First 9mm?

[Xyphos]

I recently started getting back into shooting. Years ago I had a neighbor that used to take me when he could, but when he moved that hobby moved with him.. now that I'm older, I decided I'd like to pick the hobby back up.

I've been to the range about 3 times in the past 3 months, and each time I've shot something different, from a Beretta, to a 1911, to a Sig, to a Glock, an AK, an AR, and a good ol' Ruger 10/22. I decided for financial reasons to start with a decent 9MM that won't break the bank. So far the only thing I've really come across that looks appealing to the 1.) not being terribly expensive, and 2.) 9mm, is the Beretta M9.

If any of you had to do the whole "My first Pistol!" over again, what would you guys get? Am I deluding myself into thinking a cheaper gun is the better way to start the hobby? Or should I just bite the bullet (figuratively speaking) and get something like a Sig P226?

What do you guys think?

[strife]

This is just as a hobby, and not self/home defense or anything? If so I definitely think 9mm is the way to go. The ammo is WAY cheaper than the other rounds like the .40 S&W or .45.

I'm a pretty big fan of the Ruger SR models.. the Ruger SR9 is a nice gun and you can get it for ~$400 if you try hard enough, which is probably less than what you'll pay for an M9. I have the Ruger SR40 which is basically the exact same gun as the SR9, except it's in .40 S&W and I love it. I did quite a bit of research when I was buying and from everything I read, all of the reviews from the experts and all of that, the Ruger SR9 was one of the best guns for the price, comparing to much more expensive guns(like the glocks, sigs etc)

[Xyphos]

I had actually read about the SR9, but a lot of people were saying it has a "slim" grip. I'm 6'3" and have gargantuan hands, so I don't want something that will feel like a toy in my hand. How would you say the grip feels? Or is this one of those "Get out and try it and see if it fits!" kinda deals, hehe.

[strife]

I haven't held the 9, but a slim grip never came to mind for me with the 40, which I believe has basically the same grip. I'm right at 6' and I definitely don't have gargantuan hands, but I can't imagine anyone would grab it and feel like it was a toy.

Where you read it had a slim grip, were they maybe talking about the SR9c, which is the compact version?

I would say check youtube.. there are quite a few videos on the SR9 and obviously, if you make your way into an academy anytime soon, ask them to let you handle it. I would always recommend handling a gun before you buy it...

[Diggles]

Home Defense = high caliber revolver

Hobby Target shooting/practice = low caliber semi-auto



I've only had money to get Home defense gun and take it shooting a few times a year. If I had money I would buy a used 9mm and just use the hell out of the thing at the range. No sense in dropping alot of money on your first gun and then using it like a rented mule.

[Xyphos]

I basically plan to just go a few times a year, preferably once a month, just to throw some shots down range.

Any input as to which gun, specifically, you think I should go with Diggles?

[Diggles]

nope. i did research before I bought my revolver but i forget most of it.

several of my clients REALLY enjoy their Browning Hi Powered, but those are bigger calibers. Most all of my clients that have guns have a Sig pistol of some sort, but the ones I've shot never felt comfortable or easy to use (granted I'm a light build...dont like heavy guns).

Also when you are researching, stop or ask to see what kind of ammo it uses. Some ammo's leave corrosive shit on the gun that you need to clean the gun after shooting. Others you can shoot til kingdom come without ever cleaning.

[Xyphos]

I plan on being somewhat OCD about cleaing, so that wouldn't bother me.

I personally prefer heavier guns. I shot a few glocks, and they felt like a plastic toy gun to me.

[strife]

I plan on being somewhat OCD about cleaing, so that wouldn't bother me.

I personally prefer heavier guns. I shot a few glocks, and they felt like a plastic toy gun to me.

Well you don't want the ruger then. Like the glocks the SR model rugers(and I think most rugers) are polymer based and weigh about the same as the glocks...

They are pretty light, although when you have 15 rounds in the mag, it's not exactly light... especially if you're going to put a couple boxes through it at a time.

If you're really not sure what you want, start making a list of features you want... How much you're willing to spend... do you want striker fired or an external hammer... etc. Once you make those decisions, you will get a better idea of what is available to you. There are a lot of good gun makers out there and they almost all make 9mm's

[Xyphos]

I suppose that's why I was considering the beretta, since it's mostly metal.

