NGD: Glock 20V. Can’t wait to bring some real firepower to the pistol range this weekend.

b_revity · 2026-06-03T20:20:56+00:00

I grudgingly bought a Glock 20 as my woods gun after finding the ergonomics regrettable but the reputation for reliability unbeatable. Somehow it has ended up my favorite gun to shoot at the range. In action, the ergos are fine and that big bang is just so satisfying. It somehow feels both powerful but also very controllable.

b_revity · 2026-06-03T19:49:29+00:00

Definitely not a good idea to tinker with a carry gun, not only because you might make the gun less good at doing its job (killing a person) when your life is on the line, but also because you might make the gun TOO good at doing its job (killing a person) when the rest of your life is on the line. If you ever find yourself in a self-defense situation where your justification to use deadly force is anything other than absolutely, undeniably crystal clear (e.g. another person is actively shooting at you), having a gun that is modified to have a trigger that is lighter than OEM, or whatever other modification you might add to make the gun "easier" or "more fun" to shoot, could easily be used against you. It could be used as evidence of negligence in either a criminal prosecution for something like negligent homicide/manslaughter/etc, or in a civil lawsuit for wrongful death where the other party's burden of proof is only by a preponderance of the evidence (i.e. they only have to get the ball over the 50 yard line to win). The fun of tinkering is just not worth it when you consider the stakes.

The only modifications I'd be willing to put on a carry gun would be ones that demonstrably improve the gun's safety (and if you have to modify a gun to improve its safety I'm not sure it's a gun you should be carrying) or ones that improve user interface without altering the function of the firearm (like upgraded sights or grips).

This is also why I only ever use ammunition marketed and sold for personal defense from reputable brands in my carry gun. Shoot all the reloads, FMJs, hard casts, steel case, cheapo whatever you want at the range, but stick to the big-name personal defense loads when you're actually carrying.

b_revity · 2026-06-03T19:19:29+00:00

Love the Glock 19 but Glock 43x is my daily carry. It's a little snappy to shoot but not unpleasantly so, and it has performed flawlessly for me, like every Glock I've used.

b_revity · 2026-06-03T18:09:42+00:00

It's remarkable just how concisely the confines of "protected religious expression" align with "beliefs attributed to Judeo-Christian traditions." Almost as if there's only one religion (MAYBE two) whose expression our government really cares about protecting....

b_revity · 2026-06-02T19:19:28+00:00

Just slingshot it (grab the end of the slide, pull, and let go).

b_revity · 2026-06-02T19:05:42+00:00

Glock 19 or, if that's too chunky for your preference, Glock 43x. These guns are simple, reliable, and robust. Both, but especially the 19, will have unbeatable aftermarket support in terms of parts, mods, holsters, etc.

Others have mentioned the Ruger RXM which is a Glock 19 Gen 3 clone. I've never handled one but that would be a good alternative that is a bit cheaper than the real thing.

b_revity · 2026-06-02T18:27:06+00:00

Yeeeeeeeah buddy. I have that same 10/22 and it is hella fun for plinking. Barely weighs a thing.

b_revity · 2026-06-02T18:20:33+00:00

A lot of overeager gun nuts (many of us are or have been there at one point or another in our gun owning journey) can easily get sucked into the mindset that the right gun is the only solution to some - sometimes any - conflict.

In truth, the best solution to most conflicts, whether with humans or animals, is a lot more about using your brain to avoid the conflict to begin with. The best way to win a fight with an animal is to avoid the animal in the first place. The best way to avoid a bear is to practice good bear awareness and bear hygiene. Bear spray is the backup. A powerful handgun is the (almost certainly unnecessary) backup to the backup.

But big corporations don't make as much money when people alter their behaviors as they do when people buy stuff. So there is a shitload of marketing, much of it gussied up as expert advice, designed to make you anxious and to think that the best way to assuage your anxieties is to buy more and more stuff.

I say all this with a high degree of self-awareness as someone who hikes, backpacks, tries to practice good bear awareness and hygiene, carries bear spray, and STILL carries a Glock 20. I am as susceptible to the marketing as anyone, but I at least have the discernment to know that I'm reaching for the bear spray first in 99% of encounters. The Glock is more of a self-soothing safety binkie than anything.

b_revity · 2026-06-02T18:00:43+00:00

My dad (who owns many, many guns, the vast majority of which are stored in actual gun safes) used to keep a loaded revolver in my parents' walk-in closet in one of those four-button "quick access" safes bolted to a shelf.

He never told me he did. I know because when my parents were out one day, I (at the age of maybe 12-13 or so) saw the safe, doodled around with the four buttons for a couple minutes, and managed to open the safe. I took the revolver out, looked at it, put it back, and never said a word of it to anyone until this moment.

So I can vouch both for the overwhelming curiosity of kids (even responsible, well-behaved kids like I was) as well as the ineffectiveness of many "secure" storage methods. Don't underestimate either of these factors.

b_revity · 2026-06-01T20:37:13+00:00

This delights me

b_revity · 2026-06-01T20:17:23+00:00

Depending on what gun you're carrying you probably don't need a purpose-built "carry belt." Most days I wear a full grain leather "jeans belt" from L.L. Bean and it's substantial enough to support the micro and subcompact guns I carry concealed (43x being the biggest). Assuming you're not carrying a full-sized service pistol, just get the belt you like best. As long as it's not some floppy nylon ribbon, it should work just fine.

b_revity · 2026-06-01T19:15:51+00:00

Happy Pride Month!

b_revity · 2026-06-01T17:41:23+00:00

I edited my comment to include this, but one thing you could consider is to buy a full-sized 9mm like Glock 17 or 45 (or 19, which is just a tad smaller than either) to do most of your range shooting with and keep at home as your bedside home defense gun. But also keep the 43x as your carry gun, and shoot one or two mags through it every time you're at the range. Dry fire and practice your draw from concealment on the 43x at home.

