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I was riding down HWY 101 earlier tonight, and some a-hole threw a bottle or cup at me. It didn't hit me, but needless to say, it pissed me off. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see their license, but I called the cops anyway, even though I already knew that they'll never get caught for it.
This kinda garbage happens fairly frequently to me while bike riding. I've had numerous things thrown at me (all the solid items have missed thankfully...so far), I've been shot at with airguns and paintball guns (those have all missed me too), I've been honked at, cussed at, blinded with lights, people have weaved from the oncoming lane to within inches of hitting me when I'm on the shoulder, A-holes have tried to sick their dog on me when I'm on a public road minding my own business, and one time someone either threw urine or saliva on me (not 100% sure what kind of nasty fluid it was, but that one DID land on me). After awhile, it really gets on your nerves.
Now if it was legal, I'd pack an AK with me everywhere I go, and wrecklessly spray bullets towards any vehicle, person, or small, defenseless child that so much as looks at me crosseyed, let alone those who throw stuff at me. But, being the scrawny, defenseless white dude that I am, I don't really think I'd have a good time in prison, and unfortunately, I can't just go popping shots off at cars that have thrown stuff at me, despite the fact that it could possibly kill me (primarily by causing me to crash, weave into traffic and get ran over, etc).
Normally I carry a little keltec .32, and I'm fine with that most of the time. It's not much firepower, but to me, the ease of carry and concealment outweighs the hassle of packing around something bigger most of the time. I bicycle a lot of logging and BLM roads, and sometimes I carry a larger gun on the rear rack of my bike, since I don't have to be burdened by the extra weight and bulk of having it attached to my body. Riding in town though, I just carry the keltec because I haven't seen any bears (I've encountered a LOT of black bears in the past few years hiking/biking), and because I'm lazy, and also because I don't like people gawking at me for having a gun strapped to my bike. I also worry about my guns getting rusty too.
Tonight was the final straw though. I've now decided that the extra margin of safety of having a high capacity 9mm outweighs the comfort and convenience of the diminutive keltec for bicycling, and I want some opinions. (I'm still going to rely on the lowly .32 for CC the rest of the time though...that, and the fetal position).
I have three other handguns that I'm considering for carry; S&W 629 with a 5" barrel, beretta PX4 9mm, and a glock 17.
The 629 is by far my favorite handgun, the one I shoot the most, and the most accurate. While I know revolvers can malfunction, I'd trust one over any pistol, any day of the week. It's also the classiest gun I own, and I feel like God when I shoot stuff with it. It's also fun to recite quotes from Dirty Harry when I take it out of the safe and lovingly caress it. Try doing that with a glock. It's just not the same.
I carry the 629 in the woods a lot, and it's the gun that I eventually plan on taking with me to Alaska too, so although I don't like it being exposed to rain and bad weather, I bought the gun with the intention that someday it's going to go to some bad places and see some crappy weather. I'm not sure how it will hold up to salt water though. The 629 is also my most expensive handgun, and I can't afford to replace it anytime soon either.
Of course, .44mag isn't exactly an ideal SD round, and would probably look bad in court in the unfortunate event that I actually did have to use it to defend myself. So the more likely candidates for coastal rust are the glock and beretta.
I've had the beretta awhile now, but still don't even have 100 rounds through it, so obviously I need more trigger time to get accustomed to it, and to see how reliable it is. It's been 100% so far though, and I'd still trust it to go boom with one in the chamber whether I ever shoot it again or not, so I don't foresee any reliability problems with it.
The beretta seems pretty accurate (I at least hit more stuff with it than I do the glock), but it doesn't really seem to fit my hands very well, and I've tried all the different backstraps.
I'm not real keen on this gun getting rained on either. I try to keep all my nice guns nice, and if I start packing it around on the back of a crusty old bicycle, it's bound to get uglied up, and it's about as pretty of polymer gun as there is.
The glock on the other hand, is butt ugly, and has absolutely no soul or personality whatsoever. I really don't like glocks, but bought it because they've been widely regarded as the world standard for semi-auto reliability for years now, and because of the price and availability of hi-cap mags for it.
The glock was originally going to be my SHTF gun, but I haven't shot it much, and have only carried it a few times. It's got less than 400 rounds through it (probably closer to only 300) and has had one malfunction, but that's still reliable enough for me. The bad thing, is that I'm not accurate with it at all. The last time I took it out, I was chronographing some ammo with it, and managed to shoot my chrony twice (out of only about 15 or 20 rounds). I'm sure the fact that I'm as much of a marksman as Barney Fife is probably had something to do with it, but I'd still like to blame the gun or the ammo for the bad shooting. Despite all that though, I still think I can (hopefully) hit good enough for most of the ranges that any kind of SD situation is likely going to occur at.
Regardless of what gun I end up packing, I'm going to practice more with it first.
So, now that you've read my lengthy ramblings (or at least skimmed through most of them), what do you think I should carry? Which gun will hold up the best to salt water and rain without rusting horribly? I'm good about wiping my guns down and keeping them dry when not in use, but I don't like dissasembling them a lot, and I don't want to carry a gun that's coated in oil either. That's messy and nasty and not worth the hassle.
