Posted on 06/10/2011 7:29:23 PM PDT by gop4lyf
I am going to a gun show on Sunday and I have narrowed it down to 4 choices. I am not looking for a concealed/carry model since it will be for range shooting and home defense only. I also am not looking for a higher caliber, 9mm only. Does anyone have and experience/opinions on any of these? any feedback is greatly appreciated.
Without regard to your choices, beware the gun-show fares. Yours may differ, but most I’ve been to have far more overpriced guns than bargains.
If this is the Dallas Gunshow, everyone is competing against Bachman Pawn and Gun and the prices, even when factoring in the cost and hassle of going to the show, are about as best as can be expected short of buying the guns stolen.
I also love Sig 229, a masterpiece in .40 so am sure the 9 is fine.
I have shot my OSS DS more than five hundred times with all kinds of ammo and it works every time. They come with two 12 rd mags and have the double/single operating system, with a decocking mechanism which allows you to leave a round up the pipe and twelve in each mag.
I just ordered two more mags because I want to break in alternate mag springs and be prepared. With Golden Sabre rounds, that weapon is a perp stopper. But always think of your pistols, whatever kind you trust, as merely the means to get to a real weapon, a 12 gage in pump with a bandoleer of extra rounds, in #2, 00 Buck, and slugs.
And while planing where to place pistols for quick access, do not discount the venerable 1911. There are ten round mags, eight round mags, and you can purchase a well made Phillipine version for around $375. Well made Pistols sold under the Rock Island name brand.
45 ACP ball ammo can be purchased at Wally World for around sixteen per fifty, and in 100 round loose bags at gunshows for around fourteen per fifty. The 1911 setup is recoil friendly, but my Taurus OSS DS is the finer of the 45ACP I trust. It's a 5 inch barrel big frame but a very comfortable grip even for women's hands. You won't even be tempted to conceal carry with it, unless you'll wear a fanny/belly pack or a courier's pouch.
Last but certainly not least, my perferred CC pistol is the very reliable sweet shootin' CZ82, and I keep it in the van with two or more extra mags, Hornady hollow points in all.
Oops, meant to ping this above to you.
Most 9mm are pretty much not too different from each other.
I would get a double stacker, though, not those 8 round mags ones, but those with 16 round mags (double stacked)
Out of your list I would get the SIG: a no brainer no surprize great out of the box performance and handling. It’s just the way SIG firearms are like. I just cannot stray too far from SIG without getting disappointed.
HK makes great 9s
XD great gun
Glock too
Beretta’s all metal 92FS tends to get hot or cold on the hand depending on the weather, but it’s easier to maintain and fix. Wash it with warm water and soap, put it in the oven to dry, put oil, and you have a well maintained gun. Broken part? Too easy, you can have one built by a local metalsmith around your corner of town. Can’t do that with polymeres... and I heard bad things about their new millenium polymerish 9mm.
The Taurus is a Beretta 92 FS clone, but lighter, made with aluminum (a more difficult metal than steel, though), I believe. Look around, maybe they have a Titanium one! Light weight and indestructible, but difficult metal to work on.
FN has the Browning High power but they also have the derivative of the 5.7 in 9mm. It looks like a toy, it is so light, but shoots very accurately. My 5.7 is probably the best gun I have in terms of sheer performance.
Walther is also a great classic German engineering wonder
East block? Go with CZ only, especialy those with the rail sliding inside and not outside the frame. These are excellent design.
Wanna go super expensive high tech and super dependable, best of the best? Look for a Swiss Sphynx
Going AMerican?
Ruger is great
1911s in 9mm are great, I hear, but I do not know if Para makes them in double stackers like they do their .45
If Kimber does 9s, it’s only single stacks, unfortunately, because Kimber is the best the US makes.
S&W and other classic reputed brands
Looking for USA Ergonomics?
S&W is great ergonomics, I hear.
Austrian Glocks are too thick, imo, and suck in ergonomics. Maybe the 3rd or 4th generation glocks have improved.
Avoid the Taurus!!
