A while back I saw this video and thought it was interesting.  I had never seen anything like it and it intrigued me, but I never thought to buy the holster because I was just starting out and in the beginning all I wanted to do was work with my one gun and one holster and becoming very, very comfortable with both.

My goal was self defense and my focus was working, daily with what I would be wearing all the time.  I wanted zero variation because at that time I was doubting not only my skill, but my ability to make good choices.

I was counting on muscle memory to kick in and I wanted to give it every advantage by always carrying the same gun, in the same holster and in the same place.

As, I got more comfortable I experimented a little with the Ruger LCP and the Chic Holster, but until recently, I have stuck to the Glock 27 in a Crossbreed.  Very happy with both, but a few weeks ago I read That Texas Lady’s review of the Remora No Clip Holster.  Reading her review I becoming very interested because she said she wore hers to the gym.

When I go to the gym, I am not armed and I don’t like it, so to have a holster that would give me the ability to carry, caught my interest. Her review was favorable, so I headed to their site to check them out.

The price was well within my budget, so I figured it was worth the risk the order one and see if it would work for me.

As with just about every single thing on this journey, it has been a series of trail and errors and learning from the choices I make.

Without thinking it through I ordered a holster to fit my Glock 27.  That is the gun I carry and so not thinking about the gym(you know the whole reason I was buying this holster) I hit buy.  In hindsight I probably should have bought the holster to fit my Ruger LCP because it is small and therefore more concealable in workout clothes.

Also, I bought the one that is designed with a reinforced top to make for easier reholstering.  Again, not really thinking that, that feature would add bulk in a place I am trying to be discrete.

Anyway, last week my package from Remora arrived and to my surprise it included their regular holster without the reinforced top and 3 magazine pouches.  One single and one double.  I have no idea why they included these extras, but there was a hand written note, so I know it was not a mistake. 

For the past several days I have been wearing both holsters, practicing my daily routine of drawing and dry firing with each one and also just wearing them as I go about my daily activities.

I don’t dry fire the holsters, but everyday I try to practice drawing from my holster and dry firing and various other things to improve my skills.  I have been wearing the Remora for these little sessions.

The holster with the reinforced mouth that keeps it open is great for this.  It does not move.  I pull and pull and out comes my gun, but the holster does not move.  I love that and reholstering is easy.  One handed, not looking, no issue.  Not really good for concealing in just a shirt or sweater.  too bulky for the kind of clothes I wear.  Now, it is winter, so under a jacket, of course, it’s not a problem.  I could hide a dead body under my coat.

The regular holster without the reinforced opening is very concealable.

Even with my Glock in workout clothes, it is very hard to detect anything is under there, let alone a gun.

Now, since I am a new, I did what I am used to doing.

What is it they say about experience?

I put on my holster, loaded it and tried to holster.  After about 2 seconds I stopped and was thought, I am going to blow my finger off trying to get this thing in this holster.  Literally, 2 seconds,  I did not fumble around for 10 minutes before I realized this was not a good plan.

Instead, I put the gun in the holster and then put the holster on.  This I love.  It is so easy to position this thing exactly where I want it and it is so easy to take off.

When I say on and off, it is more like placing it and removing it.  There is no clip. There is nothing to put on or take off.  Go watch the video and you will what I mean.

One thing I am not super fond of about the Crossbreed is that it is a pain to take off and forget about moving it.  That is good, of course, who wants a holster that moves around, but it can frustrate me from time to time.

Again, the more comfortable I have become with the holster and have learned exactly where I want to place it, that has become less and less of an issue, but still I very much enjoy the ease in which I can put on and  off the Remora.

I was hoping that I would not have to wear a belt with this holster.  I hate belts.  I think they are uncomfortable and they make me look chunky.  Add a big holster and a gun and now my world has just become a nightmare.  In addition to look lumpy, it seems like I can never have the hole in the place I need it.  Either the belt is to loose and therefore my pants sag to one side, or way to tight and I look and feel like I am about to explode. This I don’t like.   I have found 2 belts, just 2 that seem to work with most of my pants, but not all, so the idea of no belt made me very happy.

