Question for the gun folks

[digitaldiscipline]

As part of the pilgrimage to Phoenix to visit mighty_man in a couple of weeks, one of the places we always stop is a gun range. I'd actually like to give some thought to my choice of rental weapon, with an eye towards pursuing ownership.

The weapon we always rent, and with which I'm accurate out to 25m, is completely impractical; the FN-PS90 submachine gun. *laugh*

What are your favorite handguns for personal use? What are your reasons for that preference?

If it helps in the recommendation department, I have average-sized hands (I wear a "medium" in most gloves) and relatively light forearms. I suspect that a .45 or .357 is not going to be easy for me to control; something in a 9mm or .40cal (or some other caliber with which I am unfamiliar) might be more manageable.

What I know about guns:
- They are always loaded. I don't care if I just emptied the magazine downrange, it's still loaded until the clip is out and the slide is open, and even then, it might still have a round in it, somehow.
- Only point it at something I am willing to destroy. Paper targets, zombies, home invaders, or the floor.
- They are always loaded.

Comments

[cheez-ball.livejournal.com]

I don't like handguns, I prefer rifles. I've got a Ruger 10/22. Ammo is cheap so I can spend money on my favorite metal targets - they have a satisfying ping when you hit them. The people at the ranges we use already know I'm weird. ;-)

[sloot.livejournal.com]

that is good info to know about guns.

(seriously)

[etcet.livejournal.com]

You don't spend any amount of time around that crazy son of a bitch who writes Two Lumps when he gets on the topic without noticing a couple of salient points. James is VERY ADAMANT about some things.

[sloot.livejournal.com]

It makes total sense. I wish people would treat their cars with the same respect.

[satorisearching.livejournal.com]

I wish people would treat their cars with the same respect.

That's one of the wisest things I've heard in awhile.

It's amazing how little thought most people give to the amount of physical force under their control when they're behind the wheel.

[anmorata.livejournal.com]

I have never shot a gun. It's a goal of mine, though, to learn how to target shoot at some point, but I'm stalling a little.. mostly until I have a sometimes overly-emotional teenager on her way to college. ;)

That said, I've heard a wealth of good things about Sig Sauer handguns/pistols. That will likely be my first purchase, when I get to that point. They're not cheap, but as far as I figure: good isn't cheap; cheap isn't good.

[hellsop.livejournal.com]

Prolly wanna talk to Keith.

[smjayman.livejournal.com]

If you are only going to buy one handgun, take a really hard look at a Gen 3 Glock 19. It is by far my favorite in terms of carrying, and I have a plethora of guns to choose from. It is small enough that it can be fairly readily concealed, but it is large enough to get a full grip on and manipulate. (Those last two points are important.) The Glock 19 shoots 9mm ammunition, which is readily available from a multitude of manufacturers in a variety of weights and configurations. 9mm doesn't recoil as badly as some calibers, nor does it have as much muzzle flash or noise. Because of its ready availability it is cheaper to buy and that means that you'll be able to practice more with it for the same money.

This is a gun that you can target shoot with, compete with, carry for self defense, or leave on your nightstand for a home defense weapon. It has a minimum of parts, is easy to field strip/clean, and is exceptionally durable. You could probably load it, throw it in the back of your closet, not touch it for 10 years, and then pull it out and it'd still work. You could also put 30 or 40,000 rounds through it and it'd still run. (I've done this with two different Glocks, and both shoot as good as they day I bought them.)

Oh yes, and I should also note that several professionals in my field agree on the Glock 19 in terms of general recommendation, this including one former SAS guy and a former Marine, both of whom are currently firearms instructors as well as exceptional shooters. (One of which carries a Glock 19 himself on a daily basis.)

[ivy]

I listened to Jay here and I am happy.

[smaugchow.livejournal.com]

Glock does make good stuff. I owned a Glock 17 several years ago, a slightly compact design. Feels like a toy, though it certainly isn't.

Decide what you want to do with it. If you want a good all-around weapon, that Glock is a sloid recommendation (though it ain't Muhrican!) If you want a dedicated carry weapon, look for something smaller (for instance, Walther PPK - the James Bond gun.) If it is a home and range weapon and you won't be caryying it, you might want a large frame weapon (some form of 1911, perhaps.)

