Rifle rich and pistol poor...

[Jfet]

 

[PARA45]

IMHO, I would suggest getting with a friend who has several handguns for you to try. Shoot them and see which one suits you better.

I would then purchase that handgun, some extra mags, and about 1-2K rounds so you can practice. I would purchase a good holster, gun belt and mag holder. Versacarry.com are in TX, and they make an excellent product without breaking the bank. Take a shooting class, practice, practice, and do lots of draws, and dry firing. As you may well know, shooting is a perishable skill, and if you don't practice you loose it, specially with a handgun.

I have not met anyone yet that cannot shoot a Glock 19. They are reliable, not heavy, easy to shoot, and accurate within reasons.

Good luck, and let us know which handgun you decided to get.

 

[shootist~]

And learn where that trigger finger needs to reside - especially when holstering and drawing, as well as Anytime you are handling it, and the sights are not on the target.

 

[shark_za]

The best deal on any pistol to be found is in the Canik TP9.
Almost any of the models, from the base to the one with longer sight radius and better sights.

In fact I'm going to buy one for myself/.

 

[Tanks]

...

I have not met anyone yet that cannot shoot a Glock 19. They are reliable, not heavy, easy to shoot, and accurate within reasons.
...

I can't. Glocks do not fit my hand, triggers are mushy and overall they are unwieldly. Heck, last time I tried to dry fire one I thought the trigger was broken. Then, the friend of mine that owned it said keep pulling the trigger, after about a mile I heard a click.

And it is not because it is a striker fired gun, I have no issues with HK VP 9 or Caniks (Turkish Walther PPQ clones).

 

[Alaska Luke]

My opinion is that handguns are fun but overrated. I have a bunch and wish I'd spendt my money on rifles I would actually use.

If you can concealed carry I think 2 make sense.
1. A small 380 type that fits in a pocket for minimal defense.
2. A mid sized 9mm/40/45 that is easier to shoot well and can be carried most of the time.

Those 2 should cover everything except bear defense which is really only an issue in a few areas. Outside of grizzly country I'd load my 9mm with bear loads for black bears and not worry.

 

[PARA45]

I can't. Glocks do not fit my hand, triggers are mushy and overall they are unwieldly. Heck, last time I tried to dry fire one I thought the trigger was broken. Then, the friend of mine that owned it said keep pulling the trigger, after about a mile I heard a click.

And it is not because it is a striker fired gun, I have no issues with HK VP 9 or Caniks (Turkish Walther PPQ clones).

I hear ya, and I believe that it's a learning process on them. My 19 has a Ghost trigger group, and it does not have the horrible factory trigger, the best $100 spent on a Glock. I remember when I made the transition from my 1911s to a Glock, and it was horrible. But, I was used to shooting my competition 1911s with a crisp 2 lbs trigger pull, and now I had this brick on my hand. As you well know, it's all about conditioning, and learning to use the gun properly.

BTW, beautiful Breitling, I have an Aerospace with a green face. Great taste.

 

[Edster]

My carry pistol changes with the season and reason. I’ll carry anything from a full size 1911 to a Ruger LC9. Revolvers vary from GP100 down to the SP101. Polymer pistols I prefer Springfields. They tend to fit my hand better.

 

[Tanks]

I hear ya, and I believe that it's a learning process on them. My 19 has a Ghost trigger group, and it does not have the horrible factory trigger, the best $100 spent on a Glock. I remember when I made the transition from my 1911s to a Glock, and it was horrible. But, I was used to shooting my competition 1911s with a crisp 2 lbs trigger pull, and now I had this brick on my hand. As you well know, it's all about conditioning, and learning to use the gun properly.
...

I was talking to the operations manager of STI at the US Nationals some years ago. He made a point that competitors shoot 10s of thousands of rounds in practice and competition, dry fire hundreds of hours on single action firearms and then switch to Glocks etc. for CCW that they do not have much mileage on with a completely different manual of arms.

It made sense to me. Now, my go to carry firearms are the STI DVC Carry and the Sig P938 in 9mm. Both single action with the same manual of arms. I even took the Sig P938 to my tailor and had him stich me up 3 suits accommodating carrying it and a special pocket for the spare mag.

 

[Wyatt Smith]

If I pick up a Glock and just point it at something I’m always aiming WAY high.

