I think it's evolution, not a desire, or tendency to be 'cool'.
Is an 18 shot M&P more effective, cheaper, vastly more reliable, and easier to master than 98% of everything else?
Is AIWB easier to hide, more comfortable, and quicker whilst on your back fighting for your life than anything else?
The cavemen weren't blasting Mastodons with a .338 lap. magnums right? Of course not, that doesn't mean that a well placed Lapua Magnum is not a better option than a club, right?
Evolution.
Last edited by JDM; 05-12-2011 at 11:49 PM.
Nobody is impressed by what you can't do. -THJ
Mah point, you have missed it.Originally Posted by BOM
This isn't about What's Better, it's about why people do what they do.
If you came up to Joe Gunstore in '95 and said "Hey, why the C&L 1911 in the Summer Special?" would he have told me that it was flat, and conceals well for a service-size auto and was stupid easy to shoot well, or would he have said "Uh, well, there was this picture of Clint Smith in last month's Combat Handguns, and Jeff Cooper said that... well... Real Men carry .45's."
If I yank a random guy away from the swirl of groupies near the Raven Concealment table at next month's Indy 1500 and ask him about his RDS-equipped AIWB Glock, am I going to get a cogent explanation about accessibility and draw speed and ease of defending a gun grab, or am I just going to hear "Uh... because... Gabe Suarez... warrior, y'know."
And, further, at least I know I have a habit of "grading on a curve" when I meet somebody: I see a dude with a bucks-up 1911 in a Rosen IWB or the M&P in Raven kydex and I subconsciously think "Ah, one of the tribe. A person who has probably been to gun school." when for all I know, they're an unsafe assclown who is just following the trend from whatever message board they lurk at.
Last edited by Tamara; 05-13-2011 at 06:25 AM.
Back in the '80's, the 1911 toter was a binary switch. You knew immediately that you were looking at a fairly competent person or an idiot.
Hah!
Can you imagine my disappointment at my first pistol class that was being photographed by a dude writing an article, and the people who wanted their faces blurred in photographs weren't guys with green beanies but rather guys with tinfoil ones?
I don't think things are that much different today.Back in the '80's, the 1911 toter was a binary switch. You knew immediately that you were looking at a fairly competent person or an idiot.
Reading through the other responses and thinking about it some more has made me realize that I'm far more likely to do the opposite of what this thread suggests - form negative preconceptions about a person's knowledge and skill levels based on their gear.
There's very little gear wise that's going to make me think "oh, this guy knows what he's doing" without talking to them as well, but every time I see somebody in public sporting an XD in one of the cheapo XD Gear holsters that SA packages with the gun, I can't help but find myself thinking "I wish they knew better."
Maybe it's less a matter of being cool so much as it is rising above a certain threshold of uncool?
That's often a much safer bet, though. I mean, when you see a Judge in Bianchi nylon, certain things may be taken practically as givens. Unless maybe it's some kind of ironic hipster statement or something... Is there such a thing as a range hipster?
Probably, but I don't get it.
Think for yourself. Question authority.
I can partly relate to the OP. With the following distinction. I have selected some guns to evaluate based on what the "coolest" shooters of the era were promoting and then worked with them. And in the case of buying my first 1911 in 1981 based on the promotion of it by the likes of Jeff Cooper and Chuck Taylor - I did very well. I owned very reliable Colts and was pretty good with them. No big deal.
After so many years of hearing rave reviews from some "cool guys" of the Sig P220 I had a chance to trade into one used based on a similiar motivation. However while it was very accurate, I was not impressed with its handling qualities and sold it.
So if by "cool" one looks at the guns that extreme hard use combat shooters use in order to get a clue about solid reliable platforms, this is not a mistake by any means. This approach at least points someone at well vetted platforms. WAY better approach than following gun test reviews in magazines.
What I think is really questionable is when an aftermarket part comes out and some current SME's post that they are the cat's ass and are going on all their guns and then poster after poster declares that they are jumping on the band wagon if so and so designed it etc. All this occurs with no more than a handful of these parts actually in hard use. I've seen this most prevalent in ARs followed by Glocks.
Last edited by JHC; 05-13-2011 at 08:31 AM. Reason: replaced profanity with a decent word
“Remember, being healthy is basically just dying as slowly as possible,” Ricky Gervais
how many other ways are there to buy other than whats cool or buying by cost?
i'd think people either buy into the current hype at the time (1911 sparks/rosen, M&P raven, Hk aiwb...) or whats currently the cheapest or most expensive depending on the individuals mindset.
i've seen plenty of people buy taurus because it was cheaper than the alternative and many people buy kimber because that was the most expensive thing in the case.
i think forums like this are great because they help show shooters different options. before this forum and training with Tom of RCS I hadnt seen anyone carry AIWB. i currently have a Shaggy on order. I guess thats "buying cool" but its an option i didnt know about before.
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