The 1911 pistol is what had my attention, while growing up. I became interested in WWI, WW2, and Korean War history, early on. While watching Westerns on TV, so very many of the actors used revolvers, that lever rifles and auto-pistols caught my attention. A 1911, a Luger, or a Broomhandle Mauser, in a movie or show set anywhere near the turn of the century, would cause me to sit up and notice. The Wild Bunch is an obvious example, but there were more.
So, my first handgun, at age 21, was a 1911. Not a Colt, but, well, a Detonics Combat Master, of all things. At age 22, however, I started attending a police academy, and had to use a 4” .357 revolver, like it or not. I thought that the DA revolvr was quaint, and, on its way out, but, I “got with the program.” Several models, made my S&W, Ruger, and Colt were approved, for those already owning the weapons. The rest of us were required to buy S&W L-Frames, and we could get them through the academy, the special-for-cadets price payroll-deducted from our salaries. (I ordered an S&W 686.) I made a diligent effort to learn long-stroke DA shooting, with both my right and left hands. To make a long story short, I learned to like S&W N-, L-, and K-Frames. REALLY like! (Later, the Ruger GP100 joined that club.)
After academy graduation, I was then sworn-in, and required to use a 4” to 6” DA revolver as my duty handgun, for the first year of sworn service. I could use a wide range of 2” to 6” revolvers during personal time, and for secondary weapons while on the clock. Houston was vying with Detroit as homicide capital of the USA, back then, so, I was motivated to train. Not until the late Nineties could I shoot any auto-pistol as well as I could shoot a medium-large DA revolver. That auto was the 1911. In about 2005, the SIG P229 joined that exclusive club. (I started using a P229 as a duty pistol in 2004. It remained my duty pistol until late 2015, when the chief OK’ed 9mm to again be a primary duty cartridge, and I elected to use a 9mm Glock G17 duty pistol.)
About 1997, I finally started liking to shoot single-action sixguns. I still like them, and have accumulated a few. Being retired, for the past five years, I am free to carry what I want*, and will, on the rare occasion, tote a single-action revolver as the only firearm on my person. (I am not advocating that anyone, other than myself, carry a single-action revolver for defensive purposes.
I now trend DA revolver, as the go-to handgun, for daily carry, but not because I grew up preferring revolvers. I am getting old, and 61, and age does have something to do with preferring revolvers: My aging right hand does best with a handgun that has a relatively small grip. The Ruger SP101’s factory grip is the most-perfect fit for my right hand. An S&W K-FRame, with Magna grips, is a close second. One of the conditions that affects my right hand resuts in some days being good days, and some days being bad days. On “good” days, I may well carry a larger weapon, on my right side.
Not to worry; when I tote an SP101 on my right side, as “primary,” my “reload” may well we a full-sized fightin’ pistol, positioned for lefty access. It may well be a Glock G17.
*Yes, working for a PD meant being subject to PD rules, for what one carried while off-the-clock. Being “subject to duty,” at all times, while out and about, in public, it was felt necessary that officers carry semi-auto pistols, and/or specified-configuration DA revolvers, with which we were currently “qual’ed.”
