doing that test BEFORE the invention of the internet, too.

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So... Near no contention at all on these 9 myths. At least from me. In fact, I can't think of another gunnie that holds to any of the Whoppers. Or if they do, it's just one. About the only one I even look askance at is #1 used in the extreme. I, personally, would not feel comfortable with a .22 as my carry piece. Unless I needed something SO small that this was the only thing I could carry:

But those myths sure ARE out there. If they are prevalent anywhere it is among the more casual shooter. The once or twice a year type that doesn't want to know much more about it than he or she knows right now. Just no interest. Is it worth working hard to correct them?

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