• Watch Out for Scammers!

    We've now added a color code for all accounts. Orange accounts are new members, Blue are full members, and Green are Supporters. If you get a message about a sale from an orange account, make sure you pay attention before sending any money!

Sidearms & Scatterguns First pistol ever, which one??

@stello1001 you've come to the wrong place to ask about pistols, so far you've just got opinions from a bunch of rifle guys that happen to own pistols. With the exception of Gooldylocks, he just might be the only real pistol guy on this site. He knows shit. Just for reference, a random sampling of his YT videos:



"Tony the Tiger"...i didnt know i had to show my videos of me shooting 3 gun to have my opinion count on this site.
 
Tanfoglio made CZ clones are excellent, budget guns.
They are very well made, accurate and will save you a bit of coin.
Ensure your EAA purchases are Tanfoglio, i'm not too certain about the Turkish made firearms they sell.

Mines Italian made... Runs great, IF you runncz mags, tangfolio mags suck and cause jams
 
What a mess...didn't wanna reply to this thread but I can't stand it any more. If you want yer first hand gun to be able to kill a wounded hog or use against a human then the teeny tiny calibers are not for you as yer not adept. So we start at .38 Special/9mm and go up from there.

There is no way to recommend a gun for you as one size does not fit all. You would be best served to shoot a bunch of pistols and revolvers and choose...lots of really great stuff out there now.

9mm is the middle of the road for recoil, control ability and general "center" of the spectrum. There are lots of pistols in this caliber available. As a quick reference start handling hand guns and choose what points naturally and feels good.

Then shoot it until you find the limits and sell it and buy another closer to yer personal preferences.

FWIW I own a couple dozen handguns and carry a 9mm Beretta Px4 subcompact. But I have Glocks and Sigs and Colts and Rugers and S&W's and a lot of others. You'll have to shoot a bunch.

VooDoo
 
What a mess...didn't wanna reply to this thread but I can't stand it any more. If you want yer first hand gun to be able to kill a wounded hog or use against a human then the teeny tiny calibers are not for you as yer not adept. So we start at .38 Special/9mm and go up from there.

There is no way to recommend a gun for you as one size does not fit all. You would be best served to shoot a bunch of pistols and revolvers and choose...lots of really great stuff out there now.

9mm is the middle of the road for recoil, control ability and general "center" of the spectrum. There are lots of pistols in this caliber available. As a quick reference start handling hand guns and choose what points naturally and feels good.

Then shoot it until you find the limits and sell it and buy another closer to yer personal preferences.

FWIW I own a couple dozen handguns and carry a 9mm Beretta Px4 subcompact. But I have Glocks and Sigs and Colts and Rugers and S&W's and a lot of others. You'll have to shoot a bunch.

VooDoo
The people recommending 22s are not saying use that for his criteria, but as a practice tool. A 22 pistol can pay for itself in ammo cost quite quickly.

5000 rounds of 9mm: ~$1000
Glock 17: ~$550
Total: ~$1550

5000 rounds of 22LR: ~$260
Mk IV 22/45 Lite (which could later double as a great little steel challenge gun if the mood struck): ~$450
Total: ~$710

It takes ~22-2300 rounds of 9mm to pay for a 22 pistol... or, looking at it from the other angle of "I will pay 1550 total for my 9mm and a decent amount of practice ammo" you could:
1550-(buy same 9mm)=1000
1000-(buy same 22)=550
550-(buy 5k 22 rounds)=290
290/($10 per box of 9mm) = 1450 rounds of 9mm

For the same total amount of money, you get an additional 1450 live trigger presses, not to mention you have two guns (and more guns is always more betterer)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Subwrx300 and SLG
Get a Glock 17 or 19 and learn to shoot by taking a class and run a couple of thousand rounds thru It. By that time you will be in a much better position to decide if Glock is for you or if you want to try another type. You can always sell the Glock if you decide to go with another pistol and get most of your money out of it. Until you have more trigger time you won’t really know what you like/need.
Phil G
 
  • Like
Reactions: jmb1911
There are alot of guys on here that shoot ; 3 Gun , Steel Challenge , Action Pistol , IDPA , IPSC . Not to mention the LEO and Military guys that take their tradecraft seriously . Firearms are a Martial Art . A Black Belt in a traditional discipline signifies that " you have made it your own ". So digesting useful information and separating the chaff is part of the journey . Be grateful for the angry judgemental nay sayers for they provide the service of lighting the pock marked muddy trail . The one you'd likely not go down .
 
