Montreal newbie seeking gun-choosing advice

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Myndephuqer

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Hi all.

Disclaimer: I apologize in advance if this post is woefully uninformed. I'm completely new at this, and I'm very likely to ask questions that will make experienced gun owners sigh loudly. If any of you have the patience to put up with this clueless neophyte, I'll really appreciate it.

The world of guns is something still completely new to me. I've decided to get into shooting for the same reason I've been involved in martial arts most of my life; in order to master it in the hope of never having to use it outside of controlled situations. I'm not interested in hunting or anything of the sort.

I'm registered to do my CFSCs -both regular and restricted- and plan on applying for my RPAL shortly thereafter.

Anyway, hoping all this goes smoothly, I hope to purchase a handgun as soon as I've obtained it. I assume everything will take a few months (I won't have completed both courses until late November), but I've been getting into research mode in terms of shopping for the gun in question. I understand that it would be folly to make a final decision without having tried to shoot a few guns first to get a feel for them, but I'd still like to narrow my options down as much as possible to keep things simple.

Criteria that must be met:

-It must be possible for me to purchase it from Montreal (although I believe that guns can be ordered online, so I'll include anything I can have delivered to Montreal here).
-If I want my wife not to become determined to use my gun on me, I must try my best to keep my first gun purchase price reasonable. I've set an arbitrary ballpark cap of 600 bucks on this. There's some wiggle-room, but not a whole lot.
-The firearm must be reliable in terms of safety.
-The firearm must be as reasonably accurate as my price-range allows.
-Decent quality ammunition must not be too difficult to obtain in Montreal. It would also be nice if I didn't have to sell my house to afford a steady supply of it, considering that I only intend to use factory-loaded ammo.
-This handgun must be serviceable in a zombie apocalypse, both against zombies and hostile survivors. Forget all this nonsense about martial arts and shooting ranges I mentioned earlier. It's all about the zombies. :) Okay, more seriously, I just mean that I'm probably not that interested in anything in the .22 caliber range. :)

Anyway, right now I'm leaning toward a Glock 17 Gen 2. I can't link directly to it, but it's available for $520.99 on this site: http://www.crafm.com/backupcrafm/handgun-page.php

So, my questions to you good folks are:

-Does this gun meet all my criteria?
-Are there other guns that meet these criteria?
-Are there guns you would suggest above my choice? If not, are there any specific guns you strongly suggest I try side-by-side with it before I buy?

Of course, feel free to throw in any advice you want.

Thank you.
 
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Hello and welcome,

I think the best advice I could give you is to go handle a couple of different handguns at a local store. Glock 17 may meet all your criterias, but if it doesn't fit your hand well, its good for nothing.
Fit is crucial.

You should go snoop around at one of these stores :

CRAFM
Dante
CTVSP

Explain your situation, what you are looking for, etc. Handle a couple of pistols, see which one fits best.

In terms of your ammo/caliber needs, 9mm is definitely a good choice.
 
Thank you, sewktbk!

I was already planning to do something like that that, so thank you for narrowing down the right stores for me to visit. Do I have to wait until I get my RPAL, or will those stores let me handle the handguns without it? I'll wait if I have to, of course, but I'd like to get a feel for my options ahead of time if it's possible.
 
You should be able to handle some pistols without your RPAL. The law states that as long as you are under the direct supervision of a licensed person, aka the store guy, you're good to go. I handled a couple of 1911s at Dantes' while my RPAL application was being processed, and even after that, whenever I ask to look at a gun in a store, i'm never asked for my licensed until I actually want to buy the thing.

So I don't think it should be a problem at all.

Cheers.
 
Not wanting to be a fly in the ointment, but i have never been able to handle a gun at a store without showing my license, until they got to know me, or remembered me from a previous purchase.

So don't be surprised if the store employees are less than helpful when it comes to letting you handle.
 
I would say you can't go wrong with a Glock 17, they're extremely common, proven reliable, and extremely common caliber that will do most anything you can reasonably ask of a pistol. I personally like that they are idiot proof, your finger is the safety. If the gun goes bang, it means your finger was on the trigger. That is good for me, it might not be good for you. Some people just have a inability to keep their finger off the trigger, so a gun like a glock would not be a good choice for them because if there is a round chambered and you squeeze that trigger it's going to shoot.
It all depends on you personally, but I would say a glock is a good choice if you practice good firearm safety.

