Who has actually used thier CCW? (long)

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Ultrastar

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I've done searches on x caliber is better than y that one and b gun is better than c gun but I would like to hear from those who have used their CCW and what the outcome was. I'm in the military and law enforcement and have CC for 8-9 years and never had to use my weapon on or off duty. I'm issued a 9mm and CC a 9mm and/or .380. With all the info out there from time to time I question whether I should move up in caliber or if I'm OK with what I use now. :confused:
 
Hello Ultrastar,

If you take a look down here at what I have, I'd say you are pretty much taken care of.

However, because you seem to be having second thoughts(likewise if I were going to be having second thoughts) I'd say go with a Sig 220 .45acp. That should dissipate any doubts. Comfort is the word?

BTW, I use these, http://rbcd.net/2003 NEW PRODUCTS.htm.
 
I figure that fewer than 1% of us have ever drawn our CCW--and probably only 1% of those actually fired and hit a person. I believe that includes military folk who have been in combat since they typically use rifles. Law enforcement officers may have slightly higher figures but over the whole membership, I think the WAG is probably close to the truth.

That means that assuming 15K members on this forum maybe 1 or 2 (let's say less than 10 to be fairly safe) have shot a person with their CCW (or a duty sidearm) in a self defense/combat situation.

Taken over the entire population, the number of self-defense shootings in any given caliber is relatively small, and the number of variables in each shooting is extremely large. That means that caliber is only one small contribution out of perhaps hundreds of contributing factors that determine to the outcome of a self-defense shooting. That's why so much research is done trying to determine the effectiveness of various calibers and why there is so much argument about it--the real world data is somewhat sparse and very difficult to analyze with a useful degree of certainty about the outcome.
BTW, I use these, http://rbcd.net/2003 NEW PRODUCTS.htm.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't do that if I were you. There's no such thing as magic, and things that seem too good to be true usually are. I, for one, am not surprised that the government isn't beating down their door with orders.
 
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About fours ago I fired a jack leg carpenter who had taken my father-in-law for over $30K in a remodeling job. I had taken his tools to the curb, called him and told him he better get them as they were fair game. When he arrived he jumped out of his truck with a claw hammer in hand. I had a cell phone with 911 dialed and ready to go, but simply let my jacket fall open so he could see my M1911A1 and told him that by the time the cops got there it would be too late. He loaded his tools and left. He sure did not want to have a cop run a breathalizer on him as the smell would knock you over.
 
Thanks for the input. Sometimes you so caught up in what to carry not the important stuff like have gun and use it well no matter what it is.
 
Quote:
"I'd much rather face a totally inept person carting around a S&W 629 with hot loads that they can't handle, than deal with a well-trained and fearless little SOB with a cold heart and a cheap Kel-Tec in any caliber."

Well said!
 
if by "use" you mean used to defend my life, no. (knock on wood) but if by "use" you mean do i shoot it a lot, you bet. mine is used to the tune of about 10,000 rounds now. constant practice with draw, fire, reholster, draw, fire, reholster. practice practice practice with what you carry. build that muscle memory. i hope i never have to use it to defend my life, but i'll keep it slung low on my hip just in case.

Bobby
 
Bobarino, were you just being figurative with "slung low on my hip"?

Or do you conceal with one of those long Australian raincoats? Also, I envy anybody that has the chance to shoot that much. Is that all with one gun? Have you had to replace the recoil spring in a self-loader? Do you have a wheelgun that held up to that many rounds? Any words about real high use of a certain handgun, feel free to pass them on.

Bart Noir
Also in Wet-stern WA
 
i've never shot anybody but living in vegas i can tell you of no less than 3 times where having a ccw saved my life and my brothers on one occasion. these were situations where i actually had to draw my weapon. on one occasion i pulled the trigger but forgot that i had had it in condition 3:banghead: that situation scared me the most, it was the first time i ever had to draw and i had just got the pistol 2 moths earlier( it was my first gun). from that day forward i always carry with a round in the pipe. lucky for me just brandishing a pistol was enough.
 
Some time back, while my wife and I were driving around Phoenix, a driver cut us off the corner of a red light while we had the green.

Instinctively I hit the horn.

We were going just a short distance, ironically, and we pulled in the parking lot.

The idiot 'kid' had turned around or pulled the parking lot further down after he had seen us pull in earlier.

As we were about to get out of the truck he runs up to within 20-30 yards from the front of the truck. He immediately gets out with an aluminum baseball bat.

Not knowing if he would go for me or my wife I decided to dismount and, while staying behind the truck door, make myself his center of attention.

He began to approach with the bat and I simply unholstered and leveled the .45 1911 on him and firmly told him if he came any further we'd see if planted lead would sprout.

Thankfully he had enough sensibility about himself to walk back to his car, albeit with him cussing and screaming about me laying on the horn on him, and left.

I simply wrote down his license and car and his description. Knowing how things often work around here I called the incident in and waited for a Patrolman to arrive. Little did I know that some lady in the parking lot had already celled it in.

When the cop arrived she compared our statements with the lady who called it in. She admitted we acted prudently and that was pretty much the end of it.

Looking back I wish the situation had not occurred, of course. But would I have used the gun?

If I tell you I believe in only unholstering a weapon if you intend to use it-would that answer the question?
 
Bart,

yes i was just being figurative. i use a kydex IWB so its actually kind of high on my hip if we're being literal. :)

i do all my pistol shooting with the one pistol i own. a UPS-C in .40S&W. he folks at HK said it might be a good idea to replace the recoil spring at about 10k rounds so its probably time to do that soon.

as far as heavy use goes, i think any of the good quality guns from the likes of HK, Beretta, Glock, Sig, Smith, Khar etc will be just fine with lots of use. as you suggested various parts like springs may need to be replaced on occasion but those are wear items and are usually cheap and easy to replace and not designed to last forever. as with any mechanical gizmo, guns can fail too but its been my experience that you get what you pay for. its important to be able to practice with your sidearm without worrying about wearing it out. i've had only one carry rig for the last five years or so i've had lost of time to become proficient with it to the point where the draw and aim motion is nearly instinctive. i buy into the theory of "i don't fear the man with many guns, i fear the man with only one gun". or something like that. :)

Bobby
 
Nearly, twice, and a third time was a false alarm, but there was a young lady and her 2 year old son to protect. Once with my .45, the other two with a .38 Chief's Special. The .45 incident I was hand on gun and about to draw when they ran for it. Four of them, three of us, I was armed my two friends were not. The four guys were arrested (three of them at least) the next week in the same car they were in for a fatal driveby. Another ten seconds and I'm guessing fire would have been exchanged.


Carry what you can hit fast and accurately with. For me, that's a .45, but I've seen as a news photographer people get killed with 9mm, .380, .40, .45 and .357, as well as knives. Sometimes hollowpoints helped, other times ball ammo did the trick with good shot placement (bad in the victim's point of view). I've also seen bad shot placement mean the guy keeps going after four hits to the leg or arm or grazes.

Occasionally there's a real motivated type, like a bank robber who was hit twice center mass by .40 JHPs and was still struggling after three large (six foot, 200+ lb) cops were on top of him.

So shoot accurately, shoot fast, and KEEP SHOOTING till the guy hits the dirt.
 
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