For 9mm? Are you insane? For security reasons, I can't talk deeply about my inventory but sufficient to say, pretty much all of the main stream handgun manufacturers who aren't targeting the Saturday Night Special crowd make good weapons for their price. They have to because the competition and tight margins would immediately close their doors. Furthermore, in terms of mainstream handguns, the design is influenced, in large part, to performance specifications for military and law enforcement so these guns are all excellent performing devices.
The difference therefore is in the gimmicks and features that differentiate one brand from another. Taurus has a penchant for making lots of changes to their guns on the fly in mid production so the gun purchased at the end of the run isn't the same as one at the start of a run. This makes it difficult for third party manufacturers to cobble up geegaws to festoon one's weapon. If I had a criticism for Taurus it would be that. If I want cheap magazines I would get Glock. If I wanted to add profoundly expensive barrel attachments, magazines or sights I would go H&K. But the only reason I would go H&K is for Poser reasons not because H&K is worth the difference in price.
Why I like and carry Taurus is that they make the best Titanium guns out there provided you don't need ambidextrous safety or care to swap out the stock sights.
The OP said "carry" was a motivating concern. The high capacity magazine of the compact Titanium Taurus weighs more than the gun itself. Use round selection to moderate and control barrel flip, flash, recoil and other performance concerns like one would do with any other gun. As a bicyclist weight is a concern and Titanium has great resistance to sweat and the elements like Stainless without the weight and shine.
On occasion, I like the Taurus Titanium .45LC as it is even lighter and has a real large muzzle for that urine-down-both-pant-legs effect on the perp.
For those who want a child-friendly firearm, one Taurus gimmick is the key lockable firing pin - a total security hazard and hassle for dealing with that bump in the night, but a great way to be able to leave a loaded handgun laying around without little Johnny putting rounds down-range or into his sister's head.
Is it a good gun for the range? No. Neither is any other summer concealable compact. Other than plowing through a magazine or two of familiarity fire using the rounds intended for the street, for pleasure use a full size for working on fundamentals that can't be legally practiced in the living room. (unless of course your neighborhood association has no problems with firing rounds out the window into a target out in the yard.)
Everyone brags about how their favorite piece fires great out of the box. So what? Same thing with my Taurus. If I were to be picky about a 9mm beyond the gimmicks a particular manufacturer offers, I would be thinking about springs and ammo selection to perfectly match the firearm to the way I want to shoot. In that respect you have a point of avoiding Taurus because springs are made of unobtanium. But then again, who is so anal retentive about perfecting the right gun/spring/ammo combination that they aren't going to personally handle every brand imaginable on the range before making their decision?
FWIW, I sleep with a Desert Eagle .50AE knowing that whatever comes through the door, body armour or not, its going down, and considering the muzzle flash, will probably go down while on fire. If my ears are going to bleed from the noise and concussion, so is everyone elses.
Another vote for the Springfield XDM, with the extended mag. Most comfortable gun I’ve fired in years, and I don’t have big hands. Never had a jam.
Love my M9 it is such a good weapon.
Rock solid reliable with a good capacity and I shoot it very well. Mine is my first choice for taking as my "car weapon". I'd like to CC it, but it's a little large for me to conceal on my 5'8", 140 lb frame.
Glock 19
Taurus PT-99 has treated me well. Reasonable price and dependable and proven design.
My XD-40sc also performs flawlessly.
Agree that CZs deserve a a look-see. I have a 75B, an 85B, and a Kadet 22LR. The latter is sized like the 9mm’s and one heckuva lot of fun to shoot.
Personally I would never buy another pistol unless I had shot some with that model.
As it is the 100th aniversery of the 1911 it's worthy of consideration. Very few modern pistols have the trigger of a 1911. They also make them in 9mm (which seems a bit blaspemous).
Bump on this.
Extremely reliable.
But it's a pricey one, though....$800 plus
I notice you didn’t offer to take even one .45 in kind....I’m not an elitist, but a .45 is more deadly, period. Unless you’re willing to pay double for some 9mm DRTs or such; mostly the advantage is more shots. I have several of both 45, 9mm, 38 SP, 38SP+, 357Magnum, 45 LC, etc, hell, even a 9mm short or a 32ACP or two.... Each has its own merits.
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