Need gun advice on concealable 9mm.

4-19-09 | Self

[Blood of Tyrants]

Okay, I am looking for an easily concealable 9mm handgun for my wife. Main qualities (not necessarily in order), 1) Reliability, 2)min. size/weight 3) Preferably under $400, used is okay if with a lifetime warranty. 4) approx. 10 round mag. 5)Double action only trigger so that there are no safeties to fumble with

Disqualifiers: cheap junk, Taurus semi auto. I had almost talked myself into believing that Taurus had improved their semi-autos, and today I looked at a brand new Taurus PT-111 that was inoperable.

Thanks. BoT

[epow]

As an afterthought to #100, Charter also makes a .44 special revolver on a larger frame but still a handy size for CC. I have wanted one of those for quite some time but never got around to seriously looking for one. But after your report on Charter's recurring quality problems I doubt I would ever trust one with my life now, which is also how I feel about quite a few of the newfangled semiauto pistols that every gun rag writer endlessly slobbers over.

When it comes to serious handguns for serious purposes, IMHO no one has topped John Browning's masterpiece, the .45acp 1911A1. Even the Lightweight Commander version is too big and heavy for me to carry comfortably in warm weather, and I no longer even try carrying my full size steel Colt concealed at any time of year. However, here in GA our carry license allows open carry, and that's how I carry mine on those increasingly rare outdoor forays while looking for firewood when I feel the need for more power than my model 10 S&W .38 revolver and +P ammo can provide.

Two adult women and one female child have been killed by adult black bear boars within a few miles of my home over the last 3 or 4 years. And although the chance of that happening again is so remote it barely exists I have had a mother bear and cub nosing around my backyard barbecue pit recently, and a hungry mother bear foraging for food with her young cub is not an animal to be toyed with. A .45 loaded with hardball is not anywhere near adequate to handle a 300-400 lb angry black bear, but if that's the best I have with me when and if I'm ever attacked I would try for head shots until the magazine is empty and pray that at least one hardball slug would penetrate far enough to make it to the brain pan.

[Blood of Tyrants]

A Browning Hi Power has a 15 round mag and is a full size pistol. It is hardly a woman’s concealed gun.