dont know much about handguns?

Get a Rock Island Armory and have a blast. It will do it all and not break the bank. Comes in 9mm as well if ammo cost has you worried.

C

I do like the rock island compact GI

Click to expand...

Read here.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=690922

If you are getting a 1911, and especially if it is your first one (first pistol even), get a full size, 5" barrel, Government model.

I would recommend a good .22 to start with and for fundamentals. I didn't start on one but wish I had and have received some good information from people on this board about .22s. They are cheaper than anything else to shoot, give you a good foundation on trigger control and sight picture since you are new to pistols and the factor of the minimal recoil.

The best all around caliber for what you are looking to do is 9mm. It's by far the cheapest SD caliber and modern loadings for the 9mm meet the FBI's penetration requirements. .40's and .45's can be loaded to get even more penetration but most all SD loads will only load to achieve the 12-14" of penetration the FBI requires, so there really isn't much point in getting anything bigger than 9mm. Check out the Winchester Ranger T's in 147gr. These will get a good 14" and reliably expand.

You really need to go and shoot some to see what you like. I shoot Glock's the most and like them the best. Since you have no preconceived notions about grip angle Glocks would be a good place to start. Beg, borrow or rent as many guns as you can and see what you like. Holding in a gun store is not the same as getting out and shooting.

I would also recommend getting some training or looking online for videos showing proper grip. This will influence your decision and help you pick the gun that's best for you and the way you will be shooting.

I agree that a 9mm is probably the best cartridge to start out with. A little less powerful than 40 S&W and 45 ACP, but not enough to make much difference. 9mm with give you the options of getting a smaller gun or a larger capacity magazine.

You should try as many different guns as possible to get an idea of what you like. I would recommend not getting a 1911 though. They tend to be on the finicky side. If you take the time to tune the extractor, find the right recoil spring weight, and what bullet shapes and weights will feed properly they can be very reliable. I just think that there are a lot of better options out there these days.

I like a 9mm as well...unless you're going to reload...its by far the least expensive to fire in terms of ammo expense. If you're going to reload ...most any caliber is fine.

1911's - are being offered by a number of companies ...at the lower end of the price range - a little under $1,000 ..from Colt, S&W, etc.../and I would heartily recommend them over anything from Rock Island, or Llama, etc...

There are also a lot of very good used guns out there too....especially in the law enforcement trade ins - like Sig 226's, etc ...that are really good guns.

But picking a gun is about what fits your hands the best....what controls you like the best...and how the trigger feels to you - how it breaks, how it resets, etc....ideally you want to fire as many guns as you can at a range that rents guns before you buy / or you might end up with something you really hate.

I prefer the 1911 and I own no polymer pistols, and may never own any. However, if I were 20 - 30 years younger, I'd probably own nothing but polymer pistols. They are for the most part, inexpensive, lightweight, durable, reliable, easy to service, and have very few sharp edges. That's a lot to like.

For an economy pistol, it's hard to beat a Ruger P95 or S&W Sigma (or whatever it is called these days). Step up a little in price to the Ruger SR 9/40, S&W M&P, Glock, SIG SP2022, Beretta PX4, or Springfield Armory XD. That is a lot of options, and all will most likely work great.

What's your gun budget? People can recommend all day, but how much money you have to spend will determine to a large extent how much gun you can buy.

Agree with ku4hx.

If you like the 1911 platform there are sooooo many options. Budget is important to know if you want a recommendation. You did state that 1911s seem to be pricey, so price is a bit of a concern. If so, the Rock River is a great choice. Add a 22 conversion to it at some point and you've got an excellent plinking/self defense combo.

Regarding size and concealed carry, the 1911 is very thin which makes it a very easy to conceal weapon, especially given its size. Just make sure you get a good belt and holster and you'll be good to go.

56hawk, your comments were accurate 20 years ago, perhaps. Not any longer. I own a couple of 1911s, the first one I got was about 10 years ago. I don't know the first thing about tuning extractors or recoil spring weights, nor to I pay any attention whatsoever so the shape or weight of the bullets I buy/load, they all work.

Yes I definetly think a 1911 would be the best. So many after-market options and like MasterDei said, there are .22 LR conversions available.

Start with a Ruger or Browning Buckmark semi-auto .22. Not much for self/home defense, true, but it's a great way to start shooting and makes mastry very affordable. Load it up with Stingers and you have an effective low-flash and low-blast home defense gun.

