Posted on 08/04/2006 9:29:09 AM PDT by 7thson
Alright, I am going to set myself up here for flaming and such - especially by certain @$$wipes who enjoy making themselves feel superior - by I have a couple questions concerning firearms.
Basic question one - what is the difference between a pistol and a revolver?
Basic question two - what is the difference between single action and double action?
Basic question three - which should a beginner go with - revolver, pistol, SA, or DA?
1. A pistol has a magazine for the rounds. A revolver has the revolving wheel you see in the Westerns.
2. Single action is for a semi-automatic. The gas from the last round chambers the next round. Double action, the trigger pull both fires the round and chambers the next round. Effect. It's usually harder to pull the trigger on a double action because you are doing more. Double action only means that's all you get. That would be a pistol or revolver with no hammer. But many revolvers have a hammer. When you cock the hammer, it is single action. When you just pull the trigger, it is double action.
3. I recommend a double action only revolver. Simple. Doesn't jam. For carry, Keltec makes really little and lightweight double action only pistols.
Maybe, but some people on this post - like Cobra64 - come off insulting and arrogant for no reason at all in threads that do not concern them. I should have been more specific and for that I apologize.
I'll just follow up that testing my single action comment; 'nothing will happen if the hammer isn't cocked even with a round in the chamber'; by pointing it at yourselve or others would be unwise. A gun should always be considered loaded and never pointed at yourself or others unless you mean to kill them or yourself.
With a .45 semiautomatic you can pull the trigger slightly, hear the click of the hammer cocking, and then squeeze the trigger completely and fire.
Dunno if it's different today, but I went through USN reserve boot camp and never handled a pistol. Once on active duty, I stood many a watch with loaded .45, never having recieved a bit of training in it's use. On one boring midwatch, I disassembled the .45 and it took almost the entire rest of the watch to get it back together ;-}
Hope things have improved since those days
I've taught my son and most of his friends how to use firearms safely. Most of them had a much easier time learning to use a revolver than they did learning to use a semi-automatic. (Rifles, of course, are easier than any kind of pistol.)
One of the advantages for revolvers was a significant reduction in the number of misfires. From what I have seen, people who have never shot a handgun tend to hold a semi-automatic too loosely, leading to problems feeding the next round. (I've seen this with 9mm as well as with 22's, so it is not because the rounds are not powerful enough.)
Regardless of what you buy, be SURE to spend a lot of time at the range learning to shoot safely and accurately.
Take some classes! If you don't know what "A gun is always loaded" means, then you haven't been trained well enough and should not even handle a gun.
LOL
Since we're talking basics here...
What's good to use for a target?
Just joined a fish and game club up here in Lake George.
Went to the local sporting goods shop and all they had was a small cardboard stand with some stick-on sheets.
Looking forward to FReeper input on do it yourself targets.
With a semi auto pistol you can choose to not cock it (not put one in the pipe) so there is no round in the chamber this makes it safer to carry.
I would have to disagree with this on all counts. A semi-auto is only "safer" if you remember its state. This is a bad assumption.
A double action revolver requires a stiff pull on the trigger. It doesn't go off by "accident."
I'm sure you'll get lot's of good advise and suggestions for your needs.
I'm not going to answer questions 1 & 2 because you're going to get a lot of responses answering this one for you and they're all going to be correct.
However, for question 3, I would personally go with a Ruger GP-100 .357. It's both a SA & a DA. It has plenty of stopping power plus you can fire .38's out of a .357 to save you a couple $. And it's a very versatile, over-built gun. Great for personal protection and for plinking. Small enough to carry and big enough to be accurate with.
This was actually my first gun that I purchased from a little gun store in Baltimore County years ago. I'm a big fan of revolvers, you only have to point and shoot. No worrying about whether there's one in the chamber, is the safety on, etc.
Get one gun, PRACTICE with it, learn it, and then go get a bunch more!
I find that using a target that has good contrast with the sights is helpful. If you have black sights, a light colored target will help you focus on the sights and get good alignment. The FBI Q target is good. Trying to get everything lined up on a black bullseye (particularly if you're at an indoor range with low light) isn't as easy.
George Bemis . . . wore in his belt an old original "Allen" revolver, such as irreverent people called a "pepper-box." Simply drawing the trigger back, cocked and fired the pistol. As the trigger came back, the hammer would begin to rise and the barrel to turn over, and presently down would drop the hammer, and away would speed the ball. To aim along the turning barrel and hit the thing aimed at was a feat which was probably never done with an "Allen" in the world. But George's was a reliable weapon, nevertheless, because, as one of the stage-drivers afterward said, "If she didn't get what she went after, she would fetch something else." And so she did. She went after a deuce of spades nailed against a tree, once, and fetched a mule standing about thirty yards to the left of it. Bemis did not want the mule; but the owner came out with a double-barreled shotgun and persuaded him to buy it, anyhow. It was a cheerful weapon--the "Allen." Sometimes all its six barrels would go off at once, and then there was no safe place in all the region round about, but behind it.
- Roughing It
MARK TWAIN
As I type I have an S&W 686P 4" hanging off my belt. Golly I like this gun! But my usual concealed carry is a SIG P239 in 357 Sig. I weigh 190 and am 5'10" and I don't find this gun too large or heavy I really like the way it shoots.
I started out with DA/SA but a job I had required Glocks which are sort of kind of DA only and I got a SIG with their DAK trigger - a true double action. And I hate to admit it but with my DA/SA sigs, if my dander is up, my first (DA) shot will tend to go down and towards my weak side, so I 'm coming to appreciate the consistent trigger pull of a DA only.
I think handguns are kind of like a lot of personal purchases. It's good to put off deciding as long as you can, because what feels good now may not feel so good after you've had it for a while, and then what are you going to do with it? I still have but almost never carry or practice with a little titanium, 14 oz., 5-shot 38 special. Gee I hate that gun.
"You are an 18-year retired vet of the Navy and you don't know the answer to these questions"?
The answers above are correct but just to confuse the issue, in Britain a 'pistol' is what we call an automatic and a revolver is always called a revolver.
I think a beginner should go with borrowing lots of different handguns at the range. If I could do it all over again, I'd start with a .22 revolver to learn good habits. Then I'd go handle and shoot as many different pistols as I could until I found the one for me.
Very good advice. Some ranges, like the range I belong to, also rent guns.
Since the rest of your questions have been answered, I'll echo some others here and recommend you look at a revolver as your first pistol. Not to take anything away from autos, but revolvers are a lot simpler to maintain. It won't be long before you go back to your favorite gun shop for an auto.
Thanks.
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