Also, buying a different gun is not an option at the moment.
Thanks
This kinda garbage happens fairly frequently to me while bike riding. I've had numerous things thrown at me (all the solid items have missed thankfully...so far), I've been shot at with airguns and paintball guns (those have all missed me too), I've been honked at, cussed at, blinded with lights, people have weaved from the oncoming lane to within inches of hitting me when I'm on the shoulder, A-holes have tried to sick their dog on me when I'm on a public road minding my own business, and one time someone either threw urine or saliva on me (not 100% sure what kind of nasty fluid it was, but that one DID land on me). After awhile, it really gets on your nerves.
Now if it was legal, I'd pack an AK with me everywhere I go, and wrecklessly spray bullets towards any vehicle, person, or small, defenseless child that so much as looks at me crosseyed, let alone those who throw stuff at me. But, being the scrawny, defenseless white dude that I am, I don't really think I'd have a good time in prison, and unfortunately, I can't just go popping shots off at cars that have thrown stuff at me, despite the fact that it could possibly kill me (primarily by causing me to crash, weave into traffic and get ran over, etc).
Normally I carry a little keltec .32, and I'm fine with that most of the time. It's not much firepower, but to me, the ease of carry and concealment outweighs the hassle of packing around something bigger most of the time. I bicycle a lot of logging and BLM roads, and sometimes I carry a larger gun on the rear rack of my bike, since I don't have to be burdened by the extra weight and bulk of having it attached to my body. Riding in town though, I just carry the keltec because I haven't seen any bears (I've encountered a LOT of black bears in the past few years hiking/biking), and because I'm lazy, and also because I don't like people gawking at me for having a gun strapped to my bike. I also worry about my guns getting rusty too.
Tonight was the final straw though. I've now decided that the extra margin of safety of having a high capacity 9mm outweighs the comfort and convenience of the diminutive keltec for bicycling, and I want some opinions. (I'm still going to rely on the lowly .32 for CC the rest of the time though...that, and the fetal position).
I have three other handguns that I'm considering for carry; S&W 629 with a 5" barrel, beretta PX4 9mm, and a glock 17.
The 629 is by far my favorite handgun, the one I shoot the most, and the most accurate. While I know revolvers can malfunction, I'd trust one over any pistol, any day of the week. It's also the classiest gun I own, and I feel like God when I shoot stuff with it. It's also fun to recite quotes from Dirty Harry when I take it out of the safe and lovingly caress it. Try doing that with a glock. It's just not the same.
I carry the 629 in the woods a lot, and it's the gun that I eventually plan on taking with me to Alaska too, so although I don't like it being exposed to rain and bad weather, I bought the gun with the intention that someday it's going to go to some bad places and see some crappy weather. I'm not sure how it will hold up to salt water though. The 629 is also my most expensive handgun, and I can't afford to replace it anytime soon either.
Of course, .44mag isn't exactly an ideal SD round, and would probably look bad in court in the unfortunate event that I actually did have to use it to defend myself. So the more likely candidates for coastal rust are the glock and beretta.
I've had the beretta awhile now, but still don't even have 100 rounds through it, so obviously I need more trigger time to get accustomed to it, and to see how reliable it is. It's been 100% so far though, and I'd still trust it to go boom with one in the chamber whether I ever shoot it again or not, so I don't foresee any reliability problems with it.
The beretta seems pretty accurate (I at least hit more stuff with it than I do the glock), but it doesn't really seem to fit my hands very well, and I've tried all the different backstraps.
I'm not real keen on this gun getting rained on either. I try to keep all my nice guns nice, and if I start packing it around on the back of a crusty old bicycle, it's bound to get uglied up, and it's about as pretty of polymer gun as there is.
The glock on the other hand, is butt ugly, and has absolutely no soul or personality whatsoever. I really don't like glocks, but bought it because they've been widely regarded as the world standard for semi-auto reliability for years now, and because of the price and availability of hi-cap mags for it.
The glock was originally going to be my SHTF gun, but I haven't shot it much, and have only carried it a few times. It's got less than 400 rounds through it (probably closer to only 300) and has had one malfunction, but that's still reliable enough for me. The bad thing, is that I'm not accurate with it at all. The last time I took it out, I was chronographing some ammo with it, and managed to shoot my chrony twice (out of only about 15 or 20 rounds). I'm sure the fact that I'm as much of a marksman as Barney Fife is probably had something to do with it, but I'd still like to blame the gun or the ammo for the bad shooting. Despite all that though, I still think I can (hopefully) hit good enough for most of the ranges that any kind of SD situation is likely going to occur at.
Regardless of what gun I end up packing, I'm going to practice more with it first.
So, now that you've read my lengthy ramblings (or at least skimmed through most of them), what do you think I should carry? Which gun will hold up the best to salt water and rain without rusting horribly? I'm good about wiping my guns down and keeping them dry when not in use, but I don't like dissasembling them a lot, and I don't want to carry a gun that's coated in oil either. That's messy and nasty and not worth the hassle.
Also, buying a different gun is not an option at the moment.
Thanks