I carry a Springfield 1991 Gov't Model clone, which I had Novack's put new sites on, do a trigger job, polish the feed ramp, expand the ejection port and otherwise make more reliable, plus refinish it. (and all of which cost more than the gun itself). A couple of months ago I cracked my cheapo plastic grips, so I got rubber Hogues with finger grooves - boy do they make it easy to hold onto the gun and shoot well. I am able to shoot fairly accurately (at paper targets, anyway - I thankfully haven't had to shoot at any 2-legged creatures), and my ability improves with practice.
The only ones that know I carry are close family and close friends, several of whom carry themselves (them, and everyone on THR or Free Republic who's read my posts
). Since I often carry in their homes (on the way home from somewhere else), I think it only polite to let them know. I have yet to have anyone refuse to let me in their home, or to run away shrieking, "GUUUUNNNN!!!," or anything like that. I had one person ask me not to bring the gun into the house with their children present, but I knew that she (the husband didn't care and, in fact, has since applied for and gotten his CHL) was a bit of a hoplophobe anyway.
I've faced 3 issues/challenges/complaints regarding my .45:
1)
Why do you need to carry THAT!? OK, that's a hoplophobe issue, not an "I think your carry piece sucks" issue, but it probably has affected all of us at one time or another. These folks like to depend on the police, which for me has both moral and practical problems, but those are THEIR problems. My response is that the police can't be everywhere at once, and that policemen are mostly just armed and uniformed after-the-fact note takers when it comes to crime. I tell them to call Dominos and the police, and see who comes first (and even if its the police, it wouldn't be by much and certainly wouldn't be in time to prevent a crime, injury or death). I also let these folks know that in NO jurisdiction do the police have a duty to protect you (i.e. you can't successfully sue them even if the officer is watching the crime and refuses to help until he's done with his donuts and coffee
-sorry, LEOs, I couldn't resist the imagery).
2)
Why do you need/want a .45? This goes to stopping power and shot control. I always respond that if I have a need to shoot someone, I want them to stay down afterwards so that I'm either safe right away or I'm better able to deal with any accomplices. This doesn't necessarily mean "dead," though if that happens then I'll have accomplished the goal. As to shot control, I find that it has a different kind of recoil than my 9 - one that I'm able to handle better. I'm not a big guy with bear paws for hands, but nonetheless I can control it quite well. Of course, that's easier now that I am used to my gun and have put roughly 1,500 rounds through it. Heck, I took a petite 21-year-old to the range and she shot it decently (esp. for a beginner) without too many complaints about recoil (though she did comment on it having more kick than the .22LR fired out of my S&W 6-inch, full-lug revolver
).
3)
Why do you carry cocked and locked?/that old gun has no safeties, etc. This I attribute to ignorance, and I let people know that the gun was designed specifically to be carried that way. It won't go bang unless the safety is off and you pull the trigger - and I don't see much difference between that and other guns that I've got in this regard (of course, there's no mag disconnect on the .45 - a feature that I LIKE). I let people know that it is: a) impossible to fire my gun when it is in the holster, safety or no; and b) in all of the hundreds of times that I've carried,
not once have I taken the gun out and found the safety moved from its locked position. This tends to calm people down. Of course, some of them say "but why one in the chamber - how long could it take to rack the gun?" To which I respond that I'd prefer to have as few disabilities in a gun fight as possible, and that the time needed to do this may be the difference between life and death. Further, what if your first notice of needing the gun is a guy grabbing/breaking/shooting your non-shooting arm? That'd make racking the slide a bit more difficult, no?
I've never had anyone make fun of the gun vs. some other gun (the old "mine's bigger than yours" child's game).
Usually, those that complain and/or make fun of what you carry are ignorant or snobby (or both, as snobbiness follows inevitably from ignorance). Immaturity sometimes enters into this. Simply letting someone know the facts, backed up with an offer to shoot your weapon if that's applicable at the time, will shut them up and show them that your choice wasn't so bad. If a different choice is better for them, then that's their business (even if that choice is to not carry and to be totally dependent on the goodwill of EVERYONE that they will ever meet).