Question for gun enthusiasts.

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Originally Posted by JohnNJ

For women I like a .38 Colt Detective Special - snubnose and hammerless - with a light pull or a Smith & Wesson 642 .38 revolver - hammerless and stainless.

I hope you'll never have to pull it out.

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Khar CM9 and the Beretta Nanno are good Semi-auto ccw for Ladies or the smaller guy like me.

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

Khar CM9 and the Beretta Nanno are good Semi-auto ccw for Ladies or the smaller guy like me.

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I do not recommend semi-autos for anyone, including men, unless they are proficient at the mechanics of them. Too many malfunctions with concealed semi-autos because they are not cared for properly and cleaned often. Revolvers are safer as carry guns for the average person. You have to be practical. Save the Rambo stuff for the range.

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Originally Posted by JohnNJ

I do not recommend semi-autos for anyone, including men, unless they are proficient at the mechanics of them. Too many malfunctions with concealed semi-autos because they are not cared for properly and cleaned often. Revolvers are safer as carry guns for the average person. You have to be practical. Save the Rambo stuff for the range.

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If you think you're going to hit in the first shot you are proficient enough to use a Semi . . . I mean seriously, in MOST concealed gun carrier shootings, the person carrying had to fire MULTIPLE rounds quite fast, it's rarely a one shot wonder. In Texas if you do your proficiency exam with a revolver, you will only be allowed to carry a revolver. You need to check with your class, but if the same applies to your state, ALWAYS do your class course with a semi-auto handgun, this gives you the legal ability to carry either a revolver or a SA handgun.

I have only ever experienced jams with poor ammo that I plink with on the other note. And even if you let your gun get filthy (which most people dont shoot it enough to get it that way), it's still going to be reliable if its one of the quality guns. To the OP, don't let this stuff detour you from choosing a powerful, fast gun. On one last personal note: Guns with safetys will get you killed - I dislike and try to never carry a gun that has a physical safety on it. I like hair triggers, and the only safety being finger off the trigger! Safeties are just a fault waiting to occur. my two cents.

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Originally Posted by JohnNJ

I do not recommend semi-autos for anyone, including men, unless they are proficient at the mechanics of them. Too many malfunctions with concealed semi-autos because they are not cared for properly and cleaned often. Revolvers are safer as carry guns for the average person. You have to be practical. Save the Rambo stuff for the range.

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Well that more of a user training issue than a gun design problem. The trade off between a wheel gun and a semi-auto are dependent on the user and where they feel the need to trade one aspect for another. It's true that revolvers are a simpler thing to operate, but you trade of ability to reload it for that ease of use. I think when it comes to CCW its a user preference concealable, round count, size of weapon and even caliber are all things that need to be taken into account.

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Originally Posted by reptileexperts

Guns with safetys will get you killed - I dislike and try to never carry a gun that has a physical safety on it. I like hair triggers, and the only safety being finger off the trigger! Safeties are just a fault waiting to occur. my two cents.

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Honestly, if you said the above in one of my classes my first reaction would be to ask you to leave. Most likely because I'm from NJ and we are so crammed together there's little room for error.

From my experience, concealed handguns do not get dirty from shooting. They get gummed up from dust, lint, bits of material, etc. I am not against semi-autos if you are willing to put in the time to stay proficient in it's care and use. Most people are not willing. YMMV

lol, that's why you keep them oiled . . . which is needed for any gun with metal IMO. But shooting dirty rounds is what ultimately will harm your gun as well. And yes, different opinions is fine, but if I can draw from concealment and get on target in under 1.5 seconds (I'd have to look up my last time trial but I think thats what it was) without having to worry about a safety, or this tough trigger pull, I am much better off than the guy who is scared, pulls out a gun points and pulls the trigger only to find the safety is engaged, then winds up dead on the ground because of it. Know your gun ultimately, but for me, I don't want to risk my life relying on a safety to be A) functioning properly, B) in the right position when I go to use it.

Note: I am not referring to trigger guard glock style safety - these instinctive safeties are fine and have an extremely low error rate . . . I'm talking about switch safeties!

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3366/5...56c76efa_b.jpg

My original carry that I still use from time to time. 1/10th inch reset, somewhere around a 3-4lb trigger pull, and the only safety is the trigger and your finger.

Cheers

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Originally Posted by olstyn

If you're a new shooter, the first thing I'd recommend is some instruction. (Yes, before buying ANYTHING.) Find a reputable instructor local to you and let them know you're a new shooter looking to get some basic knowledge and exposure to different types of guns. They will likely have a whole pile of them for you to try, and the cost of a few hours of one on one time is probably less than or equal to the rental fees for all the guns you'd like to try, and you'll get to try many of them while getting instruction on proper technique and safety. That experience will give you a good framework to make a choice when you make your purchase.

