My favorite toy
You know what today is, right?
It’s also my 70th birthday, which I’ll be celebrating in the usual manner: at the range in the morning, followed by a quick trip to the gun store to buy some ammo, and then dinner with my kids later on.
The Second Amendment and family: can it get more American than that?
Here we go (again, and again, and again): the old Glock vs. 1911 argument.
And as a bonus: the opinions expressed are those of a gun “newbie” on the topic, and then those of Clint Smith (whose opinions on handguns I respect more than just about anyone’s on the planet).
As everyone in the frigging world knows, I am a 1911 man, period, end of statement, the end, th-th-th-that’s all, folks.
I’ve put more rounds through various 1911s (GI, Combat Commander, Officer’s whatever) than through any other gun that isn’t a .22. When I can be bothered, I can be extremely accurate with it — I’m a “90%”-type of guy, and refuse to let the perfect be the enemy of the good enough. The only malfunctions I’ve ever had were either because of cheapshit ammo (never again), bad magazines (ditto) or a physical breakage (e.g. of a slide stop, after well over 20,000 rounds) which, let’s be honest, could happen to any gun thus tortured. All other foolishness whereby a boolet doesn’t hit at least the 9-ring is absolutely 100% the fault of the idiot (me) pulling the trigger, whether it’s a flinch, a momentary lapse in concentration, a desire to finish the range session RIGHT NOW!… and I admit to those shortcomings candidly.
I hate Glocks because they’re fugly, plastic and designed (albeit no longer necessarily made) by furriners. I hate that spongy double-action trigger, the grip angle is just wrong, and so on.
But the gun that I shoot hands-down more accurately and consistently than any other is a Glock 19.
Once again, I admit that frankly, even though I hate to admit it.
And then there’s that “9mm vs .45ACP” argument, and on that, I will accept no substitutes for the .45 ACP. Something Clint Smith says in the video is quite telling: “If you’re talking just one bullet, it (the 9mm) just ain’t gonna get it done.”
“So why don’t you just shoot the Glock 21 (.45 ACP), Kim?”
Because I shoot a 1911 more accurately than I do the 21. When the boolets are the same, that shitty Glock trigger kneecaps me more frequently than a drunken IRA gunman with a .22. Once again, that’s not the experience of shooting only a box through the 21 — over four days of shooting during that long weekend so far back in the past, I must have popped well over 5,000 rounds of .45 ACP through the Glock, and my accuracy never improved.
Hell, when I set my mind to it, I can feel my accuracy improving with my old Springfield by about the third (8-round mag), and it only starts getting bad after about 200 rounds on the trot because my wrist starts to hurt.
Yeah, the 1911 is a heavy beast. Don’t care, I’m a strong and beefy guy, so it’s no big deal.
As Clint says towards the end: it’s all about the shooter and the confidence he has in his gear. As a thing, my 1911 is as much a part of me as my glasses or the shoes on my feet. I would have absolutely no problem getting into a gunfight with it because of my supreme confidence in the gun and its cartridge. To me, all other guns (with the exception of my .357 revolvers) are a compromise which I’m not prepared to make.
Your mileage may differ, and that’s just fine.
And by the way: that video is excellent.
Ordinarily, I’d treat the end result of the story: “guy feels aggrieved, gets a machete and attacks, only to be shot dead by the attackee” with something approaching glee, but as this story (sent By Reader Brad_In_IL, thankee) shows, things are often not as cut and dried:
According to authorities, 36-year-old Michel Lope Montes de Oca had contacted a mobile tire repair service to fix his car, and he got into an altercation with the mechanic who showed up and started working on his vehicle.
The customer became upset when he checked the tire that was installed on his car and found that it was a used tire, police said.
Now, let’s at least acknowledge that selling a used tire at a new-tire price is not an action that doesn’t require at least some pushback. But “getting upset” should never involve grabbing a handy cutting implement and having at it. Over-action, meet overreaction.
As Señor Machete discovered, alas too late.
One must ask — although not condemn — why a tire repair guy would feel the need for self-protection in his job. But if it’s his common practice to sell old tires as new, small wonder.
Left a bad taste in my mouth, this one did.
What can you say when a popular high school football player is cut down in his prime, taken too soon and is a victim of gunfire?
Perhaps the little asshole shouldn’t have crashed into a Halloween party and shot nine people, before being gunned down himself by another armed partygoer who didn’t much care for his attitude.
