How carefully do you review pistols before buying?

I usually fondle, shop and study pretty thoroughly before I buy. I have made a few spur of the moment uneducated buys, or bumped into an unexpected treasure I wasn't on the watch for. Only one was a real failure. I ended up just hating the gun and sold it after a short while and only a hundred rounds or so. Sometimes you can't tell the nature of the gun until you have it. One out of 70 ain't bad.

I read a lot of reviews on forums like this. The first 1911 I bought I did so on looks alone. I spent many hours reading reviews before I purchased my second 1911 and it is a much better gun than my first one.

I have owned and shot enough pistols that I can make my own judgement on the value of the pistol. Of course, I have bought some that did not work so well.

I find most U-tube reviewers to be worthless. Most reviewers cannot make good reviews due to their inexperience in presentation and the information is not valuable. In many cases, what I deem important is not on the radar of the U-tube presenter so I have to make my own decision.

Written reviews are marginally better but not much. It seems you have to get past the "Fan Boy" status to get good, reliable information.

I will buy a new-to-me pistol with the expectation that it may not work out. In most cases, the pistol will have some shooting value.

When costs are important, I stick with known quantities and choose pistols that I have had experience with and leave the lesser known quantities for others to learn about the hard way.

I do a lot of reading here and on other forums like THR , but nothing beats actual holding and shooting the gun if you can . I will not buy another gun without holding it first . I made that mistake once when I read all the great reviews about the TRP . I ordered it first without holding it and I ended up selling it a couple years latter ( unfired ) because I could not stand the 20 LIP front strap .

I'm pretty cautious. I usually spend a couple of years reading about a particular model and at least hold one in my hands before buying. When I broke my pattern and ordered a Beretta Pico the minute they hit the market, it didn't turn out too well. My apologies to happy Pico owners, but I hated that pistol ...

I find that online forums are a better source of information than "pro" reviews, which usually soft-pedal the negatives for fear of alienating advertisers. And you have to read a lot of forums to weed out the fanboys and the haters and get an objective picture of the strengths and weaknesses of a particular firearm.

I always handle the a gun before buying.
THR and other forums are helpful. As mentioned in several posts there are some who either hate or love according to brand names.
The first production year of any model is risky, I prefer to wait a year or two.
Hickok45's reviews are helpful and honest IMO.

Check online user reviews first. If there's a lot of customer complaints, I pass.
Next I handle one and see if it fits me decently enough for intended use.
Finally, I inspect it for quality of manufacture, trigger, sights, smoothness, etc. I inspect the one i am potentially buying, not an example then take a different one from the back room or shop safe.
Haggle on price if appropriate. Walk if I cannot find a price I'm willing to pay for the firearm. I don't even start the process if they aren't available in my budget.

I try to handle the gun before I buy, read a lot of reviews, and see what's said on the 'net.

All of that is good, but I've found that sometimes guns loved by others just don't work for me, and vice versa. I try to make educated guesses/decisions, but they are still, generally -- if buying a type of gun that's NEW TO ME (in design, etc.) -- scientific wild-a$$ guesses. (Many folks LOVE SIGs, for example, and I've had a bunch, but most of them just don't work for me. That's a "ME" problem and not a SIG problem, but I don't go there much, anymore. (I did like the early SIG GSR [1911] I had some years back, and have a pretty nice P228 now, but the P228 may be my last SIG.)

Depends on the gun. I just bought a used Ruger single action, so obviously, as well known as that gun and it's reputation are, I didn't seek out reviews. Same would obviously be true for K frame Smiths. I've also owned both of those gun types before, so even less of a mystery there.

But I usually seek out reviews, though a few times I didn't...and sometimes regretted not doing so. The CZ 40 P had a reputation of being temperamental with cycling. I've got mine to where it run's perfect now, but I wish I'd known it's reputation before I bought it. Same with my 2nd gen Remington R51, which was also an impulse buy. I haven't shot the Remington yet, but I understand that some people have issues with even the second gen.

Some bad reputations, like with the later Sigmas and some Taurus models are totally undeserved, so I take reviews with a grain of salt. But I still think reviews have also kept me from buying guns that were genuinely bad. If everyone says they don't like a gun, maybe you should stay away.

Much more useful than the professional or amateur journalist style review are the simple customer reviews at places like Buds Gun Shop or Midway, etc.

If you hang around the gun world long enough you will get a good feeling for what is good what isn't. For example, Glocks have a stellar reputation and are great guns, no question. I have shot several. They are not for me so I don't own one but I have no question about their reliability and quality. Same goes for many, many other guns that I may one day purchase.

I don't trust any printed magazines' reviews but I do trust some youtube reviewers. nutnfancy, for example, is not sponsored by any gun manufacturers and I trust his reviews a lot.

I gather info from any and all sources, and sift it according to veracity and relevance. I like to shoot a model of the gun I'm considering if at all possible.

I will do a few internet search runs and check through various magazine articles as well.
Stuff like the old Chuck Taylor 100,000 round Glock torture test and this more resent article
Guns & Ammo’s Single Stack 9mm Shootout (Updated)

Read more: http://www.gunsandammo.com/handguns/compacts/single-stack-9mm-shootout/#ixzz4dhvZXfqn
http://www.gunsandammo.com/handguns/compacts/single-stack-9mm-shootout/

Be realistic about what you're doing. Part of buying a new firearm is always a desire to fill a need or want, but part of it is always an interest in trying something new. In that regard, you're really not out anything to try something, then resell if it doesn't suit you.

