Beware the man with one gun. He usually knows how to use it...   Quite a few people have benefited recently from a massive purge I had in my weapon collection, My MP7, P90, S-System G36C and K and half a dozen pistols now rest in the hands of new owners (and for very reasonable prices too!). Like many airsofters I managed to pick up an impressive armoury on the journey to finding a gun I was comfortable with and at its peak my collection could kit me out with a different load-out every weekend of the month.

It wasn’t the need for money or space but a rare twinge of practicality that motivated my clearout.

As part of the SOG team I regularly attend firearms tactics courses hosted by FCS and run by private security professionals. The last one in particular impressed upon me the benefits of training with one primary and one secondary. I was disappointed at first when I saw that a large part of the course was devoted to pistol work, especially when we started off in a classroom environment going through the theory of pistol shooting.This progressed into practicing deployment from covert and overt holsters and then to shooting targets at targets from different distances and positions.

 

Sound boring? Perhaps but answer me this.

Where did you learn to shoot?

Most of us bought a gun and then spent the next few hours posing in the mirror performing mag changes, pulling cocking levers and striking manly poses. Ok then maybe just me but the point is, unless you are one of the few ex or current serving military or law enforcement personnel who skirmish then you probably don’t play to your full potential Worst still you may have developed bad habits that will put your aim off and take a lot of practice to get out of.

By the end of the training I’d managed to work out most of my bad habits and felt confident that I could draw my pistol in record time and hit a target accurately at twice the distance to before the course.

It was while I was packing my gear away at home that I looked at the other pieces in my collection and something strange happened. I felt no need to keep them!

In some strange way spending a weekend performing drills and going through force on force scenarios with the same two guns had formed some kind of bond between us.

I knew their capabilities inside and out and could confidently and efficiently use them in every scenario the instructors threw at us.

It seemed that there was no need to pick up another gun because those I already owned did exactly what I wanted them to. Another gun wouldn’t make me any better just confuse the familiarity I’d already become accustomed to.

I still consider buying new guns (I wouldn’t say no to a LR300) but I look back to what the course taught me and I know that I’d rather spend money on the next skirmish than another trophy piece that would probably be used a handful of times and then forgotten.

So in conclusion.

Beware the man with one gun. He now knows how to use it.