Do you guys take all this that seriously?

P365 in my pocket 100 percent of the time Along with truck keys and my pocket knife. 11 rounds. Being aware is a lot more important than the firearms I have for keeping me and my family safe. Do not put myself in tenuous situations.

I'd heard it said several times "don't bring a knife to a gunfight". I decided a long time ago I wouldn't.

Howland937 said:

I'd heard it said several times "don't bring a knife to a gunfight". I decided a long time ago I wouldn't.

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I tend to bring both. And lately a shillelagh too.

460Shooter said:

I tend to bring both. And lately a shillelagh too.

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Guess I wasn't being totally honest since I've always got a knife too, but it's not Crocodile Dundee approved.

Like a religion, I practice the avoidance of stupid people, places, things and when the sun goes down and the moon comes up I'm at home. Decades in the past, I did the ground combat USMC/Viet-Nam thing, which had sobering effect on the out look of life. We have a local newspaper that's printed once a week that has the County Sherriff's Dept. and City Police Dept. column which gives one a good idea of what is going on. Do I conceal carry yes! Shooting incident's are not of a regular occurrence. I can only recollect two or three in the last twenty or so years of our residence here. Can I be involved in a shooting incident? Yes, under all things are possible!

I pick my gun by what would most likely be the target. I carry my skill for the worst case scenario.

The only part that I take "serious" is the life and death part. My wife was beaten and raped at gunpoint, eventually died in my arms. Two other close friends were murdered and I sold firearms to 22 other people who killed themselves and/or others with them. So, yea, I take that part kind of "serious."

I prepare for what my situation warrants. Like any other gun forum, we do have some folks who go a little "overboard". Different strokes … no problem.

Original changed, then deleted. We can't "walk in other peoples' shoes", or vice versa. It's more rewarding to go clean the nice S&W 5906 (metal, semi-auto 9mm) I bought today.

No matter what could happen in the future in this semi-rural suburb, my guns (tactical or not...) could never procure insulin for my Type One diabetic wife.
They also could not help deliveries of my statins (Atorvastatin), 'Carvedilol' and 'Benazapril' if our >>>"logistics system" collapsed<<<, so to speak.

drk1: My sincere condolences.

film495 said:

Yes, exactly. I wouldn't recommend not loading it personally, but the studies I've looked at do imply this would be statistically effective.

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That serves as a good example of why not to base these decisions solely on statistics.

I'm all for the avoiding dangerous places, stupid people and doing stupid things. I heard that from John Farnam years ago at the old NTI (one of the best FOF events ever - I was black and blue and bleeding from that one).

However, when folks say that you don't need to consider weapons type because you avoid bad places and have excellent situational awareness, that doesn't make sense. Sometimes the bad thing comes to you whether you like it or not with your Spider Sense.

Does a church count as a bad place or the parishioners evil? Does a classroom of an elementary school count as evil, stupid, bad people situations. Does your suburban upscale home and neighborhood count as such (Petit family)?

Now if you just have guns for competition and don't carry - then you really aren't part of the discussion. The RKBA isn't for sports. In fact, you can join Rachel Maddow. She is a gun enthusiast. Shoots 1911s and ARs. Loves doing it. Takes her girl friend on dates to do such. However, she recommends that all such guns be locked up at the gun range and checked out for events. That takes care of competition being relevant to the discussion.

Caring an instrument of lethal force is serious and not for show. The actually utility of a gun vs. another within the constraints of a given situation is what counts. Not some posturing because a gun is cool. If it has lesser utility than an easily carried other weapon, I can't see the argument. My SW Model 19 was a cool wheel gun. I could shoot it well. In fact, in one match I had the same points down as a national champ who was at Jerry M. level. Now my time was an order of magnitude slower given his ability, my ability, his reload speed, my clunky speed loaders. Guess what, this guy's carry gun was a semi. He shot revolvers as it was his game for competition.

Given the size of 19, having to carry two speed loaders to match my G17's on board load with a similar sized belt gun (and besides the extra mag reload), what advantage does the 19 give me (unless Uncle Joe bans all hi cap because he reads that 5 is enough). Oh, I will only meet nice people and my situational awareness will detect bad people such that I can avoid them in the house of worship, school, mall, etc.