You'll get about 550 rounds of practice ammo for the same price as one 50-round box of plinking 9mm ammo. With ammo being pretty scarce these days, that might be something to consider, too.

My 2 cents.

Q

Don't discount a 45 ACP just yet. My wife used my Glock 26 quite a bit but was so much better with my Ruger KP90 she bought herself a duplicate. She also likes her Ruger SR9 and my Glock 19 both of which are 9mm.

But the one gun she picked up and immediately did well with was a 45. She claims the 45's recoil is a shove and the 9mm is a bit of slap. I have pretty much the same feelings. A 45 can be more expensive to shoot if your don't roll your own.

I bought a .22 conversion kit for my Glock. If you buy a Gen 3 Glock, advantage arms makes a very good kit. The Gen4's are next to impossible to get right now.

I hated the Sigma's trigger. It was like dragging a piano across the floor.

When comparing the 1911 and plastic modern guns, notice how easy the newer guns are to detail strip and clean. I'm sure you could get good at it and clean detail clean a 1911 fairly quick, but never as fast as most new guns.

Simple is often better and in your case I think that would be the way to go.

Wow, there's kind of a world of space between plinking and concealed carry--and you're never in a position where you'll have to carry. It's a decision to carry, or a decision not to carry. I don't think it's a matter of 'oh, there's a lot of holdups in my area these days I guess I'll start carrying'.

Anyway, I don't think there's going to a single gun that's going to be a fun plinker and a good carry weapon, but you can certainly plink with any gun you choose.

As for carry, there are definitely folks who carry the 1911 in any of its 100s of forms, but there are also far more folks who complain of carrying anything as heavy as even the small 1911s. Sub-compact 1911s are not known for their reliability, and in fact, while I'm a 1911 bigot and love the platform, I'm not sure I'd consider the average 1911 to be necessarily all that reliable out of the box. Tons of exceptions, but I don't believe you'll know until you own one then find out, one way or the other. The proof is in the shooting--I began my search for a carry gun as a lifelong 1911 Believer, having owned one since I was 13 years old (1967). I also knew I would 'never' buy a plastic gun. About ten test guns later, it was the M&P 45c hands down winner, and two years later it was still the right choice for me. 45ACP is never the wrong choice, if you can score hits, live with the capacity and are okay with the concealability of the particular choice. This is the gun FOR ME...I can shoot it more accurately than ANY handgun I've ever fired, including a $3,000 Les Baer 1911. YOU may not have the same experience.

A lot of folks like 9mm, I don't. I don't find it comfortable to shoot in any gun I've shot it in, don't trust it much as a self defense cartridge, don't want to handload anything that small, and don't feel the need for the extra capacity it generally provides. But, you should definitely find some examples of 9mm auto pistols and shoot them. In my opinion, if you don't at least rent and shoot a Glock or two and an M&P or two (in 9mm) then you're not exploring about 1/2 the world of handguns (for carry). While I don't find any Glock satisfying to shoot, I certainly shot a number of them in my search for a carry weapon--to ignore them in your search is, again, ignoring what is arguable among the most popular, accurate and reliable platforms available.

Everyone has their favorites, and you'll have to find yours. But two things: shooting one box of ammo in one particular gun isn't enough information to conclude much (positive or negative) about the caliber or the gun.

I think a .22 LR pistol for plinking is a great idea for a few reasons--they are as easy and/or as hard to learn to shoot as any handgun in any caliber, they are far cheaper to shoot and that makes them fun, and unless you're out of your mind, you won't be tempted to have it do double duty as your carry weapon--so you won't be choosing a carry gun for the wrong reasons.

An extraordinarily popular line is the Smith and Wesson M&P line, and for plinking I can't imagine having much more fun than the 5" Pro Series guns in 9 or 40. If you plan to handload, my recommendaton would be the 40, but I happen to like 40SW a lot. It can easily be handloaded to provide what I think is a much nicer feel than any factory 9mm, but that's me, not necessarily you. They are relatively inexpensive, many find them more comfortable than GLocks, and they are most certainly easier to look at. For carry, I can't recommend any gun more highly that their .40 compact or .45 compact.

