Please forgive the noob question. A little background. Grew up with guns and hunting. Was taught how to hunt by the filson wearing weatherby crowd. Shotguns, rifles, and revolvers. Home defense was a semiautomatic shotgun loaded with target loads so my mom could shoot it. Since then I have shot all types of pistols, from .22 to .45, from lorcin to HK. Rifles from thompson 45, ak, sks, g3, HK, and socoms. None of them were mine. I even gotten to shoot 12 gauge ak type. So here is my question. What semiautomatic pistol to get. My everyday is a 2 1/2 inch 357. Its reliable, concealable, and a cannon. When I took a shotgun course I rented a 45 because a sidearm was required as part of the training. I liked it. But I like every caliber I have shot I ask I get a million different responses. Get a 9mm ammo is commonplace and cheaper than other calibers. Then someone will say get a .40 instead. Etc... Then there is the question of what is it to be used for. I have always found that question to be frustrating, in today's world who knows. I realize that I need to put hands on different ones for the feel. I have small hands but sausage fingers. Dont want to trust my life to a cheap gun and am will to spend accordingly including for magazines. I guess I am asking for input in regards to models more than calibers. Thank you for any suggestions
We all know what Jeff Cooper would say, we all know what Jack O'Conner would say. You have a great start, but you and you alone will have to decide. You and you alone will have to flog yourself through the drudgery of shooting LOTSA guns and using up LOTSA ammo. Such an odious chore. I hope you find what you are comfortable with. Good luck. (Have fun).
All the different Calibers, and sizes of Handgun Ammo make little difference if Projectile placement is your primary concern...A.22LR thru the Eye Socket will scramble the brains of any animal when it comes to Self-Defense... At our house, we decided early on that 9mm/.355 was what we would be using for Self-Defense... Started with a .22LR Rifle and the moved to Pistols in .38ACP and .380ACP, then upgraded to 9mm and .357 Mag... and have been there for four or five decades... We see little need to change as what we have is usually around in a normal World, but we reload, so if Ammunition is running low, we just spend a day and load up what we need...
Short answer is, what can you hit consistently with? I've shot a lot of .45 ACP over the years, and find it easier to hit what I'm shooting at better with that than any other caliber, even those with lighter recoil. Pick a caliber and practice practice practice. If you don't own reloading equipment, you may want to look seriously at it. I began with light loads using Bullseye and W231. Then gradually increased the powder charges as I was getting good groups routinely.
I have two thoughts on all this: 1. I like the wisdom of trying lots of things and then go with what you feel most confident with. But that takes time and money. 2. Why reinvent the wheel? Law enforcement agencies have been grappling with this very question for decades and have spent billions of dollars over those years trying to answer your very question for themselves. I chose to just follow their lead. It might not be the very best answer but is certain to not be a wrong answer. I started looking at their directions about a decade ago when I decided my S&W 59/469/669/etc series were not adequately reliable nor a good choice for our family. I wanted a common weapon or system of weapons for everyone so we’d all be adequately capable using each other’s weapon and magazines and some parts could be common. The most common pistols in use by hundreds of agencies then were Glocks. I settled on those at our house, the 19 to be exact but we have a couple other flavors too. I dumped the Smiths and bought Glocks. The Glock had inspired a lot of similar products, many of which are probably as good and some may well be better, especially for a given individual. But on the whole, they are not a wrong choice. They have become extremely ubiquitous as has the AR15 platform and have many accessories, parts and options available. The Gen 4 also have some grip options to tailor the gun for my hand or my wife’s but our guns still operate identically and feel similar. Are they the perfect gun? No. But note the Navy Seals a few years ago added the 19 to their quiver of operator options. Can’t be a bad choice to get into that club. I didn’t have the money or time to spend re-inventing the wheel and my family’s experience with the Glocks so far suggests it was a good decision.
I learned to shoot with my father's 1911 and have had a life-long endearment towards that design and the .45 acp round. I do carry a .38 Super a lot but it is still the 1911 design. I distrust variants where some egotistical engineer thinks they can improve on Mr. Browning's design, such as Kimber. They tried to improve on the extractor and it was a dismal failure. Taurus makes a quality match grade at a fraction of the costs of a Colt Gold Cup, I own both and have no real preference as a match gun. My everyday carry piece is a pair of .45 Colt Defenders, smaller than the Officer's model. Mine have elephant ivory grips, a gift from a co-worker many years ago and a salute to my individual vanity.
