The philosophy behind carry rotation or no rotation?

[Chuck Haggard]

I have never rotated carry guns, in the manner to which this is addressed, just because I have always wanted to stay proficient with the gun I had to carry, and for most of my life "had to" applied.

I started out with a 4" .357mag revolver, carried the same gun off-duty in 2 3/4" flavor. hwne we went to 9mms the 3rd gen S&Ws were chosen.

Since the 5906 was the duty weapon, I bought a 6906 for off-duty and BUG. It wasn't my choice, but since that was what I was stuck with I thought it best to get good with what I was going to carry and make the most of things.

Now that we carry Glock 17s ant work, I also have a G19 for off-duty, and a G26 that used to be my BUG.

I am now carrying S&W J frames as my BUGs, on and off duty, due to concealment issues, and due to arthritis in my knee no longer allowing me to carry the G26 as an ankle gun.

In staying with the "shoot what you carry" theme I have sold off all my other serious handguns and now only use Glock 9mms and S&W J frames for carry (although I have a few other sporting guns like large frame .357mags).

I find for some reason I have no issues at all going back and forth from the Glocks to the J frames, but if I throw in going from the Glocks to something like my old HK USP .45 then I was all jacked up when trying to manipulate the gun at speed.

[Thrill]

WOW! Lots of good info here. Has me thinking about which direction I need to go,... being a n00b. Thanks!

[SteveK]

I don't see having a carry stable a "rotation" as much as a needs based inventory. I have never had issues with transitioning to different systems and practice frequently with several. My training gun is a Glock 17 and I am transitioning from a 1911A1 to a Glock21 SF at work. I have a Glock 19 that lives in a Maxpedition Fatboy and goes everywhere with me. I'll still load out for special operations calls with a 1911A1. My off duty gun is a Sig 229R and a Smith 442 is always around for "honey-go-get-this" runs. I just added a HK P30 LEM to my collection and plan on shooting it and learning the LEM. My philosophy has always been to be able to fight well with whatever was at my disposal and I have never found just one weapon that filled all my needs.

[JFK]

Nope, I don't think so. If I am not shooting Glock, I am not exposed to what it takes to press its trigger well. If I am not shooting 45, I am not challenged with recoil management, flip control and wider sight arc to track. An attempt to combine the two ("Glock" and "45") results in either a gun that I can't shoot well at all (G30) or carry concealed (G21).
I truly think that shooting different platforms, if done smartly, is complementary and not inhibitory to one's skill progression.

This is an interesting comment. While I am in the camp that says one platform for proficiency there may be some wisdom to this.

The reason I say that is I cary a 1911. I shoot it in IDPA and take classes with it. It does not have much blue left on it because it is my primary gun that I want to manipulate without much thought. That being said on occasion (every 6 months or so) my trigger control gets sloppy. To fix it up I pull out the J frame and dry fire and go to the range with a few hundred rounds and work on trigger control. It is a fun way to keep from getting lazy with that single action 4# pull.

So there may be a use in training for multiple weapons, however I will still use what I carry as much as I can.

[YVK]

I'm getting much faster followups on the 3x5, substantially faster. That suggests to me that the gun isn't moving as much in recoil. Is that because it has a higher bore axis, or because I shot 50k rounds of .45 last year and my grip/stance/technique improved?

JFK, the above quote belongs to Todd; the gun he is referring to as not moving much in recoil is a 9 mm Glock. I take this quote as a supporting evidence, albeit somewhat speculative, that my statement is not without a merit.