orangeninja
Member
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2003
- Messages
- 3,117
A thought on gun snobs and collectors
I don’t collect weapons. There’s certainly nothing wrong with doing so, but I generally don’t. When I find a gun that works for me, I buy 2 copies of that 1 gun, identical configurations, because as the old adage goes, 2 is 1 and 1 is none, if I have a gun in my “arsenal” that doesn’t work, then I get rid of it. I guess you can say I view weapons as tools. A hammer can look good all day, but if you can’t drive a nail, what’s the point?
When someone asks, “what is the ideal concealed/duty/plinker/etc.” there will inevitably be someone who points out their Kimber, their high end 1911 or their Anaconda or what have you. I have seen those who indeed own those weapons at various ranges (and on the net) bragging about this feature or that, but then they don’t carry the weapon, or if they do, they carry it from the car to the range back to the car again, certainly no 14 hour stretches with it and not anywhere near what a “work gun” is.
I look at the photos of their prized possessions and all of the nice “tactical” knives and custom leather that accompany such, and then I look at my daily carry. Mine doesn’t look like that. My leather has creases, stains from sweat or rubbing, it looks, well, worn. Do I pay $100.00 for leather? No, it’s something I’m going to carry my gun in; I buy quality leather and various styles so that I can wear my gun in whatever manner is necessary. Does that mean that there is anything wrong with $100.00 leather? Certainly not, I wish I had some but there are tons of options for holsters that are reasonably priced.
Where my hide gets chapped is when I see another shooter touting his (seldom her) collection as being what should be minimally acceptable. Or anyone not owning a gun of this or that make is simply not serious about defense. I see gun snobs at the store snicker at a woman buying a Firestorm 9mm or a young man purchasing a Hi Point for home defense. I see these guys swap war stories at the range about what agency or special unit carried a copy of whatever legendary arm they own.
Well here’s the truth of it. There is no such thing as a legendary gun. Men made the gun; men carried the gun and men made the gun work for their legendary exploits. Gun gun got used, it got abused, neglected and uncared for and when it wore out, the only thing left of it were stories. Have people cashed in on this? Certainly. But a man with a polished Colt Anaconda at home sitting in a safe has no business criticizing a “working” gun owned by anyone. It would seem to me that some collectors and gun snobs have lost perspective of WHY they have a gun when acquiring new pieces.
To be sure I am not a big fan of juggling platforms, if you carry autos, stick with autos, if you carry revolvers stick with those. If you carry Sig, stick with Sig or Glock with Glock. Simply put, most of us do not put in the time to adequately learn our weapons to carry more than one platform at a time. I carry Sig at work, I carry Glock off duty. I practice every 2 weeks at the range on live fire and I find that keeping up with these two platforms can be difficult to do so with any precision. Fortunately they are very similar, draw, aim, fire. The guys who crack me up are the ones who juggle a Colt revolver with a 1911 of some type, with some kind of hot rodded Glock and who knows what else. They’re carrying something different every day. It makes me wonder who is taking their weapon more seriously. The man or woman purchasing an inexpensive piece to carry every day? Or the man (seldom a woman) carrying some new kind of “doo-dad” every single day?
Lets get down to the nuts of it all. Concealed weapons (CCW) will be carried a lot and potentially only used once (if at that) in a real life scenario. When used this weapon will be taken by the police and tagged, sometimes they engrave a case number right onto the weapon, how does that sit with your $3,000 gun? And guess what? The cops ain’t going to clean it for you. You may have a weapon sitting dirty for 2 or 3 years with no cleaning labeled as “evidence”. Some guys hot rod something that works so much, it doesn’t work anymore, like say a 1911 or Glock that has been “improved” until it isn’t reliable.
Recently there was a member complaining that thehighroad is akin to a bunch of people looking for a weapon that costs under $400.00. I’m here to tell you, there is a smorgasbord of good weapons for self defense under $400.00 that make bad guys just as dead as a $1,500.00 Kimber. The difference is, the Kimber is apparently meant to impress first, then if he has time, maybe use it in defense whereas a little $300.00 Bersa Thunder .45 or the like is meant to work, I.E. defend it’s owner at a moments notice, reliably and with very little “oohs and aahs” from the “collector” crowd. One is show, the other is work.
So next time you think about photographing your $200.00 knife that hasn’t seen the light of day next to your $100.00 custom holster you never wear next to your $1500.00 Kimber that you don’t carry (for whatever reason) I’d like to see a work gun, with a work holster with a work knife right next to it. Sometimes we’ve got to stop pretending and get back to the basics of why we own a gun in the first place and I doubt it was to model for our camera or impress our friends.
If anyone should be snickering at anyone, it should be the time worn gun and age worn holster snickering at that polished Freudian substitute some of us “claim” to carry. Serious is as serious does, Gump didn’t say that, but I’m sure he would have here.
