A significant simplification is that I am pretty focused on 9mm and 38/357.
I will always have (and love) 45acp, and I plan to keep at least one 44mag around.
And .22, in rifles, pistols and revolvers.
And there will always be some variety in rifles.
And, shit, wait....
I’m down with NPP (and NGP)Originally Posted by LittleLebowski
Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits - Mark Twain
Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy / Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
And when you have some range time with your buds.....
You down with OPG (Yeah you know me).
This has been a fun thread, learning how everyone has come to where they are.
I shot from the time I was a tot with my dad and brother. Dad started me on BB/Pellet rifle, then .22 rifle and .22 pistol, then eventually in my early teen years trained me on quick-draw and close-range shooting mostly with the Beretta 92F and Beretta 96G, which were his issued duty guns over that timespan. We lived out in the country and ammo was pretty cheap, and we also had access to his agency range, so to this day I still chafe at ranges with no quick-draw rules because I was 12-13 years old when my dad was teaching me the "draw, aim, fire X shots in X seconds from X range while taking X steps" and that is still one of the more realistic and helpful exercise forms in my opinion because it doesn't only teach you how to shoot the gun, it also teaches you how to handle your body, shift focus, and move dynamically.
When I was 20, my dad got me my first "My" handgun, a Beretta PX4 Storm .40 S&W Fullsize. That's still my most-shot gun, with 15-20K down the pipe and 99.9% perfect reliability. It's why I love Beretta and always will have a soft spot for the much-benighted .40 S&W, that brand and caliber connect to my childhood and shooting with my dad and brother.
Between 2008 and 2013, I was given as gifts or purchased a Remington 870 Express Tactical, Ruger 10/22 All-Weather Stainless, Itzevsk Mosin-Nagant 91/30 (48.5), and 1968 Second-Gen Colt Detective Special.
In 2013, I bought my first handgun, a Beretta 92FS, for $530. I still have it, have shot it for years, and it has never bobbled.
In 2014 I graduated law school, and after working since I was 12 years old for never more than candy or college textbook money and working as an RA for 5 of the 7 years I was in college, I suddenly had minimal debt, a large adult paycheck, no girl (had just broken up with my girlfriend of 5 years), and was fond of having a few drinks and shopping.
From 2014 to about 2019 I went absolutely bonkers. I bought so, so much stuff. To give it some context, here are the guns I've owned that I no longer own: Sig P226 9mm, Sig P226 .40, Sig P220 .45, Sig P229 .40, 1972 Beretta 92S, Beretta PX4 Compact 9mm, Beretta 92FS Compact 9mm, Sig Sauer SP2022 Stainless 9mm (would later re-buy a Nitron variant because I missed it), Ruger GP100, Smith & Wesson Shield 1.0, Smith & Wesson Shield 2.0, Glock 43, Glock 19 Gen 4, Glock 26 Gen 4 (would have kept but my brother's agency issued 17 Gen 4s and I wanted him to have a backup I had vetted well without spending money), HK P30 V3 9mm, HK VP9 9mm, Century WASR-10 AK47, Bersa Thunder .380.
Gosh, probably another 5-6 I'm not thinking of off hand. I bought a lot of guns.
After I started really paying attention to Pistol-Forum lessons in 2017-2018 or so I curtailed my buying a lot, and when I got serious about investing in late 2018 I shredded my credit cards and sold a lot of guns to finish paying my debt.
Since then, I have continued to add guns but I'm more deliberate about it, only use cash (never credit), and have to have a clearly articulated purpose for my guns (even if the purpose is just "because it's cool" I make myself say that).
This had led to a pleasant compromise. I have around 32 firearms, but most are just "fun to have" firearms. Colt 1911, Colt Python, A fancy Smith E-Series, a 10" .300 Blackout, a Sig M17-B, that sort of thing.
For "serious work" guns I've become a lot more boring. Home defense, travel, and carry are usually Glock 17 Gen 5 with Streamlight TLR-1HL Glock 19 Gen 5, or Smith & Wesson Shield Plus, all in 9mm, all with 147-grain Federal HST. Been using the 147-grain HST for a long time in a lot of guns and it, like the 124 +P Gold Dot, has never failed to feed or function in everything from a Glock 43 to a Beretta 92A1. Pocket carry is a Ruger LCP Max .380 with 90-grain Critical Defense for hot months and NPE. In my desk drawer at work is my Glock 17 Gen 4 with 147-grain HST, Streamlight TLR-1, and Ameriglo CAPs that was my home defense for about 3-4 years prior to my G17 Gen 5.
Home rifle is my ~12 year old Daniel Defense M4V1, Serial 0006xx, with two 30-round Magpul M3 Window Pmags filled with Hornady 53-grain GMX and mounting a Primary Arms Microprism and a left-hand side-mount Streamlight TLR-1.
I will probably never stop buying new guns. I would love to be that minimalist but the process of getting a new one, checking it out, cleaning it, shooting it for the first time, is my main hobby and greatest joy. We can't just work to pay bills, we have to have fun.
What I took from P-F and maturing as a hobbyist is that it's fine and fantastic to have a thousand guns if you want, but pick a setup you trust and use it everywhere so it's familiar. I am familiar with just about every gun under the sun but all my serious use guns are Glocks or M2.0 Smiths with nearly identical manuals of arms. Familiarity allows for a focus on training, and I've seen major dividends at the range as my Glocks have become the guns I easily shoot best after years of focused practice with that platform.