What do you guys think of the S&W 5906?

[strife]

I suppose that's why I was considering the beretta, since it's mostly metal.

What do you guys think of the S&W 5906?

Dunno really, I'm not a huge gun nut and I've never handled one of those... and when I was doing my research and buying I completely avoided anything over 30 ounces and anything that wasn't striker fired.

I think Youtube will be your friend though, a ton of people put up hands on gun reviews on basically anything you can think of.

[Vanraw]

I have a rugger and its a great little gun. You can go out and plunk some targets and such and like Strife said, its cheap. As home defense goes I think its fine. For the most part if you think there is a bugler in your home the first thing to do is fire a coule a shots and yell at them. They will leave with out ever seeing them. Bang Bang :IVE CALLED 911". Done......

If you ever did need to shoot someone in your home, a couple of 9mm in the chest (the largest target area)n will stop them unless they have Kevlar, which is not going to happen in home defense.

Guns are about intimidation. If you buy one to kill someone you shouldn't have one.......

[Diggles]

I have a rugger and its a great little gun. You can go out and plunk some targets and such and like Strife said, its cheap. As home defense goes I think its fine. For the most part if you think there is a bugler in your home the first thing to do is fire a coule a shots and yell at them. They will leave with out ever seeing them. Bang Bang :IVE CALLED 911". Done......

If you ever did need to shoot someone in your home, a couple of 9mm in the chest (the largest target area)n will stop them unless they have Kevlar, which is not going to happen in home defense.

Guns are about intimidation. If you buy one to kill someone you shouldn't have one.......

I'd rather have a high caliber to stop someone dead in their tracks, especially crack/meth heads & PCP doppers. If you are in my house without my consent (with ill intentions), you will probably be leaving on a stretcher or body bag.

Dont get a gun unless you plan to use it. If you want to scare people off, get a toy cap gun...alot less dangerous for family home.

[Vllad]

The single most important factor in a hand gun is accurate follow up shots when people are shooting back.

Types:

Glocks handle the best but they are totally shit weopons to go shooting with. Their clips make your hands bleed if you have to re-load them consistantly.

S&W's are the best over all weopon to practice with. Easy reload and reliable when dirty.

Caliber:

.45/.44 is heavy but follow up shot speed and accuracy is extremely hard. You have to be very, very good to effectively use a .45 when it counts. A .45 is the best killer but it can also get you killed.

9mm is very good at follow up shots but the problem with 9mm is it sometimes requires too many follow up shots. Even with special ammo I don't believe in the 9mm as far as power goes.

.40 is a good compromise. A .40 has good follow up speed and in general most people are way more accurate with a .40. I own a bunch of .45's/9mm's but I eventually chose a .40 that sits near my bed. The .40 is the weopon of choice vs. the 9mm if you talk to enough gun users.


Practice:

Make sure you practice correctly before you judge your weopone of choice. You need to practice in fast 3 shot centered burst in order to judge your own ability most effectively. Firing a full clip or single shot burst is a very poor way of judging how well you will survive in a gun fight.

In the end you need to use what ever you have to in order to put a minimum of 3 in the chest in under a second.

[Xyphos]

I actually can't recall shooting a 40... so next time I go shooting, I'll be sure to rent one. Thanks Vllad.

A lot of it boils down to price though. From what I can tell, for a lot of the ammo, you're looking at about a 5$ difference in a box of 50 of 9MM VS 40S&W. Is that a fair estimation?

[Vllad]

I actually can't recall shooting a 40... so next time I go shooting, I'll be sure to rent one. Thanks Vllad.

A lot of it boils down to price though. From what I can tell, for a lot of the ammo, you're looking at about a 5$ difference in a box of 50 of 9MM VS 40S&W. Is that a fair estimation?

Yea that is the down side of the .40. That is one of the reasons I never considered the .40 before. Plus I was always stuck on big caliber arguments. For 30 years I just refused to try something new. Now that I have I will never go back again. I have yet to meet anyone who isn't happy with a .40 caliber weopon.

If you read some boards and get some additional information I am confident that you will find most American's prefer the .40.

[strife]

I actually can't recall shooting a 40... so next time I go shooting, I'll be sure to rent one. Thanks Vllad.

