first gun

[ninjachic]

Ok yeah. I've heard bad things about the New Albany place place before. I'm never around there anyways. My brother knows someone from somewhere in Dublin but I'm not sure where. So he's my backup if needed. Thanks for the help everyone though.

[MidgetTodd]

Also, I have a P-11 and I would NOT recommend it for a first gun. I carry it most of the time, but it's not much fun to shoot a whole lot at the range. Long, heavy trigger; very snappy recoil. Your hand does hurt after a while.

1 put a Houge Handall JR on it

2 pay attention to your trigger

The Houge absorbs the recoil and really makes it nice to shoot. Your trigger talks to you. A long hard trigger is a good carry trigger and helps prevent accidental shootings. You never want a light trigger on a carry gun and if you practice slow controled shots you'll see that you can feel exactly when the trigger is gonna break and fire. The Keltec trigger is a very predictable trigger and was designed that way.

[BDBGoalie]

I would advise going and shooting everything you can before you purchase. Blackwing has a good selection of rental weapons.

As far picking a weapon:

1. What is your purpose for the weapon? Defense? CCW? Range toy?

2. Are you willing to trade recoil for stopping power?

3. How expensive is the ammo?

Pistols:

Frame composition will be polymer, metal, or a combination of materials.

1. Polymer is lighter, cheaper, and easy to maintain. IMO, it does not translate much feel.

2. Metal is heavier, more expensive, and a bit more maintenance intensive. Using alloys in place of steel will lighten the weapon at an increased cost. IMO, metal weapons just feel better and shoot better.

3. The weapon will also be a double-stack or single-stack magazine. This means the rounds will stagger side by side, or go straight up and down. A double stack will give a higher ammo capacity. A single stack will keep the weapon thinner.

Design will be double-action (DA), single-action (SA), double/single action (DA/SA), or safe-action.

1. DA is when you pull the trigger you cock the weapon and then fire it in the same pull. These weapons usually have a very heavy trigger pull and usually do not have a safety. They tend to have good feel, but consistency can be difficult to get used to.

2. SA is when you have to manually cock back a hammer, and then the trigger pull just drops that hammer. The trigger pull is very light and usually will have a hammer and safety. IMO, this is the best design because of the consistent feel you get from the light and smooth break of the trigger.

3. DA/SA is when you pull the trigger the first time you cock the weapon and fire it in the same pull. The weapon fires in SA after the first shot or until the hammer is de-cocked. This design is used in many revolvers and in some tactical pistols (SIG P226). It gives a good combination of both styles, but is not as good as either one individually. IMO, I don't like carrying these because they usually lack a safety, and a trigger pull will discharge them.

4. SA is when the weapon is at a half cock state after racking the slide and the trigger pull finishes cocking the weapon and fires it. This is the action pioneered by Glock. Once the trigger safety bar is depressed, a trigger squeeze will discharge the weapon. IMO, they tend to have a heavy and inconsistent pull.

I personally like the reliability and consistency I get from shooting well made 1911's. The all metal SA single stack weapons carry and shoot well. They are expensive however.

Edited October 22, 2012 by BDBGoalie
HTML coding no worky.

[BDBGoalie]

Rifles:

The material composition is polymer, metal, wood, or a combination.

The usual platforms are extensive. There are a lot of rifle combinations and styles out there. I started writing down the platforms and realized I didn't want to write a book this morning. And apparently my HTML code didn't work so I have to go fix that too.

I'll answer any specific questions you have though.

Edited October 22, 2012 by BDBGoalie

[BDBGoalie]

I am going to be home this weekend, and we were planing on going and putting some rounds down-range. I've been shooting for years, and been in the military for the past few. I've introduced plenty of people to shooting the safe way and I'm happy to help.

My wife was also military so she may be able to come along and help with that side of things. She is a southpaw as well.

Our group has a collection that would allow you to try out a variety of weapons and calibers. We also will clean everything after so you can see how easy/hard it is to tear down and how they work. ARs, AKs, M14, AUG, 10/22, 1911s, Glocks, XDs, SIG, (Snotguns if motivated).... I can't guarantee who will all be going, but you are welcome to come along. Send me a PM and I'll pass info if you are interested.

Edited October 22, 2012 by BDBGoalie
Grammar fail.

