The Great Caliber Debate - What I Rock and Why

Hits a little too close to home...

Coach - Mercenary - Farmer Podcast Episode 7 - Thoughts on the Caliber War

Before my first all expenses paid trip to the Middle East, I didn't own a gun. Seeing a solidly second world country descend into a all out civil war changed my views. In hindsight, my only force projection response to violence would have been my little league baseball bat. Not the best choice in hindsight. 

My first purchase after getting home was a .40 caliber Glock, law enforcement trade in. Solid choice and my thinking at the time was .40 has to be better than 9 mm, it has a heavier bullet and is faster down the pipe (feet per second). After going to a handgun class and shooting from the hip, I realized that the .40 wasn't pleasant to shoot, and started looking at the 9 mm round.

I picked up an 870 shotgun, and a 30-06 Savage rifle. The shotgun was a solid choice, and the Savage was as good a value, but I don't know if I would buy the same rifle again. More on that later.

We'd been loaned to the Army, and sent with battered magazines and shot out range guns, so out of ignorance, I thought all ARs jammed all the time, I had soured on the AR platform. I bought an SKS, and later an AK and they were, and are, fun to shoot.

As I got more into shooting, I learned what worked for me, versus what other folks told me was best. I went to a range and rented a 9mm Springfield XD, a Glock 17, and a Taurus 1911 in .45. I went in thinking the XD would be the gun for me. It just didn't point well for me. The 1911 pointed (think hit where I was pointing) extremely well, but held only 8 rounds if you carry one in the pipe. The Glock was the sweet spot in between for me. Nothing sexy about it, it's a Volkswagen bug, 

I bought a Ruger 10/22 along the way, but have since gone to the Smith & Wesson 15/22. It's about double the cost of a Ruger, but the muscle memory advantages of running a .22 platform set up identical to all of my ARs. When .22 ammo was plentiful I was buying a box of 500 every payday. Not a bad investment. When .22 ammo disappeared I just transitioned to 12 gauge, 5.56, and 9 mm. Someday, it'll be readily available again on the shelves, right? Right?

Here's where I'm at, I've standardized to 12 gauge in the shotgun platform, 9 mm Glock model 17 (soon to add a 23 for concealed carry), a Kel Tec Sub 2000 carbine that uses my existing Glock mags, my AR platforms are all set up with the B.A.D. Lever from Magpul and BCM Gunfighter Charging Handle these two items allow you to take out two steps out of the manual of arms for clearing misfeeds and malfunctions. It took a few hundred rounds to get the muscle memory changed, but I can't imagine going back now.

The Aught Six is still my deer rifle, but a long range precision rifle is probably going to be in my future, in the .260 flavor, along with a suppressor in .30 cal that can be used on multiple platforms.

Thanks again for reading and listening. As always your comments are welcome.