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justin1635

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well, after getting my Rpal, i wanna hear some suggestions on what you guys think.

Im looking at getting a handgun for now, what do you guys thinks would be a good starter gun, but not in the traditional sense of a starting gun? ie no .22.

I'm looking for something that is alot of fun to shoot, looks and feels good, and is just an all around ass kicking gun. would 9mm sastisfy this?

what do you think id be looking at for prices as far as ammo goes, and this is assuming i go to the range once or twice a week and shoot 1 or 200 rounds
 
If your not into reloading, 9mm probably is going to be the ticket. Although, .40 is not that much more expensive. Glock, M&P, CZ seem to fit the bill nicely. Why not go to a shop and put a couple in your hands to get the feel for them. Every Pistol will fit differently for people, pick one that fits your hand well, and feels good to you! If you can, try to shoot some different models before buying. I have been buying CCI Blazer Brass 9mm for around $210-$230 plus tax for a thousand, thats all a can find in bulk in my area.

Hope this helps
 
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Definitely 9 mil. Some of the best handguns made come in 9 mil. Browning, CZ, M&P, Sig, and even 1911's are available in 9. The ammo is cheap, and the recoil won't spawn any bad habits. It's also a ton of fun to shoot. By the box, ammo is about $16 per 50 in my neighbourhood.
 
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2 thoughts..

if youre new to hand gun shooting and want to LEARN to shoot.. find a good second hand S&W 38 special/357 magnum or a Ruger GP100 and start w/ 38's. you'll find the results down range much more rewarding as you improve. not as 'exciting' as a semi.. but as i was taught.. you have to walk before you can run....

if you want to get 'out there' and have some fun go with what the guys are saying .. theres lots of selection in 9mm semi's for about the same $$.

just my 2 cents plus GST...
 
Just curious- why not a .22? They're a ton of fun, and way cheaper to feed. Don't be thinking they're "just a starter" pistol. Lots of folks make that mistake. Try a few before you reject them, k?

Glad you joined us, welcome to your new addiction... ;)
 
i dont reject them at all. i have lots of different .22's that i hunt with, and its just something id like to keep it in a rifle. 9mm seems like the way ill go
 
I have to weigh in with "STEVEBC" in support of the .22 angle. I used to think that .22s were kind of lame and wimpy. Now I have a S&W Stainless Target semi-auto pistol, which is a lot of fun to shoot, provides a pretty satisfying kick (all things considered) and good noise - and it still looks like a gun, not weird like some .22 pistols do (in my opinion, of course).

I also have a couple of .45s. I like to shoot both calibres. The .22 allows me to sharpen up on my skills and the ammo is so cheap it may as well be free. For the price of 50 9mm bullets, you can basically buy 500 .22s (that's TEN TIMES as much). Even with commercial reloads, it still costs me about $16 per 50 .45s. (I keep talking about getting into reloading but it never seems to happen - sheeesh!!)

I'm a pretty big guy, and for me, shooting 9mm is not much different that shooting .22 - certainly not ten times better, or bigger.

If you're only going to have one gun, or stick to one caliber, the 9mm makes some sense for sure, but if you want to fan out a bit and get your feet wet, so to speak, you can have a .22 and then something much bigger.

It all depends on how much $ you want to spend, and keep spending; what your realisitc shooting patterns will be (I've always overestimated mine); and what guns/calibers you like to shoot. If possible, try out as many as you can, because sometimes certain guns/calibres look good on paper, but then they don't agree with you in practice.

Again, don't necessarily dismiss the .22 without trying them out and research the cost of ammo for the various calibres to see what this will actually cost you each month/year.

I shoot .45, and it costs more, but, to me, it doesn't more so much more as to make me switch down to a smaller/cheaper calibre. I did however recently sell my prized .44 Magnum because I found the costs of shooting it were just getting out of hand for what it was.

