Each "comments" page has comments, suggestions, etc from friends and readers. To add your comment, email Mary lou and Claire at gulch@iname.com

COMMENTS ON HANDGUNS by SharpShooter

Hi Guys! Like you, I’ve been thinking about a "Galts Gulch" for quite some time. Although I try to avoid "entangling alliances", I think the future will require cooperation at least for trade and maybe security. My area of expertise, such as it is, would be guns/gunsmithing/tactics. I AM NOT an expert. I am an interested student. I base my opinions on observations of what I’ve seen that works and what doesn’t. Of course opinions are worth what you pay for them . With those disclaimers, I think security starts at the personal level and that personal security begins with the ownership and use of a pistol. This note will address that issue. If you find it useful, I can send further notes on Tactics,repair and parts, rifles and shotguns.

As previously stated, I AM NOT AN EXPERT. I started shooting and reloading with my Dad as a youngster. I was a small arms repairman (armorer) in the Marine Corps Reserves. I started IPSC shooting in 1977. I was an A class shooter until I quit in the early 80’s (it got silly). I’ve attended 3 classes (shotgun, pistol, rifle) with John Farnam. For those who don’t know him, John is one of the pioneers of tactical gun instruction. He’s a Marine Corps combat vet, was named Tactician of the year by the NTI (Natl Tactical invitational) and an all around good guy. He’s based in Ft. Collins Colo. But has a travelling school. For more info, his web site is http://www.defense-training.com/ .I’ve read extensively and practice a fair amount (about 5K rounds /year). I’ve discovered that the more I shoot, the less I think I know about guns.

All information about guns should always begin with safety. While guns are not and cannot be “safe” if they are to be useful, gunmen and women can and should be safe handlers of guns. The 4 rules of gun safety are:

These rules should never be violated. Never . Not even in combat conditions. There are worse things than being shot, and shooting a loved one or innocent bystander would certainly fall into this category. Generally you must violate 2 of the rules to cause injury or damage. Unsafe gun handling is a sure sign of a rude boob. As a last point, I suggest that everyone get professional training in gun use. I suggest DTI or Thunder Ranch.

Pistols.
Pistols are pretty puny. They poke little holes in things. Most people shot with pistols live. All pistols will malfunction if shot enough (some more than others). The only useful thing about them is that they’re carryable (is that a word?) You can have a pistol with you when you go to the garden, the store, the bank etc. You should ALWAYS have your pistol with you.

I’ve come to believe that there are only two classes of pistols, pocket and holster. I think pocket pistols are guns you can slip into your pocket and are basically invisible. NAA mini 22’s are the only ones truly meeting the criteria. Seecamp .32’s and the old baby Browning .25’s are close. Anything larger is a holster gun. You should always have a pocket gun with you. Although they’re not much, sometimes just the presence of a gun is enough to discourage naughty behavior. If not, stick it in their eye socket, ear or throat and let ‘er rip. One advantage is you can have it in your hand if you suspect trouble and no ones the wiser.

For holster guns, I like big bore pistols. I lean toward 1911’s, but am OK with Glocks. Big bore revolvers are certainly satisfactory. By big bore I mean .44 or .45. 1911’s are thin (easy to conceal), have a fairly narrow butt (easy to get your hand around), reliable, easy to fix, easy to shoot and made in .45 ACP. They have a more complex manual of arms and so require more training and practice. Glocks are reliable, come in .45 ACP and are simple to use. They are thick and have fat butts. They’re also harder to repair. Big bore revolvers are reliable (although not as reliable as some think), available in .45ACP, .45 COLT, and .44 special and magnum. They are much thicker and harder to conceal, but very simple to use. They are not as easy to shoot accurately.

As noted before, all pistols malfunction. Its just a matter of time. With that in mind, I always download a magazine by 1 round. With a 1911, I use Wilson 8 round mags. This still gives a standard mags worth. Glocks , either 9 for a 30 or 12 in a 21. Mag springs do take a set. If you shoot your pistol regularly, the magazines should stay OK.

