What Handgun to Buy ? Deacon.........

[Masterofsparks]

A whole bunch of glockaholics around here. A glock 23 is going to run you about 500 bucks before taxes/fees. That's more than you want to pay for something that is going to sit in a drawer in your nightstand until you take it out to the range and shooting while camping (I get the impression you won't be doing much shooting, otherwise you'd already have a bunch of guns.

GB

Just a opinion...mine of course...but if you buy a handgun or any weapon if you are just going to toss it in a drawer and not use it unless an intruder comes in...well don't do it. Training in use of a handgun is VERY important. Shoot when and all you can and take a firearm safety class. We shoot about once a week and it is a fun sport, but you have to be prepared.

 

[ECOSSE]

I say build a moat for home defense.

Edit
My wife just suggested alligators would be a nice addition to the moat, and I concur.

 

[joe2golf]

The following represents a very opinionated reply. It's just my experience and opinion...

In order to answer your question, I would ask how familiar you are with handguns and are you willing to get some training after purchase?

If you are unfamiliar with handguns, I'd choose a 4" revolver in 357, loaded initially with .38. Upgrade to .357 later if you want. Price is about the same. Might as well get a Smith & Wesson and not fool around.

If you have some experience and have shot some semi-autos, then I'd go Glock 19 in 9mm. You can buy mags that are CA acceptable. Simple, bombproof, no maintenance issues and no safety to commit to muscle memory.

In regards to children, get a GunVault. Super fast and can be left on your bedside table. Don't rely on training your child to respect firearms. They will have friends or relatives come over.

Shotguns and rifles - to hard to secure from children and access quickly.
1911's require training and maintenance.
Sigs are great choices but cost more than Glocks. Most require de-cocking. If you are new to handguns, I'd stick with simple single action.
H&K - too expensive and most require de-cocks.
Other semi-autos mentioned are compromises IMO.

Can't say enough about training. NRA is the first step and only the bare-boned basics.

Again, just an opinion from someone who has wasted a ton of money over the years arriving at these conclusions.

 

[5StringThumper]

I've been in Law Enforcement of almost a decade now and this question comes up most often from new home owners, new parents and those living alone in less than savory neighborhoods.

If I were to recommend a handgun for home or self defense it would be an easy to maintain snub nose, or short barrel revolver. The beauty of this type of weapon is the complete limitation of its number of moving parts. Most revolvers are built like guns; whereas most semi-auto pistols are built like machines whose secondary purpose is to put rounds on target.

Revolvers don't jam, they don't skip, and they are incapable of stove-piping or double feeding. The safety devices are easy to use; but more importantly they are easy to FEEL. Yes, I said FEEL...especially if you’re reaching for your weapon in the dark of the middle of the night.

As far as caliber is concerned I would recommend a moderate caliber; not too weak...not to strong. I say this according to my personal philosophy on self defense weapons. "You must ask yourself this question: Is your goal to stop an attacker, or is your goal to KILL an attacker?" If your answer is to kill an attacker, a handgun is certainly not in your best interest.

Confidently I would recommend a caliber between a .380 (short 9MM) or a weak grained .357. I would advise this for many reasons but the three primary reasons are:

1. AMMO COST - Sure, you can get a handgun in large grain .357, .40, .45, .44 MAGl, or any other outrageously large caliber; but, you still have to go shoot once in a while to maintain proficiency. The skill of shooting does indeed have a shelf-life (use it or lose it) and it most certainly isn't like riding a bike. If you're going to the range for practice (at least 3-4 times a month in the beginning), then you are going to burn through a boat load of ammo. Round per round, and box per box; the price really starts adding up. Rounds in .380 and 9MM and the like are much more affordable in the long run.

2. SHOOT THRU POWER - Believe it or not, in defense shootings inside a person’s home, the biggest hesitation from the home owner is FEAR. Not the fear of shooting someone in their home, but rather the realization of what's in the room, beyond the wall, behind the persons they are targeting. 12ga shotguns, .45's and larger ammunition have CAUSED the homeowners to flinch or hesitate because their child was in the adjoining room; or their neighbor might be home (esp. in condos or townhouses).

3. EASE OF USE - Simply put; what if you were away and this weapon had to be used in self defense by your wife, or significant other under crisis circumstances. A revolver is damn near fool-proof and is incredibly accurate over short ranges; in most cases up to 20 yards (60 feet). So if there is a room in your house which is longer than 60 feet...this might not be the weapon for you.