[BDBGoalie]

1 put a Houge Handall JR on it

2 pay attention to your trigger

The Houge absorbs the recoil and really makes it nice to shoot. Your trigger talks to you. A long hard trigger is a good carry trigger and helps prevent accidental shootings. You never want a light trigger on a carry gun and if you practice slow controled shots you'll see that you can feel exactly when the trigger is gonna break and fire. The Keltec trigger is a very predictable trigger and was designed that way.

Light triggers are fine (Preferable IMO) when used in conjunction with a safety and enough practice time to develop the muscle memory.

[02 RC51]

1 put a Houge Handall JR on it

2 pay attention to your trigger

The Houge absorbs the recoil and really makes it nice to shoot. Your trigger talks to you. A long hard trigger is a good carry trigger and helps prevent accidental shootings. You never want a light trigger on a carry gun and if you practice slow controled shots you'll see that you can feel exactly when the trigger is gonna break and fire. The Keltec trigger is a very predictable trigger and was designed that way.

Don't get me wrong. I agree with all of what you said. I just wouldn't recommend it as a first gun for her--that trigger is HEAVY.

[02 RC51]

A long hard trigger is a good carry trigger and helps prevent accidental shootings.

That's what she said.

[BDBGoalie]

Anything 9mm or smaller is horrible for defense but for the most part cheaper can be cheaper at the range. The best gun I can recommend is the taurus judge. It is a revolver that shoots .45 long colt or .410 its cheap to shoot doesn't kick to bad for a revolver and with the .410 loads you don't have to be too accurate. Check out the winchester .410 defense rounds that were designed for the taurus judge. I believe smith and wesson have a similar gun with .45 acp .45 long colt .410 and maybe .454 called the governor. In a high stress situation the semi auto handguns become hard to use due to the body's fight or flight response affecting fine motor skills. It takes a lot of training to be able to overcome that and be able to get a good sight picture or take care of any malfunctions. Watch any police shoot out video they are trained often and still very seldom hit their target without unloading their gun by firing all the rounds in it. Also if you use it in a self defense situation you need to worry about over penetration (going into another room or house). Shot guns loaded with shot will get the job done without being as likely to go through your neighbours house also. I would recommend getting a short barrel .870 for home defense. 18.5in is the shortest you can get. They are inexpensive and easy to operate. Then after that get a taurus judge or sw governor. Then worry about a small cal range gun.

This is not true. One of the most lethal rounds for a headshot is a .22lr. It has enough force to enter the skull but not exit. Just bounces around....

Shot placement. Practice practice practice. Nothing is more important. Whatever you carry you need to run about 500-1000 rounds through it before you are competent to accurately carry it. Even then if you are carrying without doing high stress situational training, you will not be prepared for a self defense situation. Drawing from a holster or firing from cover for the first time in a defense situation....bad news.

[Levir05]

For a first gun a Bersa 380 is a great choice. Easy to break down and clean. Good starting caliber. Has a few different safety mechanisms on it which are great for new shooters. As stated before if all else fails get a Glock. The only thing with a Glock is if you have smaller hands it may feel a little big in your hand. But they are reliable, easy to clean, and also have a great capacity in there magazines especially in 9mm.

[redkow97]

I will immediately concede that .22lr is not ideal for home defense, but it has more positives than negatives.

To name a few:

-cheap, so you can actually shoot regularly.

-no recoil, which means your follow up shots go where you intend

-wont go def shooting it at a bad guy in close quarters

-if you do miss, it's not going through 3 walls an killing your neighbor

-hi cap magazines

Ugly a they are, the 10/22 based handgun will fit a 25 round ruger banana mag. You can land half your shots and have 12 rounds in an intruder without reloading.

I like that.

[ninjachic]

Yeah. I have tiny little hands so I do need to take that into consideration. I think I've been to blackwing before and it was packed!!!!! But I'm pretty good with my hands and know what is and is not comfortable by just feeling it already. I have been around a few before big and little. My exes gun is def too big. Don't remember what kind it was. So fr right now I'm thinking something relatively small and cheap to shoot.

[MidgetTodd]

Yeah. I have tiny little hands

The PF9 fits tiny little hands perfectly and we have 1 in stock.

[BDBGoalie]

Yeah. I have tiny little hands so I do need to take that into consideration. I think I've been to blackwing before and it was packed!!!!! But I'm pretty good with my hands and know what is and is not comfortable by just feeling it already. I have been around a few before big and little. My exes gun is def too big. Don't remember what kind it was. So fr right now I'm thinking something relatively small and cheap to shoot.