Depending on your needs, there may be a lot of guns that fit you or only a few, but a good place to start, in terms of getting something affordable and reliable, is by looking at Glock (17 or 19), S&W (M&P series, Shield if you really need small/thin), and Walther (PPQ, P99 series, or maybe PPS if you really need small/thin). All three make high quality, reliable pistols at a reasonable price ($450-600 or so). If you're willing to spend more, H&K makes pistols to a higher standard than just about anything short of custom guns, but a P30 or P2000 will likely run you more like $900+, and to my mind, the price difference is better spent on practice ammo and/or a holster and extra magazines.

As far as what caliber to get goes, proper hollow points (Speer Gold Dot, Federal HST, Remington Bonded Golden Saber, etc) make 9mm basically equal to .40 and .45 in terms of effectiveness, but 9mm guns hold more ammo, the ammo is cheaper, and the recoil is less sharp. There's really not much to recommend about the bigger calibers unless you live in a state where magazine capacity is limited by law or hollow points are illegal (rare).

Once you've gotten some instruction and bought a gun, buy a case of ammo and get some practice, preferably with a friend so you can motivate each other both to get better and to continue practicing regularly. After that, if you're so inclined, look into IDPA and/or USPSA competition; it's good fun and can serve as a more interesting and engaging test of your skills than just practicing by yourself on a square range.

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USPSA is where its at! Itll teach you control with your weapon and cut down your reaction time. Introductory classes recommended to get used to the rules but you will be hooked after that ;) i just wish ammo wasn't so expensive...

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

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Originally Posted by reddragonmorphs

uspsa is where its at! Itll teach you control with your weapon and cut down your reaction time. Introductory classes recommended to get used to the rules but you will be hooked after that ;) i just wish ammo wasn't so expensive...

Sent from my droid bionic using tapatalk 2

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cough* idpa * cough :p

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Originally Posted by JohnNJ

Honestly, if you said the above in one of my classes my first reaction would be to ask you to leave. Most likely because I'm from NJ and we are so crammed together there's little room for error.

From my experience, concealed handguns do not get dirty from shooting. They get gummed up from dust, lint, bits of material, etc. I am not against semi-autos if you are willing to put in the time to stay proficient in it's care and use. Most people are not willing. YMMV

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Safeties on CCW guns get people killed. You do not have time to fiddle with a safety when a guy is attacking you, you barely have time to draw.

Revolvers malfunction just as much as semi-autos do if they are not cleaned properly and crap gets in the wheel. I encourage you to watch some of the 1000 round glock shoots and take note of how many malfunctions happen with that weapon during the shoot and take note that 95% of them happen at the 500+ mark when the barrell could melt your skin off.

Also, don't most of your students drive a car? If they can operate a wheel, peddles, with eyes on the road, and eat a burger or do makeup AND under stress all at once I think they can handle operating a semi auto. Saying that the average person is too inexperienced to run a semi auto and master it requires evidence, evidence which I have never seen. 8 year old kids in Africa can run AKs and ARs with a high level of competency....

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

And you should pratctice with what you carry..

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I can agree with you in terms of the gun (ideally, you'd have 2 copies of the same gun - one to practice with, and one with a low round count and thus low wear to carry), but absolutely not the ammo. Carry should be high quality hollow points, and those are EXPENSIVE, even if you order them online (minimum of $0.50/round online, more like $1+ if you buy at retail). Practice, on the other hand, should be done with FMJ rounds that closely mimic the point of impact and recoil characteristics of your carry ammo; in that way, you effectively get the "right" practice, but spend a lot less money. Of course, you can save even more if you reload (I make my 9mm practice & USPSA ammo for about $0.14/round vs paying more like $0.30-40/round at retail). It can be done even cheaper than that, depending on powder choice and if you're willing to use lead bullets instead of FMJ, but I've got a recipe with my current powder that I'm comfortable with, and I prefer to minimize my lead exposure rather than save another couple of cents per round by using non-jacketed bullets. Sadly, lead-free primers are essentially unobtanium for individuals, or I'd use those too.

Oh, and one more thing I forgot to mention to the OP and anyone else who's curious - check out these two websites - they're full of good advice and good discussion (both run by the same guy, a well-regarded professional instructor:

http://pistol-training.com (Unfortunately, there's a bit of a hiatus on this one at the moment, as the guy who runs the site was just (re)diagnosed with cancer after several years of remission, but there's a lot of good info in his old posts.)

http://pistol-forum.com Tons of good discussion on all subjects relating to pistols.