How do you get a bunch of gunnies all worked up? Start by saying their choice of handgun sucks, both the make/model and the caliber.

So it goes without saying that the second installment of InSights Training Center’s series on equipment choices, Handgun Design, is going to ruffle some feathers. 🙂

The thing you have to realize is, these guys see many many guns, many many levels of skill, and hundreds of thousands of rounds going downrange. Between what the Insights instructors do as trainers and then what they do in whatever other job they may hold, they see a lot. No handgun design is 100% perfect, but there are those better than others.

A lot of what they say echos what I’ve said before about choosing a gun. That’s not too surprising as Insights training has been an influence on me.

One thing Jeff writes about that I take a bit of exception to is dealing with new gun designs:

 

One of the most important criteria for selecting a firearm for self defense is reliability. The gun needs to go bang every time. For defensive purposes, guns should only be considered if the platform has seen years of use and millions of rounds down range. I have no interest in being a guinea pig. The latest gun design might be cool to own, but it has no business out on the street until someone else has verified it with a very large sample and lots of rounds. This generally restricts our selection to guns that have been issued to large government organizations.

 

I’ll start out saying I do agree with him. Reliability is paramount and I too have no desire to be a guinea pig. The trouble is if everyone adopts this mentality then no new gun design will ever make it out onto the street as a carry tool. If you do think some new gun is snazzy then by all means go ahead and buy it. But before you entrust your life to it, ensure it’s reliable. Take it to the range. Take it through training classes. Lend it to trusted friends to shoot. Put thousands upon thousands of rounds through it. See how it performs. Report your findings, like what ToddG did on pistol-training.com with the M&P-9 and H&K P30. Make sure that it’s a reliable platform for you to entrust you life to. Of course in the end it is your life, so value it as you wish. Point is, you should not necessarily leave the reliability testing to “someone else” because if everyone did that then no one would do it. Instead, if you want to be one of those cutting edge folks, please go ahead and do so. Just keep it in perspective that it’s worthwhile to ensure the platform is proven and solid before you trust your life to it. You really don’t want to have the first spectacular failure be when you need failure the least.

I’ll also add about deviating from original design. This is why you tend to see 1911-style guns in chamberings other than .45 ACP not always running well (or at least, not without a lot of work). But there are some exceptions to this rule, such as the Springfield EMP, which was designed from the ground up to have a 9mm (or .40 S&W) chambering.

Finally regarding 9mm well… I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. All pistol rounds suck, but the shootability of 9 speaks for itself.