 

[Jay Kelley]

How you dress for work and play has a lot to do with what you carry. My #1 carry is still a Ruger LCP in .380 - it always fits. I possible, I prefer an EC9s single stack in 9mm or an SP101 in .357. Rarely do I carry larger because it's hot in Texas and I'm fat. If I think I might be involved in more serious social work, I will carry a Glock 19 and dress accordingly.

 

[503]

There's nothing wrong with glock triggers. They are 5 ish pounds, a little take up. Hit the wall then break. If you have good fundamentals you can and should be able to shoot any gun well. If I can teach cops to shoot them well trust me anyone can.

Cheers

 

[shootist~]

Glock triggers are not horrible. It's when you transition back to a 1911 with 2 pound trigger for a match that things get interesting. Sold my 1st (and so far) only Glock as a result.

 

[503]

I sold both my 1911s. They had nice triggers but aside from that they were only good for practicing malfunction drills. Kimber and a Springfield.

The negatives of 1911s vastly outweigh the few positives. I'm not a glock fan boy, there are lots of good combat pistols out there but the modern 1911 isn't one of them.

I will now await my lashing from the 1911 crowd.

Cheers

 

[CJW]

How you dress for work and play has a lot to do with what you carry. My #1 carry is still a Ruger LCP in .380 - it always fits. I possible, I prefer an EC9s single stack in 9mm or an SP101 in .357. Rarely do I carry larger because it's hot in Texas and I'm fat. If I think I might be involved in more serious social work, I will carry a Glock 19 and dress accordingly.

+1 on the lcp. I could get away with a little larger pistol in the winter under a heavier coat but then what to do when the coat comes off?

 

[Inline6]

I sold both my 1911s. They had nice triggers but aside from that they were only good for practicing malfunction drills. Kimber and a Springfield.

The negatives of 1911s vastly outweigh the few positives. I'm not a glock fan boy, there are lots of good combat pistols out there but the modern 1911 isn't one of them.

I will now await my lashing from the 1911 crowd.

Cheers

I'm not a Kimber fan at all, it takes tuning to get them to run. I have had 3 Springfield, 1 was garbage, one was a TRP that ran well, the last was sent to a smith and had a lot of money and work put into it. It ran was not worth the expense.

Wilson and Nighthawk.

 

[Wyatt Smith]

I won’t give a lashing, but my Colt 1911 has been flawless once broken in. I do only use Colt or CMC magazines and 230 grain FMJ ammo. There are a lot of junk magazines out there, if you ran Korean magazines in a Glock and it jammed, the first thing anyone would tell you is to throw them away.
However, if I had to pick up a brand new gun and defend my self untested, a Glock would high on the list. Probably right behind a Sig P320

 

[shootist~]

I sold both my 1911s. They had nice triggers but aside from that they were only good for practicing malfunction drills. Kimber and a Springfield.

The negatives of 1911s vastly outweigh the few positives. I'm not a glock fan boy, there are lots of good combat pistols out there but the modern 1911 isn't one of them.

I will now await my lashing from the 1911 crowd.

Cheers

No lashing from here. What most new gun buyers don't realize is the 1911 and mass assembly line production methods don't mesh very well. Pretty as they are, I won't own a Kimber.

My Springfield got to 100%, but took some break in and minor gunsmithing to get there. More after the first barrel change. The Wilson was Good to Go after the first 200 rounds or so. So was the SVI, IIRC.

 

[mdsalern]

I won’t own another Kimber…

 

[Tanks]

I sold both my 1911s. They had nice triggers but aside from that they were only good for practicing malfunction drills. Kimber and a Springfield.

The negatives of 1911s vastly outweigh the few positives. I'm not a glock fan boy, there are lots of good combat pistols out there but the modern 1911 isn't one of them.

I will now await my lashing from the 1911 crowd.

I shoot ~60K rounds in a competition year with my 2011s, NEVER had a malfunction, though I do maintain them and replace springs etc. on a regular basis.

My CCWs are also 1911 variants, even though I don't shoot them as much as my competition guns still never had an issue.

BTW, I don't know of a single guy that owns a Glock that has not modified it extensively, starting with the trigger. Heck, this buddy of mine that has won National championships loves Glocks and his are modified as well.

One reason I like Sig P938 as my CCW for the summer or with suits is its lack of printing. As someone mentioned above dry fire drawing your firearm preferably with a timer.

Now, if someone wants a decent striker fired pistol my recommendation would be either the Sig P365 or Walther PPQ (or Canik variants) in 9mm. I would not recommend 1911/2011 variants to people just getting into pistols.

A .380? That's like hunting buffalo with a .22