Finally, you said to yourself, Todd’s going to talk about something he really understands. But sorry, this post isn’t about my ego. Let’s face it, there aren’t enough electrons on the internet for that…
No, this is about how people get so egocentric about their choice in firearms. Yesterday’s post about j-frames and capacity helped draw out exactly the kind of response — as discussed here by Tam — that I’ve come to expect: defensiveness. People don’t like it when you suggest that their chosen everyday companion is any less but the mighty Excalibur itself!
Another great example is the perennial series of threads on 1911forum.com that essentially embody the angst between guys with inexpensive guns and guys with expensive guns. When you reduce it down to its basic components, the problem is that the guy with the basic, off the rack 1911 is upset his gun doesn’t get more respect from the high-dollar camp; and, the guy with the bespoke $mega-thousands french bordered 1911 with the genuine Tyrannosaur femur stocks is upset his gun doesn’t get more respect from the store-bought crowd.
These are both folding knives:
One is way, way more expensive than the other. They’ll both cut stuff. So if our goal is to carry something that can cut stuff, either one is suitable. Somebody might want the smaller, cheaper one with the nifty bottle opener. Somebody else might want the bigger, more expensive quasi-custom one.
Neither of them should get so emotionally invested in a piece of metal with a sharp side that they need everyone else to acknowledge the superiority of their choice. No matter how awesome your Emerson is, someone, somewhere, would rather his little pocket knife with a bottle opener. Accept it. Don’t argue about how you could open a bottle with your “wave” if you had to. You just sound stupid.
And no matter how cute and compact your no-brand pocket knife is, someone, somewhere, would rather carry something that’s more suitable for fighting angry Generation-Y meth head zombies. Accept it. Don’t argue that your knife is really sharp and cuts deeper than it looks. You just sound stupid.
The same is true for guns. No one should pretend that a j-frame is the combat equivalent of a rolled up newspaper, but neither should anyone fool himself into believing that it’s the combat equivalent of a company of US Marines. Don’t whine and deny the limitations of your choice… adapt or choose something else.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
Finally a voice of reason amidst the shouts of “mine is bigger than yours”. As daddy always says, “a hut with a .22 is always better than a miss with a .45.”
That should’ve said “hit” not hut. Darn tiny iphone keyboard.
“genuine Tyrannosaur femur stocks”
Okay, I’d give up my VZs for those. 😀
I would buy a 1911 just to have a place to put T-Rex femur stocks.
Hit the nail on the head Todd, again I might add.
I see this a lot when dealing with other LEOs because we carrying 9mm at work, and everybody knows that’s a girl’s gun.
I don’t own a 1911. Every time I think maybe I’d like to get one to screw around with I end up researching it and not buying one. The reason being I go, well ok I just want to screw with it, maybe shoot it in an IDPA match or two, nothing super serious so maybe I’ll just buy a cheap Brand X 1911 and if it doesn’t work 100% cool it’s just for fun, I have other guys I user for “Serious Business tm.”
So I ask the internet, “Dear internet which cheap 1911 should I get?” and I get a 100 people all of them telling me why Brand X is horrible, Brand Y is trash, Brand R has never shot a full mag without jamming and then a bunch of other people telling me why Brand X is amazing, and Brand Y “Has always been 100% for me.” and Brand R is better than sliced bread.
If that wasn’t confusing enough there is invariable the guys that say, if you don’t spend more than D dollars you are going to get crap so don’t even bother if you aren’t going to spend $D. And absolutely no one can agree on what amount D is supposed to be. I’ve heard 600, 800, 1200, 2500 and 3000.
On just about any type of item, if you graph price and “performance” (which with pistols would include reliability, accuracy, durability, etc), the lines will cross at a point. Above this point, higher cost is not getting you correspondingly higher performance. You have reached diminishing returns.
Beyond “performance”, some folks like some features just for the “bling” factor. I have paid for nifty serrations down the top of a 1911 slide. They serve no purpose other than tom please me aesthetically. I’ve never seen the point of aftermarket wheels on a car or truck…but they sell tons of them.
Truly, to each his own.
