Revisiting "Beware The Man with One Gun"

[psalms144.1]

I think there's significant value for all serious defensive students to be familiar with as many types of commonly available firearms as possible. You should know how to unsafe a 1911 or a Beretta, or an M&P, or an HK. You should know how to load, and more importantly CLEAR anything that might fall into your path.

Having said that, I continue to agree that, in order to attain peak efficiency, the fewer firearms I train with, the better I perform with the ones I use. It doesn't help ME, in my journey, to switch between a Glock and an LEM, and a DAK, and a DA/SA, and a 1911 or a P7, or whatever. The more things I have to deal with, WRT firearms function and handling, the less attention I can pay to cleanly pressing the trigger without disturbing the sights.

I recognize that there are folks who have the time and resources (money, range availability, ammo) to maintain a very high level of proficiency with a bunch of different weapon types. But, that's not me, and it's my experience that MOST folks are actually a lot more "casual" about their training than the Interwebz might lead you to believe, and I think those folks are doing themselves a disservice. Again, YMMV...

[45dotACP]

Would it be reasonable to assume that being good at shooting a handgun isn't something that goes away when you pick up another handgun...even if you've never held that handgun a day in your life?

Obviously manipulating the gun, reloads, safety use etc may be different...but the mechanics of shooting seem pretty universal and if you're good at them, that transfers pretty well no?

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[SLG]

Would it be reasonable to assume that being good at shooting a handgun isn't something that goes away when you pick up another handgun...even if you've never held that handgun a day in your life?

Obviously manipulating the gun, reloads, safety use etc may be different...but the mechanics of shooting seem pretty universal and if you're good at them, that transfers pretty well no?

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Yes. If you have functional fundamentals. Not all seemingly high level shooters do.

[spinmove_]

I don't think streamlining your "collection" is necessarily a bad thing, but I would be hesitant to streamline it too much. I have SFA guns, a revolver, and 1 TDA pistol. I currently lack an SAO to which I hopefully will have a 1911 for someday. I'm very much primarily a Glock shooter, but I'm familiar with how other triggers work. I occasionally shoot the other guns to just change it up a bit to make sure I don't totally suck with any of them should the need arise to use them for something other than pure enjoyment.

Being the "man with one gun" I think hearkens to the idea of being intimately proficient with a particular gun to the point where you're learning how to truly "shoot" and not just "use that particular gun". At some point the tool simply becomes an unconscious thing that fades into the background of you performing an action.

[Hambo]

I own a brace of Beretta pistols...came from the same plant they don't behave exactly the same while shooting.

Care to elaborate on that?

[Drang]

I think it might be prudent to revisit any "conventional wisdom" handed down from an era when revolvers ruled because there were few alternatives, you had to go to Arizona to get any meaningful defensive handgun training, and plastic was for kids' toys.

Mind you, I think revolvers are awesome, I'd love to attend a class or three at Gunsite, and I feel much more comfortable carrying a pistol with all the working parts made of metal, but there's a lot that was true 30 years ago that just ain't so, or at least needs a lot of caveats, footnotes, and exceptions anymore.

[TDA]

I recall a member of team Smith & Wesson telling me at an IDPA club match that shooting a revolver in competition would make me a better pistol shooter. This was maybe 5 years ago, not the 80s or something. That's pretty contextual, but I think there is clearly something to the idea. Then again, maybe it's like hitting yourself in the head, and it just feels so good when you stop.

[spinmove_]

I recall a member of team Smith & Wesson telling me at an IDPA club match that shooting a revolver in competition would make me a better pistol shooter. This was maybe 5 years ago, not the 80s or something. That's pretty contextual, but I think there is clearly something to the idea. Then again, maybe it's like hitting yourself in the head, and it just feels so good when you stop.

I'm not a revolver shooter by any stretch, but I think there's probably some truth to that. With shooting a heavier DAO trigger on a regular basis you would simply get used to that as a "normal" trigger pull. Then if you were to immediately transition to something like a Glock, that ~5.5 to 7lbs. trigger pull all of a sudden feels so much lighter and shorter to manipulate. It would be similar to running or working out with a weighted vest or weighted clothing or some kind and then all of a sudden removing the extra weights and performing the same actions.

[ST911]

I recall a member of team Smith & Wesson telling me at an IDPA club match that shooting a revolver in competition would make me a better pistol shooter. This was maybe 5 years ago, not the 80s or something. That's pretty contextual, but I think there is clearly something to the idea. Then again, maybe it's like hitting yourself in the head, and it just feels so good when you stop.

I'm not a revolver shooter by any stretch, but I think there's probably some truth to that. With shooting a heavier DAO trigger on a regular basis you would simply get used to that as a "normal" trigger pull. Then if you were to immediately transition to something like a Glock, that ~5.5 to 7lbs. trigger pull all of a sudden feels so much lighter and shorter to manipulate. It would be similar to running or working out with a weighted vest or weighted clothing or some kind and then all of a sudden removing the extra weights and performing the same actions.

That's my experience after shooting J-frames quite deliberately for a period of time.

[Hot Sauce]

I'm not a revolver shooter by any stretch, but I think there's probably some truth to that. With shooting a heavier DAO trigger on a regular basis you would simply get used to that as a "normal" trigger pull. Then if you were to immediately transition to something like a Glock, that ~5.5 to 7lbs. trigger pull all of a sudden feels so much lighter and shorter to manipulate. It would be similar to running or working out with a weighted vest or weighted clothing or some kind and then all of a sudden removing the extra weights and performing the same actions.

There is no lasting benefit, if that is the effect. I imagine what the S&W team member was alluding to was the improved fundamentals from using the revolver.