Confessed 'Gun Slut' makes for hard choices on carry duty

Massad Ayoob is one of my favorite gun writers, and lo and behold, I learned today he has the same problem I do, too many handguns and not enough time and opportunity to carry them all as often as he likes. So Mas says he's a gun slut.

True confession time: I'm a gun slut, too.

I'll let Mas explain, quoting his article in the current Guns magazine issue:

You’ve committed the cardinal sin of not always using the same handgun? Well, say three “Hail John M. Brownings” and share a confession here. So, I was reading one of my favorite electronic gun forums, Gun Rights Radio Network, and one member chided another for often changing firearms. The term “gun slut” was used. I gasped… and said, “Hey! Hey! Hey! I resemble that remark!”

My old friend John Bianchi is credited with “Bianchi’s Law,” which holds, “Carry the same gun, in the same place, all the time.” It makes a lot of sense. Alas, there are those whose jobs require them to violate it, and I fear I am a serial offender.

I don't have a good excuse like Mas does for changing my carry guns often. He teaches various handgun classes and competes in various divisions of handgun competition, which requires him to carry whatever suits the activity he's going to be participating in.

My excuse, pitiful I admit, is trying to keep peace in the "family" of 20-some handguns I own. When I'm deciding what I will carry as I start off for a day's work at the gun shop, I hear this chorus in my head, "Take me, take me!" "No, it's my turn, take me!" "Wait, what about me?"

Last week I carried my CZ P07 Duty 9mm just because I hadn't carried it in a while, with the Charter Bulldog .44 Special as backup. I must confess, the Bulldog gets more than it's fair share of carry in the rotation as primary or backup most of the time, just because I like it and I shoot it well. And my other smallish revolvers get their call frequently also, Charter .327 Magnum, S&W 65 and Taurus 65 .357 Magnum, with the former as backup and the latter two as primaries.

Then it's whether it's a .357 Sig day for one of my two Sig P229s or the S&W M&P Compact or Commander size, or Para P12 .45 ACP day, of Glock 29 10mm day, or Steyr M9A1 day.

But that leaves my three full-size handguns out in the cold for carry duty. I've carried my Glock 20 10mm for a day or two, but it's just too big and heavy for regular duty. Ditto my S&W 29 .44 Magnum. With its 4" barrel, it's handy enough, but it's pretty heavy like the G20 and has yet to be called. But I love shooting the Model 29 so much there's no way I will ever part with it.

And I also have a full-size Para P14 .45 ACP which I really like but have yet to carry.

Which brings me to a tough decision. I've got a .22LR slide conversion kit for my P229s that I had to pay for with credit, plus a .45 ACP slide kit coming in soon for my Sig P220 .22LR Classic.

So to pay off that nut, I've decided the G20 is odd man out. I'm packaging it up with it's 17-round mags and 9x25mm Lone Wolf extended ported barrel plus three boxes of 9x25 ammo and taking it to the shop tomorrow for posting on gunbroker.

I've been keeping the G20 on nightstand duty, but I'm promoting the P12-45 to that role because it's easier to shoot than the G20, which is a hard kicker with full-house 10mm loads.

I got on a Baddest Tactical Pistol kick a couple of years ago and bought the G20, but it's come down to it or the Para 14-45 and the Para wins for being as deadly and easier to shoot. For the past year since I started work at the gun shop, I've concentrated on carry pistols and I just don't have the room for two huge full-size pistols at this time. Adios G20, it's been fun but it's over.