Hello all,

So I practically suck shooting with a handgun. My brother has a 9mm Taurus, probably not a very good one (I really don't know). When I shoot with it, my hits are everywhere and anywhere, usually never on the center of the target tho. I've never been good with handguns in general but give me a rifle and it's a totally different story. I'm starting to get the idea that having a sidearm may or may not come in handy but would be nice to still have for when I go hunting (south Texas has smugglers and illegals). An injured hog situation may also call for having a handgun handy. Anyhow, any suggestions for a first handgun? I went in to a local gunshop and liked how a glock felt as I gripped it as well as a 1911. The guy behind the counter also recommended I handle a Sig. I did but didn't feel the gun fitting me as good as the prior two.[/QUOTE

I have a Sig P226 in .40 and Beretta 92 in 9mm and feel like I have most bases covered. If I want a subcompact for concealed carry I would probably go with a shield. A 1911 has been on the backburner for a while now but we'll see if Santa comes through this year.
 
Don’t listen to these fuckin’ morons. Go big or go home on your first pistol!
smith-500-002.jpg_thumbnail0.jpg

c3378ec97d37f4553424915f2f3dd614.jpg
 
I have more or less sold all of my pistols with the intention of owning only 3, possibly 4.

I have the Ruger Mk 4 .22 and love it. I put a small holo sight on it and its a blast to shoot. I am using it as a learning tool for my 7 year old.

The second gun is a Sig P938. I purchased this gun as an EDC.

The third gun, and I have yet to purchase is a CZ P10C. I am surprised there is not more talk about it here. From the reading and reports I have come across, it sounds like a stellar piece. I mention it because it may be a good gun to consider for the purpose of this thread.

The final gun I am likely to purchase is a snub nose revolver. Likely something with stopping power. This would be my home defense gun that I can keep hidden in the house.
 
So, first and foremost, I want to thank everyone for contributing to this thread. Some of you guys argued with each other and went on a rant. It made the thread more entertaining IMO. While it may have seemed that I went missing, I did not. I read every single post as they came up. I've got back from the gun shop just now. I looked at a few different options. While I have lusted just about all my life for a colt 1911, I'm not too sure I will go with that. They are absolute beauties but I shoot right handed firearms lefty. The 1911s do not have a slide catch on the right side which is where I would need it in order to be able to shoot lefty, rendering the gun useless to me. Since I cannot operate a 1911 due to the slide catch, I obviously tried a few others. The 1911 though, felt and fit on my hand really good. I tried glocks, HK, and sigs. Fast forward to final decision. I liked the Sig P320 very much. It felt good in my hand and offered ambidextrous slide catch release. No, I did not buy anything yet. I will still make more visits to the gun shop later on and may be even rent some of their guns so I could try on their range. I know the Sig P320 is not what many of you recommended. But at the end of the day, it's impossible to agree with everyone and I should probably go with what feels right to me. Overall, I think it was a good trip to the gun shop as I got to handle multiple handguns and get a feel for them.
 
Though I would not recommend a 1911 as a first gun, people have been shooting them left handed ever since somewhere around 1911. Technique and skill trump hardware, though the 1911 can be a steep learning curve for what you want.

If you do get a 1911, get a good .22 conversion kit for it and just shoot that till you get good. Tacsol makes good ones.
 
You really do have to go and try out a number of pistols before you buy one. Asking people on the internet which pistol to buy before you have tried some out is much like asking someone to recommend a suit of clothes for you...there are all sorts of other questions such as suit for what, material, double or single breasted, size, etc, etc. The same applies to handguns. You need to gather more information before the people here can give you really relevant suggestions.

The people who have been kind enough to respond to you have given lots of really diverse, and often very good suggestions for you to consider. I don't want any of the respondents to think I am even remotely suggesting their information is without value, wrong, or poorly thought out. Rather, I think if you put all the information given I this thread, you will have a good starting place for your own information gathering.

Once you have gathered more information, then the responses in this thread will start making more sense to you. You really need to actually shoot some of the handguns you are considering, and at least get a basic handgun safety/marksmanship lesson. The reason I am suggesting a basic lesson is because there is a great difference between the way you pull the trigger on a revolver, and on a semi-auto handgun. Even within the various semi-auto handguns, there is a giant difference between the match grade trigger on a 1911 and the first double action pull on a Beretta 92, or a Sig. Only by trying them out will you figure out which ones you like, and which you dislike. There are some that I downright detest..

I wish you nothing but success, and know that once you start down that rabbit hole of investigating handguns by doing more than reading about them, you will really enjoy yourself.
 
  • Like
Reactions: stello1001