G
Guest
·Eureka he shouted!
Give the man a prize, Chad you are pretty smart even if you don't know what I am going to say:
The ideal caliber is the one that YOU shoot the fastest and most accurately, if you shoot a 9mm, try a .40, if you can hit with the .40 with the same splits, try the .357Sig, if you can continue to hit, go to the 9x23/.38Super, if you are still with me go for the .400 Corbon, still on time and target? Now move to the heaviest .45acp you can safely shoot in your gun (230gr+P preferred). If you are really adept and you are still timing and hitting well, move to the full power 10mm and if you are still doing very well move to the .40 Super (or in a revolver go for the .41Magnum, (above the .41magnum I give up too much time between shots, for you guys that can do it go ahead) and if we are still going strong the .45 Super, I've never met or seen anyone that can hit/shoot fast and accurately enough with even the .45Super to truly engage multiple targets under stress.
The point is that while the .40 S&W really is an answer to a problem that did not exist, it has revitalized and saved a dying firearms industry. Where would we be without the extensive .40 calibers and concealed carry advertising (gun writer articles) the handgun manufacturers paid for? The answer is that the low cap 9mm frame guns would have withered on the vine and died out, inventing a solution saved the gun lines. Their can be little doubt that the .40S&W is probably the single best marketing endeavor ever undertaken by the firearms industry, it is only rivaled by Jeff Coopers resurrection of the 1911 as a “fighting firearm”. Both have given rise to a cottage industry that has helped everyone. Even the ammo makers unscrupulously jumped into the cash cow, one maker even marketed and promoted a .40S&W +P round although there is no such thing. They hired some very good writers, and paid them a straight salary as promoters and today tens of thousands of people carry these .40 caliber pistols.
There are good pistols as legitimate companies like Sig, Glock, and HK recognized early on the money to be had in this “new American market” and invested the money to do it properly, the “me too” manufactures had little choice but to wisely reengineer the pistols to make them work.
Carry what you like as long as it is reliably consistent, accurate and fully functional, in 9mm, .40 S&W, and .357Sig neither grains, velocities, or +P, +P+, NATO spec, or minus P, counts. It truly does not make a difference as long as you use expanding ammunition.
*If you believe it does then please by all means email me your contact information and I will be sure to sign you up for the latest car wax that can be burned, sanded, shot with cannon and remain bright solid and shiny infomercial after I invest in it.
*Please do not email that info, I am being factious as you can easily recognize the difference between poor marketing (infomercial) and really good marketing (gun magazines and stopping power books).
Seriously, you gain or lose only rounds in your magazine between the three.
If you can carry the larger frame guns and you can shoot them quickly, and accurately choose a round that once again meets the requirements of being reliably consistent, accurate and fully functional then keep moving up the “power” scale.
Once you find the right combination for you, buy a second model of the same gun, purchase the best quality, best fitting, best concealment holster/belt system you can afford. Once you do that purchase as many spare magazines as you can afford and go get some quality training with the money you would have spent for the latest “ultimate” gerbil killing, titanium, Special Forces, death ray gun.
If you already have the training go get more, you are not as smart or as skilled as you think you are.
As you continue to spend several years mastering your carry gun, buy more of the same models and begin to have them customized to increase your comfort and speed when shooting them, a good pistol smith can make the pistol an extension of yourself and that it is what a good weapon really is.
Avoid the temptation to “switch” hit and move back and forth between platforms and seriously avoid the temptation to buy new guns that do not fit with your existing platform, e.g.: Glocks to S&W autos, to Sig Sauer to 1911.
If 1911s are your ideal platform stay with them, if you need a smaller gun go to the smaller 1911.
Identify the difference between your “collecting” guns and defensive carry guns.
Avoid the temptation to switch at all costs. Now, I know fully that some people are going to disagree with me and claim they can shoot all guns equally as well and that “Cross training” only makes them a better shooter and helps to prepare them to be able to pick up any gun they find and be fully functional with it.
Point well taken and it does have validity, I am speaking of developing true mastery and skill with your equipment and that does take years and tens of thousands of rounds of good quality training and practice. For some shooters they will never properly master the defensive pistol and some will choose not to, others will claim that collecting, changing platforms and buying new guns makes it all the more enjoyable. Agreed, with all of the above. I agree with you and I recognize this, I choose to master my equipment and I strive for something that you may not care for. I am ok with that, but I do believe that a pistol, any weapon for that matter can be mastered at a very high level and that weapon can become a natural extension of ones self if you so choose, I know this is very serious and somewhat long but then again so is the defensive use and consequence that accompany the defensive use of a firearm.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: David DiFabio on 2001-06-13 21:36 ]</font>