Anyway, I hope this answers some of your questions, but more importantly I hope this settles some nerves on the subject. Money is rarely the predominate factor when choosing a home defense weapon whereas reliability and effectiveness are.

Take Care, Good Luck, and Stay Safe.
5StringThumper

 

[Not A Nice Person]

That's some good solid advice right there.

All I can add is that I personally know someone who took a .38 round in the upper torso, and went on to take the gun away from the shooter and beat him senseless with it . . .

.38 for practice, low grain .357 for home defense. Hydroshocks are getting a little harder to find but are a terrific round. Genuine stopping power, every time, and not as likely to blow through seven stud walls and hit your neighbor as some of what's out there.

NANP™

 

[whodat]

That's some good solid advice right there.

All I can add is that I personally know someone who took a .38 round in the upper torso, and went on to take the gun away from the shooter and beat him senseless with it . . .

.38 for practice, low grain .357 for home defense. Hydroshocks are getting a little harder to find but are a terrific round. Genuine stopping power, every time, and not as likely to blow through seven stud walls and hit your neighbor as some of what's out there.

NANP™

+1 to all that -- although I'm a big Speer Gold-Dot fan.

 

[sirahren]

pre owned sig 229 in 40 or 226 in 9mm. cant go wrong. some of the new ones are hit or miss, but their customer service is excellent.

 

[Mr. RazorBurns]

I use and carry a Springfield XD 40. In the training course I took they told us that in a high adrenaline, panic, (plus it most likely will be dark), your shooting accuracy goes to about 10%. So I went with 13 shots in a clip. I try to shot at least every two weeks at the range and as part of that I use dummy rounds to practice clearing a misfire. What ever you decide to get, practice practice practice.

 

[senorsignor]

Silverback, interesting observation. The Red Coats unsuccessfully tried to disarm us at Lexington and Concord. just yanking your chain.
Can someone tell me how to change the subtitle from "Wetshaving Wannabe"?

 

[Mr. RazorBurns]

Can someone tell me how to change the subtitle from "Wetshaving Wannabe"?

It changes magically as your post go up. When I started posting it was Ex-lurker. It appears they have changed some of the titles and the amount of posts. Yesterday I was a lieutenant of free samples. Today, suddenly I'm a Proraso Pirate. It is part of the fun of being her. Welcome to the form!

 

[Mordecai]

I think the best advice I've ever heard about "which gun should I get?" is to hold, shoot, and handle as many as you can. Then get the one that feels "right" to you. When you wrap your hands around that particular gun it feels like it belongs there, nice and comfortable.

 

[smity83]

First and foremost when purchasing a handgun you must know how to use it. If you have never fired a gun before then do yourself a favor and join a firearms safety course, and that goes for anyone else that you could possibly imagine ever firing that weapon for self defense or otherwise. If you do not know how to handle a weapon (unload, reload, clear a jam, use safeties, get a good sight picture) properly then you pose a serious danger to everyone, including yourself, whenever you hold that weapon. Furthermore, if you don't have experience with a weapon and/or aren't prepared mentally for for using the weapon for the purpose of self-defense then having a high-capacity, semi-auto desert eagle will serve little to compensate for your lack of skills. A .22 LR round that hits a target is much better than a .50 cal round that doesn't. On a side note, one of the funniest things new handgun owners do is purchase expensive laser sights thinking that it's easy to shoot a target if there is a dot on it, and then find out that getting the dot on a target is just a little bit harder than they expected....and that's an understatement. You have to learn the basics before you start attaching freakin' lasers to your weapons.

If there are children in the house who have no significant experience around firearms, having one in the home for self-defense is unrealistic, as they must be loaded and very easily accessible at a moments notice. However, if that is not the case then I support what other members have said about buying a revolver. Low maintenance, extremely reliable, and have more than enough power to get the job done. I personally own a S&W 686+, .357 with a 6" barrel. I only use this weapon for range shooting, but I can tell you that it is my favorite weapon to fire. The Hogue grips it comes with perfectly fit my hands, and the weight of the weapon helps compensate a lot for kickback. The 7 round capacity is great, and the ability to adjust the sights helps a lot for accuracy. It is a weapon that just feels "right" when firing it, for me that is.

I also own a Sig P226, chambered for 9mm rounds. I love that weapon too. It is very accurate, and I've never had a misfire with it. It doesn't have any plastic components which gives it a nice heft over glocks. It also doesn't have lots of safeties on it to make firing the weapon any more complicated. The biggest safety for a weapon is the actual person firing the weapon, not the weapon itself.

