By Sam Hoober, Alien Gear Holsters
Most people have probably heard the axiom to “beware the man with one gun; he probably knows how to use it” or something to that effect. It’s been around for some time and it seems logical enough.
The idea, of course, is that a person should get one gun – whether it’s a hunting rifle or pistol to be carried in a concealed carry holster – and once proficient with it, never carry anything else. Should you have to use it, using said gun will practically be second nature; the muscle memory has set in and there won’t be any slip ups, delays, mistakes or otherwise.
A person who has picked one carry gun and stuck with it will ostensibly be able to put it to effective use should they have to draw and fire in defense of themselves or others against a dangerous threat.
It stands to reason that if a person gets used to shooting Glocks, for instance, such a person probably shouldn’t mess around with carrying a snubbie revolver; the long trigger pull will cause problems at the moment of truth. Likewise, you might forget to disengage the safety on a cocked-and-locked 1911 or to cock it if carrying with the hammer down. It makes a certain amount of sense.
Or does it?
Something that’s true about shooting is that good trigger pull technique will work on any gun. The firing mechanism shouldn’t matter and neither should the pull weight.
It’s like tackling in football; the collision itself is important but it’s the follow-through that gets the ball carrier to the ground. As long as you hit low and your follow-through is good, you should be able to tackle just about anyone. Similarly, if you have good trigger technique, you should have no problem with just about any gun at all – handgun, rifle, shotgun, whatever.
In other words, you should be able to carry just about any gun and not have to worry about the trigger causing a hiccup if you have good shooting technique.
The same is true with sighting. Obviously every gun is going to be a little different, sort of like how you’re the person who knows how your car handles best. You know to hold a little high or a little low because you’re the person who shoots the thing. That said, the fundamentals of using sights don’t really change. (If the front sight is on the target, you’ll hit it.) If your sighting technique is good, you should be able to hit the 9- or 10-ring reliably with darn near anything.
Again, if your technique is sound, the sights on any gun shouldn’t be a problem. On that basis, you could carry anything and still be able to hit something, or someone, if need be.
What about controls? After all, if you’re used to striker guns or double-action revolvers, you might forget a safety catch is engaged on, say, a 1911, Browning Hi Power or double-action semi-auto with a manual safety at the moment of truth.
Thing is that with regular practice, this also isn’t an issue. Plenty of people shoot multiple handguns and do so competently; you should have no issue switching between pistol platforms if you’ve spent time in the driver’s seat, so to speak.
But, if you don’t practice or train very often, that’s another matter. Not everyone is able to get to the range to train or practice as frequently as they want to or should be doing, and for a variety of reasons. If a person can’t (or doesn’t want to) put in much practice time, then they should definitely pick one carry gun and stick to it.
That said, the person that does devote time regularly for training, even if it’s once or twice a month, the “one gun” maxim doesn’t hold as true as you might think.
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Sam Hoober is Contributing Editor for AlienGearHolsters.com, a subsidiary of Hayden, ID, based Tedder Industries, where he writes about gun accessories, gun safety, open and concealed carry tips. Click here to visit aliengearholsters.com.