Vanity: Advice needed on best small semi-auto handgun for new shooter.

01-29-01 | self

[MS.BEHAVIN]

PING!
Ms.B

[BenLurkin]

GLOCK 27

Caliber: .40

GLOCK 27

Caliber .40

Action Safe Action System

Length (slide) 6.29 in. 160 mm

Height 2) 4.17 in. 106 mm

Width 1.18 in. 30 mm

Length between sights 3) 5.67 in. 144 mm

Barrel length 3.46 in. 88 mm

Barrel rifling right, hexagonal

Length of twist 9.84 in. 250 mm

Magazine capacity 4) 9 / 11

Mass (weight)

Empty without magazine 19.75 oz. 560 g

Empty magazine 2.12 oz. 60 g

Full magazine 5) ~7.23 oz. ~205 g

Trigger pull (standard) ~5.5 lbs. ~2.5 kg

Trigger travel for discharge 6) 0.5 in. 12.5 mm

Number of safeties 3

1) C: Compensated
2) Includes magazine and sight
3) With sight rear 6.5
4) Check local law and regulations.l
5) Depending on the used ammunition
6) Includes trigger safety

[Lady Jag]

Please don't go out and buy a 9 mm; it's the worst you could get for self defense. I am an NRA personal protection instructor and have taught a couple hundred people.

Everyone is different. First of all, if you want a big gun, you'll want a .45 or .40. Find out how much it weighs. My Colt Commander weighs about 37 oz, over two pounds. Get something the same weight and similar size and carry it on you for a week. It becomes heavy and not only that, its length makes it uncomfortable and difficult to conceal, and it unbalances your body.

Then there's your size, location and personality to consider.

Take your time. Take the course and ask the instructors. Hopefully they'll be reasonable.

I carry guns every day. Freepmail me if you want.

[BenLurkin]

OR

GLOCK 36 Specifications

Caliber .45 ACP

[Tarpaulin]

I do not approve of any Glock, for the obvious reasons.

I'm sure this concept has been FReeped to hell and back somewhere.

(Yes, I'll look it up.)

[mylife]

Im probably gonna get flamed for this

But Soviet Makarovs in 9x18mm are small, effective, cheap, dependable and accurate.

Maks simply dont jam or break and the fixed barrel is very accurate.

A lot of guys that used to tote heavy 45s and bulky glocks all day now carry Makarovs do to ease of concealment and effectivness

[Eric in the Ozarks]

You might think so but the .40 has plenty of knockdown power. I owned a 9 MM Glock and liked the fact that a lot more power was available in the same medium sized pistol that fit my hand.

[epow]

That makes sense to me, but again I'm a novice. Do you have a source?

Do a Google search for "Strasbourg Tests". In that test several European police agencies did a test on live French Alpine goats of the same size and weight of the average human male to see which cartridge disabled a healthy goat in the shortest length of time. I think something like 600 goats were shot in the thorax with various popular handgun rounds, and the time interval between the shot and the animal's collapse was recorded to the tenth of a second and averaged out over a series of shots from each cartridge.

IIRC the .45acp did very well, but it wasn't the top "stopper". Again, IIRC, the .357 mag firing a 125 grain hollow point round took the top spot. Also IIRC, the 9mm came in with a very respectable score, not far behind the .45acp in fact.

For me personally I usually carry a Taurus medium frame 2-1/2" .357 revolver in a Don Hume belt slide holster, except in hot weather when I can't conceal it under a jacket or coat. In hot weather I have been carrying a commercial Russian Makarov .380 semiauto loaded with Federal HydroShok cartridges in a pocket holster, but I am planning to upgrade to a 9mm Springfield Armory XD Compact semiauto before summer weather returns. IMHO the .380 is just barely adequate for self defense, but at the time I bought it there were no truly small 9mm guns on the market and it was better than the little .32s.

If I were you I would check out the Springfield compact. It has everything going for it that the Glock model 26 has and it's quite a bit less expensive. Although I really like the old .45acp and have owned several 1911s and one S&W .45acp revolver, I believe anyone is quite well armed carrying a reliable 9mm loaded with good hollow point cartridges such as Corbons or Hydroshoks.

