I'd forgotten about this thread. 
Interesting to see it brought back, and especially interesting that it was brought back by the OP. Glad to hear your decision has proven to have been the right one for you.
Since my last post in this thread there's been some things happening ...
I attended a couple of "officer safety" in-service training lectures. One was for the LEOKA class (Law Enforcement Officers Killed & Assaulted), which travels. The other was also a traveling field class, taught by a retired LASD trainer. Both were great classes, drawing large auditoriums of attendees.
For the purposes of this thread, I found a couple of things fairly interesting in these classes (beyond the obvious
).
Firstly, the presence and usefulness of the ubiquitous 5-shot snub revolver as a secondary/backup weapon has been, and is seemingly still, going strong.
In one of the lectures there were many related instances where a 5-shot snub .38 Spl had been used by cops, in a secondary/backup capacity, to successfully stop attacks by 1, 2 and even 3 armed attackers, saving the lives of the cops. (Yes, the .380 ACP was also mentioned, but the 5-shot snub seemed to receive greater mention.)
The difficulty of using the little snubs, and their obvious limitation of 5-shots capacity before having to be reloaded, doesn't necessarily mean they aren't still being used to good effect in limited roles.
Secondly, the other thing I found interesting was the number of cops attending these events who were armed versus unarmed. Many attendees were there for training while on-duty, and many were attending on their own time & dime. Some uniforms were being worn, but the greater number were dressed in business or casual/off-duty clothing. Both classes contained upwards of a couple hundred or more attendees.
In one class, when the instructor asked for a show of hands of everyone who was armed, approx 60% of the people raised their hands.
In the other class, when the same question was asked, approx 80% of the people raised hands.
Now, granted, these classes dealt specifically with officer safety & tactics topics, so you'd hope attending cops would already have some elevated interest in this subject. It's not like the same number were being polled when they were away from work/training, completely on their own time. On previous occasions when I've attended training over the years, I can remember a lot fewer cops traveling to such classes, away from their agencies & jurisdictions, and choosing to be armed.
It's also that when I've previously attended a couple lectures by another well known & respected trainer (Lt. Col. Grossman, ret), he mentioned statistics indicating that upwards of no more than 20% of active LE reportedly carried off-duty weapons. Maybe we're seeing another cycle of awareness occurring among the next generation of cops. Dunno. Just thought it was interesting.
Something else which has happened since my last participation in this thread ... is that I've bought a diminutive .380 ACP.
A Ruger LCP, to be exact.
While I have more than half a dozen 5-shot J's from which to choose, I've come to find that there are still times when I can't effectively conceal one of them while wearing some of my tighter jeans (due to pocket size variations). I know, I know, I can always choose to dress around whatever retirement weapon I wish to carry.
It's just that I don't always want to have to choose my manner of dress based upon concealing a weapon. (Spare me the "comforting v. comfortable" comments, as I'm well aware of the meaning and broader implications. ) There are times I want to dress comfortably while enjoying the attractions of the local beach communities in warm weather ... and I don't really care for the IWB/belly band/appendix carry/groin holster, etc.
Anyway, a long time friend of mine (more than 40 years), also another firearms instructor, sheepishly admitted one day that he'd bought a LCP. (Sheepishly, because he usually carries a pair of handguns off-duty, and now retired, and has always been a .357 Magnum, .45, .40 & 9mm shooter.)
He'd been listening to a growing number of the people at his agency who were very satisfied with the little LCP, so he tried one. He's been surprised by how handy, reliable and accurate the little pistol has been for him.
I checked around and found other guys closer to home who has also been happy with the little LCP. I finally picked one up.
Handy. Fits where one of my J's won't. Lighter.
I've tried Win 95gr T-Series, Speer 90gr GDHP & Rem 102gr BJHP ... and some Win flat point ball ... and the little gun has demonstrated itself to be surprisingly accurate.
The sights are rudimentary & minimal, making the thin black post & notch of the older J's look generous. Not the easiest to pick up and use, especially using on an outdoor night range, in & out of light & shadow ... but when I took a moment to acquire them, the little gun cut ragged little cloverleaf groups at 5-7yds. Indexed nicely at closer ranges, too. Respectable groups out to 20yds.
Given a choice, I'd still rather have one of my .38's for the heavier bullet weights, and I can shoot them better at greater distances (meaning out to 40-50yds).
Beats being unarmed, though.
First .380 I've owned in more than 25 years.
BTW, I didn't choose the Bodyguard 380 because it was just a bit larger, and I didn't need (or want) the integral laser.
Now, when I take another driving trip in the near future, I'll probably leave the larger 9's or .40's I normally take along at home ... and take a J-frame and the LCP. The larger .45's & 6-shot steel revolvers stay behind, too.
