Carry questions- or Resurrecting a dead horse to beat

Info, pictures, advice...
Ketchman
Elite member
Elite member
Posts: 1144
Joined: December 24th, 2011, 4:36 pm
Location: Wyoming, USA

Re: Carry questions- or Resurrecting a dead horse to beat

Post by Ketchman »

Guitarman thank you for bringing up the subject of training which is the essence of safety. My main goal here is to rely on training and intelligence for safety before man made devices which can fail. I realize I will be flamed for this but part of training is how to safely handle your firearm. And there are plenty of old revolvers out there, as there are semi's, that have questionable metallurgy, manufacturing practices etc. which may result in parts breakage or just not working which can result in AD's. What I am saying is rely on training and intelligence first and mechanical parts as a backup.
I will now prepare to receive incoming flak.
Close enough for Government work will get you dead, ask any Vet.
GuitarmanNick
Member
Member
Posts: 197
Joined: March 19th, 2017, 10:04 am
Location: Marylandistan

Re: Carry questions- or Resurrecting a dead horse to beat

Post by GuitarmanNick »

Ketchman, you bring up a great point so now I too, must go off topic a little.

As you have stated, metallurgy is extremely important and is not exclusive to older firearms. Some modern firearms manufacturers use cheaper materials and production methods in order to compete on price.

I guess this is why I like my P-64s and Star B so much. Outstanding quality and materials in them.

A friend of mine has had me go through most of his collection to clean and safety check. I have found a few of his toys that although they are completely functional, they should not be fired IMO. One semi-auto pistol is known to break slides because they are made of pot metal. Others involve impossible to find parts that are currently serviceable but are near their end of life. One or two will likely not hold up to pressures in currently available ammunition. Lots of things to consider when talking about older firearms.

In taking apart a "modern" High Point pistol recently, I was unimpressed with the design and the choice of materials in the .45 cal. steel framed model. The one on my bench had been dropped from a table to the ground and broke the mag catch and left side grip which allowed the safety(which is held in place only by the grip) to fall off, too.

Their warranty is great, they sent me the new parts no questions asked and I was able to repair the gun. I advised the owner that is should be considered to be no more than a range toy and not to rely upon it for defensive purposes. The metal in the gun is easily damaged and this one is permanently scarred near the bottom of the mag well as a reminder that it is a "cheap" gun. If the parts had not been provided completely free of charge under warranty, it would not have been worth repairing!

Now, for my use of terms.
Inexpensive: denotes that although an item is reasonably priced, it has sufficient quality to be considered to be a good value.
I own many inexpensive things because they serve my needs adequately and my income is fixed. I appreciate inexpensive items.
Cheap: means that is was priced according to it's quality, unreliable, disposable, and generally not worth purchasing no matter how low the pricing may be.

Now, back to the topic,...
If you are going to carry a firearm, make certain to select a weapon that will be reliable in any conditions in which you may encounter a threat, use ammunition that will cycle your weapon 100% of the time without malfunctions, choose a quality holster with good retention, practice drawing the weapon even if only using snap caps at home, repeating the last step until it becomes comfortable and feels natural. If you change carry weapons, be sure to train with it as small differences may slow response time unless training overcomes it.

We have all heard someone being interviewed describe that they have only done what they were trained to do. That is why everyone needs to train! Military and first responders all train repeatedly because you can never have too much training and it is never complete!

Sorry for such a long winded post.
User avatar
Curly1
Elite member
Elite member
Posts: 2529
Joined: September 20th, 2011, 11:35 pm
Location: Upstate NY

Re: Carry questions- or Resurrecting a dead horse to beat

Post by Curly1 »

I thought it would be implied that it would be a semi auto with safeties, didn't think I had to spell it out but here it is.
Laugh Hard and Often.

Gary
Ketchman
Elite member
Elite member
Posts: 1144
Joined: December 24th, 2011, 4:36 pm
Location: Wyoming, USA

Re: Carry questions- or Resurrecting a dead horse to beat

Post by Ketchman »

Guitarman, thank you for elaborating, long winded or not it is once in a while needed to be spelled out if for nothing else than we frequently get persons new to collecting and shooting milsurps, which the P64 is, and others who may just be new to firearms and shooting and the idea that YOU need to be your first line of safety and blindly relying on mechanical devices can be deadly.
And Curly, I was not meaning to direct anything your way, just trying to further the conversation to broaden the information delivery and thank you for bringing up the points that you have.
Hope everybody had a great Christmas.
Close enough for Government work will get you dead, ask any Vet.
Post Reply