As you know, there are a ton of options these days when it comes to concealed carry. You can carry different calibers, different size clips, different types of pistols, and then you have preferences in size of the weapon, weight, and fit to your hand. It can be hard to narrow down your choices to just one firearm, and it would seem to be completely natural to experiment with a few different pistols.

But, maybe, you shouldn’t. Maybe you should pick one that will cover the options that you need and stick with that one firearm for your carrying needs, and there is a simple, straightforward logic to why you should do this: consistent practice makes permanent. And, if you are switching up the firearm that you are practicing with, then you aren’t being consistent. This could be a problem in a high-stress situation. Sheriff Jim Wilson gives us his thoughts on this issue:

When we practice what we’ve learned in training, it becomes a habit, hopefully a good habit. The more you practice, the more the technique, whatever it is, becomes an ingrained process. It is something that can happen without us consciously thinking about it. When your brain says, “I think we need to draw our pistol,” your body follows the command without you having to think through the various movements.

This ability is critical because, during a deadly encounter, our brain has lots of other things to be focused on […].

This is what concerns me when I hear folks talk about having concealed-carry guns in regular rotation. It’s not much of a problem when they are rotating the same kind of gun but that is usually not the case. Different types of guns have different controls.

Sheriff Wilson goes on to say that people should always carry in the same place on the same side of their body. Why? For the very same reason that you need to work with the exact same model firearm for your carrying weapon: in a high-stress situation, you won’t be able to consciously think of where your weapon in and how to use it as quickly and accurately as possible. Your body experiences an adrenaline dump and your ability to carefully think through options is severely hampered. What you have trained repeatedly is what your body will do on autopilot. It is what is in muscle memory, and it is what will be done in this kind of high stress situation.

So, for your safety and for the safety of those you are protecting, find one firearm that you are comfortable with, that does what you need to do, and practice with that weapon over and over and over again. That way, if, God forbid, you get in a fire fight, you’ll be able to do what you need to do to survive it.