---Alduro’s rant of the evening.
I don’t collect weapons. There’s certainly nothing wrong with doing so, but I generally don’t. When I find a gun that works for me, I buy 2 copies of that 1 gun, identical configurations, because as the old adage goes, 2 is 1 and 1 is none, if I have a gun in my “arsenal” that doesn’t work, then I get rid of it. I guess you can say I view weapons as tools. A hammer can look good all day, but if you can’t drive a nail, what’s the point?
When someone asks, “what is the ideal concealed/duty/plinker/etc.” there will inevitably be someone who points out their Kimber, their high end 1911 or their Anaconda or what have you. I have seen those who indeed own those weapons at various ranges (and on the net) bragging about this feature or that, but then they don’t carry the weapon, or if they do, they carry it from the car to the range back to the car again, certainly no 14 hour stretches with it and not anywhere near what a “work gun” is.
I look at the photos of their prized possessions and all of the nice “tactical” knives and custom leather that accompany such, and then I look at my daily carry. Mine doesn’t look like that. My leather has creases, stains from sweat or rubbing, it looks, well, worn. Do I pay $100.00 for leather? No, it’s something I’m going to carry my gun in; I buy quality leather and various styles so that I can wear my gun in whatever manner is necessary. Does that mean that there is anything wrong with $100.00 leather? Certainly not, I wish I had some but there are tons of options for holsters that are reasonably priced.
Where my hide gets chapped is when I see another shooter touting his (seldom her) collection as being what should be minimally acceptable. Or anyone not owning a gun of this or that make is simply not serious about defense. I see gun snobs at the store snicker at a woman buying a Firestorm 9mm or a young man purchasing a Hi Point for home defense. I see these guys swap war stories at the range about what agency or special unit carried a copy of whatever legendary arm they own.
Well here’s the truth of it. There is no such thing as a legendary gun. Men made the gun; men carried the gun and men made the gun work for their legendary exploits. Gun gun got used, it got abused, neglected and uncared for and when it wore out, the only thing left of it were stories. Have people cashed in on this? Certainly. But a man with a polished Colt Anaconda at home sitting in a safe has no business criticizing a “working” gun owned by anyone. It would seem to me that some collectors and gun snobs have lost perspective of WHY they have a gun when acquiring new pieces.
To be sure I am not a big fan of juggling platforms, if you carry autos, stick with autos, if you carry revolvers stick with those. If you carry Sig, stick with Sig or Glock with Glock. Simply put, most of us do not put in the time to adequately learn our weapons to carry more than one platform at a time. I carry Sig at work, I carry Glock off duty. I practice every 2 weeks at the range on live fire and I find that keeping up with these two platforms can be difficult to do so with any precision. Fortunately they are very similar, draw, aim, fire. The guys who crack me up are the ones who juggle a Colt revolver with a 1911 of some type, with some kind of hot rodded Glock and who knows what else. They’re carrying something different every day. It makes me wonder who is taking their weapon more seriously. The man or woman purchasing an inexpensive piece to carry every day? Or the man (seldom a woman) carrying some new kind of “doo-dad” every single day?
Lets get down to the nuts of it all. Concealed weapons (CCW) will be carried a lot and potentially only used once (if at that) in a real life scenario. When used this weapon will be taken by the police and tagged, sometimes they engrave a case number right onto the weapon, how does that sit with your $3,000 gun? And guess what? The cops ain’t going to clean it for you. You may have a weapon sitting dirty for 2 or 3 years with no cleaning labeled as “evidence”. Some guys hot rod something that works so much, it doesn’t work anymore, like say a 1911 or Glock that has been “improved” until it isn’t reliable.
Recently there was a member complaining that thehighroad is akin to a bunch of people looking for a weapon that costs under $400.00. I’m here to tell you, there is a smorgasbord of good weapons for self defense under $400.00 that make bad guys just as dead as a $1,500.00 Kimber. The difference is, the Kimber is apparently meant to impress first, then if he has time, maybe use it in defense whereas a little $300.00 Bersa Thunder .45 or the like is meant to work, I.E. defend it’s owner at a moments notice, reliably and with very little “oohs and aahs” from the “collector” crowd. One is show, the other is work.
So next time you think about photographing your $200.00 knife that hasn’t seen the light of day next to your $100.00 custom holster you never wear next to your $1500.00 Kimber that you don’t carry (for whatever reason) I’d like to see a work gun, with a work holster with a work knife right next to it. Sometimes we’ve got to stop pretending and get back to the basics of why we own a gun in the first place and I doubt it was to model for our camera or impress our friends.
If anyone should be snickering at anyone, it should be the time worn gun and age worn holster snickering at that polished Freudian substitute some of us “claim” to carry. Serious is as serious does, Gump didn’t say that, but I’m sure he would have here.
---Alduro’s rant of the evening.
