Posted on 12/19/2012 6:00:17 PM PST by jdsteel
I'm interested in a 9mm or slightly smaller quality handgun that has a stock laser pointer. Comfortable carry and the laser are equally important.
Light, accurate, concealable.
I've only put about 500 rounds through mine, but no problems whatsoever. Also, I like that it has no safety. It has a long, smooth trigger pull, which takes a little getting used to but actually works quite well. My daughter has a P9 which has special rifling and night sights. It's popular for LE backup gun.
My wife (She Who Must Be Obeyed) likes it too. That's a plus.
I paid 550 out the door. traded an old .38 and .25 towards it. made it less painful.
My brother brought his XDs over to shoot and it was very nice...and small. You have to learn the right force to use to rack a round or a jam is very possible which is why I lean toward revolvers. The XDs carries 1 and 5 so the capacity argument doesn’t even apply here.
Chuckle. I got a S&W Airweight a couple of years ago. First time I took it to the range I was just glad to hit the target. Well, *lots* of $$ for ammo and careful practice and I can now usually do a hand size group at up to 18 feet. Which means in a real life situation I would be doing well to get a good chest hit at that distance. But I figure at 12 feet I am in fairly good shape. With good self defense ammo, the little bugger packs a pretty nice punch. It's very concealable and being a revolver with an 8.5 lb trigger pull, if you shoot someone, it's because you planned to.
Another vote for the Kahr. They have 6 pocket sized models (9mm and 40) that are very high quality, and do not have needless safeties that render the gun useless in an emergency ( the ruger mentioned above has 7 safety features, half of them are known to cause malfunctions and render the gun a very small club, I had one and got rid of it).
The Kahr is as weather proof and corrosion proof as you can get in a firearm, very important in a tool you will carry close to your body summer and winter. Stainless steel and polymer or aluminum frame.
Learn to shoot at pistol distances, and look into the laser later, after you get comfortable with whatever you get.
You might consider modifying an OTC green light laser to be extra powerful. Much more potent than red light.
US citizens cannot buy any OTC green laser over 5mW. But you can legally modify your 5mW green laser all the way up to 150mW, with power depending on the module used.
This is legal because while it is illegal to buy a functional laser as such, you can import laser modules over 5mW without FDA safety features 100% legally. It is also legal to assemble your own handheld laser over 5mW as long as you don’t sell it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQWx-7lH8ec
Bookmark
I had an instructor at a gun shop mention it once and the concept intrigued me.
Nope. Just surprised at the high percentage of warning shots ;-)
You can get aftermarket crimson trace laser for pretty much anything. Focus on getting a gun that fits you and then add the sites. Add some tritium nite sites to it too for redundancy purposes. get a Glock 19.
I have a like-new Keltec pf9 with aftermarket laser and a carrying belt clip. i will sell the package for $275 plus freight. I have only fired it about 70 times and I have decided to carry a wheelgun instead.
That’s what I have — but the ‘Ectreme’ with extended 7 round mag. My other CC weapons are a Taurus Titanium revolver snubbie with shrouded hammer in .38/.357, and a Taurus 738 semi-auto in .380.
One of the best buys offering quality and a decent price:
and:
Can’t beat Rugers for durability and reliability.
I had long gun and revolver experience long before getting a semi auto. At one time I would have been nervous about the notion of carrying a semi auto without a safety. Sure changed my mind on that point.
Nice scale for scale. Thumbs up!
I read that in a California Highway Patrol magazine. They did a study of all the gun fights the troopers were in and the average distance was twelve feet. And in NYC how many bullets did these cops fire and only hit the guy a few times?
Thing is you have to constantly ensure the batteries are fresh. I like those plastic sights (add on) that have that bright look to them.
I spent months looking for my CC. Didn’t like trigger pull of LC9. Love my Glock 19 so went with Beretta Nano. Same feel as a Glock, tiny, and fun to shoot. Also comes with laser option, and extended mag just became available.
“What would Dr. Evil say about iron sights first and lasers later?”
He’d probably tell me to talk to the hand.
Can't go wrong with a Sig.
+1!
I have the P238 HD with a Sig Laser. The difference are the caliber (P238 shoots .380 ACP, the newer P938 shoots 9mm. The barrel of the P938 is 1/2" longer. The height is the same. The grip is slightly deeper on the the P938, since 9mm cartridges are longer than .380 cartridges. Width is identical.
Photos of the P938 are hard to find since it's a relatively new pistol, so I'll post photos of the more established P238 with lasers.
Photo of the P238 with Sig Sauer Laser:
And with the CrimsonTrace LaserGuard instead of the Sig laser:
Oh . . . and another big selling point for me, the Sig has REAL sights. Not just a milled imperceptible groove in the slides. And on MOST models, they're tritium night sights that glow amazingly bright in the dark.
The down side: Sigs are expensive.
I have to do that with everything that requires batteries. The laser wont be necessary once one learns to point and shoot rather than have to take aim at a target.
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