Saturday, July 3, 2010

Pistol Selection

When I asked for input on which pistol to take to the range, the consensus of these:

  1. 1911 pattern
  2. .22 revolver
  3. .357 revolver
  4. .357 snub revolver
  5. SIG P229
  6. 1903/8 Colt Pocket Hammerless
was to take the one I carry... Ok... I get that... the thing is... which one is that?

I live in Maryland. Carrying is a no-no. Ok. When not in Maryland what do I carry? Well...

If I have a holster it's the SIG, if i just have a pocket it's the snubbie, but I WANT the 1911 to be the go-to pistol some day, and if I lose the snubbie it's the Colt in the pocket, and if there is a bump in the night (3AM? Who sells magazines at 3AM?) the big .357 revolver is the gun to hand for social purposes.

About the only pistol I don't carry is the .22, but all of you will grant that's a good round for lots of cheap practice. I don't have any extraneous 'fun' pistols. All are either carriers or marksmanship practice pieces. No 'fun' guns. All have a 'place.'

My other criteria is normally "What ammo do I have lots of above the 'don't go below this level' quantity?" But that's not relevant this time, as I am flush enough.

I'd rather not have a group of pistols. I'd rather have one go-to gatt. (And a duplicate of that in case the primary goes to the smith.) And that one be the 1911. But that was not to be. Yet. That's the direction I want to go. I'm just not there yet.

So, you're saying now, "T-Bolt, all this internal conflict is fine for filling up a blog post and I see where you are going with your thought process, but which gun did you take?"

The snubbie. It's my most frequent companion. And I remembered that the Lawman +p .38 is on top of the stack of boxes.

8 comments:

sofa said...

"I live in Maryland. Carrying is a no-no."

the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed

??

Maryland vs the People.

sofa said...

Anyone organizing an 'Open Carry Event' in Maryland?

And why not?

Open Carry in DC event?

Open Carry in Chicago Event?

Do rights exist - Or not ?

New Jovian Thunderbolt said...

What we would recognize as Open Carry is a Crime in Maryland. And DC. And my employer would not be pleased. And I like eating food and sleeping indoors.

Anonymous said...

I say take the Sig. First off, it is your carry piece, even if you don't carry often. But, more importantly, it is a SA/DA, which take quite a while to learn to shoot well. All your bad habits about pulling or jerking triggers, or flinching, or whatever-- you can very well have different behavior depending if you're shooting SA or DA. I've been spending a lot of time working with my 225s lately, for this reason. If you learn to shoot the 229 well, then your skills will transfer more easily to the 1911. It will also transfer to a DA revolver. This is not true the opposite way.

Frankly, it is easy to shoot a 1911, because of the wonderful trigger. That's exactly why its still so popular. Get yourself a Mosquito or a .22 conversion kit, and work on your more difficult pistol.

-Michael

MJM said...

I thought you'd end up at the .38.
Mission: To defend self and others by deadly force, if necessary--must actually have a gun, of as much firepower caliber as is practical.
Usually, for me, that means the .38.
Now, at home, with no carry limitations, at Oh-dark-thirty, it will be the Glock with Streamlight attached to the rail. So, training time with both is important.

NotClauswitz said...

I don't get to carry here in California either, and now they're going to ban Open Carry as well since some of the white peoples got all scared by Open Carry protesters... Sucks.
I have a nice (used Galco) holster for my Sig P220, but the only holster for my 1911 is an old Army flap-holster. I need something better for the 1911. Say Uncle was going to send me a Kydex one he wasn't that fond of but we never got-us a round tuit.
I like having two different guns with the same ammo - I don't have any 9mm stuff. I do have a nice Bianchi yard-sale item for the .38 spl.

Bubblehead Les. said...

Coming from the New York Reload school, I'd take the snubbie and the revolver, provided they both have 6 shot cylinders. That way, you can use the same type of ammo and speedloaders. Why 2? As a Russian immigrant once told me " Guns is Machine. Machines break. You want to fight with broken gun?" For Maryland, .38 +P should do you fine, unless you're back in the woods near WV, and might run into black bear, then use some 357 Heavy Solids. But for social work in your neck of the woods...well, that's the system I'm using when I leave my house here in Ohio. Ymmv, of course.

Laura said...

sofa, your idealistic view of rights scares lawmakers in Maryland. if any of them read your comments, they'd be clutching their pearls in terror.