Proficiency With BBQ Guns

Good Ol' Boy · Feb 11, 2018

So most folks that carry a "BBQ gun" to a special occasion I'm guessing don't regularly carry that particular gun. That begs the question, how proficient are you with your show off guns? I mean, you are carrying it, even if for mostly show, but it seems like you should also be able to use it for it's purpose should the need arise.

I just got to thinking about this as I was recently invited to a wedding in a few months. Although my 1911 is a cheap Turkish knock off it's by far the best looking pistol I currently own. I'm plenty competent with it but I don't normally carry it. I'm planning on bringing a couple of other regularly used defense guns for the rest of travel and stay, and carrying the 1911 for the actual wedding.

Anyway, it just got me thinking how many folks carry a BBQ gun that maybe they aren't that proficient with.

Deus Machina · Feb 11, 2018

I wouldn't carry anything I couldn't use.
Of course, this would mean that, like the rest of my outfit, I would probably have the most understated BBQ gun there...

ColtPythonElite · Feb 11, 2018

I don't carry anything I can't shoot pretty darn well.

nettlle · Feb 11, 2018

I don't have "show off" guns but do have range guns that I don't carry. These range guns are purely for my shooting enjoyment and I do pay a little more for them and consider them to be BBQ guns. Carry guns are are a whole different animal for me.

GunnyUSMC · Feb 11, 2018

I carry everywhere I go, but most people never know, other then those that know me well. I do have a very nice Browning Hi Power that you could call a BBQ gun, but I do my best not to open carry.

mnrivrat · Feb 12, 2018

I have one gun I carry and that is it, and the only one for that purpose. I have other guns but the one I carry is always the same. My nightstand gun is also dedicated for that use, and is the same type platform , just a different caliber and a different frame size. The rest are for range or field use.

MistWolf · Feb 12, 2018

I don't have a BBQ gun and someday I hope to have one. I don't expect a high polish finish and fancy engraving to make a handgun shoot any different.

MedWheeler · Feb 12, 2018

I own that same "cheap Turkish knock off" and it is indeed a handsome-looking gun. May even be one of the best-looking ones I own as well. And, yes, I shoot it pretty well, well enough to press it into the same duty I'd press any of my carry guns into. I'm very pleased with it.

If invited to a "BBQ-gun BBQ", I might well carry it, just for the sake of carrying a gun in a caliber I'd expect to be popular at such an event. If I had enough notice, though, I'd try out my Remington R1 stainless "enhanced" commander-type and make sure I could shoot that, too. I just haven't gotten around to shooting that one yet.

Another contender would be my Ruger Police Service Six, carried as a tribute to my dad (it was his, carried during a stint as a rural Colorado deputy at one time.)

bannockburn · Feb 12, 2018

This would be my BBQ gun, a hand polished Ruger Vaquero with Bar-S Tru-Ivory grips. And yes, the gun shoots as well as it looks!

If it was a semi-auto event then the nod would go to my Colt Combat Commander as dressed up and tuned up by Colt's own Custom Shop. Shoots even better than it looks; like a Gold Cup built for the "real world"!

And just in case it's a really fancy BBQ event, I always have my Lightweight Baby Browning that I could stash in my cumberbund for just such an occasion!

bikerdoc · Feb 12, 2018

A stainless 1911 with custom grips is as about as fancy as I get. But it is just like the plain 1911 used in EDC
.

GunnyUSMC · Feb 12, 2018

You can't forget the leather. You can't carry a BBQ gun in something that looks like a tater sack.

hdwhit · Feb 12, 2018

Good Ol' Boy wrote:
So most folks that carry a "BBQ gun" to a special occasion...

When I carry (and circumstances don't make that practical in a lot of situations), it is always the same pistol. It is the pistol I shoot at the range, the pistol I train with, the pistol I can deploy without having to stop and fiddle with. In my opinion, someone switching between guns based on the social demands of the function or the need to impress the guests has turned their gun from a firearm into a fashion accessory.

Armored farmer · Feb 12, 2018

If i should feel the need to impress....i would need to rely on the artistry of our own @CraigC.
In my case, the leather is more impressive than the bbq gun!

Ps...it appears that i need a picture that doesnt feature our back sink!....not too bbq-y.

il.bill · Feb 12, 2018

My 'BBQ Gun' is a Taurus 1911 in .38 Super - I shoot it as well or better than over 90% of the handguns I own.

But ... a) Illinois DOES have BBQ parties, but does not allow open carry, and b) I do not have appropriate leather in which to carry the shiny 1911. So, when I say it "is" my BBQ Gun, I really mean that it "would be" my BBQ Gun.

Warp · Feb 12, 2018

hdwhit said:
When I carry (and circumstances don't make that practical in a lot of situations), it is always the same pistol. It is the pistol I shoot at the range, the pistol I train with, the pistol I can deploy without having to stop and fiddle with. In my opinion, someone switching between guns based on the social demands of the function or the need to impress the guests has turned their gun from a firearm into a fashion accessory.

This is a good point.

But that is what a BBQ gun is, by definition...a fashion accessory. It just happens to be in the form of a firearm.

