Broken Gun
The subject of guns breaking comes up frequently. My default statement is if it’s built by man it is breakable.
Half the Battle
After my recent blog on Two Guns there were some interesting comments. I think most of them were well intended, but again not well thought out. What I want to make absolutely clear is not only do I not give a rat’s ass, but two rat’s assess actually. In other words you are free to carry what you want, when you want and how you want. Now with that being said, just because you manage to strap on two guns does not mean you are concealing them. There is a difference between covering them and concealing them, know the difference. On top of that, if you have carried this way since the dawn of time it does not make you an expert. In fact, it probably means you have gotten really good at doing the wrong thing. Lastly, it is easy to talk a big game on the internet. Kind of like lifting weights, plenty of folks are quick to tout big numbers until you load the bar.
Best Intentions
What does all this mean, plenty of folks do a great job concealing multiple firearms for a variety or reasons. They are easy to spot in our classes, they shoot their backup guns on par with their primary. The concealment method allows for a secure carry with quick access and reduced signature. This demographic is a very small chunk of the industry, who really do it right. It has taken a tremendous amount of time, resources and effort to perfect their trade craft. Then there are those who want the option, but don’t want to put the effort. I have to wonder whether they would be better served allocating their efforts towards perfecting the primary and all the essential skills. Food for thought.
Start Out on the Right Foot
There were a few who commented on broken guns, one person even commented the justification for carrying two guns was because while he was shooting a match his ammunition failed him. I’m not sure this is the best justification, but it does bring up a good point. How well do you know your equipment. Yes, guns can break. As I mentioned earlier we see them in classes and the most common failures we see are from modified pistols. Pistols that have had some sort of after market work done. It doesn’t matter what, they were moved out of factory condition. While these represent the vast majority of breakages, we still see some new out of the box guns break.
The Harsh Reality
Most modern firearms are built and marketed to be reliable and with good reason. Many of us are putting our lives and our families lives on the line. I mean honestly, who is going to buy a pistol for serious work with a shady, reliability reputation. Have you stopped to give that some thought? I reference my first comment as a follow up, even the best products can still fail. Many of the failures are known issues and a result of wear and use. If you are taking the time to document your rounds it can give you a good idea when it may be appropriate to inspect and replace worn parts. A periodic maintenance schedule for these issues will reduce the possibility of them going down mechanically in a gunfight.
Eliminate Future Failures
Through a thoughtful process of elimination you reduced the chances of failures, which I put a higher premium on than carrying a backup. You start out by carrying a reliable firearm, tested your magazine and ammunition. Perform regular maintenance and keep a good round count log. Is it still possible the pistol can fail? Absolutely, but as I have stated before if you are truly going to go down that rabbit hole then any additional firearm will be prone to the same issue and at what point do you take a step back and ask yourself what you are doing.
Training with Tension
The last point to make and this is coming a little out of left field so bear with me is carrying all the extra equipment. All the extra gear the cool kids carry. It gets burdensome and the real test is how well you can perform not just daily tasks, but physical activity. I see this more regularly, everything looks cool until you have to do work, then things get real interesting. You learn so much just from light exercise, much less rolling around with a good role player and if you haven’t done either I strongly encourage you to do so as it will open many eyes.
But, in the end, you can carry what you want, when you want and how you want. There are just no guarantees everything will work as advertised.
I’m a former Navy SEAL and nationally recognized Weapons & Tactics instructor. Learn more about what I do at www.tridentconcepts.com
