Pistol Recommendations

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Originally Posted By: bioburner
A simple revolver is pretty good piece to have IMO for home defense. I would get a box or two of shells and try it. You local shop may have rental guns if they have a range and get a feel of what may be your next step.


Agree. Revolvers don't jam either. Semi's are fun to shoot with but for self defense I prefer the old reliable revolver. My preference is a .357. in home I keep it loaded with .38SP as the high velocity .357 MAG's can go through without doing as much damage.
 
bubba
Most in America can't afford multiple pistols and need something that works in both their front pocket and on the bedroom nightstand.
So ideally, the average-Joe desires a conceal-carry handgun and a bedroom all-purpose semi-auto shotgun. Now he owns non-bulging personal protection in the summer months (no holster) and a 12-gauge loaded with either 00 Buckshot or slugs.

Here in Michigan, you will have a-lot of explaining to do, if your conceal-carry is fired at anything more than personal confrontation distances. Conceal carry is not for getting into an across the street shootout. In most states, you must be in imminent danger to fire that weapon and it better not be anything more than shooting across a typical 1300 sq ft home's singular room inside our house.

A 38 is plenty good enough. 32s and 38s were used by police for decades. They still work today and fit the needs of 90% of Americans, that only own one rifle, one shotgun and one pistol or revolver.

I mistakenly purchased a compact 9mm too (Taurus Millenium PT G2. Got it new for $149 after rebate / sale.....etc. Runs like a top and never misfired to this day. It's the size of a Glock 26 and in most cases, too big for my front pocket. Wish I had purchased the Kahr CM9 instead for $200 more. That Kahr is only slightly larger than my Ruger CLP. It's the only 9mm I've seen that fits in a jeans front pocket unnoticed.

I'm not talking about wearing sloppy fitting pants, or cargo pants. I'm talking about carrying a pistol that works unnoticed, with any kind of pants.
 
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my two cents worth of advice: try the ruger lcr with 38 wadcutter ammo, which is soft shooting. if you like it, and it will still be stout, keep it. if you never plan to lawfully conceal carry, but want a desert fun and home protection piece then look to trade the lcr (plus cash) for a decent used ruger single action revolver, either single six 22lr/wmr or blackhawk 357/38 (and 9mm if you can find one). a single action is fun plinking and the slower manual of arms is a better teacher. 22wmr handgun specific defense ammo is ok for static protection. most important is for the o.p. to be introduced to shooting in a safe and fun way. if so then other firearms will follow him home later.
 
Originally Posted By: Killer223
really a 380 won't kill you huh? how bout you come break into my house and find out?
a true home defense gun should be a shot gun. as well as close combat training.
plenty of people hate the 380. and that's fin. if you saw the size of my wife's hands, there is no other gun that fits as well, we have tried most of them, and that she is comfortable to shoot. even the micro is large for her hands. so a full size like what i usually carry would never work for her.
You might be surprised as to my training as well. I know that we carry at all times, and the micro is a great fit for her.
here in AZ you don't even need a CCW to carry concealed. even though we both have them.


You're confusing a carry gun with a home defense gun.

I'm with Bubba - wife keeps her Beretta 92 for home defense. 9mm. 17+1 rounds. Easier to shoot accurately. No need to conceal.

But for carry she has a Walther CCP. Much smaller. 8+1 rounds. Easy to conceal.

A .380 is better than no gun but it's a weak caliber and each round is less effective than just about anything else. A .380 is optimizing the ability to conceal at the expense of round effectiveness and capacity. It's a big compromise. That's OK if your sole purpose is to conceal it.

But there are much better choices for a home defense weapon. You're not constrained by the need to conceal it, so you can choose better capacity, ergonomics, and effectiveness.

If you're in an actual shooting situation, you'll find that round effectiveness, capacity, and ease of shoootjg all contribute to your odds of survival. If you're limited to .380 because you can only afford one gun, well, you're like a guy whose toolbox has only a crescent wrench - yeah, works on every bolt, but it's not the best choice of tools for particular tasks.
 
