I just don't understand...

I had never had a chance to handle a Beretta before yesterday and everyone I picked up, the grips weren't tall enough for my hand. I could only grip the pistol with three fingers. The Beretta grips were too wide for my wife's hands and the Glock grips were too long for her, meaning front to back. It fit my hand but I didn't like how sharp the corners of the trigger guard felt against my middle finger every time I tried to aim it. My wife just laughed and said "if the trigger guard bothers you, you could always just melt it, since its made of plastic." She hates the look of Glocks because she thinks they look like toys. Lol

I'm not sure which back strap the guy had on the M&P we both picked up, she said it was the most comfortable for here, it fit all my fingers, and there weren't any corners digging into my middle finger. Lol
 
The rails turn me off too. I'm not into hanging things on my handguns. I like handguns for being small and portable. The hanging things detract from that.

And it's easier to find a nice sleek holster for a gun without a rail. I'm almost to the point of filing them off a few guns I own.
 
Disorientation

In regards to the OP's original question about the usefulness of flashlights, I think I can shed some light on the issue (get it?).

My M9A1 has a rail and a TLR-1 attached to it. It is fun and admittadly useful on my pathetically lit local range but I will concede that during a home invasion at night the light would give away your position but there are benifits.

The first of which is simply having a light, but the real advantage comes from the distraction and disorientation that the light causes. I found this out by accident but try shining any kind of tactical light into a mirror, it is blinding even in a fully lighted room. Now my TLR-1 also has a strobe mode that I also tried in the mirror and my eyes actually hurt for few minutes after looking into the mirror for only a second or two. Obvious as it sounds, just because you have a light does not mean you have to turn it on, so don't rule out the possibility of sneaking around until you find something suspicious and then shining the light right into its eyes.

Now consider this from the side of a home invader. Even if he was able to shoot back it would be at best blind fire, while you would be able to line up a good shot.

My take is that, no its not necessary, but it is useful to have as an option.
 
I have never given much thought to putting a light on my pistol, even though my Glock has the rail, and I will admit, having slipped a friend's on there once, it does look really cool, but have never given it any serious thought.

That being said, I can attest to the disorienting effect of having a SureFire light on the end of a long arm.

It was handy when searching through somebody's closet or dark rooms at night, and, I found that at night, on the side of the road, when somebody may or not be hostile, be abling to effectively blind them while you stop and frisk them is a pretty handy, non-lethal, non-violent compliance tool to have.
 
Yeah, I've seen those but I like my 1911's a little more traditional. I'm not a fan of skeletalized this and skeletalized that, or enlarged this and extended that. I do just fine with the basics design. Maybe if I shot competively, I could see a use for those mods or upgrades, but to me, their just gimmicks. I really don't see a need for giant beaver tails and giant thumb safeties. Maybe its because I have large hands? You'd think with large hands, I'd have to worry about slide bite and would appreciate a large beaver tail, but I've never been bitten and I've never had to worry about how I griped one. I just pick them up, aim, and fire. I don't doubt slide bite occurs but I think people worry about it too much. The 1911 has been around a lot longer than large beaver tails and I'm sure the number of people bitten is in the minority.

I'm sure everyone's thinking "then just but a 1911 chambered in 9mm and quite complaining." That was my first thought but my wife acted like she didn't like my 1911s. So that's why we were looking to see what else was out there. After looking and discussing it more, it turns out she likes the 1911 platform just fine. She just doesn't like it in .45. Lol so I guess that solves that problem AND gives me an excuse to buy another 1911. Yes! :)
 
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I don't mind forward serrations, but I don't like trinket rails on handguns. I would never use a rail for anything, they add bulk, get in my way and don't fit smoothly into a holster (IMHO). I probably wouldn't use the serrations either, but they can look ok to me and don't get in my way.
 
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Yeah it's true, I'm pretty "narrow minded" when it comes to pistols. Lol
Don't get me wrong, if you want that "stuff" an your pistol or have a use for it, then you should be able to have it. Im not saying there isnt a place for it. im just saying I dont want near any of my pistols. Just as you are able to buy it with a nicknack rack, I should be able to buy it unaltered from its intended purpose. A pistol is a gun, its not something you hang "stuff" off of. You want to hang stuff? Buy a hook. You need a place to hang it? Buy a key chain.

I just don't understand why people have to try and fix things that aren't broken. I understand companies need to make money to stay in business and they're always looking for some gimmick to outsell a competitor. Also, I understand its easier to modify something that already exists rather than create something new. If you make a quality product for a fair price, people will buy it, you shouldn't have to use gimmicks to sell your product. I know what the manufacturers are doing. They focus more on profit than the quality, or usefulness of their product. They know if they slap this on or cut that out, which costs then next to nothing, that can charge more for the same item, increasing their profits. So many of use have been brainwashed by Hollywood and television that we believe any thing we see and can't think for ourselves anymore. This sheep mentality is what manufacturers are looking for. They know they can slap whatever label they want on an otherwise useless concept, and there will be people gullible enough to buy into it.

Good example of why not to buy into aftermarket tacticool junk. I went to LGS a few months ago and there was a "kid" trying to sell his Ak variant. His rifle had every conceivable doo-dad money could buy. I think his goal was to try and make it look as much like an AR15 as he could. He had a hard rifle case and a pile of steel mags to go with it. The clerk took one look at it and told him "I'm not interested in it." When the kid asked why, the clerk told him, "I can't sell it with all that junk on it." The kid preceded to tell the clerk how much money each attachment cost, and the clerk basically told him that it would cost him more to return it to "stock" condition, then what he could sell it for. So in short, this kid probably bought a WASR 10, (not sure, cuz I didn't get to look at it that close), for a few bucks then spent well over that for all his "upgrades" and ended up with a rifle that was worth less than when he started. But because he spent at least twice as much when he was finished, he thought he should get twice as much as what a new "unaltered" one goes for.

Tacticool doesn't make you tactical. Slapping the word tactical on something doesn't make you tactical. Training makes you tactical. There's no substitution for training. There's no gimmick you can buy that will make you as good as your heroes from movies and tv.
 
I just don't understand why people have to try and fix things that aren't broken.

For two reasons, really: 1) because some people are just tinkerers and 2) because people like certain things they own to be unique or "customized" in some fashion.

I have an LC9 and I can tell you there are a couple of things I'd change on it if I could find or make the right parts. I'd like for someone to develop a laser sight that replaces the loaded chamber indicator, or at least come up with some that have witty personalized "themes" to them - maybe just carve "SKANS" in it.

People are always replacing the doo-dads on their 1911's with custom parts, why not the LC9?
 
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