Mass guys with LTC's... do you carry .45 or 9mm?

you sound like Paul Harrell's meat target
I love that guy. (no homo)
A watermelon, wrapped in pork ribs front and back, with a wool blanket duct taped to hold the whole thing together.
A detailed ammo description, a recap of gun and barrel length.
Blow the thing to absolute shit, then ask, is the ( insert ammo here ) round effective? You decide.
 
No one notices, maybe they don't care anymore. I usually carry a rock island 1911 on my belt when I'm working on the farm. I can't count how many times I've driven the old lady to market basket this past year or so, then after about five minutes walking around the store, realize I forgot to cover it up.
It is not that no one cares (we are in MA, everyone cares), it is that no one notices.

How often do you walk around and stare at people's waist?

Are you pumping gas and staring at random dude's waist a lot?

Probably never. People are busy on their phones, or paying attention to what they do.
 
9mm (Sig P365), with Federal HST for carry, and Blazer Brass for practice (but I always finish practice with two or three mags of the HST, cuz I prefer to shoot what I carry, carry what I shoot, etc).

Years ago (and I've always wanted to start a thread discussing this analogy for all you former or current baseball players), a friend at the range compared shooting practice to baseball batting practice: the thought that if you were to practice with a much heavier bat, you might mess up your head/mind/stance/swing/etc/etc when you're up at the plate for real (aka a 'situation' where you're God forbid forced to defend your life).

Would I want a 45? Wouldn't everyone?

But.. my job/workplace etc is a "No Weapons Allowed Here!!" Stalag, therefore I sought out the highest capacity but smallest, slimmest 9 and after listening to so many shooters here and at the club I bought the P365 and love it, the action, the recoil, the feel in my hand etc, and love the 9mm HST performance/reviews/results/etc etc etc. But...yup I'd definitely carry a huge .45 outside the waistband - if I lived in Arizona or Kentucky or....But I live under the edicts of Frau Maura and her Politburo and therefore I carry the best (for me...everyone is different, as this thread proves) little 9mm I've ever shot.

And I try to find the time (and the $$$) to "train, practice, train some more, practice more, train (etc etc)"... cuz I learned from several shooters here that shot placement is far, far FAR more important than the caliber you're shooting. Several videos on the internet where cops (and/or robbers) fire ten, twelve, seventeen effin rounds and never hit their intended target anywhere near center mass...I'm pretty sure several shooters here would rather hit vital organs with two or three rounds out of a .22 than blast away with a seventeen round mag of .45 (and hit an attacker's shoe or hit the neighbor's dog).

Caliber? Versus shot placement...I think placement is much, much MUCH more important.

Just sayin'
 
Last edited:
9mm except when riding my bike, then .380 in the bodyguard since it’s more comfortable in bike shorts and I don’t want to get my EDC all schweddy
 
It is not that no one cares (we are in MA, everyone cares), it is that no one notices.

How often do you walk around and stare at people's waist?

Are you pumping gas and staring at random dude's waist a lot?

Probably never. People are busy on their phones, or paying attention to what they do.

I'm not saying I'd try open carry on a normal basis in MA, but I really do think that when 99% of MA residents see a gun on anyone's waist, they assume it's a plainclothes cop as long as the person wearing the gun isn't doing anything shady.
 
9mm except when riding my bike, then .380 in the bodyguard since it’s more comfortable in bike shorts.....
I have never worn a pair of bike shorts.... but....I can't see how I would be able to putting anything else into them, other than what the good lord blessed me with, not even a BG 380.
Where would one position a firearm in a pair of bike shorts?
 
As dumb as this sounds, it really depends on what I’m wearing or doing.
Winter: 45
Bear country: .44 magnum
Daily: 9mm or 40 (I know, I know)
Tuxedo: Colt 1903 32 ACP.
Always: Smith and Wesson 38 Special.
Sometimes: 357 Model 13.
Gun and holster type vary too.
Winter daily 40 or 45, summer .38 snubby in pocket holster
 
... someone floated their theory that if a federal AWB happens again or mags over 10 rds get banned (including pre-bans) that people are going to abandon 9mm and go to .45's again like in the 90s.
1) Fixed it for you to make it a more meaningful premise.