Again, the J frame is when I'm constrained.

BTW, I do carry a knife and flashlight. I've used them quite a bit as tools. However, I beat up my hand in knife class. Made my wife mad as I came home after class and we were to go out. Oops, my hand starts to swell, plans cancelled and off to Urgent care. Seems I broke a blood vessel in my hand. Had to wear a brace to immobilize it and go to physical therapy with a gadget that beats your hand with hand sand to stop the fluid from causing internal inflammation and scaring to freeze your ligaments (or so the Orthopedics gun said). At work, people asked if I fell down and went boom. No, knife class - got some interesting reactions.

bdickens said:

That serves as a good example of why not to base these decisions solely on statistics.

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completely agree. local knowledge, personal experience or preference, all add up to individual choices. so many good things to choose from.

mcb said:

Do you guys take all this that seriously? We have lots of heated debates about the best CCW, the best wood-carry handgun, the best hunting rifle etc. As parts of these discussion we always manage to bring up absolute worst case scenarios (despite the odds), but do you guys actually think about these dire extreme case scenarios we discuss when you actually grab a gun to go do something?

So many of our discussion, especially if self-defense comes up (two legged or otherwise, and god save the thread if someone mentions bruins) and everyone rolls out their favorite long-odds worst-case scenario that they use to drive their selection.

Despite all the words I have type here on this forum those long-odds worst-case scenarios we love to banter about here on the forum rarely cross my mind away from the internet forums. I use what firearm I use because first, I think it will do what I actually want to do with it, and second, cause I like it. Why I like a particular firearms can vary wildly...

The consideration for extreme-cases has minimal if any influence on my selection of firearm for any particular use.

So, do the extreme cases influence your selections?

This will likely be another half-baked thread (blame in on the cabin-fever/social-distancing).

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I suspect that the answer to your question as to why we argue things to the level that we do is, this is a gun forum where things are discussed. If a topic comes up and a question is asked then people are going to discuss it. If everyone answered these questions simply by posting “Meh...” I suspect forums would lose their reason for existence.

With regard to you saying that “Extreme cases have minimal if any influence on your selection”, well the fact that you carry is already taking into account an “extreme” and rare circumstance, the idea that at some point in your life you could encounter someone in your life that demonstrates an extreme need to be shot, combined with the opportunity to take that shot. My guess is you rarely carry a .22LR single shot handgun For self defense just because you like it and technically, it will do what you want to in a self defense case. My guess is, you carry a multi shot gun that is in a suitable SD caliber, which means you are prepared for something more than a rabid rabbit sitting in the middle of your lawn. You are prepared for needing to shoot more than once.

Each person gets to pick what suits them. There are people that take it to extremes just like every other aspect of life. I carry a gun with 17 rounds in the gun and 18 in a spare magazine. I didn’t come to this conclusion because I was preparing for the worst case scenario, I carry that much because I can, comfortably, so why not? And I really like the gun and want to carry it and it just happens to hold that much ammo.

I generally don’t get too involved in CCW type discussions anymore.

Be it firearm choice or carry options or tactics. I let everyone else hash out the flavors of the month.

earlthegoat2 said:

I generally don’t get too involved in CCW type discussions anymore.

Be it firearm choice or carry options or tactics. I let everyone else hash out the flavors of the month.

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Have to agree. Really need to start tuning them out.

Elkins45 said:

When I received my carry permit in 1997 I carried a cannon everywhere it was legal, partly because of the novelty of finally having legal CCW. As the years have passed my gun has gotten smaller and my diligence about always being armed has gotten more lax. It remains to be seen whether that will be significant.

Now bears, that’s another story altogether! I can’t even begin to tell the story of how much time and money the quest for the perfect bear defense handgun has cost me. But on the bright side I guess it’s kept me occupied and out of trouble. A man’s got to think about something when he’s not working, I guess...

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I've been carrying my Taurus 6.5" stainless .454 Casull for my "in the woods gun" for years - beware bears.

