Gun Dog Forum

I wanting to add a new pistol, preferably a 9mm, but open to something larger. What's your opinion on the best all-around pistol. Leaning towards:
- Glock 19 9mm
- Ruger P95
- Remington 1911

What are your thoughts on those or recommendations.

Thanks-

9mm and 45 cal are ones i see at most shoots i attend.
as for models, i see berettas,glocks,,

if it was me i would get 45 cal.

Smith and Wesson .40Cal is great imo. I plan on adding a 40cal to my collection soon!

Corry

Para ordinance 1911 in a 38 super.

Best All-around pistol hands down.
http://www.ruger.com/products/2245Lite/models.html

There is little doubt the best combat sidearm is the 1911 .45, but it is large, hard to conceal, and few can handle the recoil enough for proper practice, and all single action semi-autos take a lot of practice to carry cocked and locked.

So I suggest any of the top double actions in the largest caliber you can shoot and comfortably carry.

I plan to buy a Glock. 40 this week for the reasons given, mainly I don't practice as much, I don't like the recoil these days, and tired of lugging the .45 around.

I love my Springfield XDM 40. It fits my hand well, has a fairly light trigger, and packs a punch, but not too much kick for my wife to shoot and feel comfortable doing so.

I have a Glock 19 and really like it. I'm not much on 1911's personally.

1911 .45. Im not a glock fan. Dont like the way they feel.

Beretta 92FS 9mm

Glock 19 9mm

Smith &Wesson M&P 9mm


Have shot and owned/own all three and that is no particular order, IMO I have shot more through the Beretta and LOVE the gun, excellent.
In saying that I also have next to my bed a Smith 9mm....thing is just awesome out of the box.
JMO

Another plug for the xdm here!

I like my Rock Island 1911 doublestack .45. It is large, hard to conceal, and may be a bit too much recoil for some but I like it. My wife shoots it but is not comfortable with the large grip it has for her small hands. I have large hands and am a big guy so the recoil and grip size does not affect me much. I like the 1911's because they offer themselves well for customizing, are reliable once you get through the break in period, are easy to disassemble and work on once you get used to them, have large grips, and the heaviness of the frame soaks up some of the recoil of a .45 round.

I like the Rock Islands because they are durable, well built, inexpensive, accurate and shoot just as well as a Colt or Kimber costing hundreds more. You can buy a Rock Island for $4-$500 and throw on a couple of hundred dollars worth of aftermarket parts from Wilson Combat, Alumagrip,Williams Firesights, etc. and turn a stock pistol into an almost custom gun for less than what you pay for a stock Kimber or Colt. If you like to tinker you may want to consider one. You stated you were looking for a 9mm. Rock Island is offering a combo kit with the 9mm barrel and recoil spring, the 22TCM barrel and recoil spring which are interchangeable in the same 1911 frame for around $650. The 22TCM is basically a .223 round shoved into a 9mm casing coming out of the 1911 frame at 2100 fps. You get 2 guns for the price of one. It is comparable to the FN 5.7x28. This will be my next purchase.

Again, it depends on what you want to use it for. I have been selling guns for a couple years at one of the biggest gun dealers in my area. I sell a huge amount of handguns on a weekly basis, especially right now. I have seen a lot of really good guns posted on here but I don't remember seeing what you are using it for. If you want to carry it, then there are better ones available that you haven't listed. If you want to carry, the smaller the better. A lightweight .357 would be the easiest to use and packs a big punch. I like the Ruger LCR and smith and Wesson makes some nice airweight pistols. The ruger LC9, which I carry, is nice but I would rather have a smith and Wesson shield in a 40 cal. I am also a fan and know a few people who own them, of the springfield XDS a .45 I also own a Sig Sauer P220 .45 which I bought to carry and it is way to heavy and big to conceal. If you have the money, the Sig Sauer P226 and P229 are excellent guns but will run about $1000. I carry the P229 in the Coast guard and everyone in Homeland security uses them. They have a few nice carry ones as well. They have more problems than any other gun I sell. I was going to buy one until I started this job. The older ones are better but I just wanted to pass on my experiences. Sorry to offend anyone, but stay away from Taurus, both autos and revovlers. Out of every 10 guns we sell we send back 2 to 4 to get repaired. If you want a gun to go shoot with, 9mm is the cheapest way to go for about $12 a box. Something I ALWAYS tell people is to make sure the gun feels good in your hands and that it will fit your need. Concealed weapons will not be as comfortable and should be small and thin. Ususally only 2 fingers fit on them. Something to remember is that besides becoming familiar with the gun at the range, hopefully you will never have to use it and if you did, adrenaline would hold on to the gun for you and you wont care how much it kicks. This question is like the ongoing question, Which do you like better Ford, Dodge or Chevy. Everyone has their favorite. I haven't seen one gun on here I haven't sold and have heard nothing bad about any of them. Go talk to your local gun shop, hold them, play with them, get multiple opinions from dealers and find one in your budget. A lot of info, but this is a huge question. PM me if you have some specific questions. Good luck

John

Instead of the ruger P95, look at the ruger SR9 and SR40. about $100 more and much better quality, lighter and thinner. Ruger just announced that they are now making an SR45 if you want a .45. I am not a fan of glock because they don't fit my hands but they are awesome guns and thousands of law enforcemens officers cant be wrong!! The Remington 1911 is nice, but heavy. Rock island is an awesome 1911 and will stand with the remingtons and the springfields and will cost a couple hundred less. Again its what feels good to you and what you like. Think about carrying any gun on your hip, loaded, for 8 hours and you will start looking at weight. My .45 starts to hurt my hips after about 3 or 4 hours of carrying it.