Things keep changing ...
Interesting to see it brought back, and especially interesting that it was brought back by the OP. Glad to hear your decision has proven to have been the right one for you.
Since my last post in this thread there's been some things happening ...
I attended a couple of "officer safety" in-service training lectures. One was for the LEOKA class (Law Enforcement Officers Killed & Assaulted), which travels. The other was also a traveling field class, taught by a retired LASD trainer. Both were great classes, drawing large auditoriums of attendees.
For the purposes of this thread, I found a couple of things fairly interesting in these classes (beyond the obvious
).Firstly, the presence and usefulness of the ubiquitous 5-shot snub revolver as a secondary/backup weapon has been, and is seemingly still, going strong.
In one of the lectures there were many related instances where a 5-shot snub .38 Spl had been used by cops, in a secondary/backup capacity, to successfully stop attacks by 1, 2 and even 3 armed attackers, saving the lives of the cops. (Yes, the .380 ACP was also mentioned, but the 5-shot snub seemed to receive greater mention.)
The difficulty of using the little snubs, and their obvious limitation of 5-shots capacity before having to be reloaded, doesn't necessarily mean they aren't still being used to good effect in limited roles.
Secondly, the other thing I found interesting was the number of cops attending these events who were armed versus unarmed. Many attendees were there for training while on-duty, and many were attending on their own time & dime. Some uniforms were being worn, but the greater number were dressed in business or casual/off-duty clothing. Both classes contained upwards of a couple hundred or more attendees.
In one class, when the instructor asked for a show of hands of everyone who was armed, approx 60% of the people raised their hands.
In the other class, when the same question was asked, approx 80% of the people raised hands.
Now, granted, these classes dealt specifically with officer safety & tactics topics, so you'd hope attending cops would already have some elevated interest in this subject. It's not like the same number were being polled when they were away from work/training, completely on their own time. On previous occasions when I've attended training over the years, I can remember a lot fewer cops traveling to such classes, away from their agencies & jurisdictions, and choosing to be armed.
It's also that when I've previously attended a couple lectures by another well known & respected trainer (Lt. Col. Grossman, ret), he mentioned statistics indicating that upwards of no more than 20% of active LE reportedly carried off-duty weapons. Maybe we're seeing another cycle of awareness occurring among the next generation of cops. Dunno. Just thought it was interesting.
Something else which has happened since my last participation in this thread ... is that I've bought a diminutive .380 ACP.
A Ruger LCP, to be exact.While I have more than half a dozen 5-shot J's from which to choose, I've come to find that there are still times when I can't effectively conceal one of them while wearing some of my tighter jeans (due to pocket size variations). I know, I know, I can always choose to dress around whatever retirement weapon I wish to carry.
It's just that I don't always want to have to choose my manner of dress based upon concealing a weapon. (Spare me the "comforting v. comfortable" comments, as I'm well aware of the meaning and broader implications.
) There are times I want to dress comfortably while enjoying the attractions of the local beach communities in warm weather ... and I don't really care for the IWB/belly band/appendix carry/groin holster, etc.Anyway, a long time friend of mine (more than 40 years), also another firearms instructor, sheepishly admitted one day that he'd bought a LCP. (Sheepishly, because he usually carries a pair of handguns off-duty, and now retired, and has always been a .357 Magnum, .45, .40 & 9mm shooter.)
He'd been listening to a growing number of the people at his agency who were very satisfied with the little LCP, so he tried one. He's been surprised by how handy, reliable and accurate the little pistol has been for him.
I checked around and found other guys closer to home who has also been happy with the little LCP. I finally picked one up.
Handy. Fits where one of my J's won't. Lighter.
I've tried Win 95gr T-Series, Speer 90gr GDHP & Rem 102gr BJHP ... and some Win flat point ball ... and the little gun has demonstrated itself to be surprisingly accurate.
The sights are rudimentary & minimal, making the thin black post & notch of the older J's look generous. Not the easiest to pick up and use, especially using on an outdoor night range, in & out of light & shadow ... but when I took a moment to acquire them, the little gun cut ragged little cloverleaf groups at 5-7yds. Indexed nicely at closer ranges, too. Respectable groups out to 20yds.
Given a choice, I'd still rather have one of my .38's for the heavier bullet weights, and I can shoot them better at greater distances (meaning out to 40-50yds).
Beats being unarmed, though.
First .380 I've owned in more than 25 years.
BTW, I didn't choose the Bodyguard 380 because it was just a bit larger, and I didn't need (or want) the integral laser.
Now, when I take another driving trip in the near future, I'll probably leave the larger 9's or .40's I normally take along at home ... and take a J-frame and the LCP. The larger .45's & 6-shot steel revolvers stay behind, too.
Things keep changing ...
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