Retro Carry Guns & The Stigma Surrounding Them

Mr. Mosin said:

How many of our relatives and close friends in decades past carried firearms for personal protection that we look down on and scoff at today ? I know for one, my grandparents at various intervals carried
25's and .32's, in a variety of configurations, from pocket automatics, to derringers. The local "Old Men"... you didn't mess with, because it was well known that they carried either some variety of Colt or Browning .25 or .32, or failing that, the rare PPK or Smith/Colt snub revolver. One even carried a full barreled Peacemaker behind the bib of his overalls.

In short, how many of us got to be here today because of our kin carrying protection that we scorn today ???


*I'm limiting this to cartridge firearms, black powder need not apply, unless it wants to.

Click to expand...

It's pretty simple really. People "look down on and scoff at" .25's and .32's for the same reasons they look down on someone carrying a single shot muzzle loading flintlock. There are lots better options now.

I spent a couple of hours this afternoon shooting what is basically the equivalent of the Colt GM (this one was a Tisas 9mm) I was carrying back in the 70's. Basically a box stock Series 70, with factory sights.

Guess what? I carry a Glock 17 these days for a reason.

Some of us have been evolving all along, as time moved on and we found better things. Nothing wrong with the old stuff, as long as you realize there are better things now, and dont get all hung up on nostalgia and war stories.

Most of the guys I knew growing up carried a small .32 or .380 in the left back pocket. They were referred to as "throwdown" guns. These guys, my Dad included amongst them were all cops. There were no body cams back then, and many a scumbag that had slipped through the system ended up with one in their hands by the time the Sgt. or Captain showed up on the scene.
Not saying it was right, but it happened. The back pocket guns sometimes ended up being a New York reload, also.

The majority of guns used for personal protection "back in the day" are just as good (or sometimes better) than what is commonly.promoted for such use today.

But when a punk hijacks my car,

he probably won't be able to get the windows to roll up or down,

get the dashboard video cameras to work,

be able to back up,

figure out how to get the car to go faster than 35 MPH

...

sometimes retro is great.

If you shoot a Luger better than a Glock, you should carry a Luger.
But, most folks shoot better with a Glock.
So, that's that.

In the late 80's I picked up my CZ 45 in 25acp and that is when I started actually carrying EVERYDAY.

Then came the NAA guardian in 32 acp (because I couldn't afford a Seecamp). It was pretty well into this century when I got a LCP.

And I am still alive to tell the tale!

Good is good. It doesnt matter what era its from. Same goes for people BTW.

I wouldnt carry my luger because they are just to valuable... I dont even shoot it. A toggle lock design system could allow magical things in a pocket auto though.

It's still about shot placement. Here is a video about a Trooper killed in SC back in 1992. He was killed with a .22 (arm pit) . Perp was shot with a .357 several times and lived.

Admiral_Ken said:

It's still about shot placement. Here is a video about a Trooper killed in SC back in 1992. He was killed with a .22 (arm pit) . Perp was shot with a .357 several times and lived.

Click to expand...

Agree emphatically with the shot placement concept. That and "Be first or be dead."

Those "retro" guns were state of the art back then. People scoff at "mouse guns", but they beat feet, fists and foul language, and plenty of bad guys have fallen to them. A combination of obesity and drug use, gun magazines and the Internet have launched the caliber wars IMHO.

Admiral_Ken said:

It's still about shot placement. Here is a video about a Trooper killed in SC back in 1992. He was killed with a .22 (arm pit) . Perp was shot with a .357 several times and lived.

Click to expand...

People use gear as a crutch far too much these days. Someone who can keep their wits about them and shoot accurately is far more dangerous than a speed shooter yanking on the trigger and spraying rounds IMO.

The day I got my badge in 1987, I was taken to a uniform/supply store for fitting, and bought a new Charter Arms Undercover 38 right there for BU/OD use. Carried it for quite a while after that (and I still own it.)

Decades later, I reconnected with my largely-estranged father and learned that he also had done time behind a badge, as a deputy in a rural Colorado high county. On his hip had been a Ruger Police Service Six, and his "other" gun (Jeep/truck duty) was also a Charter Arms Undercover, which he'd acquired somewhere along the way. I knew him (again) for about eleven years, and then he died; those two guns (along with his badge) became mine. Not only had we chosen the same make/model for a self-defense snub, his actually dates to the same year in which I was born.

