Firearm misconceptions.

[45R]

Before I was into firearms the sight of a locked and cocked 1911 scared the bejezzus out of me. Now its pure pleasure.

What misconceptions did you have about firearms in the past.

 

[Dave R]

I used to think I would never have an ND. I'm more careful now.

 

[Blackhawk]

I don't really remember any misconceptions in the sense you describe. I started shooting so young that guns have just always been part of my life.

My tastes and preferences have changed over the years, but that's about it. I used to prefer rifles to the exclusion of handguns, then big handguns, revolvers and automatics, but I'm far more intrigued by mouse guns now.

I'm really looking forward to the SHOT Show in February where Rohrbaugh is going to debut its 9mm mouser and Kel-Tec is going to introduce two new products. I hope one of the KTs is a P-32 sized mouser in .380 or 9mm.

 

[Tamara]

Despite being properly inducted into the handgunning world, I underwent a several-year-long period where revolvers and 1911s struck me as archaic and silly.

I have since recovered.

 

[MitchSchaft]

What misconceptions did you have about firearms in the past.

That background checks keep firearms out of the bad guys' hands.

 

[Hkmp5sd]

I grew up with the misconception that machineguns were illegal. Ater several years of collecting guns, I later found out otherwise. Unfortunately, this was right about the time the '86 machinegun ban was being created. Cost me a lot more money than it would have had I started buying much earlier.

 

[BigG]

I started so early I don't think I had any misconceptions, like Blackhawk.

 

[gryphon]

I didn't really have any misconceptions per say, but I was definitely very ignorant of firearms and the erosion of my civil liberties and rights.

Since becoming a firearms owner and frequenting places like TFL, 1911Forum, THR, etc. I have become more knowledgable in all the above categories, more so, and thankfully in the civil liberties/rights.

 

[2nd Amendment]

It wasn't so much technical misconceptions as a misunderstanding of the entire issue. The AW ban crystalized the issue for me after years of hovering around the edges of it. Well, I did go thru the "wheelgun as anachronism" stage but never the 1911. You must have been really bamfoozled Tamara!

 

[KMKeller]

That "drastic plastic" were all junk weapons...

 

[Double Naught Spy]

...that guns are dangerous and that is a bad thing. Of course, it is the fact that guns are dangerous that makes them an effective tool. Used incorrectly, anything can be dangerous. It is what you do with the tool that matters.

 

[El Tejon]

From many, many years inside the gun culture, just some of my faves:

1. Ceramic Glock 7s;
2. Black Talons;
3. Exploding bullets;
4. A _________ is "all you need";
5. That .22s won't/don't kill;
6. A scope on a rifle makes it "more accurate";
7. That weapons do the shooting and not the operator;
8. A shotgun/.223/.45/.44mag will "blow a man off his feet";
9. That training is not needed since I "learned a lot reading gun rags", "was on a base doing KP when SF drove by", "I was in the Selous Scouts/SEEL Team 37.5", "my dad was a cop", or "I am too cool to train."
10. The sound of the weapon/or its discharging does the killing;
11. The longer the barrel the "more accurate" the weapon is;
12. That having a gun makes you armed.

 

[Greybeard]

Of course most of US know better, but the Mel Gibson types can use a Beretta 92 to rapid fire a "happy face" at 25 yards ... And partners don't think nuthin' of it when you keep your finger on the trigger and constantly sweep any and everything with the muzzle ...

But, back more on topic ... that a .38 Special must be 38 caliber or that it was more potent than a 9mm because it was bigger ...

 

[Chipperman]

I used to think that people who carried every day were just paranoid.

Now I KNOW they are paranoid. The bad news is that people really are out to get them.

 

[Slotback]

No real misconceptions, but I had some real ignorance about firearms. Fortunately, I became friends with an elderly gentleman (now deceased) who set me straight, and showed me the light.

I will always be grateful to him for teaching me. Since then, I have sought to learn as much as I can about firearms.

 

[dog3]

I had a misconception that I had a right to keep and bear arms that was protected under the
Second Amendment of the Constitution of
the United States.

Does that count?

PS, I still believe I have a right to keep and
bear arms. I just no longer believe that the
2nd carries the force of law behind it as
it should.

Lesse, what else. When I was twelve and
carrying a slung mauser home on the city
bus after a weekend at a friends house where
we went shooting, (Atlanta) I believed it was ok. It was too. Only I thought it would always be so.

I also believed that since I could shoot from
a bench, shoot standing and prone, that I could
shoot from a fox hole. I was sadly embarassed
by my performance. I lamely explained that
we didn't have no foxholes at home.

 

[Mover]

That projectiles really had knock down power.

Mover

 

[ruger357]

Also used to be nervous with a locked and loaded 1911.

 

[Chris Rhines]

That the neatest 9mm in the world was the Berreta 92F. (I admit this only under threat from my Dad...)

Later, that the neatest 9mm in the world was the Glock 17.

Ongoing misconception - that I know how to shoot.

- Chris

 

[Strings]

I'm with Chris...

I got that same ongoing misconception...

 

[Keith]

I had to think about this one. My biggest misconception was that gun writers were something other than paid whores for gun makers.

There are some notable exceptions to that (Charlie Petty, Ross Seyfried and Gun tests come to mind), but anybody that buys a gun based on what Guns & Ammo or Shooting Times has to say about is just rolling the dice.

Keith

 

[rock jock]

Before I picked up a handgun at the age of 27, I bought into all the Hollywood myths: that they only made a little noise, that they had almost no recoil, that it was real easy to make a smiley face with a 9mm at 50 yards.

 

[444]

Most gun battles occur under 7 yards so that is all I need to practice for.

Most gun battles occur under 7 yards so my gun doesn't have to be capable of any more accuracy than that and neither do I.

Most gun battles occur under 7 yards so I don't need sights.

Any actual self defense encounter I am involved in will fit a specific senario that I have dreamed up in my mind and nothing else is possible so why prepare for it ?

 

[Jorah]

My dad liked rifles and hated handguns

so I grew up with no exposure to them.

First time I walked into a gun store in NC after moving from Mass., I was really shocked when I realized that the clerk had a C&L 1911 on his hip... I thought it was just waiting to go off on its own. Three years of carrying one that way has changed my perception a bit.

Took me a while to realize that accuracy with a handgun was really, Really, REALLY hard to develop... 'specially for me... so many movies with people casually firing handguns and hitting whatever they want had had a subtle effect of leading me to think that I could pick up a handgun and be good with it.

-J.

 

[Will Fennell]

Purely PERSONAL misconceptions....

These are personal firearms misconceptions.....

-That only rifles with "mint bores" would shoot tight groups..
-That 5.56 was a truly devastating cartridge....
-That I could shoot a revolver well.....
-That the custom 1911 that was in progress was the last one I would ever have built....
-That I could actually beat Jerry Barnhart during the graduation man on man match at the end of his 2 day shooting class.....
-That 9mm was a truly devastating cartridge.....
-That I would not be able to shoot enough clays to make NSCA's TEAM USA. I did, and I have the credit card bills to prove it.....

I could go on...but I'm getting depressed