Do you carry a tool or a "queen"

[Tenifer17]

I have been guilty of treating most of my pistols as queens except my gen 3 Glock 34. It is my camping, playing in the woods, toss in the truck kinda gun. It's earned every scratch with probably over 8,000 rounds. I've fed it everything from tula, wolf to top shelf duty ammo.

Me too , look at my profile/avatar pic , my G34 is my workhorse . It is what I think Glock should have made the G17 as to begin with .

[Guest MilitiaMan]

All tools here. Having said that I take good care of my stuff.

 

Ditto.

[QuietDan]

One of the first things I do with every "NEW" out of the box firearm is put a mark, scratch or some thing on it to take the cheery

off. Make it easier when something does happen to them.

 

First thing we do with a new car is take it out into a big parking lot and back it into a light pole, just a tap. Inoculates it against a more serious scratch or fender-bender . . . .

[piercedan]

I used to cradle and handle my pistols like new born babies. Here recently I have started using them as designed. Life is too short for all the safe queen drama and I am starting to enjoy them way more then when they were sitting in the safe.
Have you guys ever decided to do this ?

So I now carry a tool now and not a safe queen . I am even not afraid to drop it nor toss it across the ground while  practicing now.

It really does ease your nerves up some . Kind of like when you get that first dent on a car or truck, after that it doesnt hurt as much as the first dent did.

 

I had a really nice and shiny 1911 that was my only safe queen.  After scuffing it, I decided to trade it to someone who will care for it better than I.  Now all I have are tools, meant for field use and ready for battle.  They all have a purpose.  Not to say I won't pick up something pretty in the future, but that isn't my focus right now.

[DWARREN123]

Tools, taken care of but still tools.

[camp]

my glock 23 is a tool , but i take care of my tools as i use most of them to make a living. have no use for queens

[graycrait]

All mine are tools. I enjoy looking at purty guns but have no personal interest in jewelry, knives that don't do realy work, trophy wives or guns that aren't shooters.

[slow ss]

I like to shoot em all when there was bullets... But my glock 26 def has character

[homeagain]

I've got some that I keep shiny clean and fingerprint free......and then I have Glocks.  My 1911's are my 'Sunday best' and my Glocks are my Carhartts.  And then there's the Para LDA that's somewhere in between.  It's the oddball that looks pretty good, gets carried alot, has some wear, but I just can't bring myself to throw it around like a Glock.  I guess it's kinda my golfshirt and khakis.

[10-Ring]

Every gun that I own that I consider a carry gun gets used.  My Kimber is the exception if there is one at all.  I don't carry the Kimber often but I will carry it, I also shoot it as much as possible.  I'm not worried about it getting dinged up but I try to take care of it.  I have a 642 that I bought years ago and carried daily for a long time, a good deal of the finish has rubbed off of it.  My current EDC is a Glock 27 and has been for about 2 1/2 years now, though I do rotate it out for a Glock 23 quite a bit too, I'll have to say for guns that get carried and handled as much as those two do they have held up very well.  I do have a couple of vintage .22 pistols that I baby.  They are range toys, no need getting them banged up.

[Erik88]

One of my carry guns is a Glock made in 1988. It's purely a tool.

[gregintenn]

I have both, but none of either are Glocks. :rofl:

Edited April 17, 2013 by gregintenn

[Major Kong]

I'm getting better. My new (to me) Wilson Combat 1911 fell off of the bench yesterday and hit the concrete and I managed to not freak out about it.

 

I still have a few queens but they all get shot. Some just in a different manner than others.

[knox]

Since I can't shoot (don't want to deplete my low supply of ammo) mine are queens by default :-(

 

But - I really don't want them beaten up.  I hope to keep them looking as new as possible for as long as possible.  I am like others have stated - that's just the way I like to keep my things.

Edited April 17, 2013 by knox

[ncldwell]

More tools than queens. Different kind of pride of ownership with each category. For me it eventually boils down to using and firing that makes the ownership so enjoyable...for me anyway...