GunnyUSMC · Feb 12, 2018

Armored farmer said:
If i should feel the need to impress....i would need to rely on the artistry of our own @CraigC.
In my case, the leather is more impressive than the bbq gun!
View attachment 778074

Ps...it appears that i need a picture that doesnt feature our back sink!....not too bbq-y.

Nice rig. You just need some fancy wood grips for the gun or some German silver inlays.

Officers'Wife · Feb 12, 2018

Hmmm, some of the employees claim that my little Winchester carbine should be named the "Hungry Rifle" since when I bring it out I'm going to bring something home for lunch. Perhaps that would be the better definition for a BBQ gun. A weapon you can't hit your target with is a fashion accessory, not even a certain unnamed idiot that shall remain my brother is foolish enough to risk his life for fashion.

CraigC · Feb 12, 2018

I don't have any fancy carry guns (yet!) but the guns I've had engraved are those that I plan on using the most. So I'm certainly proficient with them.

The stainless .44 is probably the next to get scratched up.

CraigC · Feb 12, 2018

Armored farmer said:
If i should feel the need to impress....i would need to rely on the artistry of our own @CraigC.
In my case, the leather is more impressive than the bbq gun!
View attachment 778074

Ps...it appears that i need a picture that doesnt feature our back sink!....not too bbq-y.

Thanks! I love that model. I'm still wanting to do a cartridge conversion on mine.

bassjam · Feb 12, 2018

If I have a gun on me it's concealed, and I want to keep it that way. There's times my wife will quietly ask me in the car when we're driving somewhere together if I have a gun on me, because she typically doesn't even know.

I guess I see open carry of a purdy gun at a social event the equivalent of showing up in your yellow Corvette, parking in the handicap space and then revving the engine so everyone looks. The rest of us driving minivans and trucks just roll our eyes.

CraigC · Feb 12, 2018

bassjam said:
If I have a gun on me it's concealed, and I want to keep it that way. There's times my wife will quietly ask me in the car when we're driving somewhere together if I have a gun on me, because she typically doesn't even know.

I guess I see open carry of a purdy gun at a social event the equivalent of showing up in your yellow Corvette, parking in the handicap space and then revving the engine so everyone looks. The rest of us driving minivans and trucks just roll our eyes.

Not really. It's a Texas BBQ thing dating back quite a long time. You wear your Sunday best, your nicest boots, your best hat and you pack your fanciest pistol in a carved leather rig. It's the rule, rather than the exception.

bassjam · Feb 12, 2018

CraigC said:
Not really. It's a Texas BBQ thing dating back quite a long time. You wear your Sunday best, your nicest boots, your best hat and you pack your fanciest pistol in a carved leather rig. It's the rule, rather than the exception.

I was going to make a snarky comment about cowboy hats and boots but thought better of it! Here in Ohio I know a lot of guys that "think" they are cowboys and dress like that for events. I always roll my eyes at them, because I know most of them grew up in the suburbs of Cincinnati and only stepped foot on a farm to visit friends. I always tell my wife "there's no such f-ing thing as a cowboy from Ohio" when I see those guys.

But I'll admit, I'm not familiar with Texas customs. If that's what's normal there, I take back what I said about the yellow Corvette!

Armored farmer · Feb 12, 2018

bassjam said:
I was going to make a snarky comment about cowboy hats and boots but thought better of it! Here in Ohio I know a lot of guys that "think" they are cowboys and dress like that for events. I always roll my eyes at them, because I know most of them grew up in the suburbs of Cincinnati and only stepped foot on a farm to visit friends. I always tell my wife "there's no such f-ing thing as a cowboy from Ohio" when I see those guys.

But I'll admit, I'm not familiar with Texas customs. If that's what's normal there, I take back what I said about the yellow Corvette!

With all due respect, you dont have to be from texas to be a cowboy.
Ive rode miles, pulled horsetrailers, pulled calves, and shod horses all over Illinois. Got the scars to prove it too.

Warp · Feb 12, 2018

bassjam said:
If I have a gun on me it's concealed, and I want to keep it that way. There's times my wife will quietly ask me in the car when we're driving somewhere together if I have a gun on me, because she typically doesn't even know.

I guess I see open carry of a purdy gun at a social event the equivalent of showing up in your yellow Corvette, parking in the handicap space and then revving the engine so everyone looks. The rest of us driving minivans and trucks just roll our eyes.

For a time and place where a BBQ gun is in its element, it would be more like pulling up to parking lot in your yellow Corvette, and parking next to the red Mustang, orange Firebird, blue Shelby, silver 911, you get the idea.

bassjam · Feb 12, 2018

Armored farmer said:
With all due respect, you dont have to be from texas to be a cowboy.
Ive rode miles, pulled horsetrailers, pulled calves, and shod horses all over Illinois. Got the scars to prove it too.

Understood if you've lived the life and done the work. But growing up and living on a 1/4 acre lot in a subdivision with a normal 9-5 job doesn't count, and those are the guys I'm talking about. Many of them also end up with some sort of southern drawl accent too, which is funny when you talk to the rest of the family and the accent is missing!

Proficiency With BBQ Guns

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