brownie
04-07-2015, 01:59 PM
Something I wrote on another forum 01-24-2007
I've purchased a new "potential" carry gun in the last few weeks. It's an XD45 service model [ 4 inch barrel and about the size of my glock 17 ]. I've put roughly 200 rds downrange with it the first time out, and another 300+ rds through it in the last week.
I shoot the damned thing well enough, and I've found myself carrying it when not working the gun shop once or twice, but leaving it home for my most favored G17 when going into the shop.
It dawned on me the other night that I have subconsciously not felt "one" enough with the XD45 to know I can shoot it as instinctively or as well as the G17, even though I can shoot it well enough for most to not notice any skills lacking if they watched me firing it.
That's been nagging me for the last few nights, really making me think about this, and I've come to some conclusions here. Keep in mind these are my own thoughts and do not reflect on anyone elses criteria or circumstances.
I've shot the G17 through tens of thousands of rds in the last years. In that time it has become "one" with my hand when I hold it, my hand knows how to take it from it's resting place automatically without any thought. It's auto-pilot to scoop it out and shoot the G17 now without ever worrying where the bullets will hit. They hit exactly where I'm looking and want them to go instinctively.
Not so with the new XD45. Sure, I can shoot the thing well, but not as much on auto-pilot as the gun I'm more familiar with, that's been in my hand longer than any other gun other than the 1911's I carried for almost 3 decades.
It seems I can pick up any 1911 and shoot it on auto-pilot through not just carrying it for so long and becoming familiar with it in that regard, but firing tens and tens of thousands of rds through that platform till the gun had become and is "one" with me without any conscious thought to it's operation. As well, all I have to do is look to where I want the bullets to go, and they seem to just go there with the 1911's.
So it has become the same where the feeling of being "one' with my G17's in the last few years is concerned. Though I haven't carried them anywhere near as long as I have the 1911 type pistols time wise, the G17's have sent tens of thousands of rds downrange over the years and specifically the last two have been very heavy on ammo expenditures through them in training and constantly carried for the most part over the same time frame.
So, this is where I'm at at the moment with my carrying situation. I refuse to leave the G17 home and carry the new XD45 daily because it has not been in my hand long enough and put enough rds downrange to be "one" and shot subconsciously from the draw stroke to rds where I'm looking.
I wonder how the members here feel about their own carry gun/s. Have you noticed you shoot one or another gun more proficiently with less conscious effort as I do with the 1911's and G17's?
Can you shoot your chosen weapon platform without that conscious thought process, or do you have to "think" about the draw, the trigger control, the grip, and where that gun needs to be either one handed or two to put multiples of rds on potential threats?
Are you willing to carry something you shoot less and maybe not as fast, or as well, or without really thinking about any of the above to put rds where you want them in lieu of another platform that you can say meets the above?
Do you own any gun that meets my own criteria of subconscious effort for carry at this point? If so, what gun/s is/are they and how many rds do you think it took for you to get to that feeling of "one" as I have with the 1911's or Glock 17?
When I wasn't one with the G17 quite yet, I still carried the 1911's until I knew I could shoot it as well and without that conscious thought process necessary when I'm not "one" with a handgun through familiarization of having it always with me and getting enough rds downrange to KNOW exactly what the gun and I are capable of together without having to think about what I'm doing.
I'd like to hear from members on this idea of being truly "one" with the gun they carry and if you feel it necessary to be as proficient as you can be, thereby cutting the odds further in your own favor should you ever have to pull it and use it under stress of a potential life and death encounter.
I've purchased a new "potential" carry gun in the last few weeks. It's an XD45 service model [ 4 inch barrel and about the size of my glock 17 ]. I've put roughly 200 rds downrange with it the first time out, and another 300+ rds through it in the last week.
I shoot the damned thing well enough, and I've found myself carrying it when not working the gun shop once or twice, but leaving it home for my most favored G17 when going into the shop.
It dawned on me the other night that I have subconsciously not felt "one" enough with the XD45 to know I can shoot it as instinctively or as well as the G17, even though I can shoot it well enough for most to not notice any skills lacking if they watched me firing it.
That's been nagging me for the last few nights, really making me think about this, and I've come to some conclusions here. Keep in mind these are my own thoughts and do not reflect on anyone elses criteria or circumstances.
I've shot the G17 through tens of thousands of rds in the last years. In that time it has become "one" with my hand when I hold it, my hand knows how to take it from it's resting place automatically without any thought. It's auto-pilot to scoop it out and shoot the G17 now without ever worrying where the bullets will hit. They hit exactly where I'm looking and want them to go instinctively.
Not so with the new XD45. Sure, I can shoot the thing well, but not as much on auto-pilot as the gun I'm more familiar with, that's been in my hand longer than any other gun other than the 1911's I carried for almost 3 decades.
It seems I can pick up any 1911 and shoot it on auto-pilot through not just carrying it for so long and becoming familiar with it in that regard, but firing tens and tens of thousands of rds through that platform till the gun had become and is "one" with me without any conscious thought to it's operation. As well, all I have to do is look to where I want the bullets to go, and they seem to just go there with the 1911's.
So it has become the same where the feeling of being "one' with my G17's in the last few years is concerned. Though I haven't carried them anywhere near as long as I have the 1911 type pistols time wise, the G17's have sent tens of thousands of rds downrange over the years and specifically the last two have been very heavy on ammo expenditures through them in training and constantly carried for the most part over the same time frame.
So, this is where I'm at at the moment with my carrying situation. I refuse to leave the G17 home and carry the new XD45 daily because it has not been in my hand long enough and put enough rds downrange to be "one" and shot subconsciously from the draw stroke to rds where I'm looking.
I wonder how the members here feel about their own carry gun/s. Have you noticed you shoot one or another gun more proficiently with less conscious effort as I do with the 1911's and G17's?
Can you shoot your chosen weapon platform without that conscious thought process, or do you have to "think" about the draw, the trigger control, the grip, and where that gun needs to be either one handed or two to put multiples of rds on potential threats?
Are you willing to carry something you shoot less and maybe not as fast, or as well, or without really thinking about any of the above to put rds where you want them in lieu of another platform that you can say meets the above?
Do you own any gun that meets my own criteria of subconscious effort for carry at this point? If so, what gun/s is/are they and how many rds do you think it took for you to get to that feeling of "one" as I have with the 1911's or Glock 17?
When I wasn't one with the G17 quite yet, I still carried the 1911's until I knew I could shoot it as well and without that conscious thought process necessary when I'm not "one" with a handgun through familiarization of having it always with me and getting enough rds downrange to KNOW exactly what the gun and I are capable of together without having to think about what I'm doing.
I'd like to hear from members on this idea of being truly "one" with the gun they carry and if you feel it necessary to be as proficient as you can be, thereby cutting the odds further in your own favor should you ever have to pull it and use it under stress of a potential life and death encounter.