"Lack of support" for a given pistol?

[LittleLebowski]

Todd's fault, got it. Yes, you're not being DIRECTLY aggressive.

With regards to what guns Todd picks for his endurance tests, that's just tough all over. Todd picks what he wants to pick. If you don't like that, start your own blog and buy two guns and fifty thousand rounds of ammo. If you want to continue to complain about this community and Todd's endurance test choices, you will have to find another place to do so and soon.

[littlejerry]

There are different levels of support.

With a Glock I can walk into any decent shop and expect to be able to buy mags, sights, OWB holsters, mag pouches, and basic internal parts(connector, trigger spring, etc). I can go to a GSSF match, tell the armorer I've put 5k rounds through the pipe and he'll gladly replace all of the springs. I also have the option of replacing springs and other parts with non OEM components to change the gun to fit my needs. I can literally buy every component I need to assemble an entire pistol from scratch, and I can buy these from probably a dozen different vendors(and have the option of OEM or aftermarket).

Every style of sight is available, although my preferred setup is a narrow .125 or .115 front with a .150 rear. FO or serrated plain front for games, tritium for carry. This isn't a "fad" but what I've been using for the past 5 years.

This level of support, along with the basic design of the gun, allows me to never have to interface with the manufacturer if I don't want to. Every possible failure is repairable by me. All preventative maintenance can be done by me.

That level of support isn't matched by Ruger, Walther, FN, CZ, HK, etc. S&W may come close.


Thats not to say that I won't purchase other guns, but keeping Glocks around for serious use is a no brainer. They work for both competition and carry.

[Handy]

Todd's fault, got it. Yes, you're not being DIRECTLY aggressive.

With regards to what guns Todd picks for his endurance tests, that's just tough all over. Todd picks what he wants to pick. If you don't like that, start your own blog and buy two guns and fifty thousand rounds of ammo. If you want to continue to complain about this community and Todd's endurance test choices, you will have to find another place to do so and soon.

Really? I said that Todd picks popular guns, and has very good reason to do so. I'm sure if Todd had unlimited time and ammo he'd eventually test Daewoos, but it makes sense that he would start with the biggest names.

The free market influences Todd, and Todd influences the free market. It isn't his fault that popularity begets popularity.


I think you should probably ban me from "your" community before I force you to become even more aggressive and rude by asking questions.

[Byron]

A more genuine reply:

• Many people have preferences in sights that are more specific than just "regular" or "tritium"
• Different people have different definitions of "available." Just because a company offers parts for sale does not necessarily meet everyone's standard. Agree with it or not, some people want to know that they can walk into the nearest gun shop and parts will be on the shelf, rather than X days away.
• When some people generically refer to parts "availability," they may also be referring to cost. If the same amount of money buys 15 factory mags for pistol X, but only 7 factory mags for pistol Y, a lot of people consider pistol X mags to be "more available."
• Not all doo-dads attach to pistol rails. Some attach to grips. Some attach to frames. Some attach to slides. These doo-dads might not matter to you, but they might matter a lot to other people.
• Support can also mean technical support. Take a Glock to a shooting class and you know for a fact that multiple people there know how to fix it. Multiple people there have spare parts for it. Multiple people can lend you an extra one.
• Some people have a wider variety of gear needs than just a single IWB holster and standard mag pouch. As just one example, some people need a high quality retention holster.

Some people don't care about these issues, while other people care a lot. You don't care. That's fine. But it doesn't mean that people with higher requirements are just too dumb to realize that Budget Blaster X comes with a rail and two whole options for sights.

[orionz06]

What is the best nomex balaclava to wear? I missed the threads on it.

[Byron]

Some more thoughts...

Since different people have different training requirements, pistol choice can be a pretty huge deal.

Going back to your SR9 example, you're not going to find the following in SR9 variants:

• Sims gun
• SIRT pistol
• Blade-Tech training barrels

Again, you might not care about those things. For some people, however, that's a really big deal.

[orionz06]

Let's not forget Ruger throwing gun owners under the bus.

[Handy]

A more genuine reply:

• Many people have preferences in sights that are more specific than just "regular" or "tritium"
• Different people have different definitions of "available." Just because a company offers parts for sale does not necessarily meet everyone's standard. Agree with it or not, some people want to know that they can walk into the nearest gun shop and parts will be on the shelf, rather than X days away.
• When some people generically refer to parts "availability," they may also be referring to cost. If the same amount of money buys 15 factory mags for pistol X, but only 7 factory mags for pistol Y, a lot of people consider pistol X mags to be "more available."
• Not all doo-dads attach to pistol rails. Some attach to grips. Some attach to frames. Some attach to slides. These doo-dads might not matter to you, but they might matter a lot to other people.
• Support can also mean technical support. Take a Glock to a shooting class and you know for a fact that multiple people there know how to fix it. Multiple people there have spare parts for it. Multiple people can lend you an extra one.
• Some people have a wider variety of gear needs than just a single IWB holster and standard mag pouch. As just one example, some people need a high quality retention holster.

Some people don't care about these issues, while other people care a lot. You don't care. That's fine. But it doesn't mean that people with higher requirements are just too dumb to realize that Budget Blaster X comes with a rail and two whole options for sights.

Byron,

This is an excellent answer to my question. I hadn't considered the degree of availability or replacement part cost. Thank you for the reasoned response.

It does seem like the Glock is anomalous in the support category. While some guns are reasonably well supported compared to others, no other popular platform has that level of availability and service as the Glock. I can't imagine finding parts for any gun aside from the 1911 with anywhere near the ease of Glocks - even the ubiquitous Beretta 92, and certainly now S&W or Sig.


I have always viewed handguns as machines that require relatively little service and that service comes at very predictable points based on rounds fired. You buy them, get the options and mags you need at that time and then replace the springs and lube as you go. So while I have a hard time picturing why I might need a part immediately, I can understand the frustration of having to wait when you do need them.

[Byron]

RX,

I apologize for my initial snark. The tone of your original post led me to believe that you weren't actually interested in discussing these issues, but instead wanted to make fun of people with different requirements than your own.

These remarks in particular led me to that belief:

Is it the lack of reliability-lowering aftermarket trigger parts? Threaded barrels to go with your nomex balaclava?

[Handy]

RX,

I apologize for my initial snark. The tone of your original post led me to believe that you weren't actually interested in discussing these issues, but instead wanted to make fun of people with different requirements than your own.

These remarks in particular led me to that belief:

Those comments were just for humor. "Tacticool" is not a term I invented, but it is funny. I'm sure there are one or two people on this board who have a need for a suppressed gun enough that the availability of threaded aftermarket barrels would be a big consideration in what handgun to buy, but it isn't exactly a common enough criteria for ruling out a carry gun in general.