Carrying a gun that is painful to shoot

[Gluemanz28]

Everything is on a sliding scale. Stinging after 50 rounds would not, to me, be considered painful. That said, 25-50 rounds with my carry gun and then switching to something else is also not enough to build proficiency to the level I want to be at unless you are doing it daily and putting in a lot of time dry firing. I shoot about triple that when I live fire. "Proficient" is also a range, some folks will be happy at different levels of skill. No one is going to put 150-300 rounds down range with a gun that hurts to shoot, and every round properly practiced is cumulative. Someone who's shot 10k well practiced rounds is way ahead on the curve of someone who's shot 3300, all else being equal.

Very well said BBI

I have started to only take my EDC gun to the range for self defense practice. If I am just going to have some fun shooting some of the guns from the stable then I don't shoot my EDC while I am there. I have to have two separate mindsets when it comes to range trips.

This has helped me improve on my skills. Others might do just fine mixing the two types of range trips but for me it didn't work. I average about 200 rounds per week through my EDC (Shield in 40)

 

[U.S. Patriot]

That's why I carry my Kahr. I can pocket carry if I choose too, but I feel confident with it.

 

[Robjps]

When I worked IT I carried a gov't sized 1911 concealed every day, and since I never got fired I figure no one noticed.

Usually the people that notice are the ones that don't care lol.

 

[TheEngineer]

At my last range outing, I shot a buddy's S&W Bodyguard 38 revolver...without a doubt THE MOST painful gun i have ever shot. May have been my gorilla hands effecting my grip on the stubby frame, i dont know, but squeezed the trigger for the first shot and i could feel it in the bones of my hand.

I will say that if this gun was my EDC, i couldn't hit a beer can at a yard cause i would never shoot it...

 

[eldirector]

My little Kahr CM40 is not the most pleasurable thing to shoot for any length of time. After 5 mags or so, it is beyond annoying. It has been reliable though, and I am accurate "enough" for defensive purposes. It also isn't my primary, so even less of a concern.

As others have said: I don't carry it to be "comfortable".

Now, if one carries a handgun that is so "painful" that they can't shoot it well; that doesn't appear to be a very good choice.

 

[Fordtough25]

I've not heard of a less comfortable gun being a primary. But, if someone is wearing a suit everyday, I can see them carrying something like this. In a life or death situation, the pain will not be felt.

+1, well said Que! My smallest carry is a PF9 and it isn't bad to shoot. IMO. The smallish J frames never hurt my hand but they weren't much fun to plink with.

 

[hoosierfishing]

These little painful guns are designed to be up close and personal. The reason they are painful is because they are so small, but that size also makes it easier to carry. Some people don't want to mess with carrying a mid or large size gun. Trust me, when you have to use it, you will not notice the pain. I would rather have my lcp in my pocket then nothing at all. For the record, I carry my glock 19 most of the time. Everything is a compromise.

 

[Gluemanz28]

These little painful guns are designed to be up close and personal. The reason they are painful is because they are so small, but that size also makes it easier to carry. Some people don't want to mess with carrying a mid or large size gun. Trust me, when you have to use it, you will not notice the pain. I would rather have my lcp in my pocket then nothing at all. For the record, I carry my glock 19 most of the time. Everything is a compromise.

+1 Hoosier
My wife has a LCP that she carries when she needs something smaller than her G42. I read some of the post that some have posted about the LCP being too painful to shoot. Her reply was "Wuss"

I have seen her shoot 100 rounds at a time through it and not complain. If it hurts with just a few shots then learn how to properly hold a gun.

 

[Lebowski]

Hmm.. I actually like shooting my CM9 which I carry. Doesn't really bother me, and I certainly don't carry 10 extra magazines with me and throwing 10 magazines worth of lead downrange ain't a biggy... I think in the unfortunate and hopefully unlikely event it ever has to be used in a self-defense situation, that the 6+1 or 7+1 mag I carry in it (depending on shirt) and possible backup mag (which I also don't always carry) would suffice in: A.) Keeping me alive and B.) Not hurting my hands

Then again, I've gone through lengths to make it more comfortable too. Stippling + grip extension + Hogue rubber grip sleeve leaves it feeling pretty good in the hand over the stock setup.


My favorite and most comfortable gun, I think, is my Ruger MK1... I love the grip angle. The 22LR makes for light recoil and easy shooting. But it weighs as much as a brick and doesn't conceal very well... and isn't very reliable (feed issues) and I don't want to start a debate on carrying a 22LR pistol as my primary! Haha.

 

[.452browning]

I carried a Keltec 380 for a while as a BUG. It wasn't painful to shoot a few mags. After that it started to feel uncomfortable. Not hurt, just my hand kind of tingled. I sold it and never looked back.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

"Under pressure, you don’t rise to the occasion, you sink to the level of your training. That’s why we train so hard" - attributed to an anonymous SEAL.

 

[bwframe]

A lot of folks have predetermined their "gunfight." What it will be, how many rounds, what distance, attackers armed/not, how many attackers, etc. I don't know how you could know.

It's pretty easy to fall back on "better a LCP in the pocket than a .45 in the safe," rather than actually train with a real SD firearm that might actually do some good if you had to use it. To compound this problem, most often these painful to shoot guns are carried in a fashion that doesn't allow a quick accurate draw. So you run the real risk of a slow terrible grip on a gun that's difficult at best to shoot.

 

[Madjack181]

My primary gun isn't my favorite. But is more conceals much better. If it has to be used I know it will get the job done.

 

[DeadeyeChrista'sdad]

Speaking of "that crappy Keltec". I had a p3at. It was just a little too harsh on my little girly hands. So I switched to a p32. Lesser caliber, yes. But i can comfortably practice with it, and it's still tiny in the pocket.

 

[Snapdragon]

A lot of folks have predetermined their "gunfight." What it will be, how many rounds, what distance, attackers armed/not, how many attackers, etc. I don't know how you could know.

It's pretty easy to fall back on "better a LCP in the pocket than a .45 in the safe," rather than actually train with a real SD firearm that might actually do some good if you had to use it.

You talk about others predetermining their gunfight, but you have already predetermined that an LCP (or LCR in my case) is worthless.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

There's a big difference between "painful to shoot" two or six times, and "painful to shoot" fifty or a hundred times.

 

[Birds Away]

Carry what you shoot best. Shoot your carry gun more than all others combined. If your plan is to defend your life with your second, third or fourth best gun then your life must not mean much to you. Convincing yourself to carry something you don't shoot well because it conceals easier or is more comfortable is a fool's errand in my opinion.

 

[lovemachine]

Carry what you shoot best. Shoot your carry gun more than all others combined. If your plan is to defend your life with your second, third or fourth best gun then your life must not mean much to you. Convincing yourself to carry something you don't shoot well because it conceals easier or is more comfortable is a fool's errand in my opinion.

Yep.

 

[Snapdragon]

But who is saying that they are carrying something that they don't shoot well? "Not comfortable to shoot" does not necessarily equal "not shooting it well". At handgun range, I shoot my LCR as well as I shoot my three bigger revolvers.

 

[Birds Away]

In my opinion, if you have multiple guns with the same MOA, same trigger feel, same ergonomics, etc. And it these guns shoot the same for you then you are, for all intents and purposes, shooting the "same gun" and my comment does not refer to you. If a person is a Glock type and has several different models that are, essentially, exactly the same and there is little difference between how he/she shoots them then they are shooting the "same gun". I have several guns that I carry. They are the same make, have been customized to have the same sights, same trigger and trigger pull. They have the same ergos and, effectively, the same MOA. I consider them to be the same. I have one I don't shoot as well so I don't carry it.