Guns: Use vs. Abuse

There's an old saying: "Beware the man with one gun; he probably knows how to use it." I believe a more correct statement would go something like this: "Beware the man with one well-worn gun; he not only knows how to use it, he's been using it for years."

Some people fret about holster wear, scratches, or other cosmetic mishaps that have no bearing on a firearm's proper functioning. I tend to be on the opposite side of the fence - the wear on a gun's finish is quiet evidence of the passing of many years of faithful service to its owner.

Here's my CZ-75B's safety and slide lock. The safety's polycoat finish has been almost fully worn away from the constant snicking and unsnicking of the safety mechanism (I tend to flick the safety off whenever the gun is leveled, and flick it back on when I'm in a low ready position).

This is the front of my CZ P-01. You'll see that the shiny forged aluminum is showing through the finish, mostly because of the friction between that part of the gun and my holster. There's almost no way to prevent this kind of wear, unless you invent some magical holster that doesn't touch the gun that it's carrying.

Above is the inside of my S&W 642. The ejector rod tip has worn right through the admittedly fragile gray coating that covers the aluminum frame of the gun. This happens naturally to all of these gray-coated Airweights - the closing and opening of the cylinder is just something that happens again and again.

Obviously, people abuse their guns all the time. But the wear of gentle use is something to be cherished - too many things today are impermanent, and I think that a tool used for self-defense should not be one of them.