In any event, I have always stuck to the most popular calibres to ensure best possible ammo price and availability. I wouldn't want to stray from .45 ACP, .44 Magnum, .357 Magnum, 9mm, .22LR, .40 S&W. For some of the best ammo deals, including mil surp, it seems that .45 and 9mm are some of the biggest stars.

I hope this helps you.
 
.22 handgun is a must but not the first. I would suggest a .357mag or 9mm to get you into the door. When you want to bring some new shooters, get them try your .22 so that they won't drain your pocket. Opps by the way, I should mention a CZ 75B; a G17 or a Beretta will serve you really well.

Trigun
 
justin1635 said:
I'm looking for something that is alot of fun to shoot, looks and feels good, and is just an all around ass kicking gun. would 9mm sastisfy this?
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Yes.

justin1635 said:
what do you think id be looking at for prices as far as ammo goes, and this is assuming i go to the range once or twice a week and shoot 1 or 200 rounds
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Not entirely sure what you are asking, but if you're wondering about the price of ammo in popular in semi-auto calibers, 9mm is about $12 per box of 50, .40 is around $15 and .45ACP is around $20.
 
i would say if you've never shot pistol before.... no matter what your opinion of the .22 is, pick one up. a year ago i was in your situation... and I did something stupid. I bought a P229 in .40S&W. Its a wicked gun, don't get me wrong. But I could barely hit anything. I caught myself flinching a few times, so I went out and bought a P22. Thats how I started to actually learn how to shoot, instead of learning bad habits.

Don't underestimate the difference between shooting a pistol vs a rifle. Even if you've shot rifle all your life, you'll be surprised. Not to mention a .22 is always handy to have around for introducing new people to the sport without scaring the living *#$& out of them.

IF you are dead set against .22.... Go with a .38 / .357 revolver. You can learn on a .38 revolver almost as easily as on a .22. Plus, revolvers are epic. :D My 686 is fast becoming my favorite pistol.
 
Thankfully I rejected all the advice to "get a .22 because you need to learn how to shoot." I bought a .38 instead. Rimfire came later but the pistols didn't stick around long. I found it boring to shoot.

I agree with the advice on a .357 magnum revolver. Shoot light .38 for accuracy and .357 when you feel the need for speed.
 
Claybuster said:
I found it boring to shoot.

I agree with the advice on a .357 magnum revolver. Shoot light .38 for accuracy and .357 when you feel the need for speed.
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Agreed, 100%.

The only issue is that some people have decided right off the bat they want a semi and not a revolver. In that case, I would have to say start with a .22 over 9mm.
 
I LOVE my .22 Mark III. SO FUN AND CHEAP. I fired 500 rounds today in 2 hours. That gets pricey even with cheap 9mm ammo.

I own a Glock 17 as well and like it a lot it but find it gets pricey to shoot after a while. I take both to the range and shoot 4 times as much .22 ammo and find it every bit as fun.
 
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I also suggest getting a good .22 first. But if you can't bear the thought of shooting a fun little gun that will cost you next to nothing to shoot then go for a 38 (357) revolver. If you have access to target level reloads you can learn how to shoot a handgun properly quicker.

Rifle shooters that have been shooting for years tend to underestimate the difficulty of shooting a handgun. Starting with a full power cartridge will put you in a hole and be harder to bring yourself out of.

With a revolver things are simple when the gun goes off. Bullet goes out the barrel and the recoil cleanly lifts the muzzle. With a semi-auto you have the slide coming back complicates the action.

What you want to do is pull the trigger and not react to the recoil and noise. You want to train your body to not react. Any flinch will throw your shots off. A good way to train is to load only four rounds in the revolver in different patterns. Spin the cylinder and close. Sort of Russian Roulette at that point. You don't know when you have a live round or when the gun will just go click. You will be able to see your reaction with the empty chamber. Something you can't see when you shoot a live round.

This is even better than just dry firing you gun. When you do just dry firing you know the gun will not be going bang. Dry firing is great but I found it a little too boring to do it regularly.
 
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