Unfortunately, for me, my shape and clothes, I still need to wear a belt.  It might be the size or weight of my gun, but my pants still seem to travel down if I don’t wear a belt.  The only exception to that is if I wear spandex.  It works fine if I am working out and I wear spandex under my running shorts.  Gun did not move, holster did not move.  I run fast.  I have long legs and I still didn’t have an issue.

Traditionally, I do not carry a spare magazine on my body unless I am at the range and I need for training; however, since they sent me some, I tried them out…love them!

So, so comfortable and they disappear on me.  I don’t even know I am wearing one.  I am sitting at the computer with my Glock in the Remora(not reinforced mouth) on my left hip and the single magazine pouch on my left.  I honestly can not feel either one of them.

I did discover that if I chose to wear the magazine pouch on my other hip, that enough tension is created for me to not have to wear a belt, but that is only in jeans and spandex.  It didn’t work with my comfy sweat type pants or dress pants.

I am actually glad that I didn’t buy the holster for the Ruger LCP.   I am not a big fan of that gun to carry, so I rarely do and the way these holsters are made, I can conceal the Glock no problem.

I am really happy with this purchase.  It fulfilled the need for which I bought it at a very affordable price plus I discovered a few other things like magazine carry in my day to day life.

Remember I am not a holster reviewer.  I am only sharing my experience with this holster as it pertains to my real everyday use of it, like everything else on this blog.

If you are looking for specs and hard core details go back to Lima Life’s You Tube video or Falia Photography’s  You Tube page.

Single Action ans double action to me?

Every time I think I understand it, I don’t. I have read and read and still not getting it.

I am going to use basic term here because that’s all I know.

I thought single action meant the gun did one thing, and I did two. Like a revolver that I had to cock and then pull the trigger, but double action meant that with a single motion of pulling the trigger the gun could both fire the shot and cock the hammer.

However, I often hear people say SAO on a gun that all I am doing is pulling the trigger.

I do not know why this concept is so hard for me. It does not seem to confuse anyone else, but, I am special that way.

Ok, not really.  Just trying to get your attention:)

In fact, while at the range today with Newbius , he asked me how I like the XDm, that I had just finished shooting and I said I “l LOVE IT” and he said, “I think that is just your default response to any and all guns you shoot.”

Ha, yes it is!!

I just love, love, love them ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!

Let me start at the beginning.

A few days ago Newbius left a comment on one of my posts saying he would be willing to meet up with me and let me shoot the guns he has, thinking that might help me make my choice on a new carry gun.

I got a little giddy as I read his comment and I emailed him right away.  A little back and forth and today I met him at our range.

First, let me say, I was nervous.  Why, you might ask.

Well, cuz that is what I do.  I get nervous.  What I don’t do is email people or meet people or go places by myself.  My husband has always been my safety net/buffer, so if he doesn’t email, call, text and go with me, I don’t go.

I am not shy.   I just am not assertive and I don’t make the first move. 

I have been making great strides in this area, like when I got myself dressed and headed to the rescue mission for Robbie where I didn’t know a single person and without a clue of where I was going or what I was doing.

These are the intangibles that training with a gun have given me.  It’s not just that I carry a gun and know how to use it, it is the confidence that comes from facing a fear and over coming it.  There is a freedom of spirit that comes with that kind of self courage and I crave it now.

I am sure everyone here knows what I mean by that.  I certainly do not mean being reckless and disregarding the warning signs.  Fear can be a very valuable tool to alert us that something is not right and nudges us by saying lets pay attention here.  I am not talking about ignoring that.

Anyway, the time that Newbius could meet did not work for my husband, but without much thought, I knew I was going.

I am so glad I did.  He is truly a gentleman and he was very kind to me.

The guy brought 500 rounds of .45 ammo and he just let me play and play.  He gave me helpful hints and suggestions and he was very encouraging.  And even though I tried, he would not accept a penny.  That is fine by me because it just means we have to go again and next time I can pay.

