Carry Rotation

[GJM]

Lots of discussion lately about a carry rotation, with the general idea a carry rotation is bad. I think there are good and bad carry rotations.

Here is one carry rotation. Some dude has six firearms of different brands and types, like a 1911, DA/SA, LEM and a few different strikers, and he picks one for the day based on what he read on some forum, and carries it. Each one has a different brand holster. Shoots some at the range every few weeks or months, mostly with his favorite one with the lightest trigger, because he shoots the best groups with it. That is not the one he carries, because well it has too light a trigger and it is too heavy to comfortably carry.

Now take someone like Darryl, who has a 327 in his pocket, a Beretta 92/PX4/365XL in an AIWB holster (depending on what he can get away with that day) and a Remington Tac 12 gauge thingee in the Raptor with him. They all have very different triggers and operating methods, are stored differently, and are frankly much more dissimilar than the six gats our dude above picks from. Most on PF would say, LCR in the pocket, check, service pistol in AIWB, check, and a gauge for when things go bad, extra check. So much more diverse firearms, but pretty sensible.

I think it gets down to your reasons and your proficiency, especially recent proficiency. For the last year plus, I have carried a 365XL, Glock 19, or a scaled version of whatever I am shooting as a big gun in CO. I work hard at maintaining proficiency with the 365XL and Glock, and work less hard with the scaled version of my CO gun, since I figure my nearly daily CO practice translates well to the scaled version. What I won’t do is carry a revolver (except with snake shot in a BUG), because frankly my revolver skills are not acceptable to me now. I won’t carry a 1911 variant or DA/SA, because today my skills are not current enough. If it gets to a time of the year where I think I want a USP FS, I am going to refam myself over multiple sessions before carrying it.

So, I believe a carry rotation can be sensible or be stupid.

[camel]

I think your saying. Know you capability on the platform that you are carrying in the moment. Lots of stressors are going to decide what you can shoot the best. But wouldn’t the eventual outcome be determined on your actions as a participating individual in a bad situation.I don’t shoot competition (I probably should for the stress)I might not have a gun on me some days.

[YVK]

I really dislike the word "rotation". Whether the intent is there or not, it just projects "accessorizing" to me. I wish there was some acceptable and professionally sounding word that would project "mission / gear" but without LARPing undertones.

[blues]

I really dislike the word "rotation". Whether the intent is there or not, it just projects "accessorizing" to me. I wish there was some acceptable and professionally sounding word that would project "mission / gear" but without LARPing undertones.

I just call it getting dressed. (Some days you need to wear different stuff.)

[ubervic]

The only thing I carry which is subject to "rotation" is a pocket knife. Everything else is of a singular and truly every-day carry collection.

[MVS]

Funny you should mention that. Lateley I have been watching you tube gun reviews. (I know, bad idea.) With the popularity of the 2011's recently everyone and their sister is reviewing them and at least half talk about how it is in their carry rotation with their Glock, or Sig, and their mousegun and whatever else. Two things that usually rapidly become clear are that a) they can't shoot worth a crap and b) even though it is in their "rotation" they have clearly spent no time with a 1911 type gun.

[HCM]

I really dislike the word "rotation". Whether the intent is there or not, it just projects "accessorizing" to me. I wish there was some acceptable and professionally sounding word that would project "mission / gear" but without LARPing undertones.

How about task or purpose selection ? Tool set?

I.e. choosing the appropriate tool for the job vs “ A Carry my Beretta on Wednesday because Wednesday is prince spaghetti day.”

For context:

[YVK]

Tool set?

Tool set sounds good. Frankly, I think "armory" is not inappropriate although may sound excessive for civilians. I think that in a course of these exhaustive and exhausting threads we all agreed that for reasonably serious practitioners if there were a "more than one gun" possibility, it was simply driven by the circumstances. I'll take just about any term but rotation.

[GJM]

When someone else refers to your carry rotation, it is almost always pejorative. When some dude, especially on YouTube refers to his own carry rotation, it is like saying “I need more bullets for my clip.”

[fatdog]

I am going to refam myself over multiple sessions before carrying it.

I tend to be strict with myself on sticking with a single platform in any given time period, simply because my performance is going to suffer a lot when I change platforms. I found need two weeks that include dry fire and probably minimum 3 live fire sessions just to get that refamiliarization done for some platform that I have competed with and carried previously, unless I switched back to a LEM, then I seem to need 2-3X that time and round count investment to be happy with my ability again.

"Happy with my ability" is not subjective. The old timers and targets don't lie thing. I am going to demand at least a 95% score on the Rangemaster Instructor qual course of fire before I say I am good to go when it comes to a particular type of service pistol.

I am quite certain there are folks here who can do that on demand with any platform they own, but not me.

As GJM observed in another thread, perhaps 80% of performance is that trigger management thing. Then another big thing is acquiring the firing grip on the draw from concealment. I have to work on both to get spun up on a different platform and perform consistently enough.