A lot of it boils down to price though. From what I can tell, for a lot of the ammo, you're looking at about a 5$ difference in a box of 50 of 9MM VS 40S&W. Is that a fair estimation?

Yea that is the down side of the .40. That is one of the reasons I never considered the .40 before. Plus I was always stuck on big caliber arguments. For 30 years I just refused to try something new. Now that I have I will never go back again. I have yet to meet anyone who isn't happy with a .40 caliber weopon.

If you read some boards and get some additional information I am confident that you will find most American's prefer the .40.

I just bought a box of ammo over the weekend, and the cheapest box(at a gun shop, not online or at walmart, who are generally a little cheaper) of .40 I could fine was ~$19. My brother was able to get 9mm for right at $10 a box from the same place.

I wouldn't recommend anything over 9mm for a range/hobby gun... the ammo is just too expensive... but if you're going to use it for self/home defense as well, then that really changes it. I'm quite partial to .40 for an all around gun. It's a little expensive for going an putting 3-4 boxes of ammo through it regularly, but as a home defense gun, I think it's pretty much perfect.

BUT, caliber selection is in the eye of the gun-holder. You can have arguments day and night over which caliber is the best for whatever... and really the most important thing is the shooter.

[Xyphos]

Well, the vague plan originally was...

Get a smaller caliber handgun to re-warm up to shooting, and start becoming a regular at the range, while not breaking the bank on 80$ Days of shooting.

As I get more comfortable, move up to a .40, and eventually a .45, all the while the 9mm being my regular range gun, just switching it up between the higher calibers for a box of 50 or so.

The guns I was originally eyeing was a Beretta M9 in 9mm, a Sig p226 in 40S&W, and the Sprinfield 1911 "Loaded" (I LOVE this gun, but don't want to spend ~1100 on my first pistol, to be stuck shelling out the cash for 45's). reading more and more about the S&W 5906 though, I'm beginning to sway from the Beretta...

[Vllad]

Strife is correct. As long as the user is good at the weopon they use that over-rides everything else. The problem with a .40 is practicing enough to become proficent with it. It cost more.

For me personally it was worth the cost but that may not be true for everyone.

[strife]

Well, the vague plan originally was...

Get a smaller caliber handgun to re-warm up to shooting, and start becoming a regular at the range, while not breaking the bank on 80$ Days of shooting.

Whatever you decide on, you may want to get some snap caps. They will allow you to practice your trigger pulls and gain some muscle memory for free while at home. Also, useful if you do any work on your gun once you get it back together to verify that it's functioning w/out putting live ammo through it. They are relatively cheap. I bought a box of 5 on ebay for about $7 and got my moneys worth after replacing the trigger on my SR40. It would dry fire fine, but the trigger would get stuck in the back position after using the snap caps which turned out to be a n issue with one of my springs when I put it back together... having the snap caps saved me a lot of frustration of going to the range and figuring out the problem then.

The guns I was originally eyeing was a Beretta M9 in 9mm, a Sig p226 in 40S&W, and the Sprinfield 1911 "Loaded" (I LOVE this gun, but don't want to spend ~1100 on my first pistol, to be stuck shelling out the cash for 45's). reading more and more about the S&W 5906 though, I'm beginning to sway from the Beretta...

My next gun will be a 1911... I'm in love with them. I just love the history of them, I love the way they look, the way they feel, the way they shoot. I have a man crush on them.

[Diggles]

Heh you'd think with some of these designs that are almost a hundred years old they could figure out how to make them cheaper....nope.

I have numerous clients that trade guns and basically treat them as investments. Buy low & sell high. They prob doing alot better money wise than stock traders in the past 5 years.

[strife]

Heh you'd think with some of these designs that are almost a hundred years old they could figure out how to make them cheaper....nope.

I have numerous clients that trade guns and basically treat them as investments. Buy low & sell high. They prob doing alot better money wise than stock traders in the past 5 years.

Yea... Ruger has an SR1911 that you can get new for under $800(I KNOW, I'M A RUGER FANBOY!) that is pretty nice.

