I love guns (a Saturday afternoon essay). ;-)

[NineseveN]

I love guns. No, really, I do. Though I have my favorites, I generally love them all. When I post my thoughts on a handgun, whether it be a full-fledged review or just an answer to a question about what I think of a certain handgun, most people have noticed that I always comment about the trigger. Such a trigger-centric focus has understandably given rise to the notion that I personally feel that the trigger is the be-all end-all aspect of every handgun; this is not entirely true. In some cases, it's going to be distinctly important to the user no matter who they are, as on a target handgun for example. If you're shooting for tiny groups at a distance, then a short, crisp, light and adjustable trigger is probably going to form part of the baseline for what handguns are and are not appropriate in the selection. I'm not a police officer, I'm not in the military, I'm certainly not high-speed low-drag, my only use for handguns other than some utilitarian fun at the range is for self-defense purposes. I'm of the opinion that a 12-gauge shotgun with a good selection of buckshot is immensely more suited to the role of home defense, provided that one can handle the recoil and nuances of actually running a shotgun inside confined quarters, so where my real self-defense interest in hand guns comes down to is to carry either openly or concealed when I'm out and about in the ever-increasing dangerousness of this world.

That primary role sets up a certain amount of baseline criteria that I need to judge any prospective self-defense handgun against. Since I'm going to be carrying the gun, it must be relatively comfortable to carry given the attire I wear out in public. Even when satisfying the mandatory staple of having a good gun belt and holster to provide a stable platform is met, there are going to be certain limitations. A gun that weighs 5 or more pounds isn't going to be comfortable for most people regardless of how sturdy their gun belt is or how well crafted and designed their holster may be. Thankfully, there aren't too many handguns that approach that weight and remain suitable in size for most of us to carry. That doesn't mean that there aren't a number of heavy guns suitable to carry, in fact, one of the most popular carry guns is also one of the heaviest; the Government 1911. With its 5” slide and barrel and all-metal frame, even the relatively thin profile of the gun doesn't it save it from paying the piper in weight. At around 38oz empty, putting a 7 or 8 round magazine in the gun brings it into the neighborhood of 2.8lbs. That might not sound like much, but if you contrast that against the carry weight of a light, polymer-framed gun like a Glock 17 which weighs in at just under 2 pounds loaded with 17 rounds, it comes out to a little less than a full extra pound. Still doesn't seem like much, does it? On paper, it's really not, but in the context of carrying a gun around for 8 hours or more, for a number of people, it is indeed significant.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a Glock fanatic, I don't even own one. I actually prefer the 1911 for a variety of reasons, but its carry weight just isn't one of them. Even with a good belt and a solid holster worn at the right position, the 1911 tends to be more of a challenge to carry. Gravity doesn't only work on a straight vertical plane. Not only will a heavier gun be pulled straight down to the earth with more force, it also tends to operate that way on other axes, such as when the gun pulls away from your body. In my experience in carrying full-steel government 1911's and other lighter polymer autos, given the same belt and holster qualities, one wearing a 1911 has to cinch their belt a bit tighter to their body to keep the gun from pulling away than they do while wearing something like a Glock or Springfield's XD series pistols. The thing with this is, it's almost entirely subjective. I don't like wearing my belts very tight, some people don't mind. Some people have more or less “padding” around their midsection than others. Some people like to wear high-ride holsters while some put their guns into leather or kydex that situates the gun mostly below the belt line. So while I can say with absolute authority which of a given two gun sample is heavier, I cannot say with any degree of certainty which one is more comfortable as not only is the idea of comfort entirely subjective, but variables other than the actual weight of the gun play extremely important roles in determining comfort.

Those same factors also apply to the overall size of a gun. Just because a Walther P99 is “bigger” than the “Baby Glock” 26, that doesn't mean that the Walther is too big. The standard of size is on a mostly sliding scale where it adjusts to suit the needs and wants of the user. A small male or female might find anything larger than the Glock 26 to be too large whereas the rest of us normal-sized or larger people can probably carry and conceal the P99 with ease.

Another aspect of a gun that has a bunch of subjective considerations attached to it is the firearm's capacity. While the number of rounds a given gun can hold is indeed purely objective, the actual impact of that factual information on the value a given firearm has in terms of how well suited it is for carry duties is diluted by personal perspective. Guns with higher capacity generally carry smaller ammunition. A 9mm is going to carry more rounds than a gun chambered in .40S&W or a .45ACP given the same platform or same overall size of gun. Some people shoot 9mm better than anything larger, some people are the exact opposite. Some people prefer the peace of mind running a larger round gives them, even if it's only valid in their own mind (ballistic science has shown that given similar modern ammunition design, the difference in performance between 9mm, .40S&W and .45ACP is minute). Some people like the comfort zone that having 17 rounds or more instead of 7 or 8 gives them, despite the fact that on average, self-defense shootings won't require much more than 3 to 5 rounds. Sure, that's an average, meaning many shootings could result in a lower round count while others might result in a much higher number of shots, but I have yet to find any evidence that any significant number of self-defense shootings have required a round count in the teens. Most defensive gun uses occur without a shot ever being fired. But still, that kind of emotional comfort and peace of mind is a wholly personal thing and decisions for carry firearms are based on those aspects every day.

