Topic: Choosing a hand gun

[ZoomyZen]

Want a really good handgun?

Go for Glock. Just perfect reliability.
G17, G19, G23 or G22.
And be happy.

Agreed Glocks are excellent.  (I've had those, too, a liked them a lot.)  I was just reading in "American Gunsmith" about it.  The factory polygon rifled barrel is not friends with lead cast bullets.  It works really well with copper jacket bullet at keeping high velocities.  But, if you shoot a lot, copper jacket bullets are more expensive than lead cast.  The smooth rifling allows no consistent place for lead to deposit in the barrel, except where the chamber meets the leade, or beginning of the rifling.  Lead builds up here and keeps the pistol from fully locking into battery.  The firing pin will still work, though. The danger is that not all of the cartridge case is supported by the barrel and the case may bulge or burst into the magazine.  The author did say that Bar-Sto made very good (and accurate) drop in barrels for the Glock, and they have the more traditional land and groove rifling that handles both lead and copper well bullets well.

Hope this helps,

I have seen photos of this situation as they pertain to a worse-case outcome.  Not. Good.  Very important to address.

[Skunk Stripe]

Wear is always a concern. Last thing you want and  bullet to get stuck and the pressure to damage the gun and in many cases, the shooter. It is the "never put your barrel in the dirt" thing.

[Duke McDukiedook]

This has become quite a pissing match.

mystic_1

I concur.  Perhaps one of the offending pissers is Mel Gibson.

Back to the topic, how about a .357?  My local pistol range has competitions where you can use anything larger than .38 special.

Be aware, a .357 magnum is an expert round, you better know good shooting technique before you dabble with this kind of round/gun. The good part is you can practice with .38 special rounds* (*in revolvers).

9mm is great for the range but a bad round for home protection if you have other occupants in the house.

10mm gun would be more optimal for home defense.

Shotguns would work fine with a buckshot or higher shot size but can be difficult to handle in a home defense situation. Handguns are more practical for this scenario.

[Hinomaru]

I always preferred the original military issue 1911A1 which is considered by some to be outdated and outclassed by today's standards. Much in the same way as our old Honda SOHC fours are and it would be pretty hard to go wrong with either one of them.

Simple is still good.



(Edit for spell check)

[BobbyR]

[Grnrngr]

I had a 1903 DA Colt way back when, my first real handgun, and only fired maybe 30 rounds thru it (.38short colt not .38special) but had no problem handling my S&W model 65 in .357 when I qualified, pretty much just like this one, mine had the target trigger and hammer tho..sure wish I hadn't sold it...
 http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=204254801 
...guess  I'm disagreeing with the "expert round" assessment, or at least, doesn't take long to become an "expert" with it, the rangemaster thought I was an "expert" my first time out.....but I'll definitely agree with the reloading comment, the only draw back is that reloading this leads to reloading that, and pretty soon, you'll have a whole room full of different guns in different calibers with different reloading equipment for them.....kinda like old Hondas..

[NickC]

This is my duty weapon. I find it very comfortable to shoot and handle.

[BobbyR]

I always preferred the original military issue 1911A1 which is considered by some to be outdated and outclassed by today's standards. Much in the same way as our old Honda SOHC fours are and it would be pretty hard to go wrong with either one of them.

Simple is still good.



(Edit for spell check)

My Uncle gave me one of those when I went overseas. It was not accurized, but he had a armorer bring it up to snuff to make it reliable. It was great for shooting rats. I was not fond of single action, so I gave it back to him when I got home and bought a Stainless first generation Double action Ruger Security Six in .357. Nice piece, all it needed was some honing to give it a nice trigger pull. I still have it 30 years later.   

[ZoomyZen]

I had a 1903 DA Colt way back when, my first real handgun, and only fired maybe 30 rounds thru it (.38short colt not .38special) but had no problem handling my S&W model 65 in .357 when I qualified, pretty much just like this one, mine had the target trigger and hammer tho..sure wish I hadn't sold it...
 http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=204254801  
...guess  I'm disagreeing with the "expert round" assessment, or at least, doesn't take long to become an "expert" with it, the rangemaster thought I was an "expert" my first time out.....but I'll definitely agree with the reloading comment, the only draw back is that reloading this leads to reloading that, and pretty soon, you'll have a whole room full of different guns in different calibers with different reloading equipment for them.....kinda like old Hondas..

Indeed...  When I was younger I used to go out to a place we called "Millican" which was a giant (about 100' or so) cliff that was off an old dirt road.  That was where you went to throw off cars and blast them as they tumbled into the canyon.  

For descriptive purposes this is in Central Oregon, high desert area, 30 miles from Bend Oregon where the original True Grit was filmed.  The town was surrounded by the very well known Plateau type mountains which you would associate with Native American artwork.  They consisted of a 45 degree rise into a vertical cliff which then transitioned into a flattened top...
 
Many hours were spent shooting clay pigeons off the cliff with a hand thrower.  There was a section where the edge made a 90 degree turn and the tosser could stand off to your right or left in a fantastic position, of course waiting for a strategic time to throw a bird directly down into the canyon which screwed your depth perception all to hell!  We would shoot, scrounge up every 12 gauge case we could and go home to re-load some more haha..