[Goldor]

If your looking for a .45, try getting your hands on a Ruger P97 and shoot it a bit. The P97 is an easy to shoot gun and in my experience reliable, I've put 3000 rounds of about 8 different loads/brands through one and never had a single failure of any kind, though never more than 250-300 rounds at a time. At about 25 yards I'm looking at on average 2.75 inch groupings for an eight round group. No, it is not an elegant autoloader, but it will get the job done. The gun is fairly cheap and you should be able to pick up one used in good condition for about 400$. Of course the ammo cost isn't the greatest. I've handled the newer Ruger p345, and I like it so far. It seems to perform at least as well and possibly better. Can't really give a great review as I've only fired about 100 rounds through one and don't personally own it so I don't get to shoot it on a regular basis.

Now if your just looking for a pistol to go plinking with, the M9 really isn't a bad choice and it is tough and reliable. Though you'll still pay for a new one (600$ or there about new). It is a full sized hand gun, so your larger hands shouldn't be a problem. I had to sell mine recently due to needing some extra cash to help pay for some of my mothers medical bills, but fully intend to buy a new one after I've upgraded my computer. I have no idea how many rounds I have put through an M9, some where around 10,000 or so since 2005 would be a good estimate though and in that time I've only had a failure and I'm pretty sure that was my fault entirely (only had 5 rounds loaded in my last magazine and slam loaded it to start firing, got off one shot but the remaining rounds in the magazine where nose down, rolling around in the magazine with the follower stuck down inside and askew. This was in a 15 round magazine.). I've had varying degrees of accuracy with it, from a bench rest at 25 yards I've had as good 1.5" and standing 2.25"-2.5" was fairly common. This gun was also my Concealed carry gun of choice, I used a HBE Leatherworks Com III IWB holster and wore a slightly larger shirt and had no problems with it. Of course it takes some getting used to but that can be said of any IWB holster. The reason I like this holster is that it has offset belt loops, so it doesn't add to the thickness at all and is more comfortable than the others that I have tried for any length of time.

In any case, I hope this helps you out a bit.

[Bulgy]

If you just want to go to the range and plink, get a .22. Cheapest ammo out there. Recoil is negligible. If you are new to guns, it's a good starter size. Get the fundamentals down, then move up if you want to. Pick a size that YOU are comfortable with and go with it. I never heard of anyone who got shot say something along the lines of "He shot me with (fill in less than .45 caliber here) and I laughed it off."

If you have larger hands, get a larger size weapon. Comfort and fit matter. I personally like Smith and Wesson revolvers and Sig automatics. .45 is my personal choice.

If you're talking about home defense don't use a pistol. Get a shotgun, preferably 12 gauge (20 is good as well, but holds fewer pellets in the shell). Put .00 buckshot in it. You may or may not want low-recoil ammunition. At the short ranges inside your house a low-recoil load won't matter.

Don't get a pump, get a semi-auto. Semi-auto relieves you of having to hand crank in the next shell. Aredenaline is a bitch, and no one knows how they will react under fire. Save yourself this step so that you only need to keep pulling a trigger.

Alot of Rambos out there will always say, "I want them to hear the click-click of the pump and shit themselves". If someone has the stones to break into your home at night when you are likely there, they are also likely armed and won't give a shit about your noise. In fact, they will know exactly where you are when you do that. For the same reason I dislike putting a light on your home defense weapon.

You know your home, the intruder does not. Use that knowledge. Don't go looking for someone taking your TV downstairs. You probably needed a new TV anyway. The name of the game is ambush, not search and destroy. You know which walls to shoot through to hit different points in your house already, your intruder does not. Pretty much any weapon will go through 6 or so sheets of dry wall before stopping (higher caliber pistols and rifles can go through far more, including your neighbors house across the way). For this reason it's important for you to know who is home and where they may be.

Know your local laws. Not all states have a stand your ground type law (Georgia does).

[Xyphos]

Home defense isn't a huge concern for me all around simply because of the NJ state laws, and the fact that I'd be just as likely to go to jail as the guy that broke in to begin with.

AS far as the range goes, I've shot many a 22, and while the ammo is dirt cheap, and the guns are fun, it feels more like a pellet gun or a paintball gun then a real gun to me. The recoil is just totally not there, so I'd like something with a little more then that... the next logical step to me was 9mm. I REALLY like the S&W 5906, but I can't seem to find one available. I'll keep looking, or likley just settle for a Beretta M9 for now.