Multiple Plastic Fantastic Platforms

[Bigghoss]

I would for the most part agree with you and I definitely subscribe to the theory of anchoring on a platform, but I think a bit of variety can sometimes teach you things or break you out of a rut. My go to for everything is a Glock 19 and has been since 2013 or so but I spent a summer dabbling with a Beretta 92 a few years back and I found that mastering the da/sa trigger improved my trigger manipulation across the board and overall made me a better shooter.

For me, also, a Glock is like a Toyota Camry or something. It's simple, reliable and dependable but it doesn't get me all hot and bothered the way a Beretta does, which gave me more motivation to get out and train.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all about picking platforms and sticking with them. I don't think you would get any benefit from owning multiple varieties of striker fired plastic fantastics either. I just think shaking things up every once in a while can be a good thing.

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Absolutely agree. I didn't mean to say a person should religiously stick to one thing, although reading it again days later it does come across that way. I need to spend more time proofreading. I've heard several people say spending time on a DA gun will help with manipulating all types of triggers. I am about to switch back to a striker gun from going all-in on Berettas but I also haven't fired a striker pistol in more than a yearI think, so I can't say from personal experience but it only makes sense. And I'm certainly in no position to tell someone not to own or purchase fun guns and range toys.

[RJ]

My budget allocation for firearms SWMBO and I have agreed to doesn’t support multiple ‘platforms’. Combined with coming to guns late in life, and being a retired Engineer, I’m fascinated by how they work. So since 2014 I’ve gone through a few changes (M&P to HK to Glock). Right now I’ve sold both small Glocks I bought (26, 43X) and have kept the 19 because I can’t think of a reason to sell it. Plus anyway I’m doing a long term assessment of a P365XL.

I always said I would like to compete with what I carry, so after the next few months of USPSA shooting the XL, it proves reliable, most likely I’ll trade the 19 in for another ‘carry’ XL and keep my original as a training gun. So maybe by Xmas I’ll just have two P365XLs (my wife has a P365, so we are building an ecosystem.)

I like what @GJM said about having another caliber. And what @fatdog said about doing what works. I guess for me that includes my .38, since I have an LCR. Perhaps if I won the lottery I’d buy a GP100, but for now the little Ruger works for me as a backup. I only have to store 9mm, and a few boxes of .38 special.

I have no use for .40, and don’t see buying a .45 / 1911 for a third caliber. (I actually hefted a steel 1911 of some kind at Shooters World Orlando the other week. I was surprised how heavy it was, and long. Lol. I guess I am used to plastic guns. The only .45 I’d be remotely interested in would be an HK 45c in TDA, but I’d have to really get a wild hair to go through with that.)

Good thread. Made me think.

[psalms144.1]

I'm also in the KISS camp. Primarily looking for consistency across my shooting endeavors, so switching back and forth between "platforms" doesn't USUALLY add much. Were I in your position right now, I'd pick the platform I shoot/manipulate the best, and sell the others on Gunbroker for RIDICULOUS prices.

[spinmove_]

I’m so guilty of flip-flopping it’s not even funny. What’s even more painful is that when I do, it’s usually shortly after I have some sort of breakthrough with a platform and then I turn around and start shooting something else because of some other perceived advantage one way or the other. While I continue to get better by continuing to practice regardless of what I’m shooting, I’m probably not getting as good as I could be had I not switched here and there at various times.

The reality is I’m guilty of really liking guns and I like to learn new things and try different things. The flipside is that there’s no perfect gun and everything has pros and cons. There are things that you’re going to really like about a certain platform that you’ll discover that there are other things that weren’t at all obvious that you’re going to dislike, sometimes vehemently, and you’ll look back at how the platform you just left really wasn’t all that bad.

If I had a time machine I’d be strongly tempted to go back and tell myself to pick one platform and just stick with that and if I was ever tempted to jump to something else instead that I should buy another case of ammo and shoot it all, dwell on what I might change on my current platform to make it better, try that, and THEN re-evaluate whether I think it’s a good idea or not.

Most everyone here likes the Elite LTT w/RDO and/or modern 1911s, but weren’t all about that 92FS/M9 or 1911A1 before certain people stuck with those platforms long enough. In general unless you get paid to shoot, are independently wealthy, and/or are some sort of masochist; pick a platform, shoot it, stick with it, and evolve with it.

[deputyG23]

My go to plastic fantastic platform is Glock and has been since the late '80s when my work was the second agency in VA to buy them. I recently got LE SKU gen 5 17 and 19 and they have already outshined my old gen 2 versions which will go on the block soon. A gen 4 G22 joined the herd last year after I gave my old agency marked gen 3 G22 to my daughter.
A brief flirtation with the FN 509 materialized when I got a "blem" LE model directly from FN marketed to firearms instructors. It is a well made and reliable firearm but the ergos did not work for me so it went.
If I could not stay with Glock, I would probably give the 2.0 M&P series a serious test drive.
My nephew is the Sheriff in a SW VA county who issues the .40 2.0 M&P and the troops love them.
My other consistent trigger action bottom feeders are full size .45 1911s and a lone SIG P250 which I will never get rid of.
Previously got rid of my TDA pistols until recently when I picked up an HK 45 from a co-worker. Huge and a little unwieldy for my hands, but handles and shoots well regardless.
For me, having multiple SFA platform pistols at this stage in my life would be redundant.

[Canyonrat]

My only plastic fantastics that really bring me joy of the gun are HK USP's. Not so much just in the hand, but when you start firing it, whooboy...that is what a firearm is supposed to be.

Full-size, compact, as long as it is a USP...there is something special.

[Bratch]

To follow up I have decided to consolidate down to M&Ps and move a few other things that are collecting dust.

[mmc45414]

My thing is I decided I really don't need a bunch of striker fired alternatives, and in my case ended up with just M&Ps. At the same time I am almost completely focused on 9mm. I still have a couple 40S&W guns, and I will ALWAYS have 45acp guns, but shoot 9mm every week.

I like cool stuff, and would like more cool stuff like more 1911s and nice revolvers and would like a Beretta 92 and a CZ-75, but I really don't need a bunch of different striker guns.

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[psalms144.1]

To follow up I have decided to consolidate down to M&Ps and move a few other things that are collecting dust.

Glad you were able to come to a decision. Absolutely nothing wrong with the M&Ps, despite the fact that a lot of time you'll get told carrying anything except a Glock will get you killt on the da streetz. Best of luck on your journey and let us know how it works out for you!