Looking a buying my first pistol, Sig P320, Cz Shadow 1, Glock 19x, M&P 2.0 or range

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jbroomie

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Looking a buying my first pistol, Sig P320, Cz Shadow 1, Glock 19x, M&P 2.0 or range

I am searching for my first pistol. I want something in 9mm and I am not sure whether to lean towards striker or hammer fired. I spent some time in a local store and handled all of the pistols listed above, among others and narrowed it down to those choices. Are there any inherent advantages to striker fired or hammer fired? What are your suggestions and are there any that I have missed and should consider?
 
Go handle all of the ones you are interested in.

Better yet, if you could get a chance to try out each one. Go with what fits & feels best for you. What I like or the next guy might not be the best one for you.

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NAA.
 
Same boat here, if I don't win that 19x I've been in contact with some guys at my local range I'm going to go in one night, buy some boxes of 9mm, ask some questions about other people's guns and maybe even try a few of them out. It's all about what feels good in your hand. (At least that's what everyone's been telling me haha).
 
I own a CZ Shadow, I think it is SP01. It is a great gun, all steel gun, nice and heavy for recoil control. I liked this gun out of the box. It is a classic

I had a Glock 22. I made it into a 17 with a conversion bbl so it would shoot 9mm and 40 S&W. I hated this gun from the day I bought it till I sold it at a huge loss. One Glock thing is they don't want you to reload, no lead projectiles, bbl leads up. Need a different bbl if you want to shoot lead projectiles. Glock=perfection is their saying?

I just bought a top line Sig Sauer, a P210 Target. This is a beautiful gun. Initial impressions are not raving praise but it is a beautiful gun. Twice I slapped in a magazine with 5 rounds and the gun cocked itself (chambered a round). This was lead reloads. That didn't happen with jacketed reloads?

I would say stay away from plastic, Tupper ware guns. They are light and kick more. First gun is hard. You learn a lot over time with a gun. If you buy quality you can always sell it later. Ammo costs much more than the gun over time. Many say buy a .22LR first and practice with that.

You might like a 1911 style gun. This is a classic gun for over 100 years.
 
The Shadow is on another level compared to all of your other possibilities so I would start there instead of wasting your time (like I did against all advice on this forum).
 
The Shadow is the only all metal hammer fired gun on your list. It can be tuned to be a very sweet shooter. It is still good in stock form. It is likely going to be the easiest and most accurate gun of your list. It is also suitable for both IPSC and IDPA use.

The 320, M&P and Glock are all variants of a polymer striker gun. They will not have as good a trigger as the Shadow but they will all be lighter in weight. You also won’t have to worry about manual safeties and learning a DA/SA trigger squeeze.

The best answer is to get a polymer ( I prefer a Glock but any of your 3 are fine) and the Shadow 1.

If you are limited to only one, I would go with the Shadow as it just does a lot of things well. It actually pains me to say this as I don’t own one and refuse to buy one as all my friends who outshoot me have one and I want to prove a point with my Glocks!
 
You're missing the best pistols out there....22's. If using factory ammo you'll be able to shoot 3.5 times more with .22 than 9mm and early on that counts more than anything else.

What made you decide to go right into centre-fire?
 
Still alive said:
The Shadow is the only all metal hammer fired gun on your list. It can be tuned to be a very sweet shooter. It is still good in stock form. It is likely going to be the easiest and most accurate gun of your list. It is also suitable for both IPSC and IDPA use.

The 320, M&P and Glock are all variants of a polymer striker gun. They will not have as good a trigger as the Shadow but they will all be lighter in weight. You also won’t have to worry about manual safeties and learning a DA/SA trigger squeeze.

The best answer is to get a polymer ( I prefer a Glock but any of your 3 are fine) and the Shadow 1.

If you are limited to only one, I would go with the Shadow as it just does a lot of things well. It actually pains me to say this as I don’t own one and refuse to buy one as all my friends who outshoot me have one and I want to prove a point with my Glocks!
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I can't believe I just read this..... lol!

Slight correction: you never really need to use the safety on a Shadow. In stock form, it just gets in the way of a decent grip. That's why I changed mine to a flush safety and why the Shadow 2 comes with flush safeties.

One more benefit to a DA/SA gun like the Shadow. Dry firing is easy. Sure, the trigger pull is longer and heavier, but it's great training, and when combined with a laser cartridge, is fantastic for practice at home. No need to rack slides like on some guns. :)

Edit to add: starting with a .22 like some other people said, really is a great idea. Jumping into a 9mm to start can teach you how to flinch quite well. :)
 
jimbo14 said:
I can't believe I just read this..... lol!

Slight correction: you never really need to use the safety on a Shadow. In stock form, it just gets in the way of a decent grip. That's why I changed mine to a flush safety and why the Shadow 2 comes with flush safeties.