Back to the OP - you're new to the world of shooting. Like a kid with a driver's license who's never owed a car, you're asking what car to buy. Keep the one you've got.

Enjoy your new gun.

Shoot it. A lot.

Rent a few. See what you like.

Figure out what you want the gun to do: concealed carry? Plinking? Targets? Home defense?

Something that can do all of the above will be a compromise. If it does one of those well, it will be severely compromised in some respects for the other uses. You may discover that you want more than one tool in your tool box. Or this gun may suit your preferences perfectly.

But it will take some experience and time to figure that out.

A Glock 19 will do just about everything well, but it's big and can be hard to conceal. My new 1911 is great for targets, and would be good for home defense, but again, hard to conceal. My wife's Beretta 92 is great for home defense, plinking, targets, and again, far too big for her to conceal.

Now, for all around use, her Walther is a great concealed pistol, but capacity is modest. It's got surprisingly little recoil for a single stack nine and is easy to shoot, so it's good for the range, and for plinking. If I were to pick one gun from the safe to do everything, and it had to be concealed, I would pick that one. Optimized for concealment- but good at the other tasks.

See what I mean? Trade offs with every gun.

But skip the .380s. A 95gr bullet at modest velocity will kill, but that's never the objective. If you're in a gunfight for your life, you don't want the guy trying to kill you to die at some point in the near future, you want him to stop threatening you.

Right now.

That requires an effective round. And that means 9mm or bigger (variously, I've got 9mm, .40 S&W, 10mm and .45 ACP...each for a different purpose...each a different compromise between power and capacity)
 
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Originally Posted By: spasm3
Originally Posted By: Triple_Se7en
bubba
Most in America can't afford multiple pistols


I don't think that's accurate.


I don't either. My neighborhood is nothing special. (Middle class, cookie cutter subdivision). Every house on my block has 2 cars. Some have 3. I would go out on a limb here and say if you can afford 3 cars in your household, you can afford more than one gun to protect it.
 
Originally Posted By: spasm3
Originally Posted By: Triple_Se7en
bubba
Most in America can't afford multiple pistols


I don't think that's accurate.


Since a new pistol costs less than the latest iPhone, I don't think that's true either...

My entire firearms collection costs less than one used car...
 
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Originally Posted By: Astro14
Enjoy your new gun. Shoot it. A lot. Rent a few. See what you like.
Best advice given in the thread. While it may cost you $20 or so plus ammunition, renting and shooting a pistol is far better than spending $400 on one only to discover it does not work for you. Very happy I did that with the Glock 42 and Glock 43 I was looking at--neither of those pistols are for me. Whatever you decide to do, since you are new to firearms, a safety class should be in your plan as well.
 
As others have said, capacity is important for home defense. The average police officer misses the bad guy three out of four shots in a fire fight. Keeping in mind that home defense often takes place against a moving target in the dark while very scared, if you are as good as a trained police officer you may need four or more shots for each hit, and 2-3 hits to stop a threat. That's up to 8-12 rounds per person. I read that the average home invasion involves three perpetrators, so now we are looking at 24 to 36 rounds. This is why so many people are now using AR-15 type rifles with 30 round magazines. Plus rifles and shotguns are much more accurate and powerful than pistols.

My CZ 75BD holds 17 rounds and I keep a spare loaded magazine next to it for 33 rounds capacity. This should get me to my shotgun for primary defense.

Good home defense, however, is more than just how many rounds you have available at bedside. For real protection you need training, practice, a plan, good locks, an alarm system of some sort to alert you, and a gun on each floor and maybe the garage in case you are not in the bedroom or are chased away from your primary defense weapon. You also need to consider other people in the house. especially children, and need a plan that all are familiar with. Also, never go through the house looking for the bad guy like they do on TV shows - that just gives him/them the advantage. Take a defensive position and defend from it while waiting for the police.

