Would/Do You Carry A "Pretty" Gun?

[Bill DeShivs]

I engraved and plated it. It originally had a white grip frame.

[Rattlehead]

Was talking to a co-worker about his Wrangler the other day, and he said, "I bought an old F-150 several years back, and got it to go some interesting places before it died. I paid a lot more for that Jeep - you better believe I'm going to get it to go even more interesting places!"

IMO, same philosophy applies...

[Guv]

I totally see your point Rattle head, life is short, if you don't enjoy it someone else will.

[AustinTX]

Very cool, Bill!

[Polglock]

Walther ppk and sig p232 both stainless both are pretty and both are carried.

[pete2]

If I had a pretty carry gun I'd carry it. I have a new Light weight Commander(Wiley Clapp) and I will carry it but it isn't bright and shiney like a BBQ gun like a nickle Taurus with gold trim and Mother of Pearl grips.

[diggler1833]

I am guilty of buying an ugly gun to fill the same roll that one of my "pretty" ones could.

It is the only reason why I own S&W M&P's and Glocks. I don't feel bad when I put a scratch or wear on them.

[bikerbill]

Beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder. Most people wouldn't find a Kimber UCII a thing of beauty. I added a set of cream VZ grips and dumped the black sights in favor of something I could see, red front, green rear fiber optics ... It's not a BBQ gun, but it has a certain quality I love .. can't wait for cooler weather to resume carrying it ...

[bledsoeG19]

I carry a Wiley Clapp gov't model. Its blueing is starting to wear on the nose of the slide from being carried, oh and being drawn and holstered a lot. I shoot the holy tar out of it. I bought it because I thought it was functional AND beautiful. I do not and will not own a gun that I would feel bad about shooting. There's only one centerfire handgun I own that I do not carry and that is beause it's a 6 in bbl model 19-4 which is more difficult to conceal. And you can bet that I shoot the tar out of it too. If I owned a 5k plus wilson supergrade, it would be carried and shot as often as I could. At the end of the day, they're still tools.

Holster wear is sexy.

[hemiram]

I've carried several pretty guns over the years, but not on a sustained basis. I carried a Beretta 92, one of the Italian polished ones, and even a Beretta 84 and a Browning BDA380. My main carry gun, when I worked armed security was a pretty rough looking Dan Wesson 15-2 that I bought ridiculously cheap at a Vegas Pawnshop. The shop owner said "It's messed up and gets stuck!", when all that was wrong was the barrel gap was about zero. I had it working fine in about 5 minutes, and an hour after I bought it, I was blowing up water jugs with it. I used some cold bluing to cover most of the scratches and started carrying it at work. I sold it about 4 years after I bought it for about $50 more than I paid for it, even though it had been hit against slot machines and furniture during numerous "scuffles" at work, so it looked pretty pitiful by then. Last one I carried period was my black Astra A-75. Just putting it in the holster and walking around with it for a few hours made some permanent marks on it.

[Ignition Override]

My only previous handgun (before this week) was/is the excellent Sauer 38H.
Last week I bought my first 'carry gun', and at age 59.

It looks exactly like the Sig 232 on page 1, but has the black rubber grip.
Check Dragline's Sig in post #23 of this topic .

[somerled]

"Pretty is as pretty does." and "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

The ones that work well are beautiful to me. The ugliest thing about guns I can't stand are buggered-up screw slots. Some ugly human with a cheap-ass screwdriver abused them.

[treg]

Get the best tool for the job.

Honest wear adds character exponentially to a pretty gun.

[1hogfan83]

Beauty only goes about a grand deep for me. An HK and a semi custom CZ P-01 from Cajun Gun Works. They are true works of art. The CZ is already covered with bumps and cuts. She gets prettier with every one. Nice trigger too.

[Rogervzv]

My Sig P238 Two-Tone is a very pretty gun but it is also my everyday carry pistol. Shown here together with my S&W Shield.

[mxsailor803]

I do all the time. I carry a P229 SAS DAK and I have no issues with it getting used.

[Stevie-Ray]

Vast majority of the time, yes. My primary is a Kimber Ultra CDP, which is very pretty, but it is also what I shoot best, and so it therefore is on my side about 98% of the time. OTOH, my woods gun and my night biking gun are both Glocks, and you can't get much uglier.

[zach_]

G4 GLOCK 19 bone stock - beautiful pistol.

[Pond, James Pond]

So some seem to imply that a practical gun cannot be beautiful, others imply that a beautiful gun must be expensive or that an expensive gun is somehow impractical. Seem to be some crazy suggestions on this thread!!

I cannot afford to buy a gun purely because I like to look at it, but if I need a gun that happens to be beautiful it will not stop me using it. They can all coexist, IMO.

Dragline45's Sig 232 is a case in point. If I were allowed chambered carry that would be a serious contender as a carry gun. It does it well, but is also my all time favourite looking gun! An Astra A60/Constable would be another possible choice for the very same reasons.

If either were my carry gun I would be thrilled. I'd feel safer with it on my hip and I could oggle it in the safety of my living room: what's not to like?

[AZ-Quailhunter]

NO....not really....I carry a good old Glock 19 ugly as it is.

[buckfynn]

I have carried a lot of pretty guns. And the more I carry one of them they become not so pretty. The ones I carry the most I develop a sentimental attachment so I could care less if they are pretty or not.

[jetinteriorguy]

Personally I really appreciate pretty guns, and would shoot them regularly. But I would never carry one for the most obvious reason everyone has missed. If you ever have to use it in a self defense situation it will most likely spend the rest of its life rotting in a police evidence locker. Seems like a terrible waste of a nice gun. I wouldn't miss my LC9s that much and would just replace it with no tears shed, can't say the same for some of the beauties I've seen posted here.

[AustinTX]

Personally I really appreciate pretty guns, and would shoot them regularly. But I would never carry one for the most obvious reason everyone has missed. If you ever have to use it in a self defense situation it will most likely spend the rest of its life rotting in a police evidence locker.

That was already mentioned above.

I see it mentioned fairly often in these discussions, but I don't see it as a compelling reason at all, anyway. At best, it's a tiebreaker between two choices that happen to be exactly equal for someone in their suitability as a CCW -- which is never actually the case.

If someone determines to the best they can from training/practice that a certain "pretty" gun provides them their best chance of a favorable outcome in a situation requiring use of a CCW, then it seems like a no-brainer that they should carry that gun, regardless of its possible fate in an evidence locker. Far better that they mourn the loss of their pretty gun than not have the ability to mourn anything at all.

[AK103K]

If someone determines to the best they can from training/practice that a certain "pretty" gun provides them their best chance of a favorable outcome in a situation requiring use of a CCW, then it seems like a no-brainer that they should carry that gun, regardless of its possible fate in an evidence locker. Far better that they mourn the loss of their pretty gun than not have the ability to mourn anything at all.

Absolutely.

Another reason to have multiples/duplicates of what you carry too. Assuming "pretty" is not cost prohibitive to do so.

[sixgunluv]

Same as above...i buy two of my favorite. The one in better shape gets more range time and cleaning, the other gets carried daily, thrown in the console, etc and fired only enough to confirm reliability.
2 of these... and 2 of these