The .40 S&W caliber hit the market running in the early 1990's. Glock got there first with Sig-Sauer following close behind. The thing was, Smith & Wesson brought out the cartridge and their firearm was third to market behind Glock and Sig. That little embarrassing bit of history has been pretty much forgotten, but the .40 caliber has not. The positive behind the .40 was that it held close to the magazine capacity of a 9millie, and had the first digit of the mighty .45 Colt Auto, (major selling point because the .45 just plain works at stopping bad men from doing bad things), even if it wasn't followed by the important -5. The .40 short is where my story of handgun ownership started, that being the first caliber firearm I purchased.
The catch in my life at the time was that I was a student at Marshall University in my freshman year. That being the case I had no income and was not yet the required 21 years old to purchase a hand gun. I would have to wait two years before my first purchase. At the time I had been lusting for a Glock M-22 in the new .40 cal. These were the days of early street poetry, NWA and Public Enemy blasted heavy bass lines sampled from '70's funk, and all the O.G.'s packed the plastic framed pistol, every lyric of that day carried the catch phrase about "9's" and being blasted or burned down by a 9 millimeter. Gangster Rap did much to promote the Glock outside of Law Enforcement. Both sides of the street jumped on the "Plastic Pistol" bandwagon.
Fast forward a couple and a Glock model 22, (touted as being invisible on airport X-Ray machines), had found it's way into an Uncle Mikes nylon IWB holster which rode with me daily. Being young and not having experience with firearms as far as trigger time and use; that only comes with time, I supposed as many still do that the Glocks were the most ingenious of weapon design. Now I find how poorly designed ergonomically they actually were. A Glock just does not fit my hand or point well for me at all. (plenty of readers are seeing red right now).
I have never understood arguing over firearms farther than making the point of "this is what works for me." Because that is what individuality is about. Everyone's hand is different and what fits best is the best tool for that person. Everything else is icing. Shoot what feels good and what you are proficient with. A .500 S&W magnum round that just whizzed passed a zombie's face doesn't impress said zombie as much as that copper BB fired into it's eye from a Red Ryder lever action air gun.
The guys I shoot with are constantly pushing their preferred gun/caliber on everyone around them. And that is part of the fun of exploring firearms, and I have my opinion as well. Before you ladies and gentlemen new to firearms make a purchase seek out someone whom can back up what they are feeding you with real proof of experience/use rather than everything sucks but this gun. I rarely see police or military as experts on firearms. That is in no way to imply that some aren't. And I have found most are in putting them to use, but look at it this way. An Officer or Soldier/Marine/Airman/Sailor is issued a firearm, they have very little to no say outside of The Special Force Branches what weapon they use. Military standard in the M16 platform and the M9 Baretta infrequently the M8 Sig. With LE it is usually a Glock, Sig, or again the Baretta. There are others of course but mainly it is this handful of choices. It is far wiser to seek out a private gun owner who has tried it all on his own dime rather than the taxpayer/Chief's decision, which frequently is a political decision anyway.
Example: US's adoption of the inferior M9 so that our government could set up intercontinental ballistic missiles in Italy back in the 1980's.
Gun questions will be answered and advice given freely here, you only need ask.
My history with firearms to be continued...
No comments:
Post a Comment