Lets get to the good stuff.

I shot his XDm 4.5″ .45 first.

Do I even have to say it…I was nervous which led me to anticipate a bit which may have led my shot to be just a b-it outside.

I actually am not an anticipator and never have been, but today I was.   Fortunately, after a few rounds, I relaxed and did much better.

I was so surprised that the recoil appeared to be less than my Glock .40.  Well, not less, but different.  I have never understood what people’s problem with the .40 caliber is until today.

Since he was trying to help me make a decision on guns, after I shot for a while, he suggested I shoot my Glock then the XDM, then the Glock and then the XDM.  Just to compare recoil and check accuracy, that kind of thing.

I have never felt a sting when shooting my Glock before.  Today my gun felt different when I shot it.  After shooting the .45, I felt more of a snap kind of recoil with my .40.  I was starting to understand what JD was saying about the difference is calibers.

He also let me shoot his wife’s 1911 and even though it was also a .45 it felt different to shoot.  It was heavier to me and I felt more of the recoil, but it didn’t bother me.  I was not accurate with this gun, at all.

I am blaming the sites.

Actually, he said one of the reasons he brought the gun was to check out the sites and he felt they were off to, so I am going to go with that.

I took pictures of both of those guns, but with the lighting the pictures didn’t turn out, but the pictures of the targets did.

We both shot at this target with different guns and different distances. The grouping off to the left side is mine.  I was actually aiming there. I was shooting the XDm at 7 yards.

This is the bad guy target.  This is all 3 guns at different distances too, but I was pretty impressed with this over all.  I shot with 2 guns I had never shot before using a caliber I had never shot and he had me do a lot of different things, like a rapid fire of an entire magazine.  Every single shot was on the bad guy.  Not one outside the body.  I did shoot his arm once, but hey, I was trying to get the gun out of his hand before I blew his head off.  I like to challenge myself a little.

One of the neatest things we did was shoot a paper plate.  I had never done that and that was cool.  Newbius said it is a great target to use with new shooters because they don’t have the fear that comes with shooting something that looks like a person or the stress of trying to hit the bulls eye.  If they hit the plate at all, they feel  successful, which, of course they are.

Heck, I think if you can get them to the range and they shoot the gun even if they don’t hit anything, that is a success and a very big step in the right direction.

I loved the plate so much I kept it. I will absolutely use that strategy the next time I take a new shooter to the range.

The other thing I did for the first time was shoot at 25 yards.

Not, so good and I can’t even blame the sites.  It was just hard for me to see.  He stood behind me and said 9’oclock, or just outside the circle.  I tried to make that compensation even though I couldn’t see, but lets just say, significant work needs to be made in this area.

I had a blast!  I met a very fine person, learned a ton and shot and shot and shot.

Can not ask for a better day!!

Thank you so much Newbius!  You are awesome!!

Today, Newbius invited me to the range.  I really don’t have words to explain how crazy fun it was, but since this is a blog about guns, I will sure as heck try to find them, but I have this crazy day, so not now, but soon,

However, I wanted to take a quick second to say, that apparently I have been a bit neive in my internet interactions(you would think with the extent to which I go to protect and prepare myself, I would have though this through) and in the past two days have had things happen that made me have decided to be a bit more annomous then I have been.

I realize that I have made some mistakes that might be hard to pull back, but I did remove some comments, some posts and some pictures.  If you read a post that seems like it should have a picture, but doesn’t, it is because I took it down.  I hope to be able to edit those and get them back up, but it wont be before January.

One more quick thing, if you happen to know my real name, please do not use it on this blog or my FB page and please help me by speaking of where I live in much more generic terms, ie the state of Virginia and not much beyond.

I have no intention of living in fear, but there are certainly things I can do, to add another layer of awareness and protection.

Thanks for your help in this.

We are having a unique Christmas this year and it required us to open our gifts before the 25th.  Of course, Santa will still be visiting, but all other gifts were opened up this past Saturday.