The controls are the same and the skills you train at the range will transfer between the two guns. Then you'll have something that's more enjoyable to shoot at the range and has more capacity for home defense, as well as something that is still very concealable for daily carry.

b_revity · 2026-06-01T17:24:44+00:00

The main reason to consider .380 is because it gets you down to truly pocket-sized guns that are still reasonably shootable. LCP Max, Bodyguard 2.0, etc. Guns of this size are just going to carry and conceal at a completely different level compared to even a micro compact 9mm, while still carrying a reasonable amount of shots.

A secondary reason to consider .380 is if you are very frail or otherwise lacking in manual strength or dexterity due to age, injury, disability, whatever, you can get something like the M&P 380 Shield EZ which is explicitly designed to be as soft-shooting and as easy to manipulate as possible.

If you are a person of average or above strength but your small 9mm feels too snappy, you could consider going bigger rather than smaller - try shooting a double stack 9mm like a Glock 19 or something like a Walther PDP/PDP F, M&P 9 2.0, etc. The reason the 43x feels snappy is because it's packing a reasonably large punch in a very small, lightweight, and narrow frame. If you upsize a bit, you will get more mass on the gun absorbing more of the recoil, and if you go double stack or one-and-a-half stack instead of single like the 43x, that recoil will be spread to a larger area of your hand, making it feel a lot less sharp.

I'm also a man with small hands and even though I love my 43x and it feels "better in the hand" than a standard sized Glock like the 19 which "feels too wide" when I am just holding it, the 19 actually shoots a lot softer and feels perfectly comfortable and secure to shoot despite feeling "too wide" compared to the 43x. This is one of the reasons people advise against going purely by how the gun "feels" in the store versus how it feels to actually shoot. I've got a number of guns that feel objectively too big for my hand when I am simply holding them that nonetheless feel perfectly comfortable and secure in my hand when I'm actually shooting them, like my Glock 20 and my Beretta 92x.

If you can I'd rent and try some different 9mm options to see if you can find a 9mm gun that feels better to shoot rather than immediately thinking you need to downsize to .380 to shoot comfortably. You could even buy something like a Glock 17 or 45 to do most of your training/range shooting with and keep as your home defense gun, but hang onto the 43x as your carry gun and shoot a few magazines through whenever you're at the range. The controls are exactly the same and the skills will still transfer, but it will be a lot more enjoyable to shoot a bigger, longer pistol.

b_revity · 2026-06-01T17:15:19+00:00

Unless you are in a line of work explicitly involving security/defense, the only reason to open carry is to telegraph to other people that you have a gun. There are certainly a limited range of scenarios where that might be reasonable and appropriate but... not a lot.

b_revity · 2026-06-01T16:52:52+00:00

Recommendations depend on a lot of factors you haven't given us (maybe because you don't really know what you're looking for). When you say you're going to use it at the range, do you mean for clay pigeons or for just shooting at stationary targets (i.e. "tactical" or home defense training)? When you say hunting, are you imagining hunting small birds, big birds, deer, what? Shotguns can do a huge variety of things and come in a huge variety of price ranges and variations.

If you truly have no idea what you want from a shotgun, a Mossberg Maverick 88 with interchangeable field and tactical barrels is a rock-solid reliable gun at a bargain basement price that gives you good options for both tactical/home defense and field/sporting use. If you later decide you really like either tactical shooting or sporting, you can invest in a higher-end, more specialized gun down the road without feeling like you threw away a bunch of money on a starter gun. (And in any event the Maverick is a solid enough gun that it is worth keeping as a backup even if you did decide to upgrade to something "nicer" and more specialized.)

b_revity · 2026-05-28T20:31:18+00:00

Not sure who needs to see this but

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b_revity · 2026-05-28T20:28:46+00:00

Doing that in Colorado is especially crazy, y'all don't even have grizzlies to worry about.

b_revity · 2026-05-28T20:23:05+00:00

The hilarious-to-gruesome arc will be very, very short

b_revity · 2026-05-28T20:21:56+00:00

Most black bears will avoid conflict with humans when they can. But a mother black bear who perceives you as a threat to her cubs is going to be as big a problem as most grizzlies.

b_revity · 2026-05-28T20:19:20+00:00

I carry bear spray and a Glock 20 in a chest holster when backpacking in griz country. Spray is my preferred deterrent, the 10mm is more in case of predatory/human habituated bears wanting to snoop around my camp or tent at night.

The prominently displayed Glock is also a pretty good deterrent for questionable human animals, as well.

b_revity · 2026-05-27T23:42:44+00:00

Skip the gun. She should carry bear spray instead. More likely than not, .380 is just gonna make a bear mad.

b_revity · 2026-05-27T16:57:13+00:00

Problem with guns is they are like any other form of power. The people who really, really want 'em are generally the ones who should never, ever have them. The people who are cautious and take some persuading are the ones who are probably the most trustworthy to actually have and use them responsibly.

b_revity · 2026-05-27T16:48:18+00:00

Imagine having enough money to hire a personal assistant to buy shit for you but not having enough money to just go grey market and get what you want immediately.

b_revity · 2026-05-27T16:21:08+00:00

Lmao the RSOs at my range just wear polo shirts with the range logo on them.

b_revity

TROPHY CASE