One more benefit to a DA/SA gun like the Shadow. Dry firing is easy. Sure, the trigger pull is longer and heavier, but it's great training, and when combined with a laser cartridge, is fantastic for practice at home. No need to rack slides like on some guns. :)

Edit to add: starting with a .22 like some other people said, really is a great idea. Jumping into a 9mm to start can teach you how to flinch quite well. :)
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If you develop a flinch from a 9mm, you have some issues.
 
I can say this. Some 15 years ago my Mother bought me a Steyr M9A1 I had my eye on. It was my first pistol and even though it has some quirks and is hard as hell to find the right accessorys for I still love it and wouldn't trade it for the world. What ever you decide on you will no doubt be happy as a small child with a new toy car! Lots of this stuff is all just personal preference which develops and changes over time.
 
Me personally, I would never buy another striker fired gun every again. There's just no comparison to a double action trigger of a hammer fired gun. Speaking of which, you asked the difference between striker and hammer fired, when other than functionality, there's not much difference. Striker fired guns are preferred greatly for self defense and conceal carry. There's no hammer to get caught on your holster or clothing and its it's just point and shoot not having to worry too much about what status the gun is in.

From a new shooter perspective, a hammer fired gun is arguably safer because you can visually see if the hammer is cocked or not. And almost all striker fired guns cannot be de-cocked without firing the gun. However when proper firearms safety (ACTS and PROVE) are followed, both are just as safe.

I let a Glock 17 be my first centre fired pistol and it was fun for about 2 trips to the range. If it weren't for its proven reliability and ability to fire more than 50 000+ rounds before major parts replacements, I would have said it's an overpriced lightweight plastic brick. But it's simple to use. Even a police officer can operate it.

My next gun was an M&P 40. I found it to be an improvement over the glock trigger wise and definitely ergonomically. The fit and finish was not quite as nice as the glock but that's reflected in their difference price points. It had a longer trigger pull I though and seemed to swing on more of an arch. I tending to shoot low and left a lot if I was not concentrating. For that reason I eventually dumped it on the EE as well. I like a gun where I can just point and shoot without a lot of concentration and for me personally, it's mostly hammered fired guns that I can do that with. Again, no comparison to a trigger thats cocked in single action mode.

I've never handled a P320

Add a Jericho 941 range kit to that list to try to handle or look into as well. I am honestly not sure why NO ONE ever mentions this one in these types of threads. Steel frame double to single action hammer fired. You can find them between $600-$700 new. Comes with case, three mags, Fobus holster and mag pouch. Nice solid gun. Is compatible with CZ mags too. The finish does tend to wear easily, not sure what finishing process is done to it, so its a gun that might give those who like safe queens anxiety. I personally like guns that show wear. You can find them as low as $450 on the EE too. (They make a polymer frame version as well) Parts support for the gun might be a factor in its popularity.

But at the end of the day, it's its within your budget, the Shadow is going to be hands down the best choice in that list. I don't own one, but I shoot my buddies all the time at the range. I'd own one if it weren't for the fact I can use his any time I want lol. Even the SP-01 is still better than any of those others. Although I'd put the Jericho a close second.

Hope this helps.
 
NorthShoreX said:
Get a CZ Shadow 2 and be done. If you decide to join IPSC you'll be all set.
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And if he decides to shoot IDPA or PPC then he’s screwed.

Most shooters will be farther ahead buying the Shadow 1 and spending the difference on a course/training, 2000rds of ammo, or reloading gear. Better yet, find a used CZ75/85 ($500-650), G17 Gen3/4($500-$550), or M&P9 ($400) and spend the $800-$1000 difference on ammo & training.

OP,

Forgot to ask, are you right or left handed? Some guns are friendlier than others for a lefty.
 
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NorthShoreX said:
If you develop a flinch from a 9mm, you have some issues.
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People can develop a flinch even with a .22.
Flinching is more a psychological issue about anticipation of recoil, noise, pain and result.
Almost all new shooters will flinch to some degree without proper instruction at the beginning. It is a very hard habit to break, once a shooter has it.
 
Walther PPQ has a very nice trigger, they are cheap used and really fit the hand well. Striker fire guns there is nothing to think about, point, shoot and besides you never buy just one gun!!!!!!!
 
I've seen the advice about getting a .22 to start but I am fairly comfortable with shooting and with a somewhat limited budget I don't really want to purchase a .22 and then want to move to a larger calibre shortly afterwords
 
Thanks for all the input, I am going to spend some more time handling these options and hopefully I can find a way to actually shoot a few of them, but as it stands I am leaning towards the shadow
 
jbroomie said:
I am searching for my first pistol. I want something in 9mm and I am not sure whether to lean towards striker or hammer fired. Are there any inherent advantages to striker fired or hammer fired?
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The main advantage offered by these three striker-fired platfoms is (relative) simplicity. By comparison, the hammer-fired Shadow is more complex. Not too complex for you to manage, cetainly, but more complex.

 
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