The only place to rent outside of the school I attend is the local indoor range and there rapid fire us two or more rounds. They really do suck unless you are a friend or good looking woman. So I stay away.
JMHO here, shot placement trump magazine capacity ! If you're proficient with a 5 shot stuby revolver than a 50 caliber hand cannon is of no use if you can't hit what you are aiming at. Bottom line is get what you can use the best.
Yep, I agree shot placement and proficiency are paramount. Unfortunately, the truth and reality is even with pretty good training, police officers don’t even hit their target a majority of the time, let alone get placement into vital areas. Below is a Rand Corp study of NYPD and you may discount it as “oh, that’s NYC, they’re not competent.” But the hard truth is other studies have found similar results. Was even one of the FBI as I recall. It has been studies like these that concluded law enforcement need magazine capacity. While we may all think we are oh so good and better than the cops, not many of us actually are and most of us don’t have access to EST simulators like the Army and many LEO departments have which try to present a more dynamic, emotional and realistic training scenario. NYPD Hit Rates - Infogram This data for this chart came from a Rand Corp report. http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/downloads/pdf/public_information/RAND_FirearmEvaluation.pdf
From a LIFT TIME of using a pistol PROFESIONALLY, I have some experience in such matters, so take what I offer with a few grains of salt! 1) Gov. state and other agencies always choose what is cheapest and most available option as well as being cheaply supported. 2) training costs factor into what they choose as well as armory costs. 3) they ALL choose the lowest common denominator, I.E. what the average weakling can handle Knowing all this first hand, I choose based on skill and experience, and as such, my choices may not be the best for others I have always carried the 1911 in .45 because it flat out works! No muss, no fuss, and if you spend even a little time training, it's a very simple pistol to learn to shoot well, and they are VERY acurate when cared for and fed well. Now that I no longer carry a pistol for a living, I have more choices and I still choose the 1911, but this time in a Para Ord or 2011 type 1911 Double Stack chambered in the mighty 10 mm auto running at MAX power, because i'm no longer limited to what the gov. provides! I also carry a Beretta M-92F/G when I prefer the 9 mm performance, and that is ALWAYS loaded with Cor-Bon 124 gr ammo, and I never shoot any thing outside that weight bullet, REASONS! Finally, I carry a .454 wheel gun for the wilds, you can never have enough power when your not the apex predator in the wilds! What does this mean to YOU, absolutely NOTHING! Take what I first posted above and make your own choices based on the fact that YOU are not limited to what others decide to carry, and worse, what agencies decide FOR YOU to carry! Personally, I always recommend a Glock, ether a G-17 or -19 as a start, or a G-43 if you want even better, ALL in 9 mm, and ALL running 124 gr ammo! Start there and see if that works for you, or............ Maybe a SIG, maybe a CZ, or, maybe, just maybe, a good 1911 series! Once you can shoot and hit what your aiming at, then decide on caliber!
Exactly @Airtime I was RangeMaster a a Range in Washington State where a whole passel of LEOs from many different agencies and outfits did their preQuals testing to get back a little proficiency, before going and making fools of themselves in front of the Bosses... It is my experience that Better than 85% of LEOs can not Hit a Center Mass Target, inside the 2 Ring with more than one shot, out of five, with their Duty Weapon, passed 50’... If they are under stress, cut that level in half... All this “Head Shot” Tv Cop bs is fantasy Tv land stuff, and bunk... Each Department has a few Good Pistoleros in the ranks, and they are well known by their comrades...SWAT Guys that are REQUIRED to meet much stricter standards are the exception, and the SWAT Training Officers are usually the best Shooter on any Force. Inside 30 feet, I am a 12” circle shooter with my Browning HiPower in 9mm.. after a Mag or two of warmup... If I need better accuracy than that, I go get a long Gun, or get AlaskaChick to do the Pistol Shooting...
That's right,He also said something about not looking like a piano player in a hoe house pistol...or something along that train of thought...lol
It's a done deal. Got a colt 1991. My first semiautomatic pistol. Very excited to shoot it. Wasn't cheap. Thank you everyone for your input.
