OK.
You're a trouble-maker.....that's what
you are!
My impressions on his commentary: I agree with the author about the caliber. I
have owned a compact .40 before - a HK USP Compact - and sold it. I didn't sell it because I didn't like the gun. I
loved the gun. I sold it because I didn't like the caliber. If I had bought that USPc in either .45 or 9mm instead, I'd still own it today. My wife owned (still does) a Glock 19 at the time, roughly the same size pistol, and it was a LOT easier to shoot. I didn't really start getting used to .40 cal recoil until just before I sold the gun. It's not that the recoil is overwhelming......after all, I own and enjoy shooting a Model 29 .44 magnum, and I shoot it quite well. I
also own a XDM-45 Compact 3.8, roughly the same size as the USPc and the G19, and I shoot that gun well too. It is the
character of the .40 S&W recoil that makes it more difficult to shoot well. The 9mm is snappy too, but it shoots a much lighter bullet, so the perceived recoil impulse is smaller. The .40 is snappy, but shoots a heavier bullet. The .45 shoots a MUCH heavier bullet, but the velocities are also much lower, so it is more like a big "push" instead of a snap. The .40 falls into the the "unhappy middle". So I ditched mine, and I always counsel new shooters away from that caliber. It is, in my opinion, NOT a good caliber for people new to the shooting sports.
I disagree with the author about the XD/XDM platform. They are perfectly good pistols, and while I do personally carry Glocks and enjoy shooting them, the Springfields are fine guns, and I think the author simply has a bias. I generally will steer a new shooter toward the Glock platform, BUT..... the Glock ergonomics are not universally amenable to all shooters. For those shooters who really have to have the 1911 grip angle to get the ergonomics down, but also want a hammerless design with a polymer frame, the XD/XDM and the M&P series pistols are perfectly good alternatives. Although I no longer carry my XDM (or my XDS) pistol, it is because I decided that a 9mm with higher capacity makes more sense for me for daily carry. I standardized on Glock
because my wife already owned one, and she is proficient with it. Otherwise, it made no difference to me. I'm an experienced enough shooter to be able to adapt to a different platform if I have to; but my wife not so much. So it was more important to me that she be able to adapt to
my guns if she had to, than it was for me to have the perfect gun for me. But now, after having carried Glocks for a long enough time, they have
become the perfect gun for me. I adapted to meet my self-imposed requirements, so now my EDC is a G19, and I also have a G43 which matches my wife's EDC (she also owns a G19, but doesn't carry it most of the time), and a G17 which either of us can manage.
Regarding holsters. Like most of us, I've invested a lot more into holsters than I ever wanted to. Among those purchases are a Comp-Tac MTAC, and a Alien Gear paddle holster with that spring-steel backing. I haven't used the MTAC in forever, simply because I almost never carry IWB anymore, and when I do, I carry in the appendix position with a holster my son made. And I don't use the Alien Gear holster most of the time because the construction feels cheap compared to some other holsters I have. It does seem true, like the author said, that the spring steel backing
does cause the pressure against the gun to vary, which changes the amount of retention, and the amount of effort needed to draw it. It has become my "throw on" holster for the G19, for whenever I just need a quick holster to throw on to go down to the mailbox or to visit with a neighbor. But the rest of the time, I either use a Safariland 6378 for both my G19 and 17, or I use a Safariland Shadow® II Pancake-Style Holster for those guns. Both designs, the 6378 and the Shadow II have good retention. My complaint about the Shadow II is that reholstering is less safe because the holster mouth collapses a bit after the gun is drawn, and the problem of safely reholstering emerges, just as the author describes. So the 6378 has become my EDC holster, even though it is the
best choice for concealment. And even though it is a paddle design, it seems at least as secure on my belt as any of my belt holsters. I don't know if that holster choice would be acceptable to the article's author or not, and frankly, I don't care.
It works for me.
But I otherwise agree with him about .40 being a less than optimal choice of caliber, especially for new shooters. I do note the military's recent interest in acquiring G19s, and a lot of people with a lot of inside experience in these matters think that it will eventually be adopted to replace the Beretta. We'll see. I think is is a good choice. I don't know if it is the best choice. Heck, I don't even know if there IS a "best" choice.
It's not a Glock either so I'm confused whether I'm good to go or not...
