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Thread: What makes you change your primary (and secondary) firearms?

  1. #11
    Chasing the Horizon RJ's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Not having a clue about guns and picking up your first one at age 54?

    I've been through 22 Gun transactions since 2013, including S&W M&P, various HKs, a Walther, and a couple Sigs before ending up with a Glock and a LCR, plus a bigger Glock I attempt to shoot in competitions. I think not having any kind of reference framework to evaluate both yourself as a shooter, or innate knowledge about guns, tends to accelerate the rate of change i.e. buying and selling.

    Another component is how much patience you have (I have none) and whether or not at heart you are a "collector" or someone who wants a tool that they can get good at. In my case I value a gun that gets used, a lot, and I can operate, well. The problem for me as I started to accumulate that knowledge, I was always behind the curve, discovering or developing this or that skill that made the evaluation of the hardware different. As I progressed as a shooter, the factors I'd use to determine whether I was happy or not with a gun would change, I'd sell it, and the process would begin all over again.

    Don't get me wrong, I enjoy working with mechanical things and the journey has been interesting to me and I've been able to have those different experiences. At where I am now, I am pretty satisfied I'm sitting in the middle of the least worst solution "for me" in terms of hardware, and I can now work on my software without changing carry guns every few months.

  2. #12
    Team Garrote '23 backtrail540's Avatar
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    Feb 2011
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    Nowhere
    I'm a hobbyist thru and thru. Learning to run different trigger systems and gun types keeps me interested. I stick with a given setup for 2-3 years generally and then move on based on where my interest takes me.

    I've run most of the major makers at some time or another (da/sa sigs, cz's, beretta's - strikers from glock, s&w, cz, fn, sig - lem p30 - wheelguns from ruger and smith and currently dao beretta's) and generally believe that as long as I am focusing on a single gun, it doesn't matter which i am running.

    I set pr's on drills/tests every year despite switching every couple, and with a healthy dose of dry practice find that I can adapt to the nuances of a particular gun just fine.

    So it doesn't take much for me to switch other than financial means and boredom. I reduce the cost by selling stuff once I'm done with it and I'm not a collector so my safe isnt full of unused guns collecting dust. If I'm not shooting it, then I move it down the road. I know in reality that I could make due with most of the modern produced pistols so if at some point I lose interest and settle, I'll be fine.

  3. #13
    What makes you change your primary (and secondary) firearms?

    I change because somebody on Pistol-Forum said something else was better.

    I always come back to my Glocks and revolvers.

  4. #14
    So far, changes have been based on a combination of my (a) developing levels of ignorance (b) deep conservatism and (c) relative poverty.

    I started carrying a Taurus j-frame a dozen or so years ago because I could afford it, I didn't really know any different, and revolvers seemed relatively innocuous and non-Glocky. I switched after about 5 years to a Ruger 1911 in 45 auto because I could afford it, I didn't really know any different, and I'd shot a 1911 in the NG many years before and liked them, and they were non-Glocky. Also, I must say, my deep loathing of the metric system and everything it stands for played a role in my adoption of two cartridges that were non-metric.

    I still loathe the metric system and everything it stands for, but I now carry a CZ P07. This came after about 5 years with the 1911, and began after I actually starting to get some real handgun training and discovering the limits of (or my limits with) the 1911 (or the Ruger 1911). I wanted to get away from the thumb safety and couldn't get my head around carrying a striker fired gun like an M&P whose trigger rivaled my 1911 trigger. I've been over two years with the CZ and seem pretty committed at this point. Give me 3 more years, I guess, and we'll see what happens. If pistols are still available.
    O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts, And men have lost their reason.