Definitely handle the weapon before you buy it. My hands don't fit around Glock handles very well because they are high-capacity and thus have thick handles. If at all possible, you'll want to fir the weapon as well. The Walther PPk cut my hand, the Browning High Power threw the cartridges straight back at me (dad had tinkered with it - the weapon normally wouldn't do that,) and in general I don't shoot slide action pistols well (practice would fix that, though.)

Don't be afraid of larger caliber rounds. You are strong enough to manage any mainstream handgun. Just don't get a tiny frame for a large round. You CAN get some rediculous 45 magnum small frame where you can barely wrap two fingers around the grip - avoid that silly stuff.

I've always liked the look of this one:

http://world.guns.ru/userfiles/images/handguns/germany/hg11/1287727038.jpg

HK USP Compact. Comes in 9mm, 40 and 45. Might be crap, I just like the look of it.

Personally, I'm a revolver guy. I LOVE my Ruger Security Six 357 magnum.

http://www.gunandgame.com/forums/ruger/34274-357-revolvers-ruger-security-six-vs-colt-trooper.html

She barks LOUD, she's rock solid, and the recoil isn't bad. I would never want to carry it, though.

I grew up around guns and my old man has A LOT of them. I might be able to broker a deal if you are willing to buy used.

[smaugchow.livejournal.com]

meh, the Ruger link doesn't go directly to the pic - sorry.

[vatine]

While it is outside my immediate range of gun knowledge (until two weeks ago, the only non-rifle-ammo weapon I'd fired was the Carl Gustav m/45 SMG; very nice to shoot, but impractical for day-to-day non-uniformed carry and probably illegal or difficult to own legally), I thought I'd chip in...

A few weeks ago, I visited a gun range with quite a selection of weapons. I tried two Glocks (no, don't remember the models, one was chambered for .40 and one for 9 mm), a revolver, a target/sports gun (Ruger, chambered for .22 LR) and a few others.

On the whole, I was comfortable with both of the Glocks and the Ruger sports pistol, but if I were to buy a pistol, I'd probably go to a range and hurl some 50-100 rounds through each possible selection and make notes. Possibly on separate days, so as to get an unbiased feel, then pare the selection down to 2-3 weapons and do a more direct comparison (check both out, do one mag of each, in round-robin fashion).

[vatine]

Oh, also, don't forget the ammo fairies. If you have extracted the magazine, cycled the action and seen the last chambered round pop out and stop looking, they will have been back and inserted a round when you were not looking. That also applies to a weapon that was unloaded and has been locked away, as well.

So it's not accidental "loaded" you should be aware of, the ammo fairies are actively trying to trip you up. Or so my drill sergeant said and why would he lie about something like that?

[sloot.livejournal.com]

I love that your drill seargent talked about ammo fairies.

[vatine]

Well, strictly speaking, he was talking about other small wee folk, but the easiest translation to English is probably "ammo fairies" (I think the actual phrase used was 'och när du inte tittar kommer ammotomten och laddar om' ("when you're not looking, the ammo gnome/fairy comes and reloads")).

I think the world would be a better place if all firearms instructors talked about ammo fairies (there are similar fairies planting discontinuities in fuze and placing loaded caps on the line for your electric blast caps, but they're explosives fairies and not ammo fairies and thus slightly out of scope).

[sloot.livejournal.com]

Gnomes sound a little more hardcore than fairies, and of course anything in German sounds more hard core thN English.

Still, the story of ammo fairies will live on!

[vatine]

I wouldn't know about German (the text snippet is honest-to-ghu Swedish :). The tomte is the tiny ritter that hides on a farm, should be served warm milk and porridge and will groom your animals in exchange for that (and, lately, in a larger version, delivering christmas presents once a year).

Maybe "brownie" is the right mental translation? But "ammo fairy" sounds more memorable.

[sloot.livejournal.com]

I almost put in a disclaimer of 'or whichever language that actually is' but decided against it.

now I look the fool.

It's amazing how every culture has the same stories of small humanoids who do things when we turn our backs.

[vatine]

'S OK, Swedish is an East-Norse language and pretty typical for "Norse-derived" and "Germanic" (heck, I could muddle through German text well before having my first German class, but there's quite a few false friends hiding for the unwary).

[najalaise.livejournal.com]

"Ammotomten" has such pleasantly repetitive sounds, though- it seems better not to translate it at all!

[vatine]

As long as you remember that the "tom" part has a rising (at least I think it's rising, it's changing fershure) tone... Without that, it turns from an ammo fairy to a plot of land, designated for ammo.

[ivy]

Seconded -- the ammo fairies are hilarious and charming.