I never use hollowpoints. Yeah, I know Ayoob and Marshall and Sanow tell everyone how great they are. (go here to see how full of crap they are. http://www.firearmstactical.com/afte.htm) They will also eventually cause a malfunction. Wanna guess when? Little bullets need to expand, big ones don’t. That’s why we use big bores. Remember , pistols work by poking holes in people. Most pistol bullets don’t penetrate all that well. Expansion (caused by hollowpoints sometimes) decreases the depth of the hole. You have to get thru to the engine room. People wear clothes, hide behind things and generally try to avoid being shot. Deep Penetration is good. Shallow Penetration is bad. Don’t worry about going thru the target. You’re more likely to hurt a bystander by missing. In a bystander rich environment, (pretty good phrase, huh?) go to one knee and fire upwards. One exception to the hollowpoint reliability issue is big bore revolvers, but I still prefer solids for the penetration. An exception to the penetration issue is if you live in a densely populated apartment with paper thin walls. Glasers might be OK in this situation, but their shallow penetration would concern me.

In general, holster pistols should be carried behind the strong side hip bone. I prefer an inside the waistband holster, but they just don’t work for some folks. Actually, an outside holster is faster, it just doesn’t conceal quite as well. If you really need to hide your pistol, use this technique:
1) Tuck your shirt into your trousers.
2) Blouse your shirt out a bit.
3) Open your middle 2 buttons and place your pistol into your belt at your appendix.
4) Tilt the butt a little toward center.
5) To draw, use your weak hand to grab and pull the shirt and strong hand to draw.

I carried a Lightweight Commander in Chicago for 25 years using this method. With your shirt tucked in, the poleece never suspect. Of course if your get frisked oh well. But then again, when was the last time you were frisked? The draw from this location can be quite fast. Also quite a surprise for the goof.

Always carry extra ammo. As gunmen and women, we don’t plan on missing, but there’s always that charging Mongolian horde. Also, one of the ways we clear a malfunction is by jettisoning the magazine and reloading. Carry the spare magazine in a belt carrier. When you need to reload, you don’t want to root thru your pockets looking for your spare mag. They also get poopies in them from pockets or purses. I once found a computer case screw in my Glock 30 mag that I stored in my pants pocket. OOPS.

Holsters and mag pouches are available in Kydex (plastic), cowhide, horsehide and nylon. I prefer cowhide. Kydex is durable and fast, but a bit noisy during the draw. Horsehide holsters are also excellent, but expensive. Nylon holsters tend to be made more generically instead of being molded for a particulr pistol. Mad Dog and Bladetech make good Kydex equipment, Kramer for horsehide, Bianchi for nylon and my favorite, Milt Sparks, for cowhide.

This is not the appropriate venue to teach the physical use of the pistol. If any of our like minded friends need instruction and can’t afford professional instruction, I would be willing to provide my services free of charge. Some techniques that I use and recommend are the Weaver stance (utilizing isometric tension to control recoil), the flash sight picture (means using the sights as opposed to point shooting), the compressed surprise trigger press. Again these are not things to be learned by reading.

I suggest after instruction that you dry fire at least once a week and live fire 50 rounds once a month. This will maintain your skill at a reasonable level. You should strive to be able to present your pistol from wherever you carry it and make 1 center hit on a human size target (a paper plate is about the right size) at 5 yards in 2.5 seconds. This should be adaquate for most personal defense situations.

One last thing to point out is the concept of mindset. Most people are unaware of their surroundings. Predators know this. They look for the weak. We must avoid giving this impression. Grass eaters look down, predators keep the heads up and eyes searching. Awareness of your surroundings will prevent most problems. Pay attention to people around you. Don’t offer your gun hand to strangers if possible. Don’t have conversations with strangers on the street. Colonel Jeff Cooper codified a color code for awareness.

White – Oblivious to the world around you. This would be the state you’re in reading a good book. Dangerous when in public.

Yellow-relaxed awareness. The state you should be in whenever you’re out and about.

Orange-you’ve identified a specific possible threat

Red-you just need your mental trigger tripped (sight of a gun etc.) to use deadly force.

Buy Jeff Coopers “Principles of Personal Defense” from Paladin Books. This explains this in much greater detail.

These are just some of my opinions. If further notes would be of value, please let me know. Thanks Ed

SharpShooter

RETURN TO "Security"

RETURN TO GULCH INDEX