Know your guns, or only shoot your guns?

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twoblink

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I have begun to discover, that most people are not as into "knowing about their guns" as I am. Maybe because I want to design some later on in my life, and open up a gun company..

Do most of you just shoot your guns, or do you all know your guns in seriously anal detail like I do?
 
I'm learning, and I'm very thankful to have a gaggle of gun toting buddies with Worlds of Knowledge to tap.

Good luck in your future endeavor. Go with it.

How about an over and under type: .50 cal under with 762x39 upper barrel and perhaps a SureFire mount???

"Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys." That's just beautiful man. :)
 
Know them?

Oh, I know them, inside and out. I completely know how they work, why they work, and can take them apart and put them together.

I also know that taking them apart past a certain point too often is more likely to damage them by accident than it is to provide any real benefit from cleaning. (Far more guns are ruined by "detail" cleaning than by shooting.)

Further, I know that there's a magic gun gnome right down the street who has lathes and drill presses and all kinds of tools who will do any customization or modifications on my guns that I wish for only $X/hr, and will do a better job (with his fully equipped shop and decades of experience) than I could ever do at home.
 
Ninety per cent of my pistol shooting for the last 22 years has been ONE 1911 38 Super. I have probably taken that gun totally down and put it back together over a thousand times. I can't even begin to count the number of rounds I've fired through it. Years of IPSC and many more years of stepping off the porch in back and just blasting away at pinecones 25 yards away for fun. Not to mention the feral dogs and cats that try to wipe out the local deer, songbird and chicken population (or the occasional armadillo). Good moving target practice.
Who was it that said "Beware the man with ONE gun"? I really, really know this gun.
 
I think everyone should know hor their guns work. Not only is it inhernetly safer to know how they operate, but it might help if you have a malfunction of some sort.
 
Maybe it's because I used to be an anti and I've come to firearms later in life than most. I learn all I can about every new rifle or handgun I get. I strip it down and put it back together, learn all I can about the cartridge it uses, reload for it, etc. Then I re-sell it and use the credit to get something new. Maybe I'm not typical in this respect--I don't keep firearms for very long. The only ones to have survived the cuts are a trust old Mosin Nagant 91/30, a trusty VZ-24 and a trusty Mossberg 500.
 
A good question. If you are asking it from a gunsmith's point of view, I know the basics of my guns, and that's about it. I did replace the firing pin in my CZ75BD after it broke during dry firing; I found it easy to do.

If you are asking the question from a shooter's point of view, I'm trying to concentrate on learning to shoot a couple of handguns well. Just a guess here, but I'd be willing to bet that people who have a big safe full of guns, and who try to use them all regularly, maybe aren't as good with all of them as they would be with only a handful that fit them well.
DAL
 
when I studied martial arts I learned to develop a feel for a weapon so that it's more of an extension of the hand, I try to do the same with my guns. the more you understand your weapon the more effective you'll be with it.
 
Gas systems; some of them I still don't know how it works, as I can't get a cross sectional view of the gun (Don't you dare say the word chainsaw!!)

But I think it's important from a safety point of view, to know how your gun works.

Also, probably a good idea, in case of jams, or even problems, if you are on THR and say "My gun has a problem" that's a very different cry for help then "My gun's extractor pin broke, part #34 in the manual".
 
I probably understand more about the innards of a 1911 than most other guns. Well, the Garand and the GI carbine are pretty simple, as well. Bolt-actions vary mostly in the arrangement of the safety and in the way the bolt is put together.

While there are bunches of rifles around the joint that get shot from time to time, there's only one "Ol' Pet" that I'm all married up with and that I'll grab when the shooting is really important. Sorta like TexasVet's pistol.

Regardless of the depth of knowledge, a person should develop a "feel" for when things are "just right" or "not right". The feel of the bolt on opening or closing, or the feel of the slide's motion, or the trigger-motion on a DA revolver, as examples. If it doesn't feel righteous, don't carry it...

Art
 
My knowledge of most of my guns is analgous to my knowledge of automobiles. I've done some work a little above changing the oil (replaced water pump on van, starter on Jeep, etc.) but I'm not ready to tear down the engine. 1911s, AR15s. mausers, etc. are pretty easy; past that I get a little shaky. I think a general knowledge of your weapon is a necessity, past that it becomes a preference.
 
I tend to like to Know my guns.Some a easier to tinker with like the Glocks or Mark-2 piece of cake or a 1911 . Then other watchout like the Buckmark just dont take the grips off beware of flying springs!:)
 
i have a real fascination with how my guns are designed to operate. the more unusual they are the more interesting it is for me. hence, a python is more interesting than a smith and a hk delayed roller-locked action more interesting than a browning tilt barrel.

i also like owning pistols that come with a story, this leads to the purchase of more used guns than new
 
And I thought I was fanatical! :D

I've got to know their innards before I ever shoot them, but I thought that was a carry over from flying airplanes.... :D
 
Over the past couple years, I have become more and more interrested in learning more about the function of each part in my firearms.

The AGI videos are pretty good. I have ordered the 10/22 Trigger Job video, and I am sure that this will be a learning process.
 
In July '91 Papa Staat gave me a G3. I had figure out how it worked myself as our DIs didn't know anything. Some even claimed it was gas-operated.
When I bought my Glock, first thing I did was to disassemble it (with the help of Glockmeister's homepage) to figure out what moves, engages and disengages when I pull the trigger and the slide cycles. I did the same when I bought my Enfield and SL8.
 
I like to KNOW my guns, inside and out. I am also incredibly adept at tearing things down and remembering which way they go back together. (Too much time with LEGOS, Tecnix, and Erector sets!) Even though I've only done it twice, I can tear a 1911 down to pieces and put it back together. Glocks are the same. Bolt rifles are all simple, just variations on the old Mauser theme. (I once "shot" a bottle of Hoppes with the firing pin from my VZ-24. Those suckers have ALOT of tension on them!)

The only guns that I know inside and out ballistically are my hunting arms. The 20ga 870, the .260 Mountain Rifle (I can put the bullet exactly where I want it from 0-300 yards and not blink, without a bench or bipod), and the Ruger 96/44 I used to have (traded later on after the .260 came home).

With handguns I feel like Tom Selleck's character in Quigley Down Under: "I only said I never had much use for one, not that I don't know how to use one."
 
I've never disassembled a firearm beyond what's required for "normal cleaning" I guess, although I want to become more comfortable perhaps going a bit farther in the process with, say, my 1911.

I do know that I am not 100% comfortable with a gun I've purchased until I'm able to field-strip it and reassemble it (and its magazines, if applicable) a few times before ever firing it.
 
Actually ...

I enjoy tearing down my guns even more than I do shooting them. I like researching their history and I try to learn as much as possible about each firearm. I'm a bit of a trivia freak anyway.

On a sidenote, to qualify for ownership of a handgun in Canada, you must provide the federal government with a 'reason' for wanting the gun. You are given a list of specific authorized 'reasons' for the aquisition from which you must choose only one. If you claim that you are a gun 'collector', then by law you are expected to be able to demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the history of each of the handguns that you own ...
 
I look at the workings of my guns like the workings of my car. I only tear things apart if they break and have to be fixed. I have never taken my guns to a gunsmith. I learn as I go. I don't think I know very much about the insides though. Beyond field stripping and I get nervous.
 
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