The latter part only came out after everyone was calling our scumbag footballer the victim, instead of the aggressor he actually was.
Best part is that the hero of the story isn’t going to be charged with any crime — self-defense duh, not to mention saving innocent lives — so we won’t have to bring out the tar and feathers for the local prosecutor.
For no reason at all, I declared yesterday to be “Ruger Revolver Day”, and duly equipped, I headed off to the range…
From the top: Blackhawk .30 Carbine (7½”), Single Six .22 LR (5½”), Single Six .22 LR/.22 Mag (6½”), and Redhawk .45 LC/ACP (4″).
And a good time was had by all except the poor wee lass in the booth next to mine, who was startled by the sound of the .30 Carbine round and its 18″ muzzle flash.
Have I mentioned before how much I love shooting single-action revolvers? I have? Many times? Well, there’s a reason.
36 rounds of .30 Carbine, 48 rounds of .45 ACP (I’m a little short of .45 Colt, soon to be remedied), and I kinda lost count of the .22s (it happens), but it was a lot.
Just for the record, my post-shooting Zen (that lovely adrenaline dump) lasted for about two hours afterwards… wonderful.
Next time: some semi-auto rifle activity of the 7.62x39mm persuasion, or maybe it’ll be the turn of the S&W revolvers, I’m not sure. Sufficient unto the day is the pleasure thereof.
TTAG posits the suggestion that the AR-15 is the ideal home defense weapon:
The AR-15 has earned a reputation as one of the most versatile and effective firearms available today.
…and then the article goes on to compare the AR to other gun types like shotguns and handguns, listing all the pros and cons of each choice.
In the past, I would have come down on one side or the other. My dislike of the AR poodleshooter notwithstanding, there’s nothing wrong with having one as a home defense weapon, albeit with some reservations.
Side note: I am curious, in an academic kind of way, whether that super-loud CRACK! of the .223/5.56mm cartridge causes more damage to one’s hearing than would, say, a shotgun blast, the .357 Mag’s report or the 7.62x39mm coming out of an AK’s short barrel. If anyone has actual data on the topic, please feel free to share it. Suffice it to say that I keep about me several pairs of foam earplugs — trouser pocket, bedside, car and next to my living-room chair — which, if time permits, I would certainly try to insert before shooting any gun inside the house or car, or even outside.
In terms of which gun you prefer, therefore, I would support just about any choice, as long as you have a damn gun handy in the first place. Locked up in a safe is just plain silly, of course, despite those of the Nanny State persuasion trying to impose such “safety” measures on us, all of which I pretty much ignore anyway. I own several guns, I’m extremely careful about the handling thereof, and I try to keep myself “well-regulated” in their use.
In my own case, I have a .357 revolver next to the bed as my “first line” of defense, and a semi-auto rifle under the bed as my preferred long gun option. Next to my chair in the living room is of course my 1911 (which I carry every single time I leave the house, without exception — unless I feel in an old-fashioned frame of mind, in which case I strap on one of my revolvers, along with a couple of speedloaders, of course, ditto spare mags of .45 ACP for the 1911). If I’m going to be away for an extended period, e.g. on vacation or even just an overnight stay, I also carry a backup piece. In the car there’s another semi-auto rifle in case of an extra-busy social occasion.
Those are my choices. Others may vary, and whatever their decision, I’m okay with it. (I know a guy who carries a .22 pistol, and who can dump all ten rounds into a head-sized target in about four seconds, 100% of the time. Pity the fool.) As long as you are proficient in the use of whatever gun you choose, that’s okay and I will never really argue with your choices.
“Why not a shotgun, Kim?”
I dunno. I find the recoil of the 12-gauge cartridge unpleasant, and the low capacity of cartridges (5-odd) and lengthy reload time a little off-putting. Of course, I’m never going to argue with the deadly efficacy of the shotgun — one or two rounds usually suffices to end any hostile encounter anyway — but I’ve just never been a habitual user of shotguns outside of sporting clays with friends and family. (It’s a social choice rather than an anti-social one, in other words.)
As I said, go ahead and make the decision that suits you yourself, not the choice that the Smart Set and/or Tacticool Dudes think you should. (I suspect that most of my Readers are of similar mindset anyway.)
And all that said, I think I’m off to the range. Semi-auto rifle time…