CCW gets beat up?

My great grandfather once told me,

"One thing you learn in life is, there's a lot more to life than keeping the things that you own, including your body, looking like it's never been used."

I keep the things I own in good working order. I try to keep them looking nice, but that's more out of respect for my posessions. I don't tend to get all teary-eyed if I get a ding or a scratch on my EDC pistols' finish. I bought it to use it. In fact, that's why I bought a Glock. I didn't buy it to abuse it, I bought it because it CAN BE abused and still function extremely well. I bought it to use the heck out of it. Now, other guns I'll buy so that I can use them sparingly and keep them nice to hand down to my family, but I don't anticipate anyone getting choked up if I hand over my workhorse Glock after 20 years of use.

I tend to favor things that aren't perfect-looking if I intend on using them heavily. I also feel like my EDC, since it is used and not abused, tends to look "Seasoned" instead of "Old and 'tore up". It's got some of it's own scar stories to tell. It's been around the block and its still around doing it's thing.

Who knows, maybe my boy will get choked up. There may be something nastalgic about an honestly worn pistol.

~LT
 
I have a couple guns for carrying and one that is strictly a range queen. She's never seen holster wear and never will. She stays in a re-purposed small violin case and comes out to go boom at paper. The others though - they get scratched and bumped. I keep them clean and oiled, but don't stress about my tools getting a little wear.
 
One of the reasons I bought my GLock was because it would stand up to sweat and abuse. All of my guns have seen wear and use. The only one I'm really trying to keep nice is my father in law's old Model 36 because it was willed to me.

I still carry it often, but not when it might be subjected to rust.
 
For myself character on a handgun gives me memories to look back on when it's time to retire it. And that's only if it can't be fixed. But then I'm not using the butt of the grip to pound nails hanging up wanted posters either. Sure hope that hammer was resting on a empty chamber. Well Festes looks like we lost another marshal.:)
 
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CCW? Think about open carry in a 4x4 truck in the desert. Just getting in and out of the vehicle, banging the grip on a seatbelt buckle, raking the seat belt latch across the weapon, pulling out a winch rope and banging it on the brushguard or winch bracket, etc. And least we forget the occasional sand storm you have to get out of the truck in to help someone, or to pee off someone.

I can tell you after six months, a SIG 229 grip/frame looks like it has been used as a hammer, but I can guarantee you, the insides work great and will work if needed.
 
What!!!!

Has everyone gone crazy! Your carry gun is only a tool you carry to protect your life. You carry the very best tool you can to do the job and you should not even consider anything else. Your carry gun is your life, end of story! //END//
 
Has everyone gone crazy! Your carry gun is only a tool you carry to protect your life. You carry the very best tool you can to do the job and you should not even consider anything else. Your carry gun is your life, end of story! //END//
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I don't think anyone is saying that they would carry a Hi-Point over a S&W, but some of us don't really think that buying a nice looking gun with a custom finish/engraving would be prudent and a bit of a waste to ding up such a nice looking firearm. I would love to have a lot of pretty guns. I would love to have a "dress" gun if I required such a thing.

However, a plain ol' polymer pistol suits my carry needs. The BG isn't going to care if the .45 that hit him came out of a custom 1911 or an off the rack Glock. :D
 
I keep the things I own in good working order. I try to keep them looking nice, but that's more out of respect for my posessions. I don't tend to get all teary-eyed if I get a ding or a scratch on my EDC pistols' finish. I bought it to use it. In fact, that's why I bought a Glock. I didn't buy it to abuse it, I bought it because it CAN BE abused and still function extremely well. I bought it to use the heck out of it. Now, other guns I'll buy so that I can use them sparingly and keep them nice to hand down to my family, but I don't anticipate anyone getting choked up if I hand over my workhorse Glock after 20 years of use.
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This is pretty much my line of thinking. My EDC is a Glock for many reasons, but the fact that it's an ugly, durable tool that doesn't ever need to be pretty (and looked like vomit the day it was birthed) is a real bonus for me in an EDC.

I am never, not EVER going to be the guy who would drop $2,500 on a Wilson and then carry it. You? You have my blessing and I wouldn't lose a moment of sleep over your Wilson and the sweat, lint, dings and holster wear. That's your world, I'm just happy that you carry.

These days, my dream gun is a Fusion, and I would settle for a pre-CZ Dan Wesson built by Bob Serva. Were I ever fortunate enough to own one, then NO, I would not ever carry it, no way.

Some guns are tools to me also... my Mossberg 500, my S&W Model 10, my EDC Glock, these are guns I like that are tools. Most of my others? Those are fine pieces of machinery that I tend to want to keep looking as good as I keep them running. Doesn't ever mean I won't shoot them and I won't cry over honest shooting wear. But hell no, I'm not going to carry them IWB and bang them in to everything from the seat belt in the car to the bathroom door frame.

Here's another example. My S&W 1006 is somewhat collectible, but it's not a high dollar heirloom. If I found a used one just like for $300 that was beat up and worn, then yeah, I'd carry that. But mine that I've been shooting since '92, shortly after it was built and then dumped by S&W? Not ever going to happen. Never. I won't subject that duty to this handgun. I like it too much and I can accomplish the same thing with other, specific tools.

You guys who judge folks who won't carry certain handguns because they believe they are too nice to be carried are like beer snobs. *YAWN* Do what you like and I support you, but get your judgmental butt off me when I pick specific handguns that I carry and keep others in a place that I won't ever subject that work and duty to.
 
I can't buy a gun

That I won't shoot or carry in the case of a handgun. I don't care how expensive or pretty it is, it is a tool. A little wear and tear on most guns just gives them a little character. If you don't feel the same way that is your choice and I respect it. If could afford some ridiculously priced firearm like a Wilson combat or Nighthawk, and it was reliable, of course I would carry it.
 
I have some expensive pistols that I carry. If it means a $2,000+ pistol gets confiscated because it saved my life, so be it. If it means getting holster wear and "honest" handling wear, so be it.

I also have some guns that are range queens. I don't carry them. I just like shooting them at the range. However, they are not range queens because of their value, but because I have other guns just as good or better that I do carry.

Let me also add, that before anyone calls me a "gun snob," I also have moderate and even lower priced guns that I carry and depend upon for my life. What I carry is not a function of money, it's a function of the gun.
 
I had a Kimber Pro CDP that I carried for a couple of years.When I bought it I put my Glock 23 in the safe.It never bothered me that it was an expensive gun and could have bad things happen to it.I have since sold the Kimber and begun carring the Glock again because I found that I could shoot the Glock better and I like the extra mag capacity.My attitude is,you should carry what works best for you,no matter if it caost $200 or $10,000.
 
my safe queens

They sit in the safe because I can only wear so many at once.......and I've sold off the ones not shot much.

Once I own a gun its cost no longer matters; its shooting matters.
 
well in my opinion if you buy a gun for ccw reasons you have to expect some extra ware i carry a glock 17 and i know there will be some holster marks showing sooner or later i have bumped doorways or leaned against a all with my gun between me and the wall in crowded situations for retention reasons (if its too crowded i put my gun in a tight place) i know that has a risk of marking the grip and exposed portion of the slide but its a duty pistole not a show peice. i do clean and wipe on a biweekly scedule or as needed if it collects dirt faster for any reason
 
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