Things That Make You Go Boom!

The search for the perfect carry weapon goes on. However, I dragged out an old favorite and put it back into rotation.

I've mentioned before that comfort with the pistol seems to be paramount. If it feels good in your hands, points naturally, easily, and the controls are logical and easily accessible, that goes a long way. Shooter confidence is a very significant factor. Does one have faith in the weapon? That means both the caliber and the pistol design.

I keep coming back to the Kimber Stainless Ultra Carry in .45. It's very small, very concealable, very pointable, and a pleasure to shoot, even if it is a .45 pushing a 230-grain bullet. It's just a great design.

I've mentioned before that I like the huge magazine capacity on 9mm pistols. But my very favorite 9mm's seem to be single-stack, smaller pistols. So a bit of self-analysis leads me to believe that the single-stack option is the way to go for me. They just seem to fit better i my little hands. Sure, I'm giving up magazine capacity, but how many shots do you REALLY need, anyway? To paraphrase from a lousy tv show, 8 is enough.

If the magazine capacity is going to come in around 8 rounds, why not shoot a bigger bullet? I love the .45, so a single-stack .45 is pretty logical.

Now, to the platform. I still sort of prefer the double action/single action triggers with a safety. I love the 1911 design, and I shoot it better than ANYTHING else I've shot, hands down. However, 1911's don't really have that sort of capability, unless you are looking at a Para-Ordnance LDA of some sort. And that's really not a double-action trigger with a safety. I don't know exactly what you call those triggers, but they're sort of in a class all by themselves.

So that leaves carrying in what's known as condition one, with the hammer back, round chambered, and safety engaged. That's still hard to get used to. 1911 safeties ssem to get knocked off a bit more easily than most double-action safeties. Then you've got a very light trigger pull. There's still the grip safety, and this is how the gun was designed to be carried, but it's still a bit disconcerting.

I feel better carrying with the hammer down on a live round. But I've read more and more lately that is the most unsafe thing to do. For one thing, hammers on anything other than a Series 80-style 1911's don't have drop safeties. In other words, a sharp blow on the hammer in this state could set off a round. Not good, especially if you are prone to dropping things. Plus, a good friend of mine had an accidental discharge while trying to lower the hammer on a live round in his Kimber. And the odds are that it WILL happen, if one chooses to carry like this. Not good at all. So I can't do that anymore.

That leaves carrying without one in the chamber. That just takes too much time to get into play, if you needed it in a hurry. You'd have to draw, rack the slide, and then point and fire. That eats up a bit of time that might be better spent shooting something. But it's the safest option of the three. It's how the military used to train their guys to carry, under normal circumstances. The grip safety apparently didn't make them feel any better, either.

This is somewhat of a dilemma. But the 1911 just fits me well. I shoot it well. I guess I'm just a bit scared of it. I'm going to try carrying with the hammer back and safety on, just to see if I can get used to it or not.

Time will tell. I guess there are worse dilemmas to face.