I do not take most threads like this with and seriousness. I read them and look at the common sense things that people say and try to learn from that. What usually dictates what I carry is the weather. If I ever get involved in a worst case scenario I will just have to chalk it up to "It going to suck to be me today"

mcb said:

Do you guys take all this that seriously? We have lots of heated debates about the best CCW, the best wood-carry handgun, the best hunting rifle etc. As parts of these discussion we always manage to bring up absolute worst case scenarios (despite the odds), but do you guys actually think about these dire extreme case scenarios we discuss when you actually grab a gun to go do something?

So many of our discussion, especially if self-defense comes up (two legged or otherwise, and god save the thread if someone mentions bruins) and everyone rolls out their favorite long-odds worst-case scenario that they use to drive their selection.

Despite all the words I have type here on this forum those long-odds worst-case scenarios we love to banter about here on the forum rarely cross my mind away from the internet forums. I use what firearm I use because first, I think it will do what I actually want to do with it, and second, cause I like it. Why I like a particular firearms can vary wildly...

The consideration for extreme-cases has minimal if any influence on my selection of firearm for any particular use.

So, do the extreme cases influence your selections?

This will likely be another half-baked thread (blame in on the cabin-fever/social-distancing).

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Yup, everyday..

Outside of having to leave my home for an extended period most likely due to things like a hurricane. My EDC remains the same, G2C and a chepo pocket knife. I may add an extra mag depending on where I'm headed but to run to the store a few blocks away I don't feel the need to carry extra ammo, if 13 shots wont help me make it that far back home having more probably won't either.

I often read the threads and never once did I think maybe what works for me might be wrong because another user thinks or do something different. I also get the idea that most frequenters here aren't city dwellers like I am so, what makes them feel more secure mileage may vary. Just like I don't carry in the house or stash guns all over. Everyone has there own way and I accept that.

As I look at beginning the 7th decade on this planet I have to wonder as to what has happened to common sense. Threads like "Help me pick a pistol for CCW" or "Is the phase plasma rifle in the 40 watt range suitable for A. Home Defense or B. Hiking in Bear Country?" are, to me, somewhat asinine. I'm guessing some folks need a "group think" to make all the important decisions in their lives or they are just trolls. That being said it is always a good thing to seek personal opinions on certain firearms like comparing S&W and Ruger revolvers in .38 Special but asking blanket questions without parameters is, in my opinion, just kind of, again, asinine.

Self reliance plays a big part of living in the adult world or has that gone out of fashion? Maybe spending 10 years in the military and having a long law enforcement career has given me a callous look on the world but I learned a long time ago that if want to get something done you better do it or figure it out yourself.

I do not look down on someone who can only afford, or makes a conscious decision to keep, a .410 single shot for home defense when they can easily buy something else. The same for your choice of carry firearm. If I am asked for my opinion as to "what pistol should I carry" (which has never happened) I would respond "one that you can shoot accurately, feel comfortable with and can afford.

Please forgive if I have offended anyone or gone off subject. I'm about to start my 4th week of self imposed lock down and may have a touch of cabin fever.

Do I take all this that seriously? Not so much. But I try not to take myself all that seriously either.

GunnyUSMC said:

There are those that see the glass as half full and others that see the same glass as half empty.

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bdickens said:

Then there are the realists who see 4oz of water in an 8oz glass...

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It's a glass. It's refillable.

From discussions at my gun clubs, online, and in person with friends, etc. I get three main impressions. The first from folks who do seriously take carrying a ccw at all times,(usually having life experiences living in actual high crime areas or LEO experiences) who carry, but almost all of those folks surprisingly carry very concealable compact weapons: from a Jennings .22 to Smith model 36s, or one of the newer compact 9mms. No one carries a full size or two. They carry all the time, and the same firearm which they know intimately.
The next group is the sportsmans group that occaissionaly carries, but usually is more concerned with having a convenient and appropriate firearm for forest creature encounters, be it hunting or an enraged woodchuck attack.
The other group fall under firearm fans/hobbiests, who along with enjoying shooting, almost to a T have near fantasy expectations of running into the worse case scenarios...in clarification, they talk of expected self defence encounters like they would a deer hunting trip, where they hope it happens. I think it lends excitement to thier life.