This is what I got…

 A range bag.  This is large and I have no clue what some of the compartments are for, but I am looking forward to figuring it out.

This is my Bug Out Bag!! I think this is awesome.  I have wanted one for a few months now which is funny because I honest to goodness, I had never ever heard this term before.  I think I saw a video Lima did when I very first started on this journey and I kept saying what is she talking about.  I asked my husband, who laughed and explained.  Then I laughed and said, all you people are paranoid…lol  Now, I am kind of obsessed with getting myself and my family prepared for whatever may lie ahead.

I have been looking for a while for the right backpack to fit my needs and just haven’t liked anything out there.  When I went on the search and rescue team for little Robbie, I took my husband’s backpack.  His backpack is actually for a computer, but I love it because the straps have so much cushion on them, no matter how full I fill that thing, it is comfy on my shoulders.  Plus, it has every kind of pocket imaginable and for what I carried during that time, it worked great.  I didn’t want to us it for a Bug Out Bag though because I wanted to be able to use it for daily things.  Not that I use it daily, but I want my BOB to be stocked and ready to go, not something I pack and unpack.

The bag that my husband found is actually another computer bag and it’s perfect.  It is currently empty, but again, I am looking forward to it filling it up.

 Love this book.  Already have like 3 posts I want to write about it.

 Speed loader.  It is probably one of the first purchases most new shooters buy, but I am a bit of an odd duck.  I like cleaning my gun and I like loading my magazines by hand.  It doesn’t hurt my fingers and the time doesn’t bother me, except for when I am training and or my hands are cold.  This will help a lot for those times.

This is my favorite gift!!

My husband got me these things, I think to just make sure I remember I am a girl.  He likes that about me.

My kids got me this because they think it is fun to annoy me:)

All and all a pretty good year for me!

Hope all of you have a very safe and Merry Christmas!!

This post is mostly for those of you, who like me, are new to the world of guns and self defense.  Not that this information isn’t useful to everyone, but I think those that have been around the gun world for a while, already know this and do not need the catching up that some of us do.

There are so many wonderful blogs on guns out there and if you are serious about growth you should take the time to visit as many of them as you can.  I have a blog roll of my most visited and the ones that have helped me, but we are not all the same, so your best most comprehensive list can be found on Gun Blog Black List.

I have visited several and have learned so much.  There are blogs on every single aspect of guns you can imagine.  You may not like them all, but if you click around enough, you will find one or two or ten or fifty that speak to you.  I promise you it is worth the effort.

I think I have been fairly clear on my opinion of Lima and the Cornered Cat.  It is very wise of you to go join both of their FaceBook pages and seek out their other resources: books, YouTube videos, newsletters, etc.

What I have learned has been well documented.

However, I am writing this post because there are 2 places I would really like to send you.  Again, I visit several blogs and they have all been invaluable to me for one reason or another, but if I am looking for no bull, I need to understand this, kind of knowledge I go to Guns, Guns and Gosh Darn More Guns and Weer’d World. 

Guns, Guns, Gosh Darn More Guns, author doesn’t post all that much, but I subscribe to his blog and I am never disappointed when he posts.  In fact, quite the opposite. I am always thrilled because I learn a ton and I have honestly used his guidance and information in my life as it relates to guns.

I have run across so many blogs that have helped me and that I have learned from, but for me, these two blogs are first and foremost written by guys who know what they are talking about and second, I can understand it.  Neither writer talks down to anyone, yet they both break down very complex(at least complex to me) gun issues, to a more basic easy to understand useful level.

That is not to say I understand everything they write.  I don’t.  My learning curve is large.  I do not say that to insult anyone who has much to learn(as I do), it is just to say that anything new often takes work and time to grasp and guns are no different.

Eventually, if I ever master this blog thing I will be able to post permanent links to these two articles on my side bar.