This is the psychology of overcoming buyer’s remorse. Any big purchase requires us (myself included) to justify how all that hard earned money was spent. Our arguments go beyond the functional. As Mary Oliver once said, “if the world were all pain an logic, who would want it?”. Therefore, we infuse qualities to our purchases to make them, by association us, more worthy.
I agree with Todd its irrational and inflates our ego. In guns, motorcycles, cars, we align ourselves in camps to to elevate our superior wisdom to explain our choice and therefore ourselves. My first two years of gun purchases were based in this idiocy. Then I realized, thousands of dollars later…hey, I can’t shoot worth a damn. Maybe I should just pick up one of my guns and actually just practice, practice, practice.
They world of guns is a world of tradeoffs.
John, best comment I’ve read in a while.
My primary pistol is one of the most consistently maligned handguns from a major maker in the last 30 years (Beretta 92). Long time ago I learned to let the haters hate, the fanboys praise, and keep myself aware of the actual strengths and weaknesses of my chosen gun and just be happy that way.
Long time ago I learned to let the haters hate, the fanboys praise, and keep myself aware of the actual strengths and weaknesses of my chosen gun and just be happy that way.
JTE put everything into perspective. Well said.
whw
“My primary pistol is one of the most consistently maligned handguns from a major maker in the last 30 years (Beretta 92). Long time ago I learned to let the haters hate, the fanboys praise, and keep myself aware of the actual strengths and weaknesses of my chosen gun and just be happy that way.”
Indeed. I’ve been carrying the PX4 for most of this year.
I got so tired of defending my decision to EDC a 380 that I started referring to it as my 9mm kurtz just to get half the people to shut up. I Know my guns limitations and i am comfortable with them
Want to see people criticize a weapon you carry? Tell them you carry a Glock 19C. Carry what you want. Every weapon system has it trade-offs.
How about we ignore how much a pistol costs and focus on its utility as a tool?
The problem does not rest with me not knowing or accepting the limitations of my weapon. I know these quite well. Rather it is contending with the armies of fanboys and mall ninjas telling me what gun is good and what gun is crap. There is not enough ammo in the known civilized world to defeat all of the fanboys telling me that my choice of rifle, pistol, or shotgun will “get me killed”. 😀
My firearms life got better when I stopped trying to find the best gun and looked for the best gun for ME. At the moment, my EDC happens to be a CZ-75 SP-01 Tactical in 9mm. Subject to change.
It was funny your post reminded me of an old story my dad told me “many years ago”. He was from a small town where every one knew one another. There were two town “bar fly’s” that would argue with each other at the “drop of a hat.” The bigger one was taller and had the little guy out weighted by about 30-40lbs. One day after a particularly nasty argument they got into a fight. the big guy yelled he had enough and was going to kill the little guy and pulled a large hunting style knife and pinned the little guy to the ground and began trying to stab him. The little guy stayed calm, reached into his pocket and pulled his tiny, rusty pocket folding knife. The point was broken off, but as he only used the knife for cutting it was sharp. He calmly began to cut the big guy in the lower abdomen from one side to the other while taking his injuries. Once the big guy realized what was happening he jumped up and started to run trying to hold onto his “entrails.” The sheriff showed up took them both to the hospital and called it a “self defense stabbing.” The biggest knife doesn’t always win even in a knife fight.
One of the biggest problems in the gun world is that it seems literally every single gun owner is seeking confirmation bias with regards to their purchases. I’ve known guys who will quite literally seek out a forum dedicated to their chosen firearm and only read the (utterly useless) comments regarding their brand superiority. Even more galling is that any negative criticism on some of these forums is met with violent outrage/criticism, dismissal, and demoting the critical poster to the status of exiled pariah.
On the other side of the coin, there is a notable tendency for folks to denigrate anything that they themselves cannot afford – even if it indeed has demonstrable performance and improvements over what they may be currently using.
I suspect the real problem to all of this endless mental masturbation could be easily solved if all of these guys simply got off their soft cushy couches, and actually trained, and trained HARD. Nothing will sort out inefficient, poorly made, or bad decisions like quality training will. Better you find it out there than on the two-way range first.
Just for point of accuracy, I believe the “bottle opener” is actually a locking mechanism that keeps the knife closed. Roll forward, pin rolls in slot, locked closed. Roll backward, pin rolls out of slot, knife can open.