GUNS Magazine Changing Platforms

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My old friend John Bianchi, the master holster-maker, quantified Bianchi’s Law — same gun, same holster, same place, all the time. It makes sense for most armed people in most applications. After 43 years of carrying a badge, I can’t say “laws are made to be broken,” but I will say we tailor the tool to the task and it might mean changing guns.

In my case, I test guns for gun magazines. Carry guns need to be carried to assess printing, comfort, etc. They need to be shot under pressure as much as possible so I’ll try to shoot a match with one or use it as a demo gun in class. Shooting in front of paying students will pretty much give you your daily adrenaline requirement. The rest of the time, my daily carry is predicated on what I’ll be carrying, where and what I’ll need to do with the gun. For years I changed guns every training tour to keep up with everything out there. In 2018 I got sloppy and complacent — except for “test guns,” I wound up with essentially three formats for the whole year.

Mas spent most of 2018 with (top to bottom) the G19.5, Wilson Beretta Compact Carry or Springfield Range Officer .45.

Striker-Fired Auto

I take time off from teaching from mid-December to the end of January to get caught up on writing, business stuff, etc. At this time I shoot the most GSSF matches with my lovely bride, a princess of polymer pistols, so first quarter 2018 was mostly all GLOCK for me. I spent most of the time with a Gen5 G19. Sixteen rounds of 9mm Winchester 127-gr. +P+ or Speer Gold Dot 124-gr. +P “takes the worry out of being close” and it’s easy and discreet to carry.

Things to remember in a striker-fired world — “point gun, pull trigger” works as well for anyone who gains control of your pistol as it does for you. Consider a retention holster. Be rigid about trigger finger protocol. The finger is only inside the trigger guard when you are in the very act of intentionally firing the pistol! I’m a fan of the extra safety net provided by the Striker Control Device created by Tom Jones and the late Todd Louis Green which replaces the back plate on a GLOCK slide and — when the thumb is applying pressure to it — locks the trigger and prevents firing if something interdicts said trigger. It’s available from taudevgroup.myshopify.com. I wish it was available for every striker-fired auto out there and not just the GLOCK.

Handguns like the GLOCK are the easiest to learn to shoot, and shoot well. It’s a case of “the good news is they’re easy to shoot, and the bad news is — they’re easy to shoot.”

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Single Action Auto

My favorite of all shooting matches is the Pin Shoot in Michigan the second week in June. Blasting heavy bowling pins three feet back off a table requires powerful rounds and doing so at winning speed demands a shootable gun. The general choice of champions is the single-action 1911 in 10mm, .50 GI or — most commonly — .45 ACP. Having bonded with the Colt .45 auto at age 12, it’s a natural for me and for most of second quarter 2018 in the run-up to the match, I tried to carry and teach with a 1911 .45 to get the most trigger time I could.

I generally wore a Springfield Armory Range Officer .45. It is in my opinion the best buy in an all-around sub-$1,000 pistol of its kind: extremely accurate, utterly reliable and user-friendly with its short, easy (4.5 lbs. in the case of this specimen) trigger pull. Flat and thin for its power level, it carries with surprising comfort inside the waistband. Things to bear in mind with this type of pistol: It should be carried cocked and locked. Cocked gives high probability of a center hit with the first shot due to the sweet trigger pull, locked with the thumb safety engaged gives you a proven life-saving edge if an opponent momentarily gains control of the weapon. However, keep it on safe, with your thumb on the lever ready to drive it down to the “fire” position until you are certain firing is necessary. And, in the same vein, practice pushing the lever back up to “on-safe” as soon as you lower the muzzle at the point the firing is done.

Distal joint placement is ideal for DA pull and fine for SA follow-ups, too.
Pistol is Langdon-tuned SIG P220 ST .45.

Double Action Hammer Fired Auto

Anyone who says the DA auto is an ingenious solution to a non-existent problem either doesn’t understand the problem or doesn’t plan to take prisoners. Cop or armed citizen, you’ll typically have to draw the gun and perhaps take dangerous people at gunpoint a lot more often than you’ll have to fire in self-defense. The longer pull for the first shot is one more safety net but it does require being able to perform two different trigger pulls.

Ideally, if trigger reach allows, get the distal joint of your finger centered on the trigger. It will give way more leverage and better control. Do a Google search for world champion Ernest Langdon’s excellent video, “Fear Not the Double Action Shot.” No need to change finger placement when the gun goes to cocked mode after the first shot — distal joint on a cocked pistol’s trigger is how Brian Zins won a half-dozen national bullseye championships. Key with the DA auto — condition yourself to decock every time you’re done firing, especially before you re-holster!
Each is different, but each has a place. Celebrate diversity!

www.gssfonline.com

www.pinshoot.com

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