I have driven on the other side of the road.
You get used to it surprisingly quick, although IME you still have to think about what you are doing just a little more than usual. I was only in automatics with the same driver position though.
I Do Not Rotate My Carry Guns
- Thread starter Trunk Monkey
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I have driven on the other side of the road.
You get used to it surprisingly quick, although IME you still have to think about what you are doing just a little more than usual. I was only in automatics with the same driver position though.
george burns
Member
The Green Berets as part of their credo were supposed to pick up any weapon and be able to use it immediately, that said, I have carried the same gun for 3 years, I alternate when I fund something I like better. But all of them have no safety, are 9mm or 45, and are basically the same as far as operation, takedown and sights.
I have probably carried a dozen different guns in 5 decades, but when I find one I like I carry only that one until I find something I like better, sometimes I will take a Glock 30 or a glock 26, but like I said, they are very similar in operation.
I have probably carried a dozen different guns in 5 decades, but when I find one I like I carry only that one until I find something I like better, sometimes I will take a Glock 30 or a glock 26, but like I said, they are very similar in operation.
Posted by krupuk:
There are several ways to get an informed option here. One is to ask qualified instructors who teach real self defense tactics. Another is to try different approaches under realistic circumstances. But you need to perform a large number of trials.
By realistic circumstances, I mean situations involving a reaction to an unexpected external stimulus, requiring a very fast response, under several different scenarios.
Take some training; change your method of carry, and use different weapons.
If you flub it once--once--figure out why. Did you move your shirt to uncover an appendix carry holster after changing to a 3:00 position? Did you try to find the retention release on a holster that dis not have one? Did it have something to do with a safety?
Personally, I think that consistency is an obvious benefit.
I thought that the frame mounted safeties on my guns, that operate in the same manner, provided that consistency, but tactile differences can be an issue when the chips are down.
I have come to a conclusion on this, but I do not recommend that anyone rely on my thoughts; ask one of the better known trainers. Better yet, ask several.
Unfortunately, unless how one feels is supported by informed opinion and objective facts, feeling is irrelevant to the question--this question, and just about any other question involving effectiveness of self defense.
There are several ways to get an informed option here. One is to ask qualified instructors who teach real self defense tactics. Another is to try different approaches under realistic circumstances. But you need to perform a large number of trials.
By realistic circumstances, I mean situations involving a reaction to an unexpected external stimulus, requiring a very fast response, under several different scenarios.
Take some training; change your method of carry, and use different weapons.
If you flub it once--once--figure out why. Did you move your shirt to uncover an appendix carry holster after changing to a 3:00 position? Did you try to find the retention release on a holster that dis not have one? Did it have something to do with a safety?
Personally, I think that consistency is an obvious benefit.
I thought that the frame mounted safeties on my guns, that operate in the same manner, provided that consistency, but tactile differences can be an issue when the chips are down.
I have come to a conclusion on this, but I do not recommend that anyone rely on my thoughts; ask one of the better known trainers. Better yet, ask several.
Absolutely true. I could sit here all day and name examples of people thinking or feeling there was nothing wrong with what they were doing when, well...they were dead wrong...and posed a danger to themselves and/or others.
JR24
Member
I have found this to be my experience as well. I have usually carried/shot 1911's (or BHP, or other semis with safeties in the same spot) as my primary and have found when drawing one of my Glocks, I still swipe the imaginary thumb safety.
EDIT: Though, when I do switch my EDC it always follows a period of range/dry fire/training time on the new firearm to "reacquaint" myself with it. I also always carry in the same location, but that has more to do with concealability/comfort (all guns conceal and are comfortable at just in front of 3 oclock for me) than anything else.
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Posted by wally:
That was before a training class in which my failure to disengage the safety timely on a striker-fired firearm with which I was extremely familiar caused a short delay in engaging the target that might well have been very serious indeed.
The trainer advised carrying only firearms that do not require a separate step between presenting and firing the gun (the exception being single action autos with short, light triggers).
BUT--I do not like the idea of an errant shirt tail or jacket string activating the trigger upon, or some time after, holstering.
I now carry a Springfield XD firearm, which has a grip safety.
And for primary carry, that is the only kind of pistol I strap on.
These days.
And so thought I.
That was before a training class in which my failure to disengage the safety timely on a striker-fired firearm with which I was extremely familiar caused a short delay in engaging the target that might well have been very serious indeed.