I also advocate getting some hands on experience if you can. Some people don't like the way a glock feels and points. It might be of benefit to think about other generations of the g17, as you might prefer a particular style of grip or the different size backstraps of the generation 4. You can probably pick up a used one of any generation within your price range.

Anyhow, good luck and welcome to the club.
 
Anyad Pitchaya said:
Not wanting to be a fly in the ointment, but i have never been able to handle a gun at a store without showing my license, until they got to know me, or remembered me from a previous purchase.

So don't be surprised if the store employees are less than helpful when it comes to letting you handle.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up. I won't get my hopes up too much, in that case.

Stevebot-7 said:
I would say you can't go wrong with a Glock 17, they're extremely common, proven reliable, and extremely common caliber that will do most anything you can reasonably ask of a pistol. I personally like that they are idiot proof, your finger is the safety. If the gun goes bang, it means your finger was on the trigger. That is good for me, it might not be good for you. Some people just have a inability to keep their finger off the trigger, so a gun like a glock would not be a good choice for them because if there is a round chambered and you squeeze that trigger it's going to shoot.
It all depends on you personally, but I would say a glock is a good choice if you practice good firearm safety.

I also advocate getting some hands on experience if you can. Some people don't like the way a glock feels and points. It might be of benefit to think about other generations of the g17, as you might prefer a particular style of grip or the different size backstraps of the generation 4. You can probably pick up a used one of any generation within your price range.

Anyhow, good luck and welcome to the club.
Click to expand...

Thank you! I think I'd rather avoid a second hand gun as my first firearm if I can avoid it. I would lack the experience and expertise to recognize if there's any subtle problem with it. I might consider springing for a third generation if I feel those finger grooves really make a difference, but otherwise I'm trying to stay as close to my budget as possible, while sticking to a brand new pistol.

Essentially, I guess I'm asking for examples of guns that have comparable a quality-to-price ratio to the G17, if anyone has any. When I look around at guns under 600 dollars, I don't really see anything there that seems comparable to a Glock in terms of reputation. That said, I really don't know enough about guns to be sure of my assessment. Maybe I'm missing out on a great pistol (or even a revolver) because I simply don't know better.

Anyway, I guess like with any purchase, I have to handle a few guns before I make my choice.

Thanks for the welcome, and thanks to all for the friendly advice. Nice board.
 
Anyad Pitchaya said:
Not wanting to be a fly in the ointment, but i have never been able to handle a gun at a store without showing my license, until they got to know me, or remembered me from a previous purchase.

So don't be surprised if the store employees are less than helpful when it comes to letting you handle.
Click to expand...

Approach is the keyword here.

"hey can you pass me this one".

And

"Hi, my name is ###x, I'm new to guns, could you help me out? I have a few questions in regards to the first handgun i want to buy, I'd like to see and/or better understand what options are available, and maybe even get the feel of one or two if that's a possibility? to find one that fits my hand best?"

will likely get you different results.

As i said before, it wasn't a problem for me when I didn't have my license yet.
 
Well, for the near 600 price range, and similar style, there's the Smith and Wesson M&P pistol, available in 9mm or .40. It's been getting generally good reviews, but lacks the history of the glock.
 
The advantages of the Gen 3 over the Gen 2 Glock pistols are the finger grooves which you mentioned, but also the integral rail for light and / laser. The Gen 4 has the grip size which can be changed and comes with 3 mags. A used Glock 17 inGen 2, or 3 or 4 Glock will last 50 000 or more shots, so do not worry about buying a used Glock.

As mentioned the S&W Range Kit pistols also offer good value for money. The Ruger SR9 is even better value for money, but is much more complex than the Glock, longer in size in the same barrel length, has a gritty trigger and a bad idea in the design (Magazine safety). I sold my Ruger SR9 and bought a Glock 34 in addition to the G26 which I had at that stage.

The G17 is an excellant pistol for a new shooter and has been used in this role by more than a million (many new) shooters all over the world. They cant all be wrong! The 40 S&W calibre (e.g. G22) is a better calibre for your Zombie need, but is not the best choice for some novice shooters (my wife carried a G27 in a previous life and shot it well, but did not like the recoil). With good quality ammo (read premium expanding bullet and low flash propellant) the 9mmP of today is much better than what was available 30-50 years ago, and today I think it would have been better for my wife to have carried a G26 in 9mmP, even though her big concern was more alive than Zombies.

Write me at peetpeens@yahoo.com for personal opinion/info. I do not have any Glocks to sell to you or anybody else.

RSA1
 
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