  5. #15
    Member eb07's Avatar
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    Jul 2013
    Location
    AZ High Desert
    Colt 1911 in gods caliber for a lot of years because that's what I was brought up on .... to glock 10m or 9mm for another 12 or so due to reliability, capacity, simplicity, weight and as I started shooting comp I wanted to carry what I shot.... now I am on j frames for weight and convenience as I hit 50 and I am older and wiser and want to carry as little as possible on my person. Still grab the glocks for desert excursions and the cities but around my small town a .44 spec bulldog or 38 j frame is all I carry anymore. Mostly the bulldog. Also always have a SA Ruger .22 in my backpack with a couple hundred rounds so if I am driving and want to take a 5 or ten minute detour out of town I can go plink.

  6. #16
    What made me change? I can sum it up in one link.

    https://www.brownells.com/magazines/...rod132881.aspx
    #RESIST

  7. #17
    Site Supporter Elwin's Avatar
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    Apr 2020
    Location
    Midwest
    Similar to what others have said - progressive learning both in terms of skill development and understanding gear options. My most recent switch was inspired by getting my AIWB holsters to where they worked so well that the only real printing was from the striker hump of a Walther P99 and the extra space created in my belt line by a double stack pistol and spare mag. An honest assessment of why I carried what I carried revealed that capacity wasn't an issue - I just wanted a full sized gun that I shot well, in which case a full size shootable single stack would give me what I needed without the concealment drawbacks.

    I also finally admitted that I personally just don't shoot the P99 all that well. I spent a long time telling myself that thing that is usually true - changing gear isn't the way to improve performance, so keep shooting what you have and get the reps in instead of looking for a new gun. After a lot of effort at that I had some improvement, and with a LOT of focus on what I was doing I could get close to what I can do with a 1911. But I still couldn't begin to approach the instinctive performance I have with a 1911. So basically, it took admitting two things based on a lot of trial and error and serious thought. 1) I don't need double stack capacity, just full grip shootability, and 2) maybe it's the carpenter and not the tools, but the end result is that the P99 is the wrong tool for this carpenter, and I just had to acknowledge that and move on.

    ETA - two other factors were a "passion for the gun" thing I have with 1911s and the fact that I was tired of sending Walthers into the mothership when something broke because half the parts were not user-serviceable. That alone led to the decision that if I ever switched, it would be to 1911s, Glocks, or Berettas, so I'd have something I could work on myself, even if in the case of the 1911 that means developing some basic tool skills first.

  8. #18
    Member LHS's Avatar
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    Jan 2012
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    Behind that cactus
    I started with 19-by-God-11s because that was what a serious man carried in the 80s and 90s when I was growing up. Then I moved out on my own into the world and had to supply my own ammo, and that 9mm cartridge started looking mighty appealing for training. Fortunately Dad had given me a hand-me-down Beretta, so I ran with that. I got to like it. When the AWB expired and I could get mags, I thought, "Hell, twice the ammo in the gun ain't a bad thing" and stuck with the 92 even more. I would periodically think about changing to a new platform, but two things stopped me: 1. Cost of mags, holsters, spare parts, etc. I had a pretty solid and ever-growing stockpile of 92 gear that would cost a fortune to replace at the same depth for another platform. 2. Little if any gain. If I were to switch to another platform, I'd be going from a 16rd 9mm to..... a 17rd 9mm? Didn't seem worth it to me, and now that MecGar is making 18rd (really 17, but hey, marketing!) mags for the 92 platform that are every bit as good as OEM if not better, I have zero reason to change.


    Matt Haught
    SYMTAC Consulting LLC
    https://sym-tac.com

  9. #19
    Modding this sack of shit BehindBlueI's's Avatar
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    Mar 2015
    Location
    Midwest
    Employer decisions has been a big one. What am I required to carry, what can I carry, what can I carry and get ammo provided for vs supplying my own, what's my assignment, etc. Injury dictated some changes. On occasion a newly released product gets my attention.

    I very seldom change platforms entirely. Glock because of work. If I go back plain clothes I *may* go back to Sig P2XX. Depends on if we can carry dots yet or not. GP100 when I am feeling wheelie.
    Sorta around sometimes for some of your shitty mod needs.

  10. #20
    Member
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    Jun 2019
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    out of here
    Is it wrong that I love and relate to every single post in this thread?

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