Ed Ames
Member
I finally got around to taking the Texas Concealed Handgun class. An amusing if slightly tiring way of chewing up 12 hours on a rainy December Saturday. I've now been fingerprinted, notarized, and have some of the worst photos ever taken to send to the state. That means maybe in another 60 days (give or take) I'll be able to carry (and won't have to fill out so many forms when buying new guns). It's progress.
As I'm sure everyone does when they are considering getting a CHL, I've been carrying around the house to figure out holsters and the mechanics of actually carrying. Like most noobs I figured you absolutely couldn't conceal anything but a mouse gun... imagine my surprise when (with the proper holster) a full size browning high power disappeared into my waistband/under my shirt. Well I guess many of you don't have to imagine. I was impressed. I decided that I could conceal a full size pistol without much fuss so I wasn't going to go shopping for a smaller gun yet. Then I discovered over the course of two weeks that I'm a corrosive person. My blued gun, which has looked new for years, started developing crevice rust even though I was only carrying a few hours a day and wiping it down and oiling the gun constantly. I need something with an anti-corrosion finish.
I know this next part is going to catch me some flack by the way... I'm pretty thick skinned though so I don't mind.
I looked at all the classics. Bersas and kel-tecs, springfields and even glocks. The kel-tecs are pretty specialized. I haven't made up my mind on the bersa. Glocks are expensive and they are so/so in my hand. XD seems nicer still. I really like CZ ... they have some NICE guns. I'm going to get myself a 75BD someday. I also found the Walther PPS very very nice. The problems all came down to a safety (I don't want to be dealing with a safety in a high-stress situation) and price. This is a carry gun. Carry guns are in and out of holsters, dropped, thrown, banged around, fiddled with, and constantly abused. I have no problem paying $500 or $1000+ for a range or hunting gun because I know it'll always look like new and will retain its value. I've got range guns that have been in steady use for 30+ years and look new. Same with hunting guns. The same guns, if carried concealed, get really beat up after only a couple years. Carry guns are also throw-aways... even if you don't use them they can be confiscated and they are a lot more likely to be stolen (because they are in cars and the like instead of safes). So to me a carry gun needs to be combat accurate, reliable, and cheap. At the same time I'm not too comfortable having to manually decock (that's my one complaint with the CZ-82). I was futzing around trying to choose one when I came across a much maligned name: Smith and Wesson. Specifically the S&W Sigma series. $299. 2 mags included. $50 + 2 mags mail in rebate. In the end my cost will be tax over $250 and ammo is my only other expense. The Sigmas have a seriously mixed reputation that mostly seems to be either "it's too cheap" (I don't understand the logic of that one), "the trigger sucks" (I've fired a lot of guns with worse), and "the old ones are hit and miss, the VE series is OK." (I'm buying new). ... so it seemed like it was worth a shot. $275 all up (tax included) isn't a bad price at all.
So on Friday night I head to a local store and pick up my swock. I get out of the store at about 8:45PM.
Saturday morning, 8:30AM, I start my CHL class. In the trunk of my car is my never-fired Sigma...
1PM... lunch time... get in my car, and drive from the classroom (which has a little private range attached but not available for use except for certifying) to the closest commercial range. Fired my sigma for the first time... Not nearly as bad as I was expecting. 100 rounds without any failures and four ragged holes in a sheet of paper later I pack up and head to a Subway for lunch.
Meatballs and Jalapeños... mmmm....goood....
Then my hour is up so it's back to the classroom for the second half of the show.
At 6PM, just about as the instructor has hit his stride and I'm about ready to go to sleep, it's time to bring out the guns and do the proficiency portion of the course.
Another 50 rounds through the Sigma has me "qualified", again without a hitch, and I'm ready to go. The gun is actually rather accurate. I could tell I was making some mistakes (I haven't practiced much since moving to Texas) but I put all the holes inside the 8 ring which is better than the guy with the laser-gripped .45GAP glock next to me could say (he had holes in his target from head to groin). Of course another guy with a glock (there were lots of glocks for some reason) easily outshot everyone else there. Skill is a major factor no matter what brand gun you are shooting. He also had, irony of ironies, a magazine failure part way through. Spring broke in a "genuine Glock" magazine. Seemed like a very good reminder that all mechanical devices can and will fail.
On that note and for the record... my HP was in the trunk of my car "just in case" the sigma didn't perform. So was my CZ-82. Yeah, yeah...
