in nyc, you're only allowed one handgun. so, the situation i'm facing is that i can only have one gun that will have to serve double duty as my hd gun and my target gun (no plans to hunt anything living). here's the question: what do you get and why?
rules of the game:
-$1500 price limit. maybe $2k. since i only get one, i'm willing to spend the cash on a top of the line production handgun, but i'm not shelling out for some tricked out custom that's going to spend most nights in a safe and one weekend or two a month at the range shooting paper targets.
-must not be something i'll want to replace any time soon. disposing of handguns and getting new ones in nyc is a real pain and involves paperwork and bringing the new gun to the cops for inspection. i'd love to start with a 22 and just buy a bigger pistol once i get the basics mastered, but i'm not willing to deal with the hassle, and i don't trust 22 for hd anyway. this one gun has to be a keeper.
-must be an autoloader. i'm just more comfortable with them, that's why.
right now i'm thinking about a sig x-5 tactical, which seems to hit the sweet spot of being ultra reliable and in a "big enough" caliber (9mm) for defense, but also something that will be way more accurate than i am for many years to come. i'm willing to consider 40 and 45, but i've only ever fired 9mm and i don't know if i'll care about the recoil difference, i will hopefully get a chance to test that out before i buy.
i know the standard response is "shoot lots of guns and buy the one you feel most comfortable with" but i'm going to have a very short window during which i'll have to purchase the gun after i get "approval" and i simply don't have time to shoot every gun i can think of. i already called my local range and they say i can't shoot a pistol there until i have my license (although for some reason you can shoot a 22lr rifle w/o a license, so i'm doing that in the meantime).
so: if you could only have one handgun (and no rifle or shotgun) what would it be? or, if you were suddenly forced to sell your entire collection and only keep one handgun, which would it be?
rules of the game:
-$1500 price limit. maybe $2k. since i only get one, i'm willing to spend the cash on a top of the line production handgun, but i'm not shelling out for some tricked out custom that's going to spend most nights in a safe and one weekend or two a month at the range shooting paper targets.
-must not be something i'll want to replace any time soon. disposing of handguns and getting new ones in nyc is a real pain and involves paperwork and bringing the new gun to the cops for inspection. i'd love to start with a 22 and just buy a bigger pistol once i get the basics mastered, but i'm not willing to deal with the hassle, and i don't trust 22 for hd anyway. this one gun has to be a keeper.
-must be an autoloader. i'm just more comfortable with them, that's why.
right now i'm thinking about a sig x-5 tactical, which seems to hit the sweet spot of being ultra reliable and in a "big enough" caliber (9mm) for defense, but also something that will be way more accurate than i am for many years to come. i'm willing to consider 40 and 45, but i've only ever fired 9mm and i don't know if i'll care about the recoil difference, i will hopefully get a chance to test that out before i buy.
i know the standard response is "shoot lots of guns and buy the one you feel most comfortable with" but i'm going to have a very short window during which i'll have to purchase the gun after i get "approval" and i simply don't have time to shoot every gun i can think of. i already called my local range and they say i can't shoot a pistol there until i have my license (although for some reason you can shoot a 22lr rifle w/o a license, so i'm doing that in the meantime).
so: if you could only have one handgun (and no rifle or shotgun) what would it be? or, if you were suddenly forced to sell your entire collection and only keep one handgun, which would it be?