Buy new or used, if it works, keep it and be merry, as you will spend far more on ammo to feed it and wear it out than you did on the firearm itself.

Buy it new or used, if it doesn't work, resell it and chalk the price difference up as entertainment value.

Much better to live and learn than to keep yourself bottled up and waste so many weeks, months, or years wringing your hands over minutia.

I always try and weigh what the review says against who is saying it.

Everyone that puts a review out for something is running it through their "filter". You have to try and take into consideration what their preferences are and how that meshes with what's being reviewed.

While Nuttnfancy might give a review of a S&W 686 and lambast it's high weight and low capacity, Hickok45 might praise it for it's precise accuracy and superb trigger and sights. One being a positive review and saying their safe would never be without one, and the other saying they dont have much use for it.

You have to weed out the facts off the review, and ignore the "fluff" and see if that matches what you want or not.

Research? naw I average a gun purchase every three years, can't say I pay a lot of attention to on-line stuff. Instead I know my needs, my caliber preferences and brands I'll own, after that it's just which gun I can find locally.

I try to read & watch as many reviews as possible. I really enjoy watching Hickock45 reviews. I honestly cannot watch Nutnfancy. He just drones on & on talking his way all around the barn to get to the door. I guess I'm just not patient enough. I also like to go to manufacturer specific forums & read the impressions & experiences of regular people who have purchased whatever I'm considering. If people are having problems it will usually show up there.

I do a lot of reading, both online and in print, and then actively seek out different models to try them on for size, so to speak. I usually find the best place to do this is at one of the larger area gun shows where there's typically a fairly decent selection to choose from. One of my purchases, a Ruger SR9c, was greatly enhanced by trying one out at a gun range, long before I bought mine. The fellow next to me had a new one and was having a hard time keeping his shots on paper, let alone in any sort of grouping. He asked me to try shooting it to determine if it was him or the gun. I proceeded to put 5 rounds in the black at about 30' and that made up my mind that this was the compact 9mm. that I wanted.

Any firearm maker is capable of turning out a dud which gets past their customer service. Reviews are nice to read but know they are only talking about one particular firearm and generally speaking they do not have multiples of it to do a fair comparison. Also know the old addage: A customer treated well will tell 10 of his friends. A customer treated badly will tell 50. If you have an idea to buy a new weapon, search the online places for that model and look at their reviews. If there are a lot of reviews, it may tell you that generally speaking, the product is good or needs work. A company with a good reputation for good customer service can also be a benefit.

Since I have a C&R license I tend to stay in that area when I'm looking for something. I keep a mental list of what I want and am always on the prowl for something. Used guns always get a hands on inspection before I talk price. I do not by used guns on line. That is not to say I don't like modern firearms. I have a LGS with a range and they have a try it before you buy it program so I that's what I usually do. My last big purchase from them was an FN 5.7. Never thought I would pay that much for a firearm but after researching it and putting a few down range I dropped the money for it and I usually don't care for striker fired pistols. It's fast becoming one of my all time favorites as is my CZ EVO Scorpion Carbine. Both are just lots of fun to shoot. The only mistake I can remember making the last couple of years was when I bought a Ruger American 9mm pistol. I bought the first one that came in the shop and didn't try it out first. Let's just say it wasn't a good fit for me and I took a small loss on the resale.

Like many above, I also am very careful when choosing a gun to buy. Varminter's post above says it best of all in my opinion. What I would add to that is try to make the decision process itself enjoyable. It is indeed a lot of work: sorting through articles, specifications, opinions, figuring out where to buy it, etc. But if you can make those tasks enjoyable and maybe even fun, it makes the experience a lot better. And possibly stating the obvious, take your time. You will probably have a hard time forgiving yourself if you acted too quickly on something that didn't work out.

Where I buy, many stores, trying before you buy is NOT an option.

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Then I would encourage you to look further until you find a place you can try a gun out (pistols mainly). When I bought my most recent pistol, I had to drive about 130 miles (one way) to a place that had them for rental. And I was real glad I did, as it thoroughly convinced me that was the pistol to get. The cost to drive there and back, the cost of the rental and ammo, and most of a day of my time, were well worth it and insignificant compared to the cost of the pistol.

I did 40 solid hours of research on the last toilet I bought, when it comes to guns (like vehicles) unless it's a new model, I may have years of intermittent research to decide what I want (next). Once I have money in hand or the time is right I'll buckle down and do a bunch more night after night research. I suffer great anguish just trying to decide what lightbulb to buy at Lowes.

It's hard to get a whole bunch of gun guys to agree on anything related to guns. One person
will love a certain gun and the next will hate it. Being in a gun club really helps because you
can take a few shots with someone's gun and make your own decision. There are also gun
stores that let you rent guns which is well worth the money.
Zeke

I find that most online reviews have the emotional bias of the reviewer in them, so bad that even when they have malfunctions they blame it on the ammo or limp wristing or not cleaning the gun well enough or... whatever. I feel like screaming at them - go clean the f-ing gun, lube it according to the manual, get some quality commercial ammo and then do a review !

The Hi-Point destruction videos are the worst. The guys throw the pistol downrange, drag it behind trucks down gravel roads and then when it breaks they say "This a great pistol for the price - very rugged and reliable, provided you don't throw it at a wall or drop it off a garage roof." What? OMG - how stupid.

I did do a lot of research on the SAR B6P as far as reliability and it has been a reliable gun. Most of the people were enthusiastic about their B6P and they left out that the gun has a little bit of trigger slap, which gets annoying, or the blocky construction of the frame in the rear - which