TexasCHLforum.com

chocolate bayou wrote:Well, I guess that's why I am on these forums - to learn how wrong my thinking is. Thanks for setting me straight. I'll try not to walk out any more idiotic ideas. Here to learn!

My reply below was intended to be succinct - I hope it didn't come across as abrupt.

As RogueUSMC said, we're all here to learn and share what we know (or think we know) and let everyone else chime in so we can refine our knowledge and thinking.

Don't worry about the "silly question" issue. The only ones in that category are the ones you don't ask, and newbie questions are more than welcome.

Even questions that have been answered many times before bring out new nuances when they're asked again and we reexamine them.

So - ask away!

chocolate bayou wrote:To add a different slant on the original question, how many of us that do carry 17+1 capacity, carry all 18 rounds defensive (Critical Duty, etc). I will load mine with the first 10 rounds are self defense followed by fmj.Just an idiosyncrasy, but I figure after ten rounds they are running away or hiding behind something that I would just be wasting the SD rounds. Does any one else split their load?

No.

My carry rounds aren't magazine fillers - they're potentially lifesaving tools. I carry only the highest quality defensive ammunition in every magazine position.

If I need to use my ammo getting a failure to stop, or a "shoot through" or ricochet hit on a bystander because I wanted to save twenty cents on the cost of the round doesn't sound like a bargain to me.

I know that the odds a citizen would have to fire more than 10 rounds in a defensive encounter are extremely low, but low is not zero. That's why I carry spare magazines (yes, that's plural). My approach is if you're going to do something important, it's worth taking the trouble to do it right.

JALLEN wrote:

x007x wrote:I started have the +1 the other day. I guess I just was not thinking about it that much..My gun is rarely ever not chambered.

JALLEN wrote:A P7M8 magazine has only 8 rounds to start with, and 9mm at that, so every round counts. Pop in the magazine, rack the slide, drop the magazine, add a round to it and reinsert.

It's a terrific little pistol, especially for lefties, but it does have some drawbacks.

Wow, I work at a gun store and I have not heard or seen that pistol in a long time.

Yeah, they're not sold anymore, I think. The P7M8 was hideously expensive ($~1500), 9 mm, only 8 rounds, plus one if you want, and it gets real hot real fast when fired continuously. OTOH, it is lefty friendly, has the squeeze cocker safety that many bad guys won't be able to figure out if they somehow get it away from you, (I hope!), relatively small and light, and wonderfully accurate to shoot, at least at closer ranges. It's no Bullseye pistol, though.

NJ state police used to issue it, but found that troopers had a proclivity for shooting themselves when drawing it because the act of gripping cocked the striker with no safety mechanism in place. That, combined with the revolver trained officers' habit of putting their fingers into the trigger guard early on the draw led to an unacceptable number of personal perforations (usually in the hindquarters) on the range.

The gun also makes a distinctive "clack" sound when the squeeze cocker is either activated or released. This is not a problem on the range, but it is one giveaway I wouldn't want to carry into dark places in search of bad guys.

The squeeze cocking mechanism also presents another dilemma: If you're holding a gun on someone (as police often have to do), do you keep a good grip on the weapon (in which case you're holding a cocked and unlocked gun pointed at the individual) or do you relax your grip to uncock it and make the gun more vulnerable to a takeaway?

IMHO, it was a cute idea but had too many drawbacks to be truly useful for defensive purposes. The market has spoken on it, and the issue wasn't just price.

03Lightningrocks wrote:

Excaliber wrote:

texanjoker wrote:

Excaliber wrote:

03Lightningrocks wrote:I am good to go with one round.

Yup, and if there are 2 BG's you just wait until you can get them lined up one behind the other!

Make sure we get Youtube video of the shot..that would be epic.

It would help if the caliber was .44 Mag and up. I don't think it would work so well with a .380.

I got two squirrels with one pellet once. Does that count?

Absolutely! Very impressive!

texanjoker wrote:

Excaliber wrote:

03Lightningrocks wrote:I am good to go with one round.

Yup, and if there are 2 BG's you just wait until you can get them lined up one behind the other!

Make sure we get Youtube video of the shot..that would be epic.

It would help if the caliber was .44 Mag and up. I don't think it would work so well with a .380.

03Lightningrocks wrote:I am good to go with one round.

Yup, and if there are 2 BG's you just wait until you can get them lined up one behind the other!

AlaskanInTexas wrote:

Excaliber wrote:Since a full magazine with one in the chamber is the predominant law enforcement and CHL carry practice, a more enlightening question might be: who doesn't carry a full mag with one in the chamber and why?

My mags are always one short. Why? Because I don't like bothering with dropping the mag and putting another round in. Blasphemy? Perhaps. Irresponsible? Perhaps. The fact of the matter is life is full of risks and tradeoffs. We all have to draw the line somewhere between absolute security and just plain living life. We all make this decision (unless each of you drive a tank, wear body armor, and have 8 magazines somehow strapped to your body). Those on this site tend to skew more heavily towards sacrificing comfort and convenience for marginal gains in safety. That's fine. I just have a different perspective that works for me. The chances of me every using a firearm in self defense are very low. The marginal improvement in security of adding 1 more round on top of 19 is negligible and in my opinion, not worth the hassle.

Valid point.

The number of circumstances where an extra round on top of the 19 would make a practical difference in citizen carry comes darn close to zero.

That raises another interesting question:

At what round count in the gun do our members feel comfortable (5, 6, 7, 8, etc.)?

Personally I'm very comfortable with 8 rounds of .45ACP and at least one spare mag (two preferred), although I sometimes carry guns with only 6 (XDs, Kahr PM5, etc.) and extra mags.

Since a full magazine with one in the chamber is the predominant law enforcement and CHL carry practice, a more enlightening question might be: who doesn't carry a full mag with one in the chamber and why?