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After reading alot of the post here I feel like the only one with just one pistol, my paraordnance P14 is my EDC and nightstand gun, it has hogue rubber grips, tritium nite sites, ambi safety, it's not fancy and after years of use and carry it's got some of the finish missing, but most important to me is I'm confident in the gun and I can hit my target!
However I do have other guns!
Savage model 93 left hand bolt 17hmr richards microfit left hand thumbhole laminate stock bushnell 5-15x mildot scope.
Zastava left hand action pac-nor match grade barrel timney trigger .204ruger richards left hand thumbhole laminate stock Bushnell 6-24x mildot scope.
Remington 700 left hand bolt 6mm-06 pac-nor match grade barrel, richards left hand thumbhole laminate stock (no scope yet still saving my pennies )
Rock River AR-15 5.56 original configuration
JRC carbine left hand action 45acp truglo optical sight 1 13rd glock mag 2 27rd glock mags (truck gun)
1917 Enfield Eddystone 30.06 sporterized Nikon 3-9x bdc (my deer rifle)
Guns I use to have and wish I still did!
Two Smith and Wesson mdl 25-5 .45 colt one 4" barrel one 6" barrel
M-1 Garand converted to accept a B.A.R magazine laminate stock

http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/gun ... an-one-gun

“Beware the man with one gun, he knows how to use it.”

I buy guns not really because I need more than one but simply because I like them. Having only one and being proficient with it is good enough. For the first 7-8 years of my CC, I only had a G17 because a good friend sold it to me at "charity case" pricing and it was all I could afford. I dressed around it and made due. And it is still the pistol I am most accurate with.

One or twenty, comfort and proficiency are all that really matter. The number of them at home isn't important when you're out and about. The only one that counts then is the one on you. (acknowledging that some folks carry more than one.)

I had only one gun for the first 16 years of my gun ownership. Of course, I didn't have a LTC at the time, so I didn't carry, and lived in a very non-gun friendly state, so there was not even a need to have a gun for my car.

Now I live in Texas, have a bit more disposable income, and can legally carry a gun with me almost everywhere I go. I find that there just isn't one gun that will be optimal for every need. I like a big, heavy, gun with a high capacity sitting within reach of my bed because that is the best choice for home defense. A slightly smaller gun for my car, since the storage space is a bit smaller, then an assortment of smaller, lighter guns for carry depending on what I am wearing / how hot it is. So there is some rational justification for having multiple guns.

That said, I have way too many guns. I listed them out and I have 4 or more for every purpose. For BUG alone, I currently have a Sig P938, Glock 43, Glock 42, Kahr PM 9, Kel-Tec P3AT, and 2 J frames. I am trying to pare down the excess but I find that I keep buying new guns faster than I can bring myself to part with the ones I don't use all that much. I felt bad about this until I looked in my closet and saw the number of shoes and bags that my wife has.

As I try to decide which guns to sell, I also have discovered an interesting fact. The gun that I would keep if I could only have one gun may not be a gun that I want to keep if I can have multiple guns. Because even though it will adequately serve multiple purposes, it is not the optimal choice for any one purpose.

I have just one gun but I know how to use that gun pretty well. It may be all I know but I know it and am comfortable with it. I will eventually buy more when I can afford to get them here and there.

There is nothing wrong with having a single handgun... except that if it ever goes down to a broken part or wears out, you'll be without a CC for a while. A 2nd gun would be a wise insurance policy, in my mind.

If you want to remedy that single handgun thing right now, I'll trade you for the .204 Ruger!

As of right now, I only have one handgun, my M&P 9. I expect that to change soon, I have several options I am looking at but haven't made up my mind yet. My wife has two, her M&P 9 and a 25 auto that her father gave her several years ago, that I'm not even sure will fire.

Since I only have one, I am meticulous about cleaning and maintaining it. I carry it everyday in a leather holster, so I take it out and unload it when I get home, wipe it down, check the action, etc. then it sits on a table by the couch until bed time, then it goes on my nightstand. Since I have my wife's gun to use, if it should break down, I don't keep a lot of spare parts for it, but I do have an extra guide rod and spring, and some pins if I need them. Once she gets her LTC I will be forced to pick up some more parts, maybe an extra barrel etc. Plus I plan to buy a new one in the next month or so.

I have two pistols - but one is a Ruger MkIII .22 so I don't really consider it a self defense or carry gun. I'm looking for a full size 9mm to complement my S&W Shield 9mm. Long term I'd like to have two of both the Shield and whatever I decide on for full size 9mm.