State Government Attorney | Beretta, Glock, CZ & S&W Fan
I had fun describing this experience in another thread where some serious cork-sniffing navel-gazer was worried about 9mm. So I'll be that guy (again) and quote myself:
My only significant deviance from this cycle has been in step 9 - I rarely sell guns. So I've accumulated a lot of stuff that really isn't the best answer; but I've never needed to re-buy a decent gun either.
Sure, there are days when I seriously entertain the notion of going 'THIS. IS. SPARTAAAAA.' on my collection, and liquidating everything until it's a handful of truly sentimental guns and a brace of sorted out 6920's or BCM's with a matching brace of G5 Glocks with a pair of PX4CC's because my wife loves her PX4 compacts and won't abide discussion of anything else.
Then I open my safe and enjoy the range-trip or hunting-trip memories with some and the mechanical design fascination with others, and I've just got no inclination to sell any of them. So the cycle repeats.
As for my own story as a CHL holder; I started with a W.German marked P220 in .45. Then a circa '94 G2G19. Then an HK USP45, then a Beretta 92, then an HK45C, and now I'm on G5 Glocks. If Glock made a G5G26 MOS in a footprint that was adapter-free for a closed-emitter Holosun I think I'd finally arrive at the perfect carry gun for me. Until then, the various other Glock builds wearing red dots will do the trick.
And in the midst of this simplification smack talk I just ordered a set of grips for a revolver I do not own, is not on order, and is just something I intend to buy at some point someday.
But now that I have the grips for it, hmmmmm.....
I think of my guns as belonging to different groups. If I had the space I would keep the groups seperated in different safes.
Family guns. I have guns that are sentimental. The 22 Marlin rifle that was my first gun. It was a hard year, and Mom and Dad sold a pair of Astra pistols to get me and my brother our first real guns. It was the only gift that Christmas and I was thrilled. I've inherited my Grandfather's 22mag. Very important to me. Another Grandfather's 20G bolt action. Beyond beautiful gun, and while worthless to the world it's priceless to me. There are others.
Hunting guns. Pretty much, shotguns. The first gun I bought myself, a Remington 1187 Premier with 2 barrels. A Mossy 835. I could see a bolt rifle in this group at some point. And maybe an A400 because 12s are love.
Fun/Collection. An Army issued M17. Dan Wesson Valor. Things that are cool, that I like owning.
Defense. A pair of 92s. A J frame. A 1301. A BCM middy. A G17. But that's where it gets muddy. I love the 92s far more, but I'm thinking of concentrating on the Glock. If rds is the future, and I want to go further down the integrated grappling path, the 92 is just harder to do financially. The 92 is easier to shoot, I have higher confidence with it, I'm a TDA believer. Glocks are fairly lifeless, but cheaper to move to RDS and have better options for training.
So some stuff fits in more than one place. My Dan Wesson says Norwich NY on it. One town over from where I grew up. It's nearly sentimental. My LTT is serial number 22, and I was early enough to pick that. My son was born on the 22nd. It's worn but should it be sentimental for him? My wife gifted me my J frame. It's an absolute defensive gun for me. But it's special. My 1301 is a defensive gun... that I love shooting clays with and would pig hunt with.
I'm just too all over the place for linear progression. Maybe because I grew up an upstate New York redneck, but I dont think of gun ownership as a path I'm on. It's more like the clothes I wear while I walk.
That’s called a “seed.”And in the midst of this simplification smack talk I just ordered a set of grips for a revolver I do not own, is not on order, and is just something I intend to buy at some point someday.
But now that I have the grips for it, hmmmmm.....
Ken
BBI: ...”you better not forget the safe word because shit's about to get weird”...
revchuck38: ...”mo' ammo is mo' betta' unless you're swimming or on fire.”
My first AR-15 started as a broken Magpul MIAD grip I got in a trade from a friend. He didn’t tell me the backstrap was jacked up, but offered it in exchange if I bought a MOE. I brought it up to Magpul and they replaced it.
Then bought complete lower/upper.
God Bless,
Brandon
That was my exact dilemma circa 2018. I will always love the 92 platform the most of any gun. I'm also pretty good with it. I think with frequent practice it's probably possible to shoot the Beretta better and faster. Few things are going to beat a crisp single action trigger on a metal framed 4.9" barrel gun shooting 9mm in terms of rapid repeat target strikes. But when reality kicks in, there's the Glock. When I'm not able to practice as much and would prefer one trigger pull to two different ones, there's the Glock. When I don't want to worry quite as much about lubrication, there's the Glock. When I might need to carry the full-size and weight is a concern, there's the Glock. And as you note, holsters/parts/maintenance/mounting options are always going to be cheapest with the Glock.
It's sorta how I really love my friend's BMW 3-series, and absolutely could have picked one of those when I was car shopping. As a driving experience, it kicks the pants off my Subaru. But I live in the mountains, and the Subaru means I'm confident to drive no matter what weather hits. Would have loved to go with the BMW, but life dictated the Subaru. Same with picking the G17.
I think the 92 conversation is pretty similar to the 1911-as-primary conversation actually. Yes it can work, yes it can work vey well, but you're gonna need to put some extra time and care into it.
State Government Attorney | Beretta, Glock, CZ & S&W Fan
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