We could talk about sights too, but that one is also entirely subjective. Some people like standard 3-dot sights. Some people like the “dot and post” sights like XS Sight Systems Big Dots. Some people like a two-dot sight configuration as seen on Heinie's Straight 8 sights. Others like a bar-dot sight as offered by Novak. Some gun owners don't want or need any dots, bars or posts at all, instead opting for plain black sights like the Heinie Slant Pro's or sights by 10-8 Performance. Some people like European style handguns sights with the “U” in the rear and the dot up front as seen on Glocks. Some people want Tritium Night Sights where others eschew their benefit thinking that if it's too dark to see the sights, it's too dark to confirm your target and that's a bad thing when talking about self-defense shootings. Some folks like fiber optic sights for their carry guns thinking that in daylight, that gloriously glowing front sight gives them an edge in quick accuracy (which can be rather important in a gunfight). Some people even prefer adjustable sights for their carry gun in thinking that being able to adjust the gun for their exact carry ammunition gives an extra edge in preparing to survive an attack. All of those things are completely valid depending on who you are, what your specific situation is and what you prefer and/or shoot best.

What about the grip of the firearm? Is there some universal standard that determines what gun has a good, comfortable grip? No, there really isn't. I could rail on and on about how comfortable the grip designed for the P99 by custom target and Olympic grip maker, Morini, is for me, but even with the interchangeable inserts for the back strap, it's simply not going to be comfortable for everyone given that each of us has a completely different hand. Some hands are smaller, some are larger. Some have fat fingers, some have short fingers. Some have long and thin fingers. There are a number of different grip techniques that people use (thumbs high, thumbs down, cup and saucer etc...) and all of this plays a part in the final determination of grip comfort in a gun. I know a couple of guys that honestly gush over how well their Glocks fit their hand yet when I pick one up and judge it against my favorite handgun grips (1911/2011, Walther P99, Tangfolio-framed guns) all I feel is a huge block of plastic in my hand. But hey, as they say, to each their own. I can tell you how a gun feels to me, but I can't tell you how it will feel to you.

So then we come to the trigger. Am I going to try and convince you that a certain type of trigger is better than any other? Of course not, again, it's largely subjective and that's not why I make it a point to bring up a given gun's trigger every chance I get. There are a handful of different trigger types on the market today. There's the Double Action Only (DAO) trigger, found on guns ranging from the KelTec P11 to HK's LEM style trigger option for their USP pistols. There's the Double Action/Single Action (DA/SA) as found on the standard variation of Sig Sauer P-series pistols. There's the Single Action Only trigger as found on 1911's. And then there's are odd variants that often defy classification until you needle down into the minutia of the trigger mechanics such as the Glock Safe Action trigger or the Walther P99.

What do any of these differences mean? Well, it means that there are a number of trigger types that fit different individuals with different needs, wants and concerns. Some people like the long, heavy Double Action Only triggers because they see them as insurance against accidentally firing a gun if they only touch the trigger lightly. It is true that it would be difficult to accidentally pull a Double Action trigger and fire the gun, but the lighter and shorter Single Action triggers as found on 1911 pattern pistols is made safe against this by a manual safety that stops the trigger from being pulled until you use your thumb to move the safety lever to the off position. Some people like DA/SA guns because it gives them the best of both worlds. They can have the gun in Double Action mode for the first shot, thereby helping to prevent unintentional discharges while knowing that after that first shot, the trigger will be in a lighter and shorter Single Action mode which aids in accuracy and how fast and easily one can shoot. Some people prefer the Glock type trigger as it's a nice middle ground; a trigger shorter and lighter than a DAO while being longer and heavier than an SAO that maintains the same exact trigger pull from the first shot to the last (like a DAO). There is no exact science as to which is better for each person, a number of factors such as those above play into it.