So I'm happy. A cheap new gun that works. A step closer to having my CHL. The weather even went from cold wet and miserable to clear skies and sunshine (though still chilly air)... all in all a strange, but good, weekend.
As I'm sure everyone does when they are considering getting a CHL, I've been carrying around the house to figure out holsters and the mechanics of actually carrying. Like most noobs I figured you absolutely couldn't conceal anything but a mouse gun... imagine my surprise when (with the proper holster) a full size browning high power disappeared into my waistband/under my shirt. Well I guess many of you don't have to imagine. I was impressed. I decided that I could conceal a full size pistol without much fuss so I wasn't going to go shopping for a smaller gun yet. Then I discovered over the course of two weeks that I'm a corrosive person. My blued gun, which has looked new for years, started developing crevice rust even though I was only carrying a few hours a day and wiping it down and oiling the gun constantly. I need something with an anti-corrosion finish.
I know this next part is going to catch me some flack by the way... I'm pretty thick skinned though so I don't mind.
I looked at all the classics. Bersas and kel-tecs, springfields and even glocks. The kel-tecs are pretty specialized. I haven't made up my mind on the bersa. Glocks are expensive and they are so/so in my hand. XD seems nicer still. I really like CZ ... they have some NICE guns. I'm going to get myself a 75BD someday. I also found the Walther PPS very very nice. The problems all came down to a safety (I don't want to be dealing with a safety in a high-stress situation) and price. This is a carry gun. Carry guns are in and out of holsters, dropped, thrown, banged around, fiddled with, and constantly abused. I have no problem paying $500 or $1000+ for a range or hunting gun because I know it'll always look like new and will retain its value. I've got range guns that have been in steady use for 30+ years and look new. Same with hunting guns. The same guns, if carried concealed, get really beat up after only a couple years. Carry guns are also throw-aways... even if you don't use them they can be confiscated and they are a lot more likely to be stolen (because they are in cars and the like instead of safes). So to me a carry gun needs to be combat accurate, reliable, and cheap. At the same time I'm not too comfortable having to manually decock (that's my one complaint with the CZ-82). I was futzing around trying to choose one when I came across a much maligned name: Smith and Wesson. Specifically the S&W Sigma series. $299. 2 mags included. $50 + 2 mags mail in rebate. In the end my cost will be tax over $250 and ammo is my only other expense. The Sigmas have a seriously mixed reputation that mostly seems to be either "it's too cheap" (I don't understand the logic of that one), "the trigger sucks" (I've fired a lot of guns with worse), and "the old ones are hit and miss, the VE series is OK." (I'm buying new). ... so it seemed like it was worth a shot. $275 all up (tax included) isn't a bad price at all.
So on Friday night I head to a local store and pick up my swock. I get out of the store at about 8:45PM.
Saturday morning, 8:30AM, I start my CHL class. In the trunk of my car is my never-fired Sigma...
1PM... lunch time... get in my car, and drive from the classroom (which has a little private range attached but not available for use except for certifying) to the closest commercial range. Fired my sigma for the first time... Not nearly as bad as I was expecting. 100 rounds without any failures and four ragged holes in a sheet of paper later I pack up and head to a Subway for lunch.
Meatballs and Jalapeños... mmmm....goood....
Then my hour is up so it's back to the classroom for the second half of the show.
At 6PM, just about as the instructor has hit his stride and I'm about ready to go to sleep, it's time to bring out the guns and do the proficiency portion of the course.
Another 50 rounds through the Sigma has me "qualified", again without a hitch, and I'm ready to go. The gun is actually rather accurate. I could tell I was making some mistakes (I haven't practiced much since moving to Texas) but I put all the holes inside the 8 ring which is better than the guy with the laser-gripped .45GAP glock next to me could say (he had holes in his target from head to groin). Of course another guy with a glock (there were lots of glocks for some reason) easily outshot everyone else there. Skill is a major factor no matter what brand gun you are shooting. He also had, irony of ironies, a magazine failure part way through. Spring broke in a "genuine Glock" magazine. Seemed like a very good reminder that all mechanical devices can and will fail.
On that note and for the record... my HP was in the trunk of my car "just in case" the sigma didn't perform. So was my CZ-82. Yeah, yeah...
So I'm happy. A cheap new gun that works. A step closer to having my CHL. The weather even went from cold wet and miserable to clear skies and sunshine (though still chilly air)... all in all a strange, but good, weekend.