For fun on camping trips, nothing can beat a .22. I have a Ruger .22 LR with a bull barrell and really enjoy firing it. It is sort of PITA to clean but is very accurate, has no kickback (feels like BB gun), and the ammunition is cheap as dirt.

Anyways, hope some of this information helps!

 

[Roman414]

I can personally attest that a .357 touched off in a confined space like a bedroom, in the dark, is a "Holy crap!" event. The muzzle blast burns your retinas and your ears ring for days. No amount of practice at a range, hopefully wearing ear protection, is going to prepare you for it. And God only knows where your second shot is going to go. I concur with the advice to choose a medium-power cartridge and practice, practice with it. My personal choice is my Ruger Sp101 snubby, loaded with .38 Specials. If five well-olaced shots don't resolve the issue, having more is unlikely to do me any good,

 

[DeltaAir423]

If you have some experience and have shot some semi-autos, then I'd go Glock 19 in 9mm. You can buy mags that are CA acceptable. Simple, bombproof, no maintenance issues and no safety to commit to muscle memory.

In regards to children, get a GunVault. Super fast and can be left on your bedside table. Don't rely on training your child to respect firearms. They will have friends or relatives come over.

Shotguns and rifles - to hard to secure from children and access quickly.
1911's require training and maintenance.
Sigs are great choices but cost more than Glocks. Most require de-cocking. If you are new to handguns, I'd stick with simple single action.
H&K - too expensive and most require de-cocks.
Other semi-autos mentioned are compromises IMO.

Can't say enough about training. NRA is the first step and only the bare-boned basics.

Again, just an opinion from someone who has wasted a ton of money over the years arriving at these conclusions.

Ok, I've bitten my tongue long enough, in fact it's bleeding right now.

For a first handgun, I highly advise against a Glock. Glock bills themselves as a low cost, easy training handgun. I have seen more negligent discharges by Glocks than any other handgun.

Going from the NRA safety rules, and I'll quote directly from the site.

1. ALWAYS keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.
This is the primary rule of gun safety. A safe direction means that the gun is pointed so that even if it were to go off it would not cause injury or damage. The key to this rule is to control where the muzzle or front end of the barrel is pointed at all times. Common sense dictates the safest direction, depending on different circumstances.

2. ALWAYS keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.
When holding a gun, rest your finger on the trigger guard or along the side of the gun. Until you are actually ready to fire, do not touch the trigger.


3. ALWAYS keep the gun unloaded until ready to use.
Whenever you pick up a gun, immediately engage the safety device if possible, and, if the gun has a magazine, remove it before opening the action and looking into the chamber(s) which should be clear of ammunition. If you do not know how to open the action or inspect the chamber(s), leave the gun alone and get help from someone who does.

As soon as you break rule number two, you have just disabled every "manual safety" that Glock has designed into the firearm, and you're resting on a 4.5-5.5 lb trigger, vs a 10-12 lb trigger on a double action pull of a revolver.

I second the notion of a .357 revolver as a first firearm. A Smith and Wesson 686 or Ruger SP101 should serve you well.

If you're dead set on a semi-auto I can't suggest a M1911 or Browning High Power pistol enough. 1911's and High Powers generally don't have maintenance issues if you purchase them from a reputable manufacturer. In the 1911 series, I highly suggest Springfield Armory or Kimber.

If you're going to look into a Glock style firearm, I'd suggest getting a double action only pistol such as a Smith and Wesson Model 910.

For those that mention the "high cost" of Sigs, Sig offers police trade in models that are inspected, and brought back into spec by Sig, and sold at a significant discount over new models. There might be some holster wear, but they will function as a new pistol.

In closing, I can't stress training enough, and having the ability to try before you buy.

 

[MikeLip]

I'd go with the Glock in 40S&W for purely self defense purposes. For something in a little more fun package but also able to easily handle self defense, the Sig also in .40.

I love .357. I don't think there is a better or more versatile cartridge out there anywhere. It can do anything from target shooting (especially if you load your own - I love a light load with full lead wadcutters in my .357s) to devastating self defense with a 125gr semijacketed hollowpoint. Gruesome perhaps but morgue and shooting studies show the .357 best at one shot stops, better than the .45ACP or even the .44 mag. But the cartridge is limited by the handgun. Revolvers handle 6 or 7 rounds and are bulkier (in a genuinely shootable configuration anyway) than a flat sided semiauto. And semis are very reliable. Plus they carry more rounds on tap and reload faster if you carry a second magazine.

That's my vote.