Selecting A Handgun For Defense 
I truly believe this is the best, most comprehensive, straightforward article on purchasing a gun and even if you are not in the market currently for a gun, the information is most valuable.
I Call Her Eleanor
This may not be the most significant of a post on the surface, but it is the first one I read of Weer’d Beard’s and it was the first one that made me want to search more of his writings and I am grateful that I have.

I think both of these articles are extremely useful and informative, but even if they are not relevant to you for whatever reason, they give you a sampling of these two gun guys.  Smart, knowledgeable, no BS(that is as close to cussing as I get) direct, and passionate. Can’t really ask for anything more.

If you are serious about learning from quality people, you should start by visiting these two blogs and then go back to The Gun Blog Black List and spend much more time clicking. 

Hope to see you around the blogesphere…

Actually, I went to two parties last night. Both for my husband’s work.

The first one was at someone’s house and it’s the first time I have ever carried into another person’s house. I have never felt comfortable carrying into someone’s house without asking them if it is ok to bring a gun and I have never felt comfortable asking.

However, I am getting more and more uncomfortable not carrying, so I did. As you can probably guess, it was uneventful. No one knew and there was no issue. Well,there was one issues, that particular party was a bit lacking, so I was kind of thinking alcohol might have helped, but, of course, I don’t drink and carry.

The second party was more formal and at a restaurant downtown. I carry all the time in restaurants.

The first party was casual and had lots of people that neither of us knew, but the second one was a smaller more intimate party of people from his office.

Since it was people that he knows well, many of them know we carry and shoot, but I wasn’t planning on bringing it up.

We are not there 2 seconds when a guy comes up and says, “Hey, I have heard about you, your not carrying now are you?” “You kind of scare me.” Phil and I look at him, smile and laugh at his joke and he moves on.

Later at dinner, we are at a small table for 6, when the gentleman next to me says, “Hey, I hear you shoot guns.”

I tell him I do.

He says “My wife wants to learn to shoot, will you take her shooting?”

This goes on for a while, him telling me that his wife really wanted to shoot, but she is sitting across from me and the look on her face says, please God, I would rather do anything but go shooting with this woman.

Eventually, I say, “Does she want to shoot or do you want her to shoot?”

He says, “No, she wants to”

She speaks up and says, “No, you want me to.”

Him- “I do want you to shoot, but it’s not like I am forcing you.”

She says, “Yes, that is exactly what it is like.”

At this point, I decide we should change the subject, so I do.

This woman is a very smart, pretty gal, who is a school teacher and the two of us got a long very well, but shooting was not something she wanted to talk about. No problem. We talked about all kinds of other things, kids, vacation, work, the usual dinner party chit-chat.

A little bit later another gentleman at the table asks me if I have ever shot the Judge. I said no and he said I have one, so the two of us have a nice little chat about guns. What he shoots, what I shoot, and I must have gotten very excited about the subject because eventually the nice lady I was speaking to earlier says to me “You really like guns, don’t you?”

LOL, yeah, kind of.

I tell her yes, I really do.

She says, “They scare me.”

I think, ah, now we can talk.

She asks me if there was ever a time when I was afraid of a gun.

I smile and say yes, in fact I am a new shooter, only about 9 months.

She tells me her husband travels and really wants her to learn how to shoot, but she can’t even touch one.

She says a few things about some people think this country is in trouble and its the end of the world and we should all get guns and prepare, but she thinks times aren’t that bad and even if they are, she did not want to think about that.

I happen to be one of those people that is pretty darn concerned about the state of this country and am all about preparing for the worst that could be a’coming, but I did not think this was the time to tell her about my plans for a zombie invasion:)

Instead, I said, your probably right, we can all be a bit over dramatic, but just think about what has happened right here in our town in the past year…3 pizza parlors robbed at gun point, 3 convienence stores held up at gun point, home invasions, gang activity at the mall, the shooting on the freeway, not to mention what happened at Virginia Tech.

I am not trying to scare her, just help her see that there is plenty of concern in the here and now, even if it is too much for her to think about the future.

She says, I can’t even touch a gun.