[mav]

I have some very expensive 1911s and I also own Glocks.  All of my guns, outside of target 22s, get carried, and I would have absolutely no issues training with any of them.  In fact, the gun I have actually trained with on several occasions was a >$2k Nighthawk Custom 2011.  Hell, I even carry that gun in a Kydex holster.  That said, I will maintain what I own. 

 

There is absolutely no way that I would ever submerge my Glock in mud or run over it with a car just to prove it will still function.  I will leave those actions to those who have more money than brains.

[Spiffy]

My gen4 19 gets treated roughly as my EDC and IDPA ESP gun.

 

And he slung his AR down the drive way 5 or 6 times to make it looks battle worn.

 

 

I just use my guns. Yeah if I really hurt the finish I'd be hacked off at myself but in the end it's a gun that rides in a holster so I don't baby it.

[BrasilNuts]

And he slung his AR down the drive way 5 or 6 times to make it looks battle worn.

My AR fights the battle of dust and rust every day.

I just use my guns. Yeah if I really hurt the finish I'd cover it with a sticker.

Fixed that for ya! Edited April 17, 2013 by BrasilNuts

[Guest Southern Christian Armed]

I need help on this one. Just got my carry permit and as most dont have a safe full of choices, but hav a brand new in box glock 22 which I have narrowed down to my ideal carry gun. I just cannot bring myself to holster it a bunch and scratch up the slide. So I am contiplating a trade for an XD40 stainless full size for the slide wear reason. I do like the xd alot. Do I keep the glock and wear the slide or trade for the stainless XD which wont show as much wear? Arghhhhh. I know its a tool. I almost wanna follow another posters advice, drink a few beers to get brave enough, and take a key and scratch the slide all to crap so I dont worry about it anymore lol. Now any gun i own I keep internally immaculate no matter how worn outside is. I just cant bring myself to mar the outside...... Help lol

[D3vo]

They are tools, but I take care of my tools. I have no unfired guns in my possession for display which is my interpretation of safe queen.

Can we get this thread setup as a sticky in Firearms Classifieds? Edited April 18, 2013 by D3vo

[Guest Msavard]

I don't go out of my way to baby my guns but they are well taken care of and typically look like a well cared for used firearm. Some wear but nothing abusive.

 

This. 

[Guest Hound]

I havnt really had a chance to carry yet but I will probably keep one or two looking pretty for the wife to look at so I have an easier time keeping my hobby.

[Romad7]

I need help on this one. Just got my carry permit and as most dont have a safe full of choices, but hav a brand new in box glock 22 which I have narrowed down to my ideal carry gun. I just cannot bring myself to holster it a bunch and scratch up the slide. So I am contiplating a trade for an XD40 stainless full size for the slide wear reason. I do like the xd alot. Do I keep the glock and wear the slide or trade for the stainless XD which wont show as much wear? Arghhhhh. I know its a tool. I almost wanna follow another posters advice, drink a few beers to get brave enough, and take a key and scratch the slide all to crap so I dont worry about it anymore lol. Now any gun i own I keep internally immaculate no matter how worn outside is. I just cant bring myself to mar the outside...... Help lol

The Glock's finish is more durable than you give it credit for but in the end a carry Glock is a purpose built tool. It's made to be used a lot and work every time. So use it.

If I had the money I would get a $2k carry gun and use the crap out of it. Unless its sentimental or antique every gun is a tool. I would only want that expensive gun if its ability to perform was equal to the price tag.

I look at scars/wear on a gun the same way that I look a scars on my hands. Some are from normal wear and tear from work and some are from stupid mistakes but all are from a life of honorable use in doing good work. I don't want either to suffer from the decay of neglect and idleness.

However lack of ammo has caused some of my guns to go unused for too long, I am working to remedy that. Edited April 22, 2013 by Romad7

[RichardR]

I consider all firearms tools, regardless of how much they cost, their rarity, age or how pretty they are, but then again I'm not a "collector" either.

Granted I'm not opposed to wall-hangers, display cases or safe queens, it's just that iffin I own them, I'm a going shooting with'em.

[serbu50]

My carry Glock 19 is a throw tool... That so called Tenifer that is supposed to be 400,000,000,000 tougher than a diamond or whatever is about worn off from the ultra hard kydex ...  :rolleyes: