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Oldgringo wrote:I'm with you, Slowdave.

I am fairly vigilant. Y'all have convinced me to carry loaded, cocked and locked and that's no longer a problem.

I'm afraid; however, if I get in a situation where I have to draw my concealed weapon from its holster under my shirt/jacket or out of my pocket, acquire my aggressor target and eliminate him/her in a quarter or half second, I'll be SOL. I just ain't that fast...no more.

Oldgringo,

Don't feel bad about those quarter second and half second draws. There are very few people alive who can do that. The posts discussing those times were talking about increments, not total time.

If you can draw, fire, and accurately place two shots in center mass at a target six feet away in 1.5 - 2.0 seconds, you're in the ballpark. With practice, that's very doable, even for those of us considerably over the half century mark.

Here's a short video that might help. Don't be confused about the demonstrator's discussion of a release lever - it applies only to the specific holster he's using.

Keith B wrote:I have shot both the PM9 (my main carry) and PM40. The .40 is definitely a lot more to manage. These are slightly smaller than the CW series, but I would think they would be very similar in reaction. I have yet to shoot the PM45, but plan to rent one if possible the next time I am at the range. It is just barely larger than the PM9 and I think the difference in the ballistics on the .45 over the .40 should make it easier to handle.

The PM40 is definitely snappy due to its small size, light weight, and the characteristics of the .40 S&W cartridge. I have several hundred rounds through a PM45, and it's got a healthy recoil too - noticeably more than the .40.

Neither of these guns is hard to control for an experienced shooter after you get the feel of them, but they both take some adaptations of the firing grip because of their small size. I had to adjust my positioning of the support hand thumb to keep it from putting upward pressure on the slide lock which would lock the slide open before the magazine was empty.

The slide lock serrations on the PM45 were also sharp enough to draw blood until I cured that with a bit of judicious file work.

Skiprr wrote:

SlowDave wrote:Thanks for all the input. Addressing a few of the topics:

I realize an IWB would be a much quicker draw.

My earlier point about the draw had nothing to do with speed, but with surety. A quarter-second here or a half-second there actually makes little difference in most real-world situations. My post was based on your own opinion that your belly-band carry method was awkward and insecure.

Your ability to quickly obtain a secure and trusted grip on your gun in a fashion that does not allow the bad guy an easy way to foul your draw makes all the difference in the world.......

If you can't get your hand on your gun quickly--with a solid master grip--then having a gun does you little good.

A gun is not a magic wand.

Having one doesn't automatically make the bad guys go away.

That's up to the individual operator and his training.

At long distances, speed of draw becomes less important. The closer you are to the threat, the greater his ability to react effectively to your drawing motion and do damage. Correspondingly, as distance closes, the speed of the draw, even in fractions of a second, becomes increasingly important.

However, speed at the expense of surety is gamble. Will the one draw that really counts be a good one or not? You can't afford uncertainty here.

If you practice by starting slowly and executing perfect draws every time, speed comes naturally from economy and fluidity of movement.

Skiprr is also right on about the magic wand. Not all criminals are intimidated at the sight of a gun, especially within grabbing distance, and even solid K-zone hits are not reliable instant fight stoppers. You may still end up fending off or fighting hand to hand with someone you've shot until blood loss weakens him.

Mr. 72 wrote:He's not going to use a battering ram to knock the door down and wake you up. It takes me 5 or more seconds to get awake and get my bearings when the smoke alarm goes off in my house. How long will it take you to get awake, figure out what's going on, and determine there is someone in your house, when they quietly and discreetly open a window and sneak in?

Unless you leave your windows unlocked, double pane glass windows like most of those in Texas residences are not easy or quiet to break into.

Most burglaries are through doors, and while burglars generally don't carry battering rams, they do "mule kick" (kicking backwards) doors because this technique will usually cause enough damage to the lock and frame in most houses to get the door open in 1 or 2 seconds.

Burglars who enter at night are extremely dangerous because they can reasonably figure you are home, and they don't care - they're ready to deal with that.

Surprise encounters between burglars and homeowners happen all the time under several circumstances:

1. Homeowner leaves doors unlocked. Burglar makes quiet, unobserved entry and meets homeowner somewhere else in house.
2. Homeowner hears someone at the door and doesn't answer the knock or doorbell. Burglar figures house is empty, goes around to rear, and kicks in door.
3. Burglar is happily ransacking a bona fide unoccupied house when the homeowner comes back and reoccupies it.
4. Homeowner is sleeping, in the shower, etc. and doesn't hear the initial entry.