This is a blog. It is my blog. Therefore, the opinions contained herein are mine and mine alone.
I think that’s pretty clear to everyone who reads stuff on the internet. Today is going to be even more so. I normally try to have at least some sort of rationale behind my views. If I like manual safeties it’s because I can come up with good and valid reasons for it. I can explain why I like my ankle holster.
Having said all that, here are some things I don’t really understand in the gun community. I may or may not have good reasons for not liking them but here it is.
Table of Contents
Deep Concealment (Deep Cover)
These phrases are generally used by people to mean carrying a concealed weapon in a really, really concealed manner. Used if you’re in a non-permissive environment where you could get fired or have some other major consequence if you print at the wrong time. I get the concept. I have a couple environments like that in my weekly schedule. It’s not illegal where I carry but it would be unfortunate if someone realized that I did have a gun.
Having said that, “deep concealment” or “deep cover” just seems pretentious as hell, at least for me. I get that they’re shorthand terms but I just don’t like them. An undercover cop or someone else who deliberately walks into dangerous situations has every reason to use these phrases. How many people using this term are in that category?
Trigger Press
This one has a lot of traction these days and I hate it. There is no such thing as a trigger press. There is a bench press, military press, wine press, cider press, machine press, etc. None of those have a damn thing to do with firing a gun.
Note anything those have in common? For all those presses you’re moving something either down or away from yourself. That is an inappropriate way to manipulate a trigger. If you’re moving your trigger down and/or away from yourself there is a fundamental flaw in your technique. Please correct it before loading your firearm.
As near as I can tell this term became fashionable because there’s an inexplicable negative aura around the word “pull” when it comes to triggers. I don’t know why. That’s what you’re doing. You’re pulling something towards you. For a while the alternate term was “squeeze.” I wasn’t a big fan of that either but it’s better than “press.”
There’s nothing wrong with pulling a trigger. There’s no need to try to find other words to explain something that’s already been explained. There’s even a word to describe pulling a trigger badly: “jerk” so you don’t need to denigrate “pull” to make a point.
So let’s leave presses for the weight room, orchard, or machine shop, please. Be an adult. Pull the trigger.
Flat rear sight
From time to time I read someone saying that the front face of your rear sight should be flat so that you can use your belt or shoe or some other object to rack your slide should it become necessary. They further claim that the rear sights that aren’t flat are actively dangerous.
“Should it become necessary.” Let’s break this down by each very unlikely event.
- You get into a gunfight.
- Your gun has a failure (not counting reloads here; you have a slide release for that.)
- You have an injured/occupied hand so only one left to manipulate the gun.
Those three things aren’t going to happen. Sure, it’s technically possible but you’ll never see it. While we train and prepare for things that are unlikely this one is just so damn unlikely I can’t make myself care about it.
I even found a company marketing their sights with this possibility in mind. You know what I didn’t find? Any time that someone used this technique in anything other than a practice environment.
Few of us have unlimited practice time. We could always use more. I just don’t see the point in spending some of that precious time on something so unlikely. And I really don’t see the point of spending money replacing perfectly good sights because the front face of the rear sight is ramped. If you need new sights anyway, well, what the hell. Get a flat face if that’s important to you.
It occurred to me while I was finishing this section that there are probably shooters out there who only have one hand or arm. Please ignore this part. You’ve probably already figured out what to do and don’t need any input from me.
Revolvers in autoloader calibers
Why do these exist? I’m not talking about .357 magnums that come with a 9mm cylinder. I get that; 9mm is cheap and so you get cheap practice. I also understand the S&W Governor that shoots three different calibers, one of which is .45 ACP.
I mean things like this. Or this. 9mm is the more powerful round, at least over .38 Special (.357 Magnum, not so much.) Got it. Why not run it in what it was designed for? An autoloader. Autoloaders have no moon clips to break or get lost. They have a higher capacity. Rumor has it that you can even get sights that let you run the slide one-handed.
Fast reholstering
That’s my list.
What’s yours? How many of these do you think I’m full of crap on? Let me know in the comments.
