Sunday, November 23, 2014

Catching Up Before REALLY Catching Up!

Or something like that...the trip to Israel to spend some quality time at IWI left me pretty far behind the eight-ball, but principal filming for SHOOTING GALLERY, THE BEST DEFENSE and SHOOTOUT LANE is all finished. Or, as we say in Colorado (or 1968, which is probably redundant), we're down to stems and seeds...just in time to start planning GUN STORIES WITH JOE MANTEGNA and my and Marshal's new Internet series AMERICA'S RIFLE. Cool!

I thought I'd weigh in on the new Taurus Curve .380, except that I haven't shot it. I handled the first "printed" piece and a prototype version a couple of years back, but neither I nor Marshal have shot the production version. I thought it was an intriguing idea...I think we're all still feeling our way toward dealing with the huge new market.

I will say that our "doctrine," if you will, at THE BEST DEFENSE is that pocket pistols need pocket holsters, because the pocket is the equivalent of your crazy Aunt Mavis' hall closet that hasn't been unopened in like 50 years...there's a lot of icky gunk in there, and you'd rather not transfer that gunk from the pocket to the pistol. All of us Mikes and the one Marty on TBD occasionally use pocket pistols -- we strongly recommend them as a way to have a firearm readily available when you're at home -- and they're hard enough to access without risking rendering the gun unfireable to boot.

Holster science isn't mysterious ju-ju...yes, you're going to spend some money on holsters you'll ultimately reject, but hey, we're in a golden age of holsters as well as handguns.

Secondly, with a pocket gun pointing at my femoral artery or, worse yet, Mr. Weasel, I'd sorta like the trigger guard covered so the trigger doesn't figure out a way to fire itself. That's why I don't use pocket clips on my small framed revolvers. Again, I like holsters. They've worked well since we moved beyond horse pistols hung off saddles.

Thirdly, I like sights...you know, those bumps on the top of the pistol. I have over the years repeatedly told mini gun manufacturers who sought to eliminate sights on sneeze-distance pistols that I thought it was a bad idea. After years of doing TBD, I insist on sights that give me a fighting chance at a longer shot. Yes, the Taurus does have a sighting system that I'm not familiar with -- and I am inherently conservative about new ideas in a machine I might have to use to save my life -- but I keep reading that the Curve will probably be used within the 3-foot radius do the "hot zone" around your body. Okey-dokey, now if you'll kindly explain how to arrange that guaranteed distance...

As armed civilians, we have limited ability to choose the ground, the time, situation, etc. on which we might have to fight. Given that, I would argue against less, rather than more, specialization in my self-defense tools. Keep in mind that I was just in Israel, a nation fighting an enemy that wages war against women and children, and nobody there was arguing for smaller, lighter, close-in distance-limited weapons. From a purely paranoid viewpoint, which is pretty normal for me, the rise of lone wolf terrorism, increased civil unrest and the virtual certainty of a less-than-certain future points in the other direction. Gabe Suarez presents an articulate opinion that more ammo in a larger gun makes more sense in these times. 

NONE of the above means the Taurus Curve is a bad gun! I haven't shot it, much less carried it. It might be the best carry gun I've ever had. But it would be unfair not to note that, at least IMHO, the Curve starts with strikes against it.

On another note, as I mentioned in my comments, If I could get a civilian IWI X95 tomorrow, I'd happily shell out the money. I found it to be a great little gun, probably why the IDF is fielding it these days. Small, light, handles great. you'll love the SHOOTING GALLERY 2-part special!

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I have a Seecamp .380 that goes with me everywhere. No bumps on the top. It points very well. It is very handy for trips to the doctor, corner store, etc. Other than those destinations I also carry a 1911 in one configuration or another.

KevinC said...

The Curve is not a gun for me, and it's probably not a gun for anybody reading this blog (or ANY gunblog, for that matter).

But I think there is a market for this gun, it'll help save lives and Taurus will sell a metric buttload of them.

I am also not a fan of holster-less carry, and I REALLY hope to see manufacturers stepping up to the plate and creating something more than just featureless Kydex and bland leather holsters for this gun.

I worry more about the flashlight on it and people deciding to use it as, well, a flashlight and search for their car keys with it.

To be sure, a Glock 19 with 3 extra mags is a more effective deterrent than a pocket .380, but what happens when we have 19 women armed with Curves (there are all manner of sexist jokes to be made here, but I'll let them pass...) confronting a coordinated, armed assault instead of just one person with a G19?

Quantity, as Stalin once said, has a quality all its own.

Anonymous said...

The belt-clip on it might suggest IWB carry(?). The clip does look "chintzy" though.

They might need a left-hand version.

Anyhow, this gun will serve some needs, maybe not mine.

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Robert McDonald said...

Thanks, Mr. Bane!