John

No wheelgun fans? Always a good choice, too...

If this is your first handgun--a lot of choices here are great. Many people seem to start with 9mm and move up in caliber as their comfort level grows. Find a good range that rents guns for use or ask your friends to let you try your recommendations.

If you are looking toward carry options, spend a bit of time looking at holster availability and type...

Good luck.

It depends on the budget but the best handgun is the 1911. If costs aren't a concern look toward a custom high capacity version built on an STI frame. 17+1 Capacity + 40 S&W in a commander sized gun = awesome.

It's funny that our Government switched to the Beretta 92 9 mm for our main forces but the special ops guys never switched or are now going back to the 1911. Wonder why?

Brazosvalleyvizslas wrote:It depends on the budget but the best handgun is the 1911. If costs aren't a concern look toward a custom high capacity version built on an STI frame. 17+1 Capacity + 40 S&W in a commander sized gun = awesome.

It's funny that our Government switched to the Beretta 92 9 mm for our main forces but the special ops guys never switched or are now going back to the 1911. Wonder why?

I'm pretty sure that the Sig, Glock 19, and H&K have been used by the special forces since the Beretta's were issued.

Pistol?...Browning Hi-Power, Novak-ed.

I prefer a 4" Model 19 tho....4" Python, if I drove a cadillac and had a feather in my hat.

1911. 102 years of service and still going.

Nike, I was one, I know what we carried which was pretty much whatever we wanted but the 1911 was number one by far. Not surprisingly a pistolsmith in Texas who specializes in 1911's was personal friends with Col. Beckwith who started Delta Force. Hmmmm.

I run a S&W M&P in 40 for my combat handgun.

I'm jonesing for a nice 1911 but the low round count has put it low on the priority list. I might trick it out as a race gun if I got it.

Since when is 16-30 rounds considered low capacity?

Brazosvalleyvizslas wrote:Nike, I was one, I know what we carried which was pretty much whatever we wanted but the 1911 was number one by far. Not surprisingly a pistolsmith in Texas who specializes in 1911's was personal friends with Col. Beckwith who started Delta Force. Hmmmm.

First thank you for your service. It seemed to me in the mid 90's every gun magizine in the Country was talking about H&K signing a big contract with the Navy to supply the SEALS with handguns, since then both Glock and SIG have made the same claims, just what I read in gun magazines, I don't have any first hand knowledge.

I had friends who were SEALS but I was Army 5th Special Forces Group. Alot of my guys also carried 9's because of the contract with Beretta and every soldier being equipped with them so if needed we would have choices for ammo. There was probably every popular manufacturer represented but in 9 mm I would say the Hi Power with some customizing was number one. Most of those other contracts were for testing and many chose various ones but many of u's were too set in our choices.

The Marines just signed a contact for a bunch of new custom 1911's from the Colt Custom Shop so it seems like we just keep going back to that platform. Maybe the troops should decide what they carry.

The folks saying 1911, are right. if you are carrying and have the space and room to carry a .45, go with that.. either way SAO cocked and locked is the way forward (and don't mix gun types, DAO, DA/SA, wheel guns in the same house for your primary defense weapons). However, if you are trying to find a 1911 that will fit in a pocket good luck... it's a good choice if you really want a semi-auto though, and there is always the ultra carry.

but 9mm is a great stopping round, and if you are looking to pocket (in the warmer months), probably as big as you can go, except for the LOGICAL wheel guns .357 being the safest/most reliable way to go this comes to mind, but it's only 5 rounds

Anyway... Wife's ex was a police officer and she didn't like the 9mm he got for her which was a Star. So I knew I had to do my homework to find something that'd work for her (and I truly believe we all should - to the best of our ability - exercise our right to carry concealed). I bring all this up, because I want to share with you what I settled on for the wife... The Sig Sauer p238. I absolutely love that gun... smooth, shoots anything, SAO in 1911 style, built on the old colt mustang molds.. so its a tried and true design... I personally just didn't like the idea of carrying a .380 for myself (even though I know a .380 is really just a 9mm short, and with defense rounds can be a helluva backup weapon). Well low and behold, Sig makes a p938 now...

This picture doesn't do it any size justice, but lemme put it to you this way, the p238 works out to be the same size as my wallet. Anyway, you can see from the picture the 938 (black) isn't much bigger.

So got the pistol Saturday... shot 100 rounds through it, and got not a single FTE or FTL... Pictures worth a thousand words.... just saying if you are looking for small, these are your ticket.

John--great insight. It is too bad you are right on Taurus, they make several guns that fit and shoot well--just not with the consistency I like to see. It seems like they are good or bad right out of the box. I have owned three and sold one of those. It was a 709 my wife had as a carry gun...then I had all sorts of FTE, etc. problems at the range one day...traded it for a PPS on the spot! Great gun. The other two operate well, with NO issues and a ton of rounds through them.