Shoot What You Carry

[kraigwy]

Just got back from an ICORE match. I shot all stages "TWICE". Once with my Model 64 Smith and six speed loaders, my normal ICORE gun.

I figured I don't carry the '64 for SD, I carry a 642, in my pocket, w/out speed loaders. Practice is nice, but nothing like shooting competition on stages of fire you don't practice for.

So I decided to shoot the match a second time with my pocket carry. Using the pocket since thats how I carry it and loose rounds in another pocket. Sure I was at a disadvantage, I loaded slower and had the disadvantage of 5 instead of 6 shots.

Still I was impressed with how well I did with the 642, no, not close to wining, but I sure built confidence in the gun I carry. Plus there is more stress in a match then relaxed practice at home.

I figure from now on, any match where the rules allow, I'm shooting my SD gun. Certainly can't hurt anything if you don't let your ego bother you because you can't compete with those high prices specialty built ICORE guns.

[Bones]

A-Men! Sir.

[jimbob86]

I always wondered why guys brought a different gun to IDPA/IPSC than what, (if anything) they carried.... like they carried an LCP and competed with a multi-thousand dollar 1911.... or brought a range bag on wheels, picked out a full size compensated gun out of it, strapped on a ridiculous number of large ammo pouches with high cap mags.... and in the case of IPSC shoots, wore spring steel "belts" with skeletonized "spaceguns" on them.... all in an effort "to win". To each is own, I guess.

[skifast]

Right on. Fortunately, I am too poor to own more guns than I need.

[Tamara]

The smug you feel when you show up at a match or class, shoot the gun on your hip, reload it, and drive home, is the best kind of smug.

[Bob F.]

Carry "Speed Strips" instead of loose rounds, much better! They lay flat, don't rattle and load faster! LGS here carries 'em. Well worth looking for. i think I saw 'em in Dillon's catalog, and I'm sure other catalogs have 'em.

Stay safe.
Bob

[treg]

Carry "Speed Strips" instead of loose rounds, much better! They lay flat, don't rattle and load faster! LGS here carries 'em. Well worth looking for. i think I saw 'em in Dillon's catalog, and I'm sure other catalogs have 'em.

Stay safe.
Bob

+1 and they also carry nicely in a coin purse or small camera case. They also work for a partial reload of the cylinder.

A company called TUFF also makes "Tuff Strip", haven't seen them but they're supposed to be as good as Bianchi's "Speed Strips" I think they come in black and red, maybe other colors. They cover a wide variety of calibers too.

[Whirlwind06]

The smug you feel when you show up at a match or class, shoot the gun on your hip, reload it, and drive home, is the best kind of smug.

I always enjoy asking one of the officials walk me to the berm to witness me empty my carry gun and verify that it is clear before the start of the match.

Don't see many other attendees doing it.

[Steviewonder1]

I have taken two Gun Fighting courses this year (2 days each class). All of the participants in both classes used CCW Gear. All semi-auto's. All had two reloads on the belt and more in the range bag. A few were .45ACP, most 9MM double stacks. Going thru 700 rounds on the first class and 600 rounds on the second gives lots of practice with what I carry. After class all went to the firing line and loaded up Social Ammo before leaving the range. There were no Race Guns there.

[sliponby]

I'm soon to take a 2 day course taught by Tiger McKee of Shootrite Firearms Academy in N.E. Alabama (I'm as excited as a kid about to go to camp). He stresses to bring what you carry and how you carry. For me it's either a PM9 or a G26 in strong side pocket. I'm bringing both. Can't wait. Yes, I do need training.

[Tamara]

Originally Posted by Steviewonder1

There were no Race Guns there.

Not talkin' 'bout "Race Guns".

I'm talking about the guy who goes to the two day, 700 round "Gun Fighting course" and puts seven hundred rounds through his Glock 17 in his kydex appendix-carry holster, when he only carries that gun on Saturdays and the rest of the week it's a Kel-Tec P3AT in his trouser pocket.

[azredhawk44]

I'm at that point now.

