Good Suggestion for a First Handgun - Page 3

Springs do not lose tension from compression. They lose tension from transitioning between compression and expansion. You can leave a magazine loaded for more or less as long as you want and it won't wear out.

it is still not recomended, although that may be a"wives tale". it may be more about corrosion of the spring.

It is a bit of an old wives' tale, though there is some basic, common sense in it: if you load your mags regularly, you know regularly that (or at least how well) they work. That 70 year old mag should still work in theory, but plenty of other things could have happened to it in that time that you don't know about.

My first handgun was a Ruger Super Redhawk 44 Mag with a 9.5 inch barrel. I would load only 4 rounds randomly in the chambers to train out the nasty flinch when I would fire it. The embarrassment of twitching when the hammer would fall on an empty chamber was motivation enough to learn to fire it correctly. Once I figured out the .44, the 1911 was cake. I probably should have gotten the Colt huntsman .22 instead.

I'm ordering this one:

Fabienne: You might later advance to this: Seriously, I support the .22 advice given here; it's a nice start, ammunition is cheap etc. etc. I don't really have that much experience with modern firearms, but I had a Glock 17 in the army, and so far. it's the best handgun I've tried, among, say 10 different models. It's fairly light, suits most people ergonomically, it's easy on maintenance because of the various ceramic parts, etc. The Glock 19 is a development of this, and should be even better. The only thing I didn't like about the Glock is the safety, which isn't that safe at all. But, altogether:

I don't like pink, and besides, it's the garter belt I'm into.

Lately I have been admiring the Smith & Wesson Performance Center 586 L-Comp. It's a seven shot .357 revolver with a compensated barrel that loads with full-moon clips and has been through a Performance Center tuning. Having seen many new shooters of semi-autos fumble through action-clearing drills (some due to cycling failures from improper grip), I think a fast-loading 7-round wheelgun is a great choice.

A great option if you can afford/find one is a Colt 1911 with the .22 training barrel, then you can move on up to the 45 with the same gun. I've heard that the training barrel is getting harder to find though.

Not a bad idea. I'm pretty sure there are still aftermarket .22 conversion kits for 1911s and clones.

Augusto, go to the range and take the course first before you buy anything. Try to find an NRA Certified instructor to teach you the Basic Handgun course. In doing so, you should be able to fire several different handguns. The range probably has rental guns, too. Learn, train, then purchase. You'll be much happier.

The people telling you to get a .22 as a first gun are correct. However, depending on what you want it for, you can "outgrow" it after a box of ammo. I broke my 14 year old niece in with a .22 S&W 422 Semi-auto. After 50 rounds, she had learned what she needed and picked up my Ruger Vaquero (cowbow style gun) in .44 magnum with a 7.5 inch barrel (loaded with less powerful .44 Specials), knocked down 6 out of 6 steel plates and never looked back. That .44 is now her favorite plinking gun.

To answer your question more simply, if I had to pick one handgun for an inexperienced shooter, it might be a .357 Revolver with a 4 inch barrel. You can shoot .38's for fun, and .357's for defense. Low maintenance, no mag problems, the failure drill is, basically, pull the trigger again. That being said, I carry a .45 Glock 36 and keep a .45 Glock 21 bedside. But I have trained and am committed to continued training "like my life depends on it."

For now, forget the gun, concentrate on the training. The gun selection will become clear once you are trained.

LS - welcome aboard.

I like the idea of the .357 revolver.


what is your feeling on this - for learning purposes, I have the feeling that a semi-automatic is better, to some extent in the same way it is better to learn to drive with a shift and then go to automatic when you are more experienced. the auto-loader will require one to learn more than a revolver.

what are your thoughts?

That's interesting. I've heard the exact same argument for learning on a revolver (ie it is more demanding of proper form). I can't speak from experience, obviously.

Growing up, I started on a .22, but then moved to my father's 1911 (not A1) Colt. Then he got a Super Redhawk .44 with a 2X scope (it had the dovetail sight mounting), and he made me do the same thing as what you did, to stop flinching. Boy, was it embarrissing to pull the trigger on an empty chamber and see how bad I was.

Even worse was not flinching and firing a live round, that was a shock too!

I find automatics "easier" to shoot than revolvers, though I'm not quite sure what I mean by that. I think with autos, there are more things that you should remember, but with revolvers there are more things that you have to remember. For example, a DA revolver with make you very concious of your hammer position, and thus ingrain thinking about the safety state of your weapon.