2) I don't remember a big rush from 9mm to .45 post-Federal AWB taking effect, but maybe I just wasn't paying close enough attention.

3) Your premise should have included all handguns (range, home protection, etc... not just carry guns) since carry guns tend to be physical size limited (10 rounds of .45 would make for a fairly big carry gun).

4) All that said, the notion of maximizing (by whatever definition) what you can legally own/carry in a moonbat state like MA is totally valid in my book. Others will scoff at that, but it is important to at least some folks to stay legal.

5) If we are ever limited to 10 rounds regardless of pre-ban vs. post-ban by some new law, I do have plans to do some "caliber upgrading", but mostly in my home protection guns.
 
Last edited:
It is not that no one cares (we are in MA, everyone cares), it is that no one notices.

How often do you walk around and stare at people's waist?

Are you pumping gas and staring at random dude's waist a lot?

Probably never. People are busy on their phones, or paying attention to what they do.
What else are you supposed to do while you're pumping gas?
 
I have never worn a pair of bike shorts.... but....I can't see how I would be able to putting anything else into them, other than what the good lord blessed me with, not even a BG 380.
Where would one position a firearm in a pair of bike shorts?

Ha! I was thinking the same thing. Especially if your wearing bibs. When I ride I carry in my shirt back pocket. Easy access from there. To put them into your bike shorts they'd have to be the mountain bike kind. Those do have pockets on the outside shell.
 
I have never worn a pair of bike shorts.... but....I can't see how I would be able to putting anything else into them, other than what the good lord blessed me with, not even a BG 380.
Where would one position a firearm in a pair of bike shorts?

I put it IWB at 4 o'clock, my shirt covers it (I have a nylon belt I use only for that). I usually ride between 20-30 miles on the road w/ my head down at a decent pace so not wearing padded bike shorts really isn't an option.
 
1) Fixed it for you to make it a more meaningful premise.

2) I don't remember a big rush from 9mm to .45 post-Federal AWB, but maybe I just wasn't paying close enough attention.

3) Your premise should have included all handguns (range, home protection, etc... not just carry guns) since carry guns tend to be physical size limited (10 rounds of .45 would make for a fairly big carry gun).

4) All that said, the notion of maximizing (by whatever definition) what you can legally own/carry in a moonbat state like MA is totally valid in my book. Others will scoff at that, but it is important to at least some folks to stay legal.

5) If we are ever limited to 10 rounds regardless of pre-ban vs. post-ban by some new law, I do have plans to do some "caliber upgrading", but mostly in my home protection guns.
1. Good point, it wasn't specified by the other guy whether pre-bans were legal or not.

3. Well, for people who buy and own pistols for self defense the focus seems to be for carry guns. For a nightstand gun I don't see why people aren't using .45 anyway, it's low velocity reduces its ability to penetrate hard barriers, so overpenetration is less of a concern.

4. I can understand maximizing firepower due to capacity restrictions, but had that been the case there were other calibers between 1994 and 2004 that were available, yet we didn't see anything rise up to the level of .40's popularity in the 90s and 00s.
 
4. I can understand maximizing firepower due to capacity restrictions, but had that been the case there were other calibers between 1994 and 2004 that were available, yet we didn't see anything rise up to the level of .40's popularity in the 90s and 00s.
Well, again, the widespread availability of pre-ban magazines kept a lot of folks in smaller caliber/higher capacity handguns right through the Federal AWB and long beyond (and still going strong even today). The real test will come if/when the Federal government passes another AWB that does not exempt pre-ban magazines. Then watch the shit really hit the fan.

I'm not sure how you're suggesting the .40 plays or does not play into this topic. I would say that for a lot of folks, a lower magazine capacity .40 was a reasonable fallback choice to a (Federally banned) higher capacity 9mm for any newer handgun sold during the ban without pre-ban magazine availability.
 
Yeah buttttt..... who is shooting gel?
In January, if you were to shoot me in the chest, it would have to go through a Carhart, hoodie, flannel, a thermal and a t-shirt, THEN... 4" of rock hard pectoral muscle, before it even got to my chest bone! Carhart is practically kevlar. LOL

Ok Ok, 3" of moderately solid pectoral muscle.
Is there printing on the t-shirt, like “I’m with stoopid 👉“ for example? Could make a difference and save your life..
 
Back
Top Bottom