Now, as far as saying I "got to be here today because of our kin carrying protection that we scorn today", I'd have no way of actually laying out a narrative. However, I do certainly believe I am here because I had ancestors who shot straight and true, more so than their enemies, and well enough to keep their offspring fed.

starling said:

People use gear as a crutch far too much these days. Someone who can keep their wits about them and shoot accurately is far more dangerous than a speed shooter yanking on the trigger and spraying rounds IMO.

Click to expand...

Certainly agree with the gear as a crutch bit. Most gun owners would be better off putting most of their gun money into healthy food, a gym and good training.

Here is my edc,



This could have been my Grandfather’s,


Yeah, there is a family resemblance.

Both are still pertinent in this day and age.

Kevin

A couple of times I have had people make snarky comments about my carry guns. I like to carry my S&W 442. I used to also carry a Remington RM380 along with the 442. Occasionally I would carry a S&W model 36 in an ankle holster.
I recently took a CCW class. The two guys running the class were pretty gung ho about carrying full sized Glocks with mounted lights and 2 or 3 mags. I do have a Glock 45 that I intend to carry or have in my vehicle. But more often than not I will carry my J frames. When I told them this I expected some pushback from these two but they were supportive. The one guy said “Cool! Old school.”
I guess not everyone looks down their noses at “retro” carry guns.

In the end they are all just projectile launchers. So many out there carrying 9mm these days. That cartridge is over 120 years old now. So what are we talking about really?

Good is good.

So much of the arguements are pissing contests or "mine is better than yours/theirs!". Its all a bunch of nonsense IMO. I like a good wondernine as much as the next guy but there is a lot more to firearms than one particular configuration/design or brand name. TONS of greatness out there.....old and new.

I have a 1968 31-1 that was a friends grandfathers. I have carried it before. I have a 442 that’s an 05 no lock that I carry. I carried a 71 charter arms. As long as it’s a modern enough caliber to be effective I’m game. My grandfather carried a model 36. You said no black powder so I won’t discuss my great great grandfathers participation as a union soldier in the battle of buzzards roost with a group called the shulyer boys. My people started back at the fight for freedom from England.

Pat Riot said:

…I recently took a CCW class. The two guys running the class were pretty gung ho about carrying full sized Glocks with mounted lights and 2 or 3 mags...

Click to expand...

I just re upped my CHL, the instructors were also pumped up about the plastic things. When we went to the range, one of them saw my S&W Model 22-4 and asked, “What is this?” I told him it is a revolver. I doubt he had ever seen anyone actually know how to use one. When it came time to fire, he stood directly behind me. He said something to the effect of “…Holy God…” when the first six were in one big hole in the target. I was the eldest shooter on the line by 20 years and the only revolver. I just can not get the hand of the self loader.

Kevin

I like all manner of firearms. I am more apt to carry a handgun that fires a cartridge designed around 1873, though I use the smokeless version. I also carry a pistol that shoots a much newer cartridge, designed in 1905 and adopted by the USG in 1911. Occasionally I carry one from 1902, 1935, or one from 1990.

I carried a revolver for my first police academy, then switched to autos after that...comfortable with either, and shoot both well.

Remember that the 1968 Gun Control Act did not ban the importation of the small size lower caliber pistols and rifles because they were unreliable, ineffective or hard to conceal.

i recall George C. Nonte writing that his first revolver was an H&R revolver which he found was not up to sustained double action shooting, but those old store brand/mail order guns were affordable.

starling said:

People use gear as a crutch far too much these days. Someone who can keep their wits about them and shoot accurately is far more dangerous than a speed shooter yanking on the trigger and spraying rounds IMO.

Click to expand...

It doesnt matter what the "gear" is, its what you can do with it. Some things just give you the capability to do more, should you need to.

Of course, you actually have to put in the constant time and effort to be able to be capable and proficent. Its not a free ride, or "The Matrix".

bearcreek said:

Certainly agree with the gear as a crutch bit. Most gun owners would be better off putting most of their gun money into healthy food, a gym and good training.

Click to expand...

Couldnt agree more. That, and ammo for regular practice.