I prefer Single Action triggers. I like a short, crisp and light trigger pull with minimal reset travel. It simply feels better to me and I shoot those triggers better than anything else. That doesn't mean that I cannot appreciate a well-done DAO or DA/SA trigger, or even that I don't like hybrids or oddities like the Walther P99, which incidentally is my second favorite trigger. So when I focus on the trigger pull of a gun, it's not to compare it to a tuned 1911 trigger (which is the pinnacle of triggers in my opinion), it's simply because without being able to take into account everyone's individual hand size and grip, it's the one thing that really differs between guns in a given class and remains substantial for me. Most handguns of the same size have relatively the same capacity given the same caliber. Most guns have similar sights, and if not, there's a huge market of sights of different types and variations for almost any gun. Most guns run fine, especially in the terms that someone carrying for self-defense will experience them. Carry guns don't routinely fall out of planes, get buried in sand, frozen in blocks of ice, dragged from the back of a moving vehicle for a few miles or fired for tens of thousands of rounds without cleaning or lubrication. Most carry guns spend 90% of their time in holster or on a nightstand. They get fired occasionally, cleaned regularly and remain pretty well maintained. The biggest concern as far as a foreign substance is not sand or debris, it's lint from your shirt and household dust. Under those conditions, despite marketing hype to the contrary, the robustness and reliability differences between the so-called indestructible Glock, a decent 1911, a Smith and Wesson M&P or any other gun from a good manufacturer is virtually nil. Just because your gun can run 20,000 rounds in a day without failure and no lube or cleaning doesn't mean it will outperform another gun when both have maybe 5,000 put down the barrel per year. Sure there are exceptions, mostly new gun models that still have bugs or the occasional poorly designed firearms flop, but on average, most guns just work fine under normal carry conditions.

I love guns, I'm a “gun nut”. In my opinion, a true gun nut is someone that can find the good in almost any firearm and loves to talk or read about and shoot them. Think of it in terms of being analogous to “car guys”. When I say car guys, I'm not talking about the kid down the block that thinks his lowered Honda Civic with the Apexi AX Ball-Bearing Turbo turbo in it beats everything and all other cars are garbage, I'm talking about people who truly love cars. You know the type, despite the fact that they may have a '69 Camaro in the garage, they still smile and maybe drool a little when they see a 1970 Boss Mustang. Even though it comes from a competing manufacturer to his Camaro with a long history of being rivals in the market, he (or she) can still appreciate that sweet sound of nearly 300 horsepower coming from that little 302ci engine. Now maybe that same guy cringes when he sees a BMW M3 or a Subarau Impreza WRX STi, but if he's a true “car guy”, one would think that somewhere deep down inside he at least appreciates the performance of those cars, even if he doesn't like the looks or the lack of nostalgia and thunderous exhaust coming from a big block engine with gobs or torque. A true car guy can take your mom's “grocery getter” and beat the tires off of it around the block a few times and come away smiling, even if only for the sheer absurdity of it and not due to the performance (which doesn't even exist).

I don't like the way Glocks feel, but I admire the simple design behind them. They're good guns, even if I'd never really covet one the way I do an STI 2011. Even though I hate the trigger on the Smith and Wesson Sigma guns, I did shoot quite a few rounds through one and found myself liking the sights. Even though I don't generally like a DA/SA trigger, one magazine through a Sig Sauer P226 allows me to appreciate just how good one feels when it is done right. I still won't give up my SAO guns for one, but I can respect how good that trigger is without favoring it. I focus on the trigger because it's the part that I like most in a gun, much the same as some car guys might focus on engine performance over the rest of the car because that's just their thing. It's all important when coming together into a performance package with either firearms or automobiles, but everyone has their sweet spot. That doesn't mean we can't or shouldn't admire and appreciate designs that don't hit the right note for our personal tastes. I'll say it again, I love guns, they're all pretty cool in their own way. All of this discussion I see and hear about which gun is better is futile in my opinion, I'd rather think not about which gun is better, but rather, which gun I'm going to get to shoot next.

[4XLT]

so, tell me , what do you think about guns??

lmao WOW man you said a mouth full and then some. !!!

[fingers80002]

WOW!!!!!!!!
Nothing better to do on a shitty Saturday.....
Good Job!!

[NineseveN]

Originally Posted by 4XLT

so, tell me , what do you think about guns??

lmao WOW man you said a mouth full and then some. !!!

Well, I had an hour to kill and got really bored. I figured I should write something, that's what came out.

I should hire someone to write Cliff's Notes for my posts.

[Shawn.L]

very well written. It was a good Saturday afternoon read for me.

[LowFlyer]

Originally Posted by NineseveN

I should hire someone to write Cliff's Notes for my posts.

/Cliff's Notes I LIKE GUNS!!! /Cliff's Notes

Is that good enough?




Nice write-up.

[headcase]

Now I have to go get my trigger done, damn it

[NineseveN]

Originally Posted by LowFlyer

/Cliff's Notes I LIKE GUNS!!! /Cliff's Notes

Is that good enough?




Nice write-up.

You're hired. I pay in congratulations...so congrats.

[NineseveN]

Originally Posted by headcase

Now I have to go get my trigger done, damn it

Don't go blaming that on me, surely you wanted to do it before this.

[markheck1]

that was a nice read.....well written