What exactly does tactical mean when refer to pistols?
At gun shop guy’s having barrel threaded for suppressor STI race gun with rails & assorted stuff…
Tells me it’s his tactical home defense gun cause he can put a suppressor on it along with a light,
the word “tactical” kept getting used almost ever other sentence!!
“Tactical” can mean what ever a person perceives it to mean.
Many “gun shop commando’s” love to throw the word “Tactical” around. These were the same types who a few years ago had everything in black, covered in velcro. Now it’s coyote brown and wear 511’s to bed.
I have carried a gun as an LEO for the last 18 years. I do not have a “Tactical” pistol and a non-tactical pistol.
In my simple mind, a “Tactical” gun is one that is reliable and durable enough to trust your life to. A gun that will perform when needed. No tinkering, fudging, adjusting, ect., the gun will work when needed, period.
Many of the Tactical gun shop commando’s will endorse a specific gun, ammunition, and accessories because they think a certain agency or military organization issues it. Well, that’s nice, until you see what can be involved in a T&E process, and the factors involved, and who actually makes the final decision…
If one doesn’t know what purpose a particular accessory is going to fulfill, why get it?
A proven design that an individual can shoot effectively, is in my mind a “Tactical Pistol”.
I am a fairly decent shooter, have received a lot of training over the years, and practice regularly as if my life depends on it (I actually think it does!).
I am not an “Operator”. (Another term thrown around a lot lately). I have met a few “Operators” over the years. These highly trained individuals can pick up just about any type of gun and make it run.
My point is that I feel it’s the shooter, not the tool, that’s important.
Defensive aka tactical shooting is all about shot placement. This has more to do with training and skill than cutting edge equipment.
Watch what someone with training and skill can do with a stock Glock 17 some time…
In my experience “tactical” means when a manufacturer adds a bunch of crap to a product that 90% of buyers will have no use for, but they buy it anyway because they saw something similar on Future Weapons. The prices are usually grossly inflated, and none of the features give you a measurable force multiplier.
When I see “tactical” attached to any product, it turns me off right away as it is usually just gimick marketing.
Well when our club needed a new fridge we got a black one 'cause black is tactical. 
All my handguns are tactical: They are meant for real use.
Buckaroo
Allthough it seems to have fallen out of fashion, the term “entry weapon” seemed to get used to describe a lot of silly weaponry. I suppose that the implication was that the guy who was going in first was entitled to carry whatever he wished…regardless of the snickering from the peanut gallery.
Rosco
Tactical means how the fight is carried out at the unit level. Strategic means how the entire conflict is planned out at and above the theatre level.
B_C
I was under the impression that it simply referred to a pistol with a rail for mounting a light/laser.
I’m sure plenty of people use it in a way we would describe as “tacti-cool,” however.
ETA: Or a threaded barrel, I suppose. My understanding is: basically a pistol that it can be modified (through adding lights/suppressors/whatever) to give it added functionality.
To me, a tactical pistol is a pistol that you would be willing to use in a defensive situation. It would have less to do with rails, threaded barrels, and tacticool stuff and more to do with (1) is it a caliber that is effective to stop someone, yet not be a grizzly bear gun and (2) is the gun going to run reliably under stressful situations.
Unfortunately, marketing is king and tactical now seems to be synonymous with all the trinkets and stuff that you can put on your gun.
Good God! I’m at AR15.com. :blink:
To me, tactical means:
Main Entry: tac·ti·cal
Pronunciation: \ˈtak-ti-kəl
Function: adjective
Date: 1570
1 : of or relating to combat tactics: as a (1) : of or occurring at the battlefront <a tactical defense> <a tactical first strike> (2) : using or being weapons or forces employed at the battlefront <tactical missiles> b of an air force : of, relating to, or designed for air attack in close support of friendly ground forces
2 a : of or relating to tactics: as (1) : of or relating to small-scale actions serving a larger purpose (2) : made or carried out with only a limited or immediate end in view b : adroit in planning or maneuvering to accomplish a purpose
So, to me, nothing I can buy as a civilian is tactical, despite what’s written in the marketing. Going by definition 2 (1), the closest thing I have to being tactical is going to the store to buy toilet paper.
I thought Entry Weapon meant “short and handy”… MP5, SBR, SBS. It’s really hard to dynamically enter a room with a 26 inch barreled sniper rifle…
And they did it every day for years in WWII.
B_C
Wrong! if we were over at arfcom this thread would have already been flooded with pics of safe queens and descriptions of how tactical their setup is :rolleyes:
Nonetheless most are right. The word tactical belongs no where near the sale of firearms and accessories but some how managed to meander its way to popularity.
Yeah, my tactical toilet paper gets stored right next to my tactical bacon, tactical motor oil and tactical shoe laces.
You know, its a good thing the gun store commandos didn’t start using the word “Strategic” instead. :rolleyes:
Tactical = practical
…As I see it.
A light,laser,and suppressor on a full size handgun might be “tactical” in the nightstand…Not so much at the beach.
Scott is the only truly “tactical” toilet paper I’ve found.
Yes the word ‘Tactical’ is far over used. I did use it in the name of my new company ‘Jensen-Ready Tactical’ (yes I’m still at VA Arms) I used ‘Tactical’ mostly because I assemble and repair guns which are for hard use most of which is ‘tactical/practical’ use in nature meaning real training / self defense / LE/Gov’t duty / or shooting smelly bearded men and not just adding color to dirt-shooters gun.
Maybe you can cook us up some of that tactical bacon with your new tactical grilling set 
http://www.tacticalgrilling.com/
I have always perfered the term TACTACOOL:dance3: as I have to agree with everyone else its over used term.
dt…