Many of us own more than one gun, some lots more. Not all of which are suited to HD/SD and this question does not pertain to your "toys". My question is simply this, if you have more than one hangun or long gun for defensive purposes do you have criteria for each weapon that you buy for that purpose?
For me, I long ago decided that each of my defensive handguns would have to work basically the same, no safeties to disengage, just point and pull. That left me with my Glock, my S&W J-frame and, a S&W 4516-1 which was DA/SA with a decocker/safety which I left disengaged. In this condition it acted just like a DA revolver for the first shot. Since then I have gotten rid of the 4516 and have purchased 3 more Glocks. Not that I "need" that many I just like them. My thinking is that in a crisis, should I need to use a weapon, I want to be as familiar with it as possible. I have also adopted this thinking for my choice of long guns. I currently have a Mossberg 590 for a HD shotgun and although I like the way the 870 feels and functions better I will not own both because the slide release is in different places. I will either have to sell the Mossberg and buy an 870 and practice with it or learn to love the Mossberg which, by the way is a fine gun. My current choice of defensive type rifles is the AR and while neither of mine are particularly well suited to HD, they both have heavy barrels and the longer one wears a 4x12 Leupold, the 16 incher with open sights will work in a pinch. Again, while there are many other rifles out there that are perfectly suited to this role like the AK and others I want to be very familiar with the platform I choose. For this reason, and the fact that my daughter likes the AR but is on the smallish side, I will be buying an M-4 type AR in the near future and that will be my HD rifle should I ever feel the need for one. Getting back to the shotgun for a minute, I have seriously been thinking of using one of my 97 clones for this role. It is the shotgun I am most practiced with.
Do you guys have similar criteria? Do you have 3 different versions or identical versions of the same gun which you might keep in different locations? I know Ileft out caliber considerations for the handguns but, for the record I have 2 model 23 in 40 S&W and a 32 in 357sig. All 3 guns can use the same mags. I color-code mine to avoid confusion. The fourth Glock is a model 21 in 45 so, while it functions the same there is little risk of mixing up the mags. Do you guys have any other considerations when you buy?
For me, I long ago decided that each of my defensive handguns would have to work basically the same, no safeties to disengage, just point and pull. That left me with my Glock, my S&W J-frame and, a S&W 4516-1 which was DA/SA with a decocker/safety which I left disengaged. In this condition it acted just like a DA revolver for the first shot. Since then I have gotten rid of the 4516 and have purchased 3 more Glocks. Not that I "need" that many I just like them. My thinking is that in a crisis, should I need to use a weapon, I want to be as familiar with it as possible. I have also adopted this thinking for my choice of long guns. I currently have a Mossberg 590 for a HD shotgun and although I like the way the 870 feels and functions better I will not own both because the slide release is in different places. I will either have to sell the Mossberg and buy an 870 and practice with it or learn to love the Mossberg which, by the way is a fine gun. My current choice of defensive type rifles is the AR and while neither of mine are particularly well suited to HD, they both have heavy barrels and the longer one wears a 4x12 Leupold, the 16 incher with open sights will work in a pinch. Again, while there are many other rifles out there that are perfectly suited to this role like the AK and others I want to be very familiar with the platform I choose. For this reason, and the fact that my daughter likes the AR but is on the smallish side, I will be buying an M-4 type AR in the near future and that will be my HD rifle should I ever feel the need for one. Getting back to the shotgun for a minute, I have seriously been thinking of using one of my 97 clones for this role. It is the shotgun I am most practiced with.
Do you guys have similar criteria? Do you have 3 different versions or identical versions of the same gun which you might keep in different locations? I know Ileft out caliber considerations for the handguns but, for the record I have 2 model 23 in 40 S&W and a 32 in 357sig. All 3 guns can use the same mags. I color-code mine to avoid confusion. The fourth Glock is a model 21 in 45 so, while it functions the same there is little risk of mixing up the mags. Do you guys have any other considerations when you buy?
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