Tactical Jackalope
New member
Pretty funny, this was actually supposed to be a response to this thread. But I saw it getting so long that I just shifted it into a thread of my own. Hence the beginning. Be sure to check out the other thread too. Good read.
This is why I'm not a fan of 1911s for self defense these days where there are better options. Granted, the old timers or even the young guys who do carry them and dedicate their time to train with them extensively are awesome and very adequately run 1911s. But today? With shooting other guns, carrying other guns, and even so much as trying them out, it's difficult to just stick to and justify a 1911 to carry. Especially for those who are starting off.
I've was dedicated to SIG Sauer and Glock for almost 10 years on SIG and about 7 or so with Glock. What did they both have in common for me? Hand placement / grip.
No safety on the side on either. A decocker on the SIG that was in front of the slide stop. All was good. My grip? High and tight with thumbs forward.
I have HUGE hands. Long fingers and all. I remember attempting to take a defensive pistol course with my 1911 and I cannot even begin to tell you how hard I failed. Not engaging the grip safety from my high grip, forgetting to disengage the safety, etc. I went back home (thankfully I was up the street) to get my P226.
My muscle memory under stress is tuned to no external safety whatsoever.
These days, I have since dropped SIG completely off the face of the earth and Glock doesn't do it for me either. So I went with Heckler and Koch.
Full sized USP 45 is my CCW at 4 o'clock with a Smith and Wesson 360PD in .357 appendix. I recently traded into an HK USP 45 Compact... I figured, since I liked the HK USP 45 that I got from my brother Uncle Malice in Arizona, I was carrying it for 4-5 months. I figured, let me get the more concealment friendly little buddy. So I did...
Shooting the USP 45 Compact was interesting. Dead nuts accurate with it. Double taps, triple taps, etc. After 150 rounds, I was getting a major soreness on the inside of my right thumb that rides on / next to the safety-decocker. I kept shooting and doing my drills... At the 200 round mark, a chunk of my skin was lifted up and showing some nice red flesh.
I was talking to people, researching, checked with my brother Uncle Malice, and a really good friend on here MLeake. To find out about the LEM trigger...
Now... let's go back for a second. The full sized USP pistols have NEVER given me an issue. I had a USP 9 Compact and mag changes were a pain, literally. They'd pinch the inside of my palm and sometimes catch my pinky. So, dropped that. Didn't shoot it enough to notice any safety-decocker pain. Ran the rest of that class with a Glock 19.
So! Back to the 45... I swapped it out for an LEM trigger that Mr. Malice sent me, felt 100 times better! I need to get used to that trigger, which feels like a Glock minus the "springiness" with that super long but ultra light take up.
It's at a gun smith's shop right now getting taken care and tuned, because it was having two resets on it. One was a dud and the other was the actual reset, which isn't normal. But I cannot wait to get it back. Without the safety-decocker dingus on it, it felt 100 times better in no time.
Well things change. If you don't brush up on your carry pistol, you change. Then you have to find out what works for you again. If you change to a different weapon system, some can be altered while some can't.
So many stories out there, curious to hear a few more from you guys. How has your carry gun setup changed over the years?
This is why I'm not a fan of 1911s for self defense these days where there are better options. Granted, the old timers or even the young guys who do carry them and dedicate their time to train with them extensively are awesome and very adequately run 1911s. But today? With shooting other guns, carrying other guns, and even so much as trying them out, it's difficult to just stick to and justify a 1911 to carry. Especially for those who are starting off.
I've was dedicated to SIG Sauer and Glock for almost 10 years on SIG and about 7 or so with Glock. What did they both have in common for me? Hand placement / grip.
No safety on the side on either. A decocker on the SIG that was in front of the slide stop. All was good. My grip? High and tight with thumbs forward.
I have HUGE hands. Long fingers and all. I remember attempting to take a defensive pistol course with my 1911 and I cannot even begin to tell you how hard I failed. Not engaging the grip safety from my high grip, forgetting to disengage the safety, etc. I went back home (thankfully I was up the street) to get my P226.
My muscle memory under stress is tuned to no external safety whatsoever.
These days, I have since dropped SIG completely off the face of the earth and Glock doesn't do it for me either. So I went with Heckler and Koch.
Full sized USP 45 is my CCW at 4 o'clock with a Smith and Wesson 360PD in .357 appendix. I recently traded into an HK USP 45 Compact... I figured, since I liked the HK USP 45 that I got from my brother Uncle Malice in Arizona, I was carrying it for 4-5 months. I figured, let me get the more concealment friendly little buddy. So I did...
Shooting the USP 45 Compact was interesting. Dead nuts accurate with it. Double taps, triple taps, etc. After 150 rounds, I was getting a major soreness on the inside of my right thumb that rides on / next to the safety-decocker. I kept shooting and doing my drills... At the 200 round mark, a chunk of my skin was lifted up and showing some nice red flesh.
I was talking to people, researching, checked with my brother Uncle Malice, and a really good friend on here MLeake. To find out about the LEM trigger...
Now... let's go back for a second. The full sized USP pistols have NEVER given me an issue. I had a USP 9 Compact and mag changes were a pain, literally. They'd pinch the inside of my palm and sometimes catch my pinky. So, dropped that. Didn't shoot it enough to notice any safety-decocker pain. Ran the rest of that class with a Glock 19.
So! Back to the 45... I swapped it out for an LEM trigger that Mr. Malice sent me, felt 100 times better! I need to get used to that trigger, which feels like a Glock minus the "springiness" with that super long but ultra light take up.
It's at a gun smith's shop right now getting taken care and tuned, because it was having two resets on it. One was a dud and the other was the actual reset, which isn't normal. But I cannot wait to get it back. Without the safety-decocker dingus on it, it felt 100 times better in no time.
Well things change. If you don't brush up on your carry pistol, you change. Then you have to find out what works for you again. If you change to a different weapon system, some can be altered while some can't.
So many stories out there, curious to hear a few more from you guys. How has your carry gun setup changed over the years?