I said, if you are interested I would be happy to sit down with you and help you get used to holding the gun. No ammo anywhere in sight. Just you, me and the gun. I said we can take it apart and you can see its just a thing. You will see there is a spring, harmless, a slide, not at all scary and, in the case of my Glock, a very light frame that when taken part feels like a lot like nothing.

I told her that it helped me tremendously to just hold the gun and to take it apart and put it back together again. Once I was comfortable with the gun and understood, in my own mind, that the gun was just an inanimate object and I was the one who controlled what it did, I felt in control. The gun was no longer this dangerous thing that just went off without warning, killing the children in my house. It was an object that if handled incorrectly, much like a car, could be dangerous, but if I was handling it, then it would be safe because I was safe with it. I told her there are rules to follow and if followed, religiously, without fail, then there is no more concern with a gun then any other “thing”.

I told her I would be happy to sit with her and explain the safety rules and let her practice taking a gun apart, so she could see for herself.

She said, “That might be good”.

Few more hours go by, lots more mingling and then her husband takes me aside and asks me if I am taking her to the range to shoot. He think his .357 Magnum revolver is powerful and would be for her to learn to use.

I tell him, Uh, no. We are not starting her off with a .357 Magnum. He says what if I load it with .38 special. I say “Nope.” Mostly because I am not all the familiar with revolvers, but also because she had told me earlier that gun scares her the most.

He says, “I have a 9mm.” He was drunk and just to mess with him I was gonna ask him if he meant 9×19 or .380ACP or 9mm Makarov or what, but instead I just said, “that’s good, a 9mm is fine”.

The night winds down and we say our good-byes. Her husband is looking at me with desperation, so I look at her and say, “If I called you would you want to get together and learn more about shooting?”

To my surprise, she says yes, rather enthusiastically.

I ask her if she is sure because I am the kind of person who will actually call.

She says, “Yes, I really would like you to call”.

We exchange numbers and in January, I am going to call.

I am interested to see what she says when I do.

Nerf Guns

I don’t normally post this much, but I thought this article was interesting.  For a lot of reasons. 

It has the same anti gun rhetoric we are all used to, but what I found most interesting was how differently I felt reading it.

9 months ago, I would have felt exactly the same way as this writer and for much of the same reasons and still they sound logically, but as I have pointed out many, many times on this blog, logic and the mind lie.

This flawed thinking is all wrapped up in what ifs and made up scenarios, none of which have ever been proven to be true, but fear is so gosh darn powerful.

This man, a journalist, who probably prides himself on doing his research and finding the facts, is making choices for his child based solely on fear.

Frankly, that kind of child rearing scares me more than whether or not he lets his child play with this toy.

As most people who read this blog know, I carry a Glock 27 which shoots a .40 caliber bullet.  I like this gun very much and for my experience I am accurate with it.  I can not unload a magazine into a target and leave a dime size hole, but I can not do that with any gun, yet.

I can, however, shoot a fist sized grouping pretty much anywhere I aim, except recently because I got these new night sites and they are wreaking havoc on my accuracy.  If I am at an indoor range, I can compensate pretty well, most days.  I think because it is dark in there, but when I shot the Glock last Sunday at a bright sunny outdoor range, I was not a happy camper, but that is another post.

For the purposes of this post, I am accurate with the .40.

I have read many, many, many articles about which is the best self defense caliber and been mostly confused by it, but I have focused on the fact that generally speaking most experts agree that shot placement is much more important than the caliber. That coupled with the fact that the people in my life have believed that I should carry as big a caliber as I can handle.  I have never shot a .45, but the .40 I can handle, so I have stuck with it.

A few months ago I read an article I though was posted on Guns, Guns, and More Gosh Darn Guns, (I tried to go back and find the article, but I couldn’t.  Maybe if JD is reading this, he can post the link) about the 9mm being a good self defense caliber because the recoil is less and therefore one can get back on target more quickly and since most scenarios will require having to shoot the target more than once, this is an important factor to consider.  At the time I was till concentrating on learning my gun and was not in the market for another one, so I just put that info in the back of my mind and moved on.