I carry my gun that I shoot at the steel matches just about every week. I run it with the same gear, though I confess that I change to an OWB holster prior to going to the range.

I pull over on the road and stick my truck in park just before entering the range, and unload the carry ammo from it, as the range is a stickler for the "cold range" rule.

As I leave the range each night, that same magazine winds up back in the magwell within 10 yards of leaving the range property.

[Mannlicher]

Kraigwy

Still I was impressed with how well I did with the 642, no, not close to wining, but I sure built confidence in the gun I carry. Plus there is more stress in a match then relaxed practice at home.

remember, in a gun fight, there is no prize for second place.

excellent post Kraig, thanks for pointing out something that we all know, but few follow.

[Tom Servo]

I figure from now on, any match where the rules allow, I'm shooting my SD gun.

That's something I've always advocated. Years ago, I ran a course with a 2.5" Model 66 just to be a smart-aleck. My reloads were slow, as to be expected, and I felt slow.

End of the day, I came in 4th. I shot IPSC a few times with a K-Frame after that.

Others have mentioned the "shoot the Beretta, carry the LCP" mentality, and that's something I'm seeing much, much more of these last couple of years. If the unthinkable happens, and I have to use a pistol, it needs to be one I'm proficient with.

That means it needs to be a gun I shoot. No excuses. If I want a 6oz. polymer .380 that kicks like a mule, then I'll have to get over how unpleasant it is to shoot. I've got to make sure it runs, and that I can group with it. Otherwise, it becomes a liability.

This becomes even more important when the "range" gun and the "carry" gun are two different types of action.

[smince]

That's why I carry a G19 AIWB 99% of the time.

When I can't (rarely), it's a PM9 (still appendix position), but in a bellyband under a tucked-in shirt. Same basic mechanics, just a little slower.

I hope your 5 shots are enough if you ever need it...

[Tamara]

Originally Posted by smince

I hope your 5 shots are enough if you ever need it...

Says the guy who carries a PM9.

[smince]

Says the guy who carries a PM9.

I also said

(rarely)

It's not an everyday thing

[smince]

Next time, try the 5-shot pocket carry in a Force-On-Force event and see how well it works

[kraigwy]

Next time, try the 5-shot pocket carry in a Force-On-Force event and see how well it works

I think you and others missed the whole point of my statement: "Shoot what you carry".

I carry a 5 Shot 642, I don't carry speed loaders, I don't carry stripper strips, I don't use a holster of any kind, I use my pants pocket.

Weather you agree with my method of carry is a subject for another topic.

I simply decided to shoot my pocket revolver in an ICORE match. Here you are allowed to pay three bucks and shoot a second gun. I shot the first match with my Model 64 with a poop pot full of speed loaders on my old duty belt.

But I decided to pay the three bucks and see what I could do with my carry revolver. So with my revolver in my pocket, and another pocket full of loose rounds, I commenced to shoot the ICORE stages with my 642. Did I come close to winning? NOPE, did I hit anything? Yes, better then I thought I would do. ICORE is about time, I didn't do will in the loading department but I didn't get much time added because of my shooting.

Do I develop confidence in my little pocket pistol? You bet. And from now on, in any ICORE match that allows a second gun, I'll pay my $3 and do it again, not with speed loaders or stripper strips, but LIKE I CARRY.

I don't know that I've shot a FORCE ON FORCE Match, maybe the 642 wont work there, so be it. It wont work in every match, I certainly wont use my pocket revolver in a High Power or Vintage Rifle Match either.

I have no intention to change my carry method so I will perform and look better at a match. I'm too old to care anymore where I place in a given match. I'm not too old to improve my abilities with the revolver I carry, the way I carry it.

So I will keep shooting what matches I can, I will keep loosing those matches, and I will keep building confidence in my abilities with my SD revolver.

[smince]

The point isn't whether or not your chosen carry method works 'in a match'.

I'm not too old to improve my abilities with the revolver I carry, the way I carry it.

That's why you should try it in an FOF environment, to see how it works against a real moving person vs a stationary target.