Disclaimer - I have never defended myself with a firearm and the above is intended just as some basic thoughts to consider.
 
Sounds like a 9mm is the popular vote. I think I'll go down and hold a few, see what feels the most comfortable.

I'm not in a big hurry either.

Thanks for the help guys, I'll take some notes throughout this whole post
 
An all steel 9mm makes a sweet shooter. High capacity and low felt recoil (due to mass). Also helps negate limp writing malfunctions.

My vote goes for a CZ75 based design or something like the IWI Jericho/Magnum Research Baby Eagle
 
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
My grandmother has given me her Ruger LCR 38 SPL +P revolver. She's never shot it, bought it a couple years ago. She didn't want it anymore, tried convincing her to keep it but she doesn't want it. It's actually probably best she doesn't have it, her mobility isn't very good and I don't think she could get to it in the event she needed it. Her hands might not be strong enough to fire it and someone could easily take it out of her hands. She told me if I don't want it then to trade it in and get something I'd prefer. It's even got a pink holster
grin2.gif


Anyways, I'd like to trade it in at a gun shop. I'm thinking some kind of a semi-auto pistol. I've shot a few before, a .45, a Walther P22 & my dad's Kel-Tec PMR-30. My intentions are to mostly keep it in the house for protection, I'll rarely carry it. Also take it out to the desert to shoot it.

There's a big gun shop about 2 blocks from my house and even though I've shot guns my entire life, they offer classes and I'd like to take one just to familiarize myself, can't be too safe I guess.

So, what do you guys recommend? I don't want to spend big bucks, I'd like to trade this one in and spend maybe $100-$200 extra. Also would like for ammo to be reasonably priced.

Thanks.

If you're going to just use if for the home, trade it for a Ruger GP-100 in 357 magnum with a 4 or 6" barrel. You can shoot 357 or 38 Special. Just checkout the cylinder rotates and aligns with the bore of the barrel. You'll need a flashlight to ensure you can see. There are lots of them, and they're reasonably priced because of that. They are also rugged and unless phenomenally abused, will last you the rest of your life.
Because it will last, you have no excuse not to practice, practice, practice; standing, sitting, kneeling, right hand AND LEFT!!!. Hits are the only important statistic. If some bad guys are coming down your hallway to your bedroom door and they open it, how many shots do you seriously think you can get off before it becomes Hand-to-hand? Hits count!!! Not the number of rounds in the weapon.
 
Originally Posted By: bubbatime
Originally Posted By: Killer223
kimber micro 380.. live mine.


He said home defense recommendation, not a recommendation for a pile of junk mouse gun. .380 is not a proper recommendation for home defense.


And what "authority" told you that? Stop listening to the tactical weenies. While I am not a Kimber fan, the .380ACP round is more than adequate.
 
A good 380 is similar in performance to many 38 special defense loads from a snubbie wheelgun. This would be around 200-220lb of muzzle energy. You have to remember that most revolver load specs are with 4 inch barrels, so a 2 inch barrel will suffer a decent amount of energy loss. Of course alonger barrel helps the 380 reach parity though so something like a Bersa 380 would be comparable to a J frame S&W 38.

The problem with anything of that level is getting a round of ammo with a good balance of penetration and expansion.
 
Originally Posted By: stchman
And what "authority" told you that? Stop listening to the tactical weenies. While I am not a Kimber fan, the .380ACP round is more than adequate.

"More than adequate" as a home defense gun. So wrong for so many reasons (tome). I have a Ruger LCP and it is one of thos .380's that is known to be reliable and I personally put 1000+ rounds through it without an issue. Waking up in the middle of the night your odds of "limp wristing" it are probably a lot higher. I carry an LCP a lot and am comfortable with it. But its a compromise.

I have a very good tactical instructor. And he is always the first to tell me that he would like me to do what I am most comfortable with if I get into a stressful situation. So if you are comfortable with that, so be it.

And btw I find information from Bubba to be possibly the most generally reliable information here.
 
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