{"id":6119,"date":"2017-05-18T18:01:00","date_gmt":"2017-05-18T22:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/?p=6119"},"modified":"2021-07-30T10:30:09","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T14:30:09","slug":"sw-3953","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/sw-3953\/","title":{"rendered":"My Carry Gun Is Outdated and Weird"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I recently heard some advice from a group of fitness experts that went something like this: Some types of exercise are better than others, but if you want to stay in shape, just find an activity you enjoy. If you don&#8217;t like the kind of exercise you&#8217;re doing, you probably won&#8217;t stick with it and any exercise is better than no exercise.<\/p> <p>There&#8217;s a lesson there that I think carries over into the world of defensive firearms. Watch the video below for my thoughts, or keep reading for the full transcript.<\/p> <hr \/> <div class=\"entry-content-asset\"><script src=\"https:\/\/fast.wistia.com\/assets\/external\/E-v1.js\" async><\/script><\/p> <noscript class=\"idle-load\"><div class=\"wistia_responsive_padding\" style=\"padding:56.25% 0 0 0;position:relative;\"> <div class=\"wistia_responsive_wrapper\" style=\"height:100%;left:0;position:absolute;top:0;width:100%;\"> <div class=\"wistia_embed wistia_async_jrnenatyu5 dnt=1 seo=false videoFoam=true\" style=\"height:100%;position:relative;width:100%\"> <div class=\"wistia_swatch\" style=\"height:100%;left:0;opacity:0;overflow:hidden;position:absolute;top:0;transition:opacity 200ms;width:100%;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/fast.wistia.com\/embed\/medias\/jrnenatyu5\/swatch\" style=\"filter:blur(5px);height:100%;object-fit:contain;width:100%;\" alt=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" onload=\"this.parentNode.style.opacity=1;\" \/><\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div><\/noscript> <\/div> <p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/> A lot of you guys have been asking me whether I\u2019m still carrying the Beretta PX4 Compact that I <a href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/review-beretta-px4-compact-part-1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reviewed about a year ago<\/a>. The truth is that between doing reviews and other research, I don\u2019t usually carry the same gun for very long. I still think the PX4 is a great gun and I wouldn\u2019t hesitate to recommend it, but I have not been carrying it.<\/span><\/p> <p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For the last few months, I\u2019ve actually been carrying a Smith &amp; Wesson 3953. These were discontinued several years ago along with all the rest of the old <a href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/guide-smith-wesson-semi-automatic-models\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Smith &amp; Wesson metal-framed semi-autos<\/a>. Unlike most of those guns, this one is double action only instead of double action\/single action. It\u2019s a compact single stack 9mm with an 8-round magazine.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This gun is almost the same size and weight as the PX4 but it holds about half as much ammo. So it would be fair to ask why I\u2019m carrying something outdated like this when there are other options that are obviously so much better. <\/span><\/p><p><\/p> <p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I could give you all kinds of little reasons why I think this gun is a better choice for me right now than a higher capacity double stack or a modern pocket-size single stack. But ultimately, the reason I\u2019m carrying this gun is that I just really like it. It\u2019s reliable and accurate, and I have found that I shoot it really well. It\u2019s like a 9-shot 9mm revolver with a really nice trigger. When I\u2019m at the range and I actually find a few minutes to spend on some real focused practice, the 3953 is the gun I want to shoot, so that\u2019s the gun I\u2019ve been carrying.<\/span><\/p> <p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some people look at their defensive firearms without any emotional attachment at all. It is just a piece of safety equipment like a fire extinguisher or a seatbelt. As long as it works, they don\u2019t care what it is. I admire that, but I have a difficult time adopting that mentality myself. Most of us who spend any significant time developing defensive shooting skills also view shooting as a hobby. There are a lot of times when that hobby is at odds with the goal of personal protection. Most shooters would probably rather buy another gun they don\u2019t really need than spend that money on a case of practice ammo or a good training class. <\/span><\/p> <p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But shooting for fun and building self-defense skills don\u2019t have to be mutually exclusive &#8212; those two things <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">can<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> compliment each other. In the case of your carry gun, for example, if you enjoy shooting that gun, you\u2019re going to be a lot more motivated to practice with it. On the other hand, if you have a hard time getting excited about going to the range because black plastic is boring to you or because your carry gun is too small and it\u2019s hard to shoot &#8212; those things are going to keep you from practicing.<\/span><\/p> <p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I think it\u2019s probably better to trade that gun in for something that interests you, even if it means giving up some minor perceived tactical advantage like losing a few rounds of ammo capacity or slower split times or going to a smaller caliber. Or, you know, if covering your gun with a fuschia leopard print Cerakote is going to get you excited about taking it to the range, that might be money well spent, too.<\/span><\/p> <p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I certainly have some opinions about what kind of guns are going to be ideal for most people but I am willing to ignore a lot of that as long as it\u2019s reliable, safe, and it helps motivate somebody to be a better shooter.<\/span><\/p> <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I recently heard some advice from a group of fitness experts that went something like this: Some types of exercise &#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/sw-3953\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[46,47,17,236,221],"class_list":["post-6119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-9mm","tag-concealed-carry","tag-self-defense","tag-single-stack","tag-smith-wesson"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Smith &amp; 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