 

[whodat]

I'm surprised how many people are suggesting the Sig 229 in .40 cal. I received most of my "tactical" training with a Sig and never found it to be a good fit for me. It felt like holding an oversized toy gun -- including that sloppy trigger...

Just an observation on that --

I agree with Delta about having a firearm with a safety, but that only applies for automatics because of the lighter trigger pull. Wheel guns are double-action with a heavy trigger pull (unless you manually pull the hammer back prior to shooting) and are a much safer option for people not used to handling guns every day.

Stick with the wheel gun, you won't be sorry in the long run!

Edit: As to someone mentioning the huge blast of a .357 in a dark room -- that mostly applies to the little snubbies. A full sized 4"+ barrel will tone that down a bit -- comparable to other firearms in the same situation...

 

[stobes21]

Ok, I've bitten my tongue long enough, in fact it's bleeding right now.

For a first handgun, I highly advise against a Glock. Glock bills themselves as a low cost, easy training handgun. I have seen more negligent discharges by Glocks than any other handgun.

Going from the NRA safety rules, and I'll quote directly from the site.



As soon as you break rule number two, you have just disabled every "manual safety" that Glock has designed into the firearm, and you're resting on a 4.5-5.5 lb trigger, vs a 10-12 lb trigger on a double action pull of a revolver.

I second the notion of a .357 revolver as a first firearm. A Smith and Wesson 686 or Ruger SP101 should serve you well.

If you're dead set on a semi-auto I can't suggest a M1911 or Browning High Power pistol enough. 1911's and High Powers generally don't have maintenance issues if you purchase them from a reputable manufacturer. In the 1911 series, I highly suggest Springfield Armory or Kimber.

If you're going to look into a Glock style firearm, I'd suggest getting a double action only pistol such as a Smith and Wesson Model 910.

For those that mention the "high cost" of Sigs, Sig offers police trade in models that are inspected, and brought back into spec by Sig, and sold at a significant discount over new models. There might be some holster wear, but they will function as a new pistol.

In closing, I can't stress training enough, and having the ability to try before you buy.

Couple of points:

1. Don't break rule #2. Whether your trigger is 2 pounds or 12, if you put your finger on it when you shouldn't you're setting yourself up for a ND. Revolvers don't have any more manual safeties than do glocks, and the type of dangerous behavior that will cause a ND with a glock will also cause one with a revolver.

2. You can get a heavier trigger for the glock. In fact, I think there are "New York" trigger groups named for NYPD which up the trigger pull to over 10lbs. Of course, as mentioned above, with proper trigger finger discipline it isn't necessary.

3. You recommend DAO pistols if not going for a revolver, but then specifically recommend the 1911 and Hi-Power. This is a contradiction, as the glock is a DAO (albeit striker-fired) pistol, whereas both the 1911 and Hi-Power are single action. Were you thinking of a pistol with an external safety?

4. Again, keep your boogerhook off the bangswitch and your chances for a ND go to virtually nil. But with poor trigger finger discipline you will eventually have a ND, whether you are using a glock, sig, or revolver.

 

[Kit Walker]

If you are looking for something for home defense only, I would suggest a shotgun in the "riot gun" configuration and a cell phone. People will argue against this, citing the longer length of the shotgun and that it will hang up in narrow confines. However, you should not be thinking about playing Rambo by going out and stalking anyone who invades your property. Your only concern should be the survival of yourself and your family. Gather them into a secure room, fort up, and use your cell phone to call in the cavalry -- professionals who are paid and trained to handle such situations.

 

[Gravy]

Wow, can-o-worms

+ to the comments on trying them out at a range to see what you like best.
+ to getting a .22 in addition to something for the home.

Mine was the last class at the PD to train on revolvers before they got replaced w/ a semi-auto. I'm not a gunsmith, but I don't think you should choose a revolver purely for reliability. I've seen them fail and a revolver fail is not easy to fix if its something other than a failure to fire. My glock and sigs are very reliable. Break them in and keep them maintained and its not an issue.

+ 1 on the NRA's Eddy Eagle program.
Also, here is some good reading on children and guns.
http://www.corneredcat.com/TOC.aspx#Kids

 

[joe2golf]

I agree with Delta on the benefits of a revolver and the rules of firearms safety, but we disagree on the Glock.

I do not think a 1911 style weapon is a good choice because of the manual safety. It requires a lot of discipline and training. Flicking the safety off and on must be second nature and unless the original poster tells me he is willing to spend the time training, I cannot recommend the 1911. If you are worried about the light Glock trigger, I would imagine you'd be terrified over a 1911 super-light trigger and a safety that requires remembering to activate.