1911Tuner
Moderator Emeritus
Why do I need to teach myself
So you can be more versa-tile? Like learnin' to drive a stick-shift car when yours has a slushbox transmission.
Why do I need to teach myself
It's not that I can't, it's just that I haven't. Why do I need to teach myself to when my current handguns are XDm, SP101, and LCP, and my planned setup is XDm and XDs?
Ever get in and out of a car all day, in a 10 hour shift, with a 1911 on your hip? The weight/energy savings alone, in that 10 hr. period, is THE largest factor that agencies choose polymers.
So you can be more versa-tile? Like learnin' to drive a stick-shift car when yours has a slushbox transmission.
Plans are great and all.... Until you realize that the bad guys don't follow your plans. What if you ever have to use a firearm (that isn't yours) that does have a manual safety? It helps to be knowledgeable and fairly proficient at disengaging a safety, even if it isn't on a gun that you typically carry. It actually is a good idea to have a basic to very good understanding of the manual of arms of many modern pistols.
Sounds great--until one has to defend himself with a different fierarm.Posted by Skribs: I'm going to use the oft-quoted "fear the man with only one gun", if I keep the same MOA, I shouldn't get confused.
Consider the possibilities--your firearm fails, or you are separated from it, or you don't happen to have it....Why, when I carry the same gun every day, would I have to use someone else's handgun?
Exactly. There are three things upon which one should not place excessive reliance:Posted by allaroundhunter: Plans are great and all....
Yes, it is.It actually is a good idea to have a basic to very good understanding of the manual of arms of many modern pistols.
I need only to know how to handle my gun
No one else wii ever pick up my gun
I'll keep my finger off the trigger until I'm going to shoot
Skribs, keeping your finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire is not connected in any way to what gun is in your hand. If you have drawn your weapon and it has a manual safety, it should be disengaged as you clear the holster. If you do not have a manual safety, then there is not one to worry about. In both situations, the operator's finger is now the only thing keeping the gun from discharging. That means that regardless of what gun is in your hand, keep your finger off the trigger.
Safety.Posted by Skribs: I'm not really sure how this [No one else wii ever pick up my gun] is relevant to the discussion of 1911 vs. Glock.
Already discussed. See Post 155.If the belief is that someone who trains enough on a 1911 can use muscle memory to deactivate the safety on draw, why does the same logic not apply to keeping the finger off the trigger?
It's not a matter of "possibly forgetting". It's a matter of subconscious behavior denied by the actor.But some people argue that you need a manual safety because, even though you train for keeping your finger off the trigger, in a situation where you're stressed you might forget that training.
Already discussed. See Post 155.
I was referring to the risk of an inadvertent discharge, but there is another aspect: experience has shown that safeties can help when weapons fall into the wrong hands
That's the "plan", but tests have shown that trained persons sometimes do otherwise, even though they are not aware of it.Posted by Skribs: On the draw, my finger is outside the trigger guard, and I have no reason to move it in until I shoot. It's part of my draw stroke to put my finger in a safe position.
One can only speculate. I do not know how one would design an experiment to determine the reason.So why is it so easy to turn off the safety, but hard to keep the finger off the trigger?
How many inadvertent shootings by children and others, and how many deliberate shooters by wrong-doers, are done by persons who had been knowingly and willfully permitted to handle the guns?I only let people handle my guns at the range, where they are given a safety briefing and only point it downrange.
Assumptions, upon which one should not place excessive reliance.The only people who would know where to grab my gun should I be unable to use it are capable of using it safely - they have the same model. Or they'd just use theirs.
Only time someone is going to get my gun is if they take it out of my hands (if I had a 1911, safety would be off at that point) or if they took it from my safe (which would give them ample time to figure out the MOA).
. How is it that someone can be so well trained to flip off the safety on a 1911, but will bo so inept in basic gun safety that they can't remember to keep their finger out of the trigger guard?
The G21 would not have been adopted by the US military. You'd think even the most rabid fanboy would realize that, since they don't use it now.
They use 17s not 21s.Unless you're in CAG (the artist formerly known as Delta Force), who've been using Glocks for years now.
I'll bet ya a sodaI would rate Glock as a pretty strong contender for the next US service pistol contract, if we ever get around to doing one of those.
They use 17s not 21s.
In reality I wonder how many of those old Cavalry men remembered to swipe on the safety when that horse acted up, not to mention the shavetail.
Do it 200 times, and it's part of you.