AZ Shooter
Member
I am going to begin this commentary with the discussion of a SIG Sauer pistol. Now wait...you'll see where I am going in a minute.
When they first came out, I bought a SIG P220 Stainless. Fantastic pistol; heavy, accurate, easy to control. It cost somewhere around $800.00 if I recall correctly. After becoming familiar with it and after putting about 900 rounds or so through it, I began using it as a concealed carry piece.
One day I went to the range and decided to shoot the pistol I was carrying at the time; my P220 Stainless. I unloaded the carry ammo and loaded a magazine of practice rounds. The pistol fired once. The slide was part way back and I saw I had a double feed; fired brass in the chamber with a new round jammed behind it. I cleared the malfunction and found that the hook on the extractor had broken off! If I had been in a defensive shooting and if my first round had not stopped my attacker, I would have been in deep trouble. Since then, I always carry a back up gun (more on this in a bit).
Mechanical devices can fail. Do I like the internal lock on my new 1917 redux Smith? No. Do I think it is necessary? No. Will it keep me from carrying the weapon for defense? No. Any mechanical device can fail; therefore I carry a back up weapon.
Consider my car. Geez! Tie rods (whatever they are), pistons, rapidly spinning gears, transmissions, differentials....think of all the potential failures that could endanger me! Look at the tires! Mere rubber! Why, just about any trash on the highway could give me a blowout and spin me right in front of a speeding semi. Maybe it would be better not to drive the darn thing at all and just walk!
Do I like the internal lock? No. Do I think it is necessary? No. Will it keep me from carrying the weapon for defense? No.
HK has internal locks as do many other manufactures; the difference is, you can't see it so people don't think about it.
Anyway, that is enough from me on the subject of the internal lock.
Affiliated with the safety concerns surrounding a defensive shooting situation is the concept of the back up gun. With a mechanical failure of the primary gun (see above); go to back up. An incoming round hits the primary weapon or the person carrying it and the weapon is damaged or dropped; go to the backup weapon. A severe ammo malfunction (kaboom) or possibly something else...like this: I once found a live round of Remington factory 9mm pistol ammo on the floor of the range. The round had no primer; and even more interesting, it didn't even have a touch hole for the primer fire (if it had had a primer) to reach the gunpowder! I'm not sure what damage an exploding primer with nowhere to go but back and around might do to a pistol or revolver, but it would certainly back the primer out in a revolver and probably jam the cylinder tightly. Go to back up.
Now if you are in any situation where things have gone so far South that you even need your back up weapon things are serious indeed.
For me, I would not want to be holding any of the current "in style" small pistols. If I am injured, if my primary just blew up or was shot from my hands the LAST thing I would want to transition to would be a micro-miniature 9mm or .380 that has a barrel so short I get no velocity or penetration, but lots of recoil. I would not want a grip so small only two of my fingers could wrap around it; especially if my fingers had sweat or worse, blood on them! I would not want sights so small I need a magnifying glass to see them. No thanks; I value my life too much to carry something like that.
When I carry my six inch Python, the back up is a three inch Python. With all my Smith revolvers; M27's M29's M629's etc, my back up is a Model 67. When I carry my HK Elite the back up is a USP9..that would be a full size, NOT a compact.
Like the actor in The Unforgiven said, "I'm not going to die for a lack of shooting back."
Firearms are not all that hard to conceal and I am not so concernered about comfort that I would carry something so light it seems like it's not there. No "I can't believe it's a real gun" style firearems for me. I value my life too much.
When they first came out, I bought a SIG P220 Stainless. Fantastic pistol; heavy, accurate, easy to control. It cost somewhere around $800.00 if I recall correctly. After becoming familiar with it and after putting about 900 rounds or so through it, I began using it as a concealed carry piece.
One day I went to the range and decided to shoot the pistol I was carrying at the time; my P220 Stainless. I unloaded the carry ammo and loaded a magazine of practice rounds. The pistol fired once. The slide was part way back and I saw I had a double feed; fired brass in the chamber with a new round jammed behind it. I cleared the malfunction and found that the hook on the extractor had broken off! If I had been in a defensive shooting and if my first round had not stopped my attacker, I would have been in deep trouble. Since then, I always carry a back up gun (more on this in a bit).
Mechanical devices can fail. Do I like the internal lock on my new 1917 redux Smith? No. Do I think it is necessary? No. Will it keep me from carrying the weapon for defense? No. Any mechanical device can fail; therefore I carry a back up weapon.
Consider my car. Geez! Tie rods (whatever they are), pistons, rapidly spinning gears, transmissions, differentials....think of all the potential failures that could endanger me! Look at the tires! Mere rubber! Why, just about any trash on the highway could give me a blowout and spin me right in front of a speeding semi. Maybe it would be better not to drive the darn thing at all and just walk!
Do I like the internal lock? No. Do I think it is necessary? No. Will it keep me from carrying the weapon for defense? No.
HK has internal locks as do many other manufactures; the difference is, you can't see it so people don't think about it.
Anyway, that is enough from me on the subject of the internal lock.
Affiliated with the safety concerns surrounding a defensive shooting situation is the concept of the back up gun. With a mechanical failure of the primary gun (see above); go to back up. An incoming round hits the primary weapon or the person carrying it and the weapon is damaged or dropped; go to the backup weapon. A severe ammo malfunction (kaboom) or possibly something else...like this: I once found a live round of Remington factory 9mm pistol ammo on the floor of the range. The round had no primer; and even more interesting, it didn't even have a touch hole for the primer fire (if it had had a primer) to reach the gunpowder! I'm not sure what damage an exploding primer with nowhere to go but back and around might do to a pistol or revolver, but it would certainly back the primer out in a revolver and probably jam the cylinder tightly. Go to back up.
Now if you are in any situation where things have gone so far South that you even need your back up weapon things are serious indeed.
For me, I would not want to be holding any of the current "in style" small pistols. If I am injured, if my primary just blew up or was shot from my hands the LAST thing I would want to transition to would be a micro-miniature 9mm or .380 that has a barrel so short I get no velocity or penetration, but lots of recoil. I would not want a grip so small only two of my fingers could wrap around it; especially if my fingers had sweat or worse, blood on them! I would not want sights so small I need a magnifying glass to see them. No thanks; I value my life too much to carry something like that.
When I carry my six inch Python, the back up is a three inch Python. With all my Smith revolvers; M27's M29's M629's etc, my back up is a Model 67. When I carry my HK Elite the back up is a USP9..that would be a full size, NOT a compact.
Like the actor in The Unforgiven said, "I'm not going to die for a lack of shooting back."
Firearms are not all that hard to conceal and I am not so concernered about comfort that I would carry something so light it seems like it's not there. No "I can't believe it's a real gun" style firearems for me. I value my life too much.