[BenLurkin]

I'm sure this concept has been FReeped to hell and back somewhere.

Oh yes.

[epow]

Correction. The Springfield I mentioned is the XD9 Sub-Compact, not just compact.

It is also available now in .40 S&W caliber, but I wouldn't recommend such a lightweight (20 ounce) .40 caliber pistol to anyone who isn't quite familiar with heavy recoiling handguns. A 20 ounce pistol firing a 165 grain bullet at over 1100 fps is going to kick pretty darn hard, and if you aren't accustomed to that kind of recoil it can easily develop a bad flinching habit which ruins your accuracy and is very hard to overcome.

I know about flinching, because a Colt Lightweight Officer's Model .45acp caused me to acquire a flinch habit which I'm still bothered by at times. OTOH, I really enjoy shooting a heavy 8-3/8" Colt Anaconda .44 magnum, and it has no tendency to cause a flinch even though it's much more powerful than the .45. Little guns in big calibers are designed to carry a lot and shoot a little. But you need to practice regularly, and if your gun hurts you when you shoot it you won't practice enough.

[Servant of the 9]

You might think so but the .40 has plenty of knockdown power. I owned a 9 MM Glock and liked the fact that a lot more power was available in the same medium sized pistol that fit my hand.

The .45 GAP is built on the same frame and slide as the 9mm and the .40. The external dimensions are identical.
It has te same ballistics as the larger .45 auto.

So9

[cicero's_son]

Great advice to your son, and I'll be sure to follow it as well.

Thanks!

[CTOCS]

52 posts and not one mention of Beretta. Whazzup wit dat?

I carry a 92FS compact in 9mm and have a .380 bearcat that I can put in my pocket. Both well made and trouble free.

But then, that's just me.....

[tightwadbob]

Hi, Sorry for the laet post but I couldn't find this one last night. Good Luck.


http://www.firearmstactical.com/briefs31.htm

[Graycliff]

May i suggest a small revolver, maybe a model 60 Smith or something along those lines. They are as reliable as a Cat diesel. They conceal well, they can be purchased in a variety of calibers. Don't get me wrong I'm a firm believer in autos, carried one as a duty gun for years.
I just feel it's important that the weapon be 100% reliable.
There are autos out there that have very good track records when it comes to reliability ( Sigs, Glocks ) But even those weapons don't hold a candle to a revolver when it comes down to it.

[cicero's_son]

I realize it's not an automatic, but I just checked out the Smith&Wesson 642 revolver today. I was pretty impressed.

It seemed like an ideal conceal carry weapon--lightweight and compact, very reliable, easy to use.

What do you guys think of it?

[Echo Talon]

I don't know... Do you have small hands or something? Are you a woman? 642's are called the "Lady Smith". Again lok at Sig or HK :D

[cicero's_son]

LOL. No--you must have me confused with cicero's_daughter.

Reason I asked about the 642 was concealability.

[Lady Jag]

You came awfully close the the gun I want. The 642 weighs about 15 ounces and is an excellent gun. I want the 60 which is a .357 magnum that'll take .38 ammo, too.

Two things about a wheel gun. One, they're less fussy than semi-autos. You could toss it under your bed and pull it out years later and it'll still work . . . that's not likely to happen with a semi-auto.

Two, is they aren't slab guns, so finding a comfortable way to carry is a little tougher.

A new 642 is about $500 and a 60 is about $600, a full $100 more, plus the 60 is a lot heavier. It's a smart first gun, either the 642 or 60. The .38 special round is great for self defense.

[ozarkjailer]

I love caliber wars!!

In general...shot placement is much more important that bullet size. Doesn't really matter how power the cartridge, if you miss the target?
In other words!...A well-placed 9mm. is far superior to a well-missed .45 ACP.
Look at a variety of guns in various caliber’s and frame size. Feel, balance & control will be the deciding factor.