A Match Made In Heaven

He was quoting someone else, but I first heard this one from Roy Huntington, our publishing potentate: “We talk about .45s, we shoot 9mms and we carry .380s.”

It’s a broad and general statement, fulla Lincoln Tunnel-sized holes, but there’s a trickle of truth runnin’ through it. One of those truths is this: We often select pretty good guns and then put them in some really wrong roles.

Roy’s message was kinda like this: Handgunners tend to talk about their ideal guns, their desires. Meaning pistols that punch their ego buttons — often high-end 1911s in .45 ACP or powerful, expensive, big-bore revolvers. Their owners wind up shooting mainly 9mms and .38 Specials because they’re more comfortable to shoot and cost far less to feed, especially if you like to shoot a lot. Then when it’s time to step out the door armed, they grab what drops easily into a pocket—what’s convenient and doesn’t require wardrobe alterations. Too often, it’s a gun they shoot too little and, consequently, too poorly. But many times, all that’s needed is a change up, down or sideways to arrive at the right choice for the job. And the problem goes way beyond carry guns.

Thinkle On These

Case No. 1: On the range, this elderly gent—obviously suffering from arthritis and other ravages of time—would rise from his wheelchair, stand leaning against the bench and shoot his .45 ACP 1911. Obviously too, the once-ignored recoil was hurtin’ him and cycling the slide was a painful, frustrating effort. The short story was, he’d cut his teeth on 1911s in 1949, carried one into combat in Korea, and they were the only handguns he’d ever owned. He didn’t want to give ’em up. Shooting was one of his few remaining pleasures, and that pleasure was almost gone.

I had just the pistol to recommend to him: Springfield Armory’s 9mm Range Officer—a straight-up accurate 1911 with powder-puff recoil and slide resistance half that of the .45 ACP version. The light in his eyes and the smile on his face as he handled it really got me. He simply hadn’t realized that option existed.

Case No. 2: A local lady who owns a gun shop teaches state concealed-carry qualifications and defensive shooting classes, including lots of women, mostly relative newcomers to shooting. She reports that the ladies’ biggest problem is handguns provided or selected by male relatives based on their preferences and assumptions. Too often, that translates to something too big or too small or in too large a caliber, but usually something that fails to fit the lady’s hand.

“And,” she said, “They forget it’s a hand gun, not a hands gun. Shooting 2-handed is preferable, but they have to be able to shoot it well with one hand.” She keeps several try-guns handy to acquaint her students with different options.

Case No. 3: While shipping a T&E pistol back to the manufacturer, I had a conversation with the counter clerk, a willowy, petite young woman about 5-foot-nothin’. She had shot .22 pistols as a kid, and just re-commenced shooting. Her fiancé had set her up with a featherweight, bobtailed snub nose revolver. His feeling was, “You’re tiny, it’s tiny and easily concealed—perfect!” She hated it.

“The recoil is bad,” she said, “Thought I could deal with that. But I can’t control it, even with both hands. After every shot, it’s pointing up and to the side, and I have to change my grip — and that’s not right, is it? He says I’ll get used to it, but when you know from the start it’s bad, well…”

About six weeks later, we talked again. Turned out she had persuaded her fiancée to go on a weekend road trip. Among other activities, they visited a big range with lots of rental handguns. She returned with a Glock 19 and a big grin.

“I knew from the moment I picked it up and could get a full grip on it, including my pinky finger,” she said, “And then I shot it. I can control it! I was shooting great, and I could do it all day long!” Her fiancée’s feelings were a bit bruised because she’d rejected his initial choice, but she won him over with “You wanted a fun playmate on the range, one who really enjoys shooting. With this gun, I’m having fun!” As for concealed carry, she said she’d happily adjust her fashion choices to fit her GLOCK. Cool, huh?

Case No. 4: An old pal recently retired as a lead firearms instructor for a large sheriff’s department. Deputies had their choice of 9mm or .40 S&W pistols. Their firearm qualification rules are the strictest I know of. Basically, if you fail a qual shoot, you can re-shoot it after a brief session with an instructor, or you can wait a few days (during which time you stand desk duty, unarmed). If you fail a second time, you lose legal peace officer status—and your job. The overwhelming number of failures involved deputies shooting .40s. Time after time, my friend had given those deputies “The Talk,” then 5 minutes with an issue 9mm. He had exactly one officer fail a second attempt after trading their .40 for a 9mm.

“Very few deputies shoot enough,” he said, “and probably could have qualified with their .40s if they shot ’em more. But most just couldn’t shoot a .40 well. The course is demanding, and the lower recoil and greater control of the 9mm really helped. Their egos just got in the way. I kept hearing that crap about how a real man shouldn’t carry a gun that doesn’t start with a “4.” I’d tell them a deputy should hit what they aim at — or lose their star.”

Random Ramblings

Only you know if your primary defensive handgun is truly the right one for you. I can only suggest you re-evaluate your choice from time to time and dismiss — as much as you can — any long-standing preferences and prejudices while analyzing it. As a general rule, if you can’t pleasantly and enthusiastically spend an afternoon shooting it accurately and confidently single-handed and 2-handed, carry it comfortably on a moment’s notice and “steer” it as deftly as you do your personal vehicle, you need to give it a hard look. There are so many new and established options out there, odds are high you can find one that’ll make you say, “Why didn’t I think of this before?”

If you or your mate have “tough to love” subcompact handguns, often just going to a slightly larger and heavier gun will cure the problem, especially if a new one offers a full 4-finger grip. Poor control can be as simple as a “pinky problem.”

For bedside boomers, I recommend full-size handguns with no small controls to be operated. If roused out of sleep and going to high alert, your small-motor muscle responses will be dulled at the same time, adrenaline will be causing over-reaching and over-gripping—a bad combination. Load that nightstand gun with low-flash, low-recoil, low-penetration ammo — and practice with it.

Don’t overlook the .380 ACP cartridge. I don’t like the little 9.5-ounce piranhas that re-popularized it, but they did prod the manufacturers to finally offer highly effective loads with well-engineered slugs, replacing those non-expanding round-nose FMJs and giving new life to under-appreciated designs like the Bersa .380 Thunder.

Snubnose .38 Special revolvers still have definite value, but choose wisely and avoid flash-and-roar rounds. Grip and comfort are critical. After coat-pocket-carrying and shooting a Ruger LCR for a few years, I sold two more expensive and prestigious snubbies because they were a pain in the butt to shoot! The Ruger won the “comfort sweepstakes.”

Same old problem: Too much to say, too little space. Good luck!

— Connor OUT.

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