A few months later I ran across a video of a guy shooting an XDM 9mm 5.25″ and for whatever reason I fell in love with that gun.  It was probably because the guy shooting the gun got so crazy giddy shooting it, that I really wanted to get in on that action. Probably isn’t the best reason to purchase your next gun, but it is an improvement over standing in a pawn shop parking lot, alone and buying a gun for the first time from a guy you don’t know.

I remembered that article and thought this would be a great 9mm for me.

I watched that video a million times and I started to research the XDM.  Liked everything  I heard and I made up my mind this was the gun for me.

I had never shot a 9mm or a full size gun and I thought it was best that I do that before running out and buying one.

Seeing, learning.

One day at the range I asked a fellow shooter if I could shoot her Smith & Wesson M & P 9mm and she said sure.  I was surprised by how much better I shot with it.  Remembering, of course, that I had been shooting with those icky sites and that was certainly effecting my performance and my mood, but that doesn’t negate that where ever I aimed her gun, there went my shot.  It was a full sized gun, I believe and I loved how it felt in my hand.

I didn’t realize that sized mattered, but in this case, bigger really was better.  I came home and gave my husband the bad news…

I wanted a new gun and I did not want to wait any longer.

Fortunately, for me, fate intervened and time just didn’t allow for us to go get a gun.  I was forced to wait.

Fast forward to last Sunday, I go to the range and while there I get an oppurtunity to shoot the XDM 9mm 4.5″ and as I suspected, it was a dream.  I wanted the 5.25″, but the 4.5″ was a nice size.  Bigger than my Glock 27, but probably still concealable for me as it is much thinner.

I seriously want this gun.

John(that CC guy I am so fond of), gave me a look and said, something to the effect of “You shot the thing once and you might be experiencing the joy that comes from the newness of shooting a new gun.”  He probably added some colorful language just to keep it interesting, but the point was well taken.  I had shot a lot of new guns that day and I loved every single one of them, but that didn’t mean they should become my everyday carry.  Although if I could find a holster for the LaRue, I think would feel mighty secure.

Anyway, I mentioned the article to him and why I wanted a 9mm and he said, “Well there is one easy way to find out”. “Lets time you.”

He grabbed a timer and we headed tot he targets.  I shot the XDm first.  I don’t remember the time, but it was not impressive.  Then I shot my Glock and the time and accuracy were much improved.  Lastly I shot his M & P and that was the fast and most accurate grouping.

I am not entirely sure I believe the results because I had never been timed before and I was nervous, and the more I shot the more comfortable I became and that had to make a difference on the time and accuracy and plus I need an excuse cuz I really want the XDm:)

Learning from my mistakes is often a slow and painful process.

Something that was pointed out to me about the XDm is the grip safety.  I knew it had a grip safety, but I didn’t realize that I have to grip it just right to shoot it and also to rack the slide.  It was suggested that the more I train and the more advanced classes I take, that kind of safety might mess with me a little.

Good point.  Hadn’t thought of that.

What I had thought of was that it didn’t have a manual safety that I had to disengage.  When I first thought about getting a gun, I wanted one with 7 safeties and never have it loaded when not using it, and it would be locked away, etc., but now the idea of a thumb safety or other manual safety makes me nervous.  I carry concealed, so I don’t have a retention holster and with my Glock I just have to grab the gun and it shoots when I am ready.  I like that kind of immediate result.

I know the key to anything is training, but I am worried that if I have 2 different kinds of guns, will I be trained well enough under stress to know which one I have on my hip????

So after all that, I still really want the XDm, but will probably get the M & P. Still a few things to figure out.

The only thing I know for sure is that I am going shopping in January and I am coming home with a 9mm.

**** Quick Note**** I have had the fortune to recently be introduced to some great blogs and I am going to link them here very soon, but the next few days are crazy for me, so in the mean time, click on my link to The Gun Blog Black List.  You will not be disappointed in what you find there.