Is it best to standardize on a caliber as much as possible?

[archer51]

The only advantage I see to only having 1 caliber is the stockpiling of ammo. I have most everything from .22 to .45ACP,switching between calibers has never been a problem for me.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Mike1956]

Not only do I limit my everyday carry to one caliber, I also limit it to one type. Hammerless DAOs in 9mm are the only things in any of my currently-used holsters. Most of the time, I am carrying nearly-identical pistols of the same model in both holsters.

[SIXTO]

It depends on what your goals in buying guns are. If its purely from a collecting standpoint, buy whatever floats your boat. If you're buying with a purpose, I suggest narrowing things down to a few calibers. It makes ammo buying a lot easier. For my stockpiles, I've went to 9mm, 5.56 and 12ga. Of course, .22lr too. I do keep some others on hand too, but that is more because I like shooting. (45acp and 38) It makes the actual purchase, the negotiating the price, and storage a lot easier.

[kante]

I used to stock 2 calibers: .22lr and 9mm. The .22lr is fun to shoot, purely from a recreational point of view and 9mm is fairly cheap to shoot at the range without being too worried about the costs of ammo. It also is a fair self defense round imho. The reason for standardizing on 9mm is plain simple: There is not a big problem when i am carrying, when i am loading my gun, i will have the time to make sure i load the correct caliber. But it could be important in case of a "get out of your house now" scenario, like a natural disaster coming, a nuclear accident or a zombie outbreak - i want to be able to grab a gun and enough ammo, without wasting time to find matching rounds for whatever gun i choose to take...

[Guantes]

I think there is a considerable difference between EDC calibers and overall calibers, which also might include hunting, plinking and general defense. The former might be only one or two, while the latter might be a dozen.

[mlr1m]

What if the particular caliber you decide on as your standard round becomes to expensive or worse difficult to find? Think about the recent scarcity of .380 ammo. The 38 spcl was found in every hardware and corner grocery when I was growing up. Now I seldom see it outside of gun shops where I live.
For home defense diversification can be good for that reason alone. Also it makes you more likely to be able to use or share ammo with friends if you have different types.

Standardization makes good sense for police for ammo sharing reasons. Not so sure for home use.

Michael

[Majorlk]

I have handguns in eight calibers. I shoot all of them at the range on a somewhat rotating basis. I have two carry pistols, one a .38 revolver and the other a .40S&W. The ONLY time I carry the .38 is for those times I simply can't carry the .40.

Stockpiling isn't an issue since I hand load for everything but the .22s and have a very substantial supply for every firearm.

[TonyDTrigger]

Glock 26 9mm 99% of the time, for the 1% a .380 LCP. I am planing to get another 9mm, prehaps a Kahr, Nano, Walther something small single stack.

[zonker1986]

Before the Obama induced ammo shortage, I only shot and carried 9mm and .45ACP, and swore I'd never own another caliber....then started noticing that there was never any 9mm or .45 ammo available, but there was plenty of .40 and .357SIG. Now I have a couple of .357SIGs and .40's to diversify my options a bit....specificaly Glock 23, 32 and 33. Glad I expanded my caliber horizons a bit, as these pistols are a "blast" to shoot.

[357and40]

mlr1m brought up a great point... multiple calibers makes your chances of finding at least one ammo you need much better....

[ChrisMia]

I'd prefer standardizing calibers as much as possible (9mm in my case). My mindset may be different than that of many on here, as I don't collect handguns for the sake of collecting, but rather I'm very utilitarian in owning everything for a purpose. As such, at least in my mind becoming as familiar as possible with one caliber's characteristics is more important to me than having a variety of pistols in the safe. Not to say I won't change that one day (I'd really like to ad a .357 eventually), but for now I prefer standardizing as much as possible. Being able to have one big stockpile of the same caliber ammo doesn't hurt either.

[TBob]

Although I have exclusively carried .45 ACP for over a decade, I don't think that it really matters. I carried .357 and .380 before that without issues.

I believe that the more important issue is to standardize on an operating system for carry. All my current carry pistols are M1911s. I train regularly with them all to stay proficient, and I see great value in common safeties, trigger feels, operating principals, and identical malfunction-clearing procedures. I never have to hesitate a nanosecond to consider what I'm carrying today and how it works. This is generally the military approach - pick a weapon system, learn it cold to build muscle memory/habit patterns, and live it daily. You can operate that system perfectly in the dark and even in your sleep by instinct. That approach has proven very successful under the extreme stress of combat.

That said, if you regularly train with everything you carry, even a small variety of weapons, your chances of doing everything right when the SHTF are high. The issue of negative transfer across similar but not identical operating systems can ruin your day, though, and should be considered. It's easier to fly several totally different aircraft than to fly several similar ones because the chances negative transfer across the very different aircraft is small, though not non-existent. I believe that the same applies to firearms.

In the end, whatever you choose, train, train, and train some more. Amateurs practice until they get it right, professionals train until they can't get it wrong.

[pangloss9]

Would you recommend standardizing on a caliber for CC'ing? As much as possible at least? Or do you alternate between various rounds regularly? I currently only own 1 pistol but as I expand my collection I'm curious on your thoughts.

In my opinion, you need to decide which pistol(s) you will use for defense and which are just pistols you think would be nice to own. Regarding pistols that you intend to actually use to protect yourself, I vote for standardization. Some people have a "carry rotation," and this practice makes absolutely no sense to me. I don't understand why people want to have a half dozen different pistols that all do the same thing. Pick what you think is the best possibly platform for you and dedicate your time and money to that. I picked Glock 9mm, but I probably would have been just as happy with an M&P 40 or XD 40. Right now I have one .40 (CZ) and one .45 (1911) caliber pistol. It's been over a year since I shot either of them, and I don't have a single round of ammo for either of them.

[OldVet]

Variety is the spice of life, and a lot of shooting fun when applied to calibers. I reload 95% of my ammo so the cost figure isn't as important to me as for others. Any caliber in any make in any model is fine as long as I can put rounds on target, and in all honesty, I shoot all handguns equally as far as accuracy goes (and I ain't claiming no braggin' rights).

[oakchas]

I like the notion of standardizing, in that it allows for a massive stockpile of armament. There is also the opportunity for a carbine in pistol calibers, which gives some extended range and accuracy to the typical handgun caliber.

Ideally, a 1911 .45 and the Thomson sub machine gun to go with it... yeah, that's the ticket!

But for the rest of us... I still need a .22 rifle and a good 12 ga. To go with the .45's and 9mm's