Your Gun Should Run

Tam has an amusing post about fair-weather gun-owners, and Linoge has a neat post up about a quote form Tam about gun mechanics.

Tam of course talks about making a disposable ultra-cheap gun because of the number of people who buy a gun and shoot it pathetically low numbers of times before packing it around.

In the Walls of the City discussion the topic of Condition 3 Carry. I will further add to this by throwing magazine disconnects into the mix.

If you carry your gun in self defense it is a piece of emergency equipment. There is no “Arm” switch on your car’s airbag…nor do the safety belts do you much good if you buckle them as your chin is on collision course with the windshield.

If your life is ever in immediate danger you’ll need to be aware so you can pull your gun in time. Adding another hand to rack the slide, or some of the potentially risky one-handed racking maneuvers really adds to the risk. Besides negligent discharges, you run the risk of short-stroking the gun, or getting a poor grip on the slide…and that’s IF you have use of BOTH your hands.

Furthermore magazine disconnects are a nice “Safety Feature” that seem to be best at putting you in danger. Even besides the nasty little fact that a loaded gun with the magazine removed is “Safe”, but putting an unloaded mag into a “Safe” gun will give you a gun ready to fire. What if your magazine gets bumped lose before you need to draw it in self defense? What if your mag disconnector breaks or the spring loses tension? Yep your gun won’t work, and in the latter cases won’t work until you get it to a shop to have it fixed.

Lastly Tam’s little magic gun is interesting, depending on the action one might wonder about reliability…furthermore with how low the QC must be to get the price that low.

Shoot your gun, and shoot if often. Determine that its reliable, and figure out any issues with the piece. Get the basic operation of the gun to be second nature.

You are NOT going to be reaching for this gun when you are comfortable, when conditions are optimal, or when you are calm. Be prepared for that.

And remember, be safe people!

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0 Responses to Your Gun Should Run

  1. bluesun says:

    Also why I don’t want a manual safety on my gun.

    • Weerd Beard says:

      believe it or not, I feel the same way…and carry a 1911, cocked-and-locked.

      If all things were equal I’d totally have a Kahr TP45 as my primary carry and a Kahr PM45 as my light-carry gun. (And I would always have a J-Frame of some sort for when having a revolver is a must….and I’d probably pick the Ruger LCR over my S&W642)

      The Kahr is just as slim as my 1911Sc, weighs the same, and costs less, all while having a fantastic DAO trigger that feels as close to a tuned revolver trigger as any striker-gun trigger has felt to me, with no other safety features but passive firing pin blocks.

      That being said I’ve logged tens of thousands of shots on various 1911s
      The 1911 blows the oddball Kahr out of the water for holster and magazine selection.
      Spare parts can be bought at any gunsmith, and even in some gunshops
      Every gunsmith worth his salt knows how to work on a 1911.
      on a less relevant point to most Americans, the Kahr (while made in Worcester Mass) is not approved for Mass Sale.

      Also I must say, I am the guy who sees added safety features as failure points, the 100 years of constant service of the M1911 pistol and its variants does put some statistically significant set of data points in the 1911s favor.

      Doesn’t make my 1911Sc a better gun….actually I’d say the Kahr is a better gun than a lightweight 1911 Commander….but that’s not the only thing to judge a gun on.

  2. Will Brown says:

    I’m gonna havta bone your contention here a little, Weer’d.

    In what actually plausible circumstance would you be unable to draw and cycle the action but still be able to draw the weapon unhindered? My point being that any physical confrontation with someone who is so close to you as to preclude engaging with a gun from Condition 3 (loaded magazine in weapon, no round in chamber) is close enough to interrupt your doing so with a gun in Condition 1 as well. Ask any firearms-rated CQB qualified instructor, don’t just take my Krav Maga-novice word for it. I won’t clog up your comments with YouTube links, but search “krav maga gun defense” there and see for yourself.

    Just for the record, I prefer to concealed carry my Colt Commander in Condition 3, primarily because I’ve taken the trouble to learn how to take your gun away from you from 5-7 yards initial distance and am painfully aware just how susseptable I – anyone really – am to the same maneuver under the same conditions. The remedy to this threat is to maintain a heightened sense of situational awareness and be willing to act upon it pre-emptively. This means noting something “wrong” about your surroundings and maneuvering to a defensive position as you exit the area. Drag your companion by the hand if necessary; shop elsewhere or later if necessary.

    If any of us are ever compelled into a defensive shooting, it will be as a result of either a deliberate, intentional attack from cover (the classic “ambush”) – and I include home invasion in this category – or a failure to exit the area upon notice of the onset of an armed attack in your immediate vicinity (there are justifications for this last, but the basic mindset must be one of “personal defense” rather than “proactive defense”). The former situation is time for “coffee-do” or some other form of hand-to-hand combat and the later permits sufficient time to cycle your weapon into Condition “0” as you seek out cover from which to defend yourself.

    You’ve practiced carrying in Condition 1 (and, yes, I do practice first shot placement from Condition 3) so you should continue as you’ve trained to do, but give some informed consideration to expanding your personal defense options as well. I can’t fully express how much less psychological burden I experience because I don’t have to rely on my gun to violently defend myself.

    • Weerd Beard says:

      All VERY good points. I will also add, I have taken no martial arts training besides firearms, and my anatomy courses in school (which may or may-not count in your book) But if I were to drop some cash on training Krav Mega is head-and-shoulders #1 if for only its modern nature, and for its inclusion in firearms are more than an afterthought.

      Also I totally get the whole close-quarters risks of implementing a handgun, and I hope to hell if I’m ever grappling with somebody they do not know Krav Mega or some other martial arts…and if they do, I’m probably fucked anyway.

      That being said you ask when I might not be in a position to have a 2-handed draw. There’s the obvious instance of me being restrained by an attacker (A bit specific, as if somebody grabs my right hand its going to be a bitch to get to either my pocket or shoulder holster) Linoge mentions moving his wife to safety as he draws his gun, or diving for cover. Those are VERY valid, as the FIRST thing I’m going to do is seek cover, but I may want to initiate my draw first as the position I land in might obscure my holster or draw stroke.

      We also carry stuff on our day-to-day. I attempt to keep my right hand free for both access to my firearm, but also just for doing stuff in the world. If SHTF I’ll be opening my grasp and letting all drop free. If that doesn’t go perfectly I’ll still be cumming up with a gun ready to fire if I still have a shopping back snared on my wrist.

      Also to add if you have a dependent with you. If I’m walking with some of my many little charges, say hand-and-hand with my 5-yo niece, the LAST thing I want to do is let go of her hand. Better to break her fingers in a crush-grip than to have her panic and do something that could get her killed or taken from me. For smaller charges there’s this great video:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJriDAhIIQs

    • Linoge says:

      In what actually plausible circumstance would you be unable to draw and cycle the action but still be able to draw the weapon unhindered?

      Broken arm/hand/etc.

      Have children with you.

      Have a wife with you.

      Tangled it up in shopping bags.

      There are, of course, others, but my sleep-addled brain is coming up short at the moment. The bottom line is that when I draw my firearm, I want it ready to go from the second it clears the holster. Leaving it in Condition 3 does not allow for this. Having a manual safety on the firearm arguably does not either, which is why I do not carry firearms with that feature. In the end, for most people, the fewer steps necessary to accomplish an action, the more repeatably successful they will be at it.

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