The trainer advised carrying only firearms that do not require a separate step between presenting and firing the gun (the exception being single action autos with short, light triggers).
BUT--I do not like the idea of an errant shirt tail or jacket string activating the trigger upon, or some time after, holstering.
I now carry a Springfield XD firearm, which has a grip safety.
And for primary carry, that is the only kind of pistol I strap on.
These days.
OP
OP
Trunk Monkey
member
I’m glad I started this thread because it’s given me an opportunity to consolidate my thoughts and has reaffirmed to me that this is the right decision for me. That said there are some things I want to clarify.
First, I’m not “planning to panic” I’m planning to overcome that moment of panic that I know is going to be there.
I’ve been jumped a couple of times in the course of my job. Both times it happened faster than I had time to prepare for. Both times there was a moment of panic while my body was adjusting to my endocrine system dumping adrenalin into my blood stream while my heart rate was going from 60 to 160+ beats a minute and all my fine motor skills were going away.
I know exactly what that moment feels like and I can tell you from experience the fewer things that I have to consider (which gun am I carrying and where is it) during that moment the better off I am.
Someone already said it but in that situation variables are bad. By definition if I’m in a self defense situation I’m already behind the curve. Every step I have to take to prepare to and defend myself is an opportunity for Murphy to rear his ugly head. Every step or decision that I can eliminate increases the odds in my favor.
When I decided to limit myself to two (essentially) identical guns I actually made two changes at once.
I had originally decided that I was going to limit my carry choices to third generation Smith and Wessons. Then one morning I went through some shoot and move training with a S&W 6906 that I had been carrying for years and I made a mistake that would have got me killed in a real gun fight.
I engaged the first target and then (as I had been trained) decocked the weapon while moving from one set of targets to the next. The problem was I forgot to flip the safety back off in the heat of the moment and found my self trying to fire at the next set of targets and not knowing why my gun wouldn’t shoot. It wasn’t till the second time I did a tap rack and roll that I figured it out.
As another person in this thread has said, I decided then and there that I was never going to carry a gun that had any other controls than a trigger and a magazine release for self defense ever again. I don’t care if the mistake was nothing more than a stupid brain fart and I don’t care if it only happed once. It only has to happen once in a fight to get me killed.
The result of those two decisions was that I only carry one of two guns and I only carry them in one place and only in one way. And the guns that I carry don’t have any extraneous controls on them.
I’m not saying anyone else has to do it that way, I’m just telling you what works for me.
First, I’m not “planning to panic” I’m planning to overcome that moment of panic that I know is going to be there.
I’ve been jumped a couple of times in the course of my job. Both times it happened faster than I had time to prepare for. Both times there was a moment of panic while my body was adjusting to my endocrine system dumping adrenalin into my blood stream while my heart rate was going from 60 to 160+ beats a minute and all my fine motor skills were going away.
I know exactly what that moment feels like and I can tell you from experience the fewer things that I have to consider (which gun am I carrying and where is it) during that moment the better off I am.
Someone already said it but in that situation variables are bad. By definition if I’m in a self defense situation I’m already behind the curve. Every step I have to take to prepare to and defend myself is an opportunity for Murphy to rear his ugly head. Every step or decision that I can eliminate increases the odds in my favor.
When I decided to limit myself to two (essentially) identical guns I actually made two changes at once.
I had originally decided that I was going to limit my carry choices to third generation Smith and Wessons. Then one morning I went through some shoot and move training with a S&W 6906 that I had been carrying for years and I made a mistake that would have got me killed in a real gun fight.
I engaged the first target and then (as I had been trained) decocked the weapon while moving from one set of targets to the next. The problem was I forgot to flip the safety back off in the heat of the moment and found my self trying to fire at the next set of targets and not knowing why my gun wouldn’t shoot. It wasn’t till the second time I did a tap rack and roll that I figured it out.
As another person in this thread has said, I decided then and there that I was never going to carry a gun that had any other controls than a trigger and a magazine release for self defense ever again. I don’t care if the mistake was nothing more than a stupid brain fart and I don’t care if it only happed once. It only has to happen once in a fight to get me killed.
The result of those two decisions was that I only carry one of two guns and I only carry them in one place and only in one way. And the guns that I carry don’t have any extraneous controls on them.
I’m not saying anyone else has to do it that way, I’m just telling you what works for me.
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