Guns and Ammo Thread

[Beetlegeuse]

Beetle you're as big a gun guy as anyone I know. What's your concealed carry pistol(s) of choice?

kelkel, the short answer is I'm a gun slut. I tend to pick up whatever makes my knickers moist at that moment (but figuring in the weather -- which goes to how I'll dress -- and the anticipated threat level at my destination[s]).

The long answer is I'm a Glock guy. It sounds cliché to say that in 2021 ...

Get yourself a Glock and lose that nickel-plated sissy pistol

... but it's 39 years since the G-17 first stood the handgun world on its ear, and it's easy to lose sight of what made Glocks so noteworthy in the first place.

It wasn't because it was the first plastic handgun, that honor went to Remington's XP-100.



Nor was it the first of the large-capacity striker-fired Wonder-Nines. H&K did that.



What Gaston Glock did was invent the first autoloader that was made from pure, 100% don't-give-a-fuck-ness. It doesn't give a fuck if you don't clean it, it doesn't give a fuck if you never take it to a smith for a "tune-up," and it doesn't give a fuck if you run a million rounds through it. Glocks continue to go BANG! with a tedious regularity that nothing that came before it could approach.


In 1973, OPEC cut off the sale of crude oil to America because President Nixon had openly supported Israel in the 1973 "Yom Kippur" war. The price of sweet crude went from $3 a barel to $12 and the "Energy Crisis" was born. Gas prices went up so much that the majority of Americans for the first time started seriously considering buying a Japanese import. Because the Jeep Wagoneer's 8 mpg was breaking the bank, and for a fraction of what the Jeep cost you could get a Honda Civic that got 30 mpg around town (and better on the hiway).

Which had an unexpected consequence. In 1972 America, it was largely agreed that if an American-made car was still running after 100,000 miles, it was worth what you had paid for it. But by 1978, everyone knew that you could count on a Japanese car for at least twice that. At least. A Japanese car that didn't keep going for at least 200,000 miles was junk. So car buyers came for the fuel economy but stayed for the reliability.

All of which gave Detroit two options. Get with it or get put on the trailer. So Detroit began in earnest trying to design and build cars that got better fuel economy and lasted longer.

Not because they wanted to, but because they had to. Because the Japanese had changed the American auto industry's paradigm.

Which is exactly what Glock did to the firearm industry in 1982. Nothing that came before it would shrug off neglect and abuse like a Glock. They soon captured 60% of the world's law enforcement market and looked set to take over the world entire. But as the saying goes, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Once the industry had figured out that Glocks weren't just a fad, imitators were popping up like toadstools after a spring shower.

So today if you have a striker-fired polymer wonder-nine with steel parts that have been melonited, that has no manual safety and that came with 15-rd (or other 'large' capacity) magazines, you have Glock's trailblazing to thank for it. And if you're carrying a Beretta Storm, FN FNP, H&K USP, Kahr PM9, Kel-Tec PF-9, Ruger P95, S&W M&P, Sig P320, Springfield XD or Walther PPS, what you're carrying isn't an original, it's a copy. The closest they could get to cloning a Glock without getting sued for patent infringement.

Which is why I created "Gaston's Razor," a corollary to Occam's Razor (which you likely are familiar with). Gaston's Razor says, in the absence of evidence to he contrary, always assume that the correct answer is 'Glock.'

Because it's a pragmatic solution. I don't buy the "Glock perfection" hype, but the truth is they're stone reliable and don't cost too much. Which is why I would argue that if you're not terribly knowledgeable about guns, if you don't yet have the experience to tell the pepper from the fly shit all on your own, your default position should be, "I'll have the Glock, please." Because even if it isn't the perfect answer, you won't go far wrong by picking a Glock. Buy once, cry once (unlike some nickel-plated sissy pistol).


That's why Gaston's Razor.



Now then. All that said (and a long answer gets longer still), I never carry just "a" gun. Except when I'm puttering round the house, because if I put on a pair of pants that has pockets, the next thing I always do is drop a mouse gun in one of the pockets. It's a wee tiny thing I could conceal wearing nothing but a Speedo, so it's not much of a gun, but it's a better defensive tool than a sharp stick would be. Money clip, butane lighter and AAA flashlight in one front pocket and my mouse gun in the other. It's small enough to forget it's there.

But if I'm leaving the house, I strap on something more substantial and the mouse gun becomes my backup gun (BUG). Because the fastest reload is another gun. And when weather cools enough to warrant a flannel vest or light jacket, that gives me enough pockets for hiding a third gun, something small but not mouse gun small. Because three is two and two is one and one is zero.

So if you see me on the street, the question isn't "Is he armed?" it's "How does he hide all them guns??!?"

And at least one of which isn't a Glock. What the other(s) are is negotiable.