Woodsman said:
Rudy H, my question was to stir what people found best for themselves and give their reasons for it. From there, I can make myself a list of highly regarded and preferred pistols and take it from there. Again, I have no experience with handguns other than having tried a little Walther PPK. It's a fun little pistol, but if it has any fault it's not accurate enough for my liking.
Do yourself a favor and buy a decent .22LR and learn to shoot properly. I know there are some people here who will squawk at this but there are also a lot that will say they should have started this way.
I just thought the Glock had something extra special about it. If it's just another of the same old same old, then whatever.
There is a lot going for the Glock. If you need a gun as a tool then the Glock is made for that. It is like a hammer and treated like one by a lot of people that use them for employment. Guns for work are not always the best guns for sport. A 1911 pattern gun is not desirable for your typical LEO application but is a great gun for sport shooting.
And for Beretta, it was being used by the US miltary, not sure if it still is? I figured if they chose it over everything else, there must be a reason.
Again it is a good gun but it was chosen for a specific purpose that may not be the same as yours.
I am also familiar with the Colt 1911's and how with some of the older ones could be 'accurized' with special kits. Although, it's an 'older' model, it's still regarded as one of the great pistols of our time.
One of the main reasons for the respect for the 1911 is that the trigger can be tuned so well. For recreational shooters a good trigger is a lot more important than someone in a potential life or death situation. A light crisp target trigger is generally not desirable for military of law enforcement. A lot of guns for these applications are long travel and double action only. Not something that helps accuracy but desirable when you got a lot of adrenalin flowing.
I'm just looking for general comments on nice shooting general use pistols. (I'm not looking for target pistol per say.) Even with rifles, of which I am very famialiar, it's quite easy to name some of the best rifles out there. Sure it's a question of personal taste, but you can still quite easily come up with some of the top names in the business and choose what you think is best and give your reasons for it.
For instance, are there any of them that tame the recoil better through it's design for better follow up shots? Or is it more of a caliber thing? 9mm being lower recoil than a 10mm etc.
Your question asks for a best pistol and the result is a lot of people will tell you what they like. What you need to know is why they like it and characteristics that are desirable or not desirable for a desired purpose.
Ask you questions and get opinions, but also include real shooting before you make a decision to buy. Try to shoot as many as you can. All the advice in the world is only so good. Also don't get hung up on making the absolute best choice when buying a gun. It's mot like you are making a life long commitment and you are not allowed to try something else later. When it comes to handguns my opinion is the more the merrier.
As far as a starting gun. if you pick up a Ruger .22 you can start shooting for low cost, learn certain aspects of pistol shooting (not the same as rifle shooting), at a low cost. You can burn up a lot of .22s for the same cost of a box of centerfire ammo. If you consider what it will cost to do the same shooting with a centerfire gun you find that the .22 pays for itself in months. While you are shooting the .22 you can talk to others at the range about their guns and typically they will let you try them as well. If you show up at a range without a gun then try to get someone to let you shoot their gun you may not have as much success. If you are familiar with 'The hitchhiker's guide to the universe" you can think of your .22 handgun as a towel.
If you are looking for stopping power then buy a shotgun.
