Throwback Tuesday
Back in nineteen aught eleventy three, I first started carrying a handgun. Back in those days, there weren’t clueful people on the internet to hash out better ways of doing things. Generally, you got advice from:
1) Gun magazines that never reviewed a bad gun in their existence.
2) Old guys who said they were ex-military and the gun they used in whatever war was the best gun ever. And these guys were largely full of it.
3) Friends, who meant well, but were clueless like you.
4) Police and military guys.
There wasn’t a any sort of competition scene around at the time that I knew of. So, this was it. Among my gun-toting friends (three of us), we all decided to carry guns used either by police or federal agents. My other friends carried Glock Fo-tays and I opted for a SigP229 in 9mm. I probably would have gotten the Glock except I was still concerned about light trigger pull and no manual safety. Boy, was I wrong.
My friends didn’t know any better and had cheap holsters. I had guidance from my dad to get a decent holster. It was a Galco holster the resembled this one. And I carried it AIWB. Or as we called it then “Mexican carry”.
I carried this way for a few reasons that I thought were good. Such as it was easier to conceal; easier to access; and with the style of clip on the holster, I could remove it when I was driving. The first two ideas are sound. That last one is dumb.
Then, the internet happened and clue was being delivered directly to my house. I started doing what everyone else who seemed knowledgeable did: I carried a black plastic gun that held a lot of BBs at the 3:00 position in a Kydex holster. And I still do that a lot of the time.
But, lately, AIWB has been making a comeback. And I am now carrying the same SigP229 that I first carried. In a Kydex holster made for AIWB. It’s like carry has come full circle except now I know how dumb it is to take a gun off while driving and that you can put your seat belt under the gun handle for safety.
And I only bring all this up because I read this: Traditional Double Action Autopistols for CCW Carry
August 7th, 2018 at 6:17 pm
“The first pull of the TDA auto is quite similar in feel to a double action revolver trigger.”
Bingo. I never accepted the complaints about DA autos (now “TDA” or “Conventional Double Action” since people have decided to confuse themselves).
“The bigger training issue was managing the TDA auto’s decocking lever. Teaching a student when to decock while the pistol was still in hand was harder than teaching the double action trigger pull. Getting students to remember to decock before holstering while under a lot of stress was hard work.”
Another Bingo. If one is carrying two different action types, one must practice both action types equally. There have been people who double on saxophone and trombone too. No resemblance at all, and yet some have gotten extremely good at both.
Also it is not more dangerous to be able to ride a bicycle, drive a car with manual transmission and also drive a car with automatic transmission. Transitioning between them is as easy for most people as transitioning from eating a sandwich to eating with a fork. Once practiced, are you going to accidently try to take a bite out of your fork as though it were a slice of bread?
It’s a matter familiarity (including the familiarity with transitioning from one action type to another) and nothing else. So it’s a matter of the amount of time you’re willing to put in practicing and then practicing what matters.
In other words; Be thou not a dumbass, and ye shall be blessed in your deeds — Some Smartass who is nonetheless correct
August 7th, 2018 at 9:07 pm
I think we all were there at one point. My first pistol was a S&W model 59. I moved on to the 4506, then a Sig 229. After drinking the Kool Aid, I switched to the M&P series.
August 9th, 2018 at 10:12 am
Be thou not a dumbass. Words to live by, or at least next to.
August 9th, 2018 at 2:06 pm
There’s a lot to be said for hammer fired TDA (a new term to me) pistols! My go to pistol is still a Sig P226