Decided to get a handgun $600 budget, suggestions?

Just going by the instructors at my range, if you wanna have fun shootin' stuff, go ahead and get a center fire pistol,
if you want to hone your skill, learn a solid foundation of marksmanship get your hands on
a target .22. Its not as fun as hammering off a big cartage but once you have achived tight groupings with it,
Then you have something solid to build off of. Took me a year and a half till I purchased my first center fire.
 
Currently running a browning buckmark ( won a gallery shoot first time using one) and a SAM thunderbolt .45 I picked up from my friends at Wolverine Supplies, great service, smoking deals.
 
Buy one nice pistol instead of 2 cheap ones.

There are some STI Spartans around still - discontinued model. I had one that I was quite happy with.

Or consider used - Remington R1, SR1911, etc.

I've gone cold on the Philippine guns. Each one I've had was flawed and needed work before they were anything like acceptable. One was a total lemon, and my Norc GI can shoot well inside of what my current shooters arms gun can do, and the norc is loosy goosy

I won't even dignify the tt-33 with a comment beyond nasty and broken parts.
 
Another + for the Norinco 1911's.

I've got a .45 Sport model I believe it is, all blued with ambi and extended controls and I LOVE IT!

Pachmayr Signature Grips W/O Backstrap, Wilson Combat Magwell, Wolff Springs, Polished every surface inside that parts move against and a paint pen to refresh my 3dot sights until I decide which aftermarkets I will settle for.

Picture before I did all the polishing/ect.

P1020096_zpsihsdukf4.jpg


.45 bug bit me hard, got entire reloading setup now to feed this piggy.

For around $300 used on the Equipment Exchange I can't complain at all with what I got, it is what it is a dirt cheap gun but it is reliable and performs.
 
Take a look at the Bersa Thunder 9 Pro. I hear nothing but good things from owners. Tactical Imports sells them.

The Canik TP9SA, Tristar(also made by Canik) S-120 and P-120 line of pistols may be an option as well.
 
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Another contender, which I havent actually handled myself yet, would be the S&W SD9VE.
Heard a TON of great reviews, with the biggest complaint being that it could use a trigger upgrade. Not too shabby for a $400 gun.
 
Well, I'm going to step in with the contrary opinion. Has to be done.

The cost of your pistol is basically peanuts compared to the cost of feeding the beast. If you go to the range, you want to shoot for about an hour (or more). With center fire pistols, this will chew up at least 100 rounds and 200 rounds if you are using 22LR. Going to the range to fire 50 rounds (unless its 44 mag or 50 cal) will seem underwhelming.

So, shooting once a week at a minimum of 100 rounds is about 5000 rounds a year. If you don't reload, then 5000 rounds of 45 acp will cost about $2500.00. For 9mm, figure $1500.00.

22LR is priced around 8 cents a pop nowadays, and you would shoot around 10,000 rounds a year which will cost at least $800 a year.

So, I would get the nicest handgun that you like. The only way to save money is to spend time and a few bucks in learning to reload. But if you reload you will likely shoot more.

Worrying about a few hundred dollars in initial purchase price of the pistol is not productive if you are actually going to USE the gun for fun and practice.
 
I help out at the club here on Vancouver Island, and we run a "holster" course once or twice a month. It's just a basic safety course, nothing too technical or complicated. I see a variety of guns and holsters come through. Two observations that might roll into your choice of "which first handgun for $600":

1. someone always brings a GSG .22, the one that looks like a .45auto model 1911.

2. someone always brings a fabric (canvas or nylon) holster.

Regarding No. 1: The GSG always jams, sometimes more than once (my sense of it is the GSG is a good gun, but clean- and ammo-sensitive, not a learner's gun). As the instructor, I end up clearing the jams because as a first handgun it's just too dangerous watching the novices fool around with it. For a first handgun, please spend a little more for something in 9mm and the life (or foot) you save may be your own.

Regarding No. 2: maybe this is off-topic, but I see this almost every course I attend - the guy with the canvas or nylon holster inevitably starts to watch the target and hunt around for the holster's opening. That's only natural, to watch the "threat". However, unlike a kydex or quality leather holster, you have to wiggle the muzzle a little to get it into a fabric holster, and half the time during the wiggle the muzzle ends up pointed at the FEMORAL ARTERY. Please, people, spend the extra $45 on a quality kydex holster!
 
I bought a dominion arms 1911 and love it. but after my first time out I instantly felt the crunch of the extra cost of ammo. luckily, my wife came along to rescue me from my stupidity. We went in to get more ammo for my beast and she ended up falling in love with a smith and wesson sdv9e

we bought 500 rounds of 9mm for 150 bucks. until recently i've been buying .45 in 50 round boxes because not everyone has it in bulk. paying more than 50 cents a round consistently.

hamsta's point is the only one that really matters. the cost of ammo will crush you if you have a budget on the cost of the gun...believe me. I love my norc but I weep at the cost every time I have to stock up again.

guys that have no budget for their pistols, guys that buy 1500 dollar plus 1911s can shell out the differnce for ammo. but seriously, if you have a budget at all when buying a pistol, then you have a budget for ammo. and its more fun to shoot more . 9mm is more or less just as fun as .45 at the end of the day. lots of good 9mm pistols out there.

also, if you are stuck on 1911s, heres my take on it after having held every 1911 in driving distance from my place before I ended up getting one from canam in that sale they had. the norc feels like crap. its loose as hell. the edges are sharp. the finish is going to get messed up. this is not a pride and joy gun. its a work horse. buy it and love it if thats what you want.
if you want something that looks and feels great in your hand even when not shooting, the budget would be around 800 and up. to me, that kind of 1911 starts with the ruger sr1911 and then you start looking at firearms for over 1000. eventually you get past the ones that just look great but also have all kinds of bells and whistles and are for competitions. this is probably too much gun for 90% of us anyways. these guns are ones you might shed a tear over if you scratch it. you will want to take selfies with it. lol.
if you want something in between, well then SAMs are it. They feel nice and tight. The edges are all clean and fit for touching without getting little cuts on your hands. The finish is really decent on them. They seem like really good value. however, I have read a few too many times about their reliability out of the box. I mean, its a 1911....it can be fixed and set right eventually. But do you want to have to fix/mod a gun just to get it to work out of the box?
 
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