Another thing to take into consideration with weight.

1. Weight plays a big part in recoil. The heavier the weapon is, the more that weight absorbs the felt recoil.

2. The heavier a weapon is the more you will notice it while carrying/firing, which could negatively effect your experience.

Really light pistols in larger calibers (eg. small .380ACP or snub nose) kick hard and make follow-up shots harder without lots of practice.

[4DAIVI PAI2K5]

Yeah. I have tiny little hands so I do need to take that into consideration. I think I've been to blackwing before and it was packed!!!!! But I'm pretty good with my hands and know what is and is not comfortable by just feeling it already. I have been around a few before big and little. My exes gun is def too big. Don't remember what kind it was. So fr right now I'm thinking something relatively small and cheap to shoot.

are we still talking about guns?

[Jst2fst]

Just gonna put this out there I've got a Hi-Point thats collecting dust I'd let go for HD use.

[ninjachic]

The PF9 fits tiny little hands perfectly and we have 1 in stock.

How much?

[ninjachic]

are we still talking about guns?

Well I can def tell you we aren't talking about anything else.

[ninjachic]

Just gonna put this out there I've got a Hi-Point thats collecting dust I'd let go for HD use.

Idk much about that one. Tell me more.

[MidgetTodd]

how much?

279

[BDBGoalie]

Idk much about that one. Tell me more.

Hi-Points are kinda junky. But they usually work. And they are cheap.

I'll highly emphasize again, go and shoot whatever you are interested first before you buy it. Find a store or a friend that has one. Can't return it once you've used it.

[snot]

+1 on renting first.

+1 on safety course first

then start small.

[ninjachic]

I've shot 22s before a few times and so I think I am leaning towards that because its something I know I'm comfortable with already and I am quite a good shot with them already.

[BDBGoalie]

Walther P22 is a good little pistol. Fits well for most hand sizes. No recoil. Most weapon ranges will have them for rent.

[cOoTeR]

Yeah the .22 is a good round for a head headshot, but in a defense situation how likely is it that a new shooter is going to be able to get a headshot?. There have been multiple accounts where .38 rounds have hit the targets head and ricocheted (sp) off. It happened in Columbus when a corrections officer shot an inmate that was attempting to escape from OSU medical center. The stats for the 9mm round are probably beefed up by the gangster mentality of a nine being cool. While I was a corrections officer I knew multiple inmates that had been shot by a 9 and survived. Some even still had the lead in them. I didn't know any that survived being shot by a .40 or larger. Not that that means there aren't any just that there were more that would tell you about it if they were hit with a 9. All the training I have had has trained to shoot for center mass of the body not headshots. Partially due to liability and partially because the body is the larger easier to hit target. Being proficient shooting at paper is way different then shooting at someone shooting back. Even when training with simunitions it becomes very hard to control your breathing and steady your hand and get a good sight picture. If you've never actually pointed a firearm at someone ready to shoot them you won't have any idea how the adrenaline dump will affect you. If you really feel proficient with a .22 and would put your family safety behind it more power to you. I believe a person is more likely to pull off a body shot in a stressed situation. I have also seen videos of people being shot with different types of rounds. The smaller rounds have less stopping power than the larger rounds. The shotgun rounds had the greatest affect. Now if the target is high on certain drugs that can become a major factor. I have personally seen a guy jump off of a 30ft cliff and get up and walk away. He then walked 3 miles thru the mountains before turning himself in. He had a broken pelvis shattered arm and broken ribs. He was also high on some type of amphetamine at the time.I doubt shooting him with a small caliber would stop him immediately before he could stab or shoot you. Despite what you see in the movies people don't die as soon as they get shot. I would rather see someone pointing a .9mm at me than a 12 gauge any day. The shooter has to be way more proficient with the 9 to get a good shot on target than the 12 gauge. That's why my first suggestion was an 870 and second the judge a hand held shotgun. It was mentioned above about LEO choosing glocks over other brands. I know several officers in several agencies that choose what they carry and as far as I know most choose .40 cal or larger. I can't think of any that carry smaller on duty. If you honestly believe a new shooter will be proficient in shooting a small caliber in a stress situation as you can be shooting paper I think your crazy.