There's quite a bit to learn to shoot any handgun well, IMO, and the ability to dry fire practice will have more positive impact, faster, on your good shooting than any amount of live fire, regardless of caliber. IMO. It may sound silly, but anyone who shoots a lot of handgun (competitively or otherwise) will confirm--dry fire, and transferring what you learn in dry fire to the range--will make more difference than just about anything else you can do.

Don't expect to find the right handgun the first time around, and don't expect your plinker to be a good carry weapon (and vice versa). It's not that likely, IMO. Finally, don't pay much attention to what folks say about recoil this and recoil that--decide for yourself and remember that your response to recoil changes dramatically with practice. But, all the generalizations about 45ACP having huge recoil and 40SW have a harsh 'snappy' recoil is all largely bunkum, IMO. The differences between factory ammos in any caliber is astonishing, and renders all such generalizations pretty much useless. They are beside the point anyway, since you grow accustomed to recoil differences fairly quickly and perceived recoil is driven to a large degree by your platform choice.

Best wishes!

Rock Island Tactical, you can't go wrong.

Well I carry and plink with a Glock G26 and a G19 would do both jobs as well. A Ruger SR or S&W M&P would be fine as well. My personal opinion is if your carry is unsuitable for plinking its not going to be that good when you need to defend yourself either.

Here is a simple truth, a 1911 is an experts gun. You need thousands of repetitions with it just to be sure you remove the safety when you need to shoot. Otherwise you may find yourself with trouble in your face wondering why your gun did not fire. Get yourself a DA/SA like a SIG or Beretta or one of the strikers like Glock/M&P/SR. You pull the trigger and it goes bang.

All steel guns are heavy. They are really heavy when carrying one all day long inside your waistband. Polymer is light. Compare the weight of what you want to buy.

Thickness is an enemy of carry. A 1911 is thin. High capacity is thick. Common sense will tell you double stack is going to be thicker than single stack.

Caliber is not that important as long as you stick with a service caliber; .38, 9mm, .40, .45. They all stop things pretty similar with modern hollow point bullets. Another truth. The larger the round the less rounds the same size magazine well will hold.

Another truth, the more recoil a gun has the longer time there will be between your first and second round being fired. Training and practice will bring that time down over time but there will still be a difference.

I carry a 9mm Glock G26, Its small enough to be easy to carry and large enough to be easy to shoot and fight with. I shoot 100 rounds a week through it and its easy and fun to do.

Check out the Springfield XDs. Great pistol.

sdhunter said:

budget is $600. Now that i think about it the 9mm might be better, The wife will be getting familiar with the gun as well, so lighter recoil would help her.

Click to expand...

If it's at all possible, go shooting and take your wife with you. The next time you go to the city go to a shooting range that will let you try different guns they have. (some ranges have this option) You'll have to use their ammo and all, but you'll get a feel for the different calibers, and your wife can figure out how much gun she can handle. The first time I took my wife shooting she tried everything in handguns from 22 LR's to 44 magnums. The 44 mag was a bit much for her, but she had no trouble with a 357 magnum, or a 45 auto. I think the grip size was the factor, as she also shot some of my rifles up to my 338 win. mag. Her favorite rifle was the 338 win mag. Go figure... Recoil won't be as big of a factor if the grips on the handgun fit her hands correctly, and she grips it correctly. I wouldn't blindly purchase a handgun without checking it out for both of you. With $600.00 you could get two used handguns. One for her, and one for you. My wife carries a mouse gun because it conceals so easily. ( Kel Tec 32 auto) I prefer a 45 auto. I've got a S&W model 4506-1 which is a full size 45, but single stack so it's very slim, and a Taurus Mil.Pro 745, which is also a single stack and very compact for a 45. (Also very reasonable price) The full size guns are fine for running to the store and back, but for all day carry you'll want something compact and comfortable.
There are a lot of 380 auto "mouse" guns out there that you could get two of for you and your wife with the money you've got, and that's brand new ones. Take your time and find what you want. There's so many to choose from nowadays that you can find the perfect gun for you somewhere. Once you purchase one handgun, you'll find a reason, or ten, to buy another. They can be very habit forming because they're so fun to shoot. A good 22 auto target pistol can give you hours of fun for very little money, and you can even hunt squirrels and rabbits with them. I've killed more tree rats than i can remember with my old Ruger mark 2 target pistol. I've put thousands and thousands of rounds through that pistol, and never grow weary of it.