As far as rifles I have 3, so far....

bblhd672 wrote:I have two pistols - but one is a Ruger MkIII .22 so I don't really consider it a self defense or carry gun. I'm looking for a full size 9mm to complement my S&W Shield 9mm. Long term I'd like to have two of both the Shield and whatever I decide on for full size 9mm.

As far as rifles I have 3, so far....

If you like the shield, give the M&P full size a look see. My wife and I love ours, I think that's why I have had a hard time finding something else I like as well.

bblhd672 wrote:I have two pistols - but one is a Ruger MkIII .22 so I don't really consider it a self defense or carry gun. I'm looking for a full size 9mm to complement my S&W Shield 9mm. Long term I'd like to have two of both the Shield and whatever I decide on for full size 9mm.

As far as rifles I have 3, so far....

I'm curious as to why you want to have duplicates of the two guns. I hesitate to ask though since I do not need another excuse to buy more guns.

Soccerdad1995 wrote:

bblhd672 wrote:I have two pistols - but one is a Ruger MkIII .22 so I don't really consider it a self defense or carry gun. I'm looking for a full size 9mm to complement my S&W Shield 9mm. Long term I'd like to have two of both the Shield and whatever I decide on for full size 9mm.

As far as rifles I have 3, so far....

I'm curious as to why you want to have duplicates of the two guns. I hesitate to ask though since I do not need another excuse to buy more guns.

I think he meant he wants to pair his Shield with a big brother.

Soccerdad1995 wrote:

bblhd672 wrote:I have two pistols - but one is a Ruger MkIII .22 so I don't really consider it a self defense or carry gun. I'm looking for a full size 9mm to complement my S&W Shield 9mm. Long term I'd like to have two of both the Shield and whatever I decide on for full size 9mm.

As far as rifles I have 3, so far....

I'm curious as to why you want to have duplicates of the two guns. I hesitate to ask though since I do not need another excuse to buy more guns.

Interchangeable parts. Two is one, one is none. I'd rather know how to shoot two pistols really well than have 4 or 5 different ones..at least until I can afford more than two of each of the first ones!

bblhd672 wrote:

Soccerdad1995 wrote:

bblhd672 wrote:I have two pistols - but one is a Ruger MkIII .22 so I don't really consider it a self defense or carry gun. I'm looking for a full size 9mm to complement my S&W Shield 9mm. Long term I'd like to have two of both the Shield and whatever I decide on for full size 9mm.

As far as rifles I have 3, so far....

I'm curious as to why you want to have duplicates of the two guns. I hesitate to ask though since I do not need another excuse to buy more guns.

Interchangeable parts. Two is one, one is none. I'd rather know how to shoot two pistols really well than have 4 or 5 different ones..at least until I can afford more than two of each of the first ones!

That makes sense. I do something similar for my AR's by keeping a couple spare LPK's around at all times.

Does this mean I am crazy with my 12 self defense caliber handguns and several .22 cal handguns?

Soccerdad1995 wrote:

bblhd672 wrote:

Soccerdad1995 wrote:

bblhd672 wrote:I have two pistols - but one is a Ruger MkIII .22 so I don't really consider it a self defense or carry gun. I'm looking for a full size 9mm to complement my S&W Shield 9mm. Long term I'd like to have two of both the Shield and whatever I decide on for full size 9mm.

As far as rifles I have 3, so far....

I'm curious as to why you want to have duplicates of the two guns. I hesitate to ask though since I do not need another excuse to buy more guns.

Interchangeable parts. Two is one, one is none. I'd rather know how to shoot two pistols really well than have 4 or 5 different ones..at least until I can afford more than two of each of the first ones!

That makes sense. I do something similar for my AR's by keeping a couple spare LPK's around at all times.

Another benefit of having two, is if heaven forbid, you have to use one for self-defense purposes and it ends up in the PDs hands as evidence for some period of time, then you still have access to an identical defense gun to the one on which you are most trained and proficient.

I don't have any duplicates, but have considered it, and maybe one day will buy a second for my most common two carry guns.

As of now, I have five handguns. A 9mm derringer that would never use as self-defense except as a last resort, a ruger .22 for plinking, a Taurus .380, a sig p239 9mm, a glock 21 for home defense. I carry either/both of the sig and the Taurus, and have a holster for the glock as well.