The Passion of the Gun

[Haraise]

I got to shoot a 3rd Gen Smith (5904) that was worked over by Novak. It makes my top 5 pistols ever.

Curious how that worked. The third gen Smith is the only pistol that made me think I was shooting a rubber band gun, when the trigger 'broke.'

[StraitR]

Sorry for necro-bumping this thread, but I have to comment on this one. I've been reading this board for a long time, with bouts of busy life absences, finally joining in 2012. I come for the technical content as I always walk away having learned something. I have to say this has been the most enjoyable, nontechnical, thread I've read here.

Seeing all the Staff, SME's, forum regulars, and even the likes of Bill and Rosco come out and comment here, only confirms this topic weighs on everyone, whether we like it, admit it, or not.

Long story short(ish), I carried 1911's almost exclusively for the first 11 years of CCW, with a brief love affair with a P228, before changing to Glocks 8 years ago. Through tons of research here, I went through the crawl, walk, run phases of AIWB for the Glock through countless hours working with a SIRT bought just for that reason and Keepers concealment holster. I've enjoyed AIWB carry for all the advantages, and have continued to respect and fear for the clear disadvantages. I remember back in 2011 when I first read Todd's posting of the words, "If you fuck up you die", and I have never forgotten them. I learned here, and still practice, a hard break in the reholster cycle to include saying aloud "don't shoot yourself". For 2 1/2 years, I've continually enjoyed training and making strides, getting faster, and seeing the improvements.

For the last six months, I've steadily lost motivation to train, both at the range, and even at home. I came to the conclusion that I was uninspired by the Glock platform. Maybe Glocks really are boringly reliable? I've fought internally, as I felt I was just being lazy or juvenile about "needing" to enjoy my pistol to enjoy the training. My main hang up, is that I have enough respect for appendix carry and it's dangers, that I haven't felt comfortable carrying there since I've stopped being diligent in the training. I dug up an old RCS phantom, added some soft loops, and went back to carrying IWB at 3:00 about 4 months ago. Last month I finally said screw it, and decided to go back to my roots, in hopes of finding the passion again. I bought a new WC CQB Elite and sure enough, the passion came back and the pistol comes out daily for drills. I can't get enough of it.

I found this thread today, through a link in another PF thread, and I couldn't stop reading until I finished all 20 pages. I can once again walk away saying learning has occurred for me here on PF, and peace of mind instilled.

Thank you to all who chimed in.

[Haraise]

I've fought internally, as I felt I was just being lazy or juvenile about "needing" to enjoy my pistol to enjoy the training. My main hang up, is that I have enough respect for appendix carry and it's dangers, that I haven't felt comfortable carrying there since I've stopped being diligent in the training. I dug up an old RCS phantom, added some soft loops, and went back to carrying IWB at 3:00 about 4 months ago. Last month I finally said screw it, and decided to go back to my roots, in hopes of finding the passion again. I bought a new WC CQB Elite and sure enough, the passion came back and the pistol comes out daily for drills. I can't get enough of it.]

It's a sad existence to think giving up enjoyment makes you an adult. It's good to see another person getting past that... and it's not just about guns, either!

[JohnK]

Funny... 1911 = passion...

[Trooper224]

Oh, a Wilson wasn't showing off enough, you just had to throw a Sebenza in there to?

Very nice. I don't think motivation through passion can be overstated. It's a real key to human achievement.

[Maple Syrup Actual]

Good decision IMO.

If you aren't doing the things you love, how are you going to love the things you're doing?

I write. Do I get equal joy out of writing about adventure travel and writing press releases?

And if no one is paying me to write press releases, guess how much of my time I'm willing to devote to that?


If you love the Wilson, rock the Wilson.

Sent from my SGH-I317M using Tapatalk

[ToddG]

StraitR -- Awesome post and thank you for sharing it!

[Magic_Salad0892]

Glad to see this thread still around.

[El Cid]

I went through a similar phase. My agency provided weapon is the Glock. Being raised on and spending decades shooting Hi-Powers, 1911's, Sigs, HK's, I found the grip angle of the Glock horrible. I also suffered slide bite almost constantly. I hated the gun.

Wanting to maximize my chances of returning home after each day at work I tried very hard to get proficient with it and my other pistols stayed in the safe. I shot competitions with the Glock and started to enjoy them less and less.

Enter the Grip Force Adapter! A $20 piece of (genius) plastic. No more slide bite and it fixed the grip angle for me. I could now enjoy Glocks and even bought some just for that purpose. I get what some have posted about guns with soul and my new WC Beretta definitely gave me that sensation, as do a couple of Novak customized 45's in my safe. But the GFA is what brought my passion back to my daily carry guns.

[GJM]

I think there is passion "of" the gun, and I have regularly indulged in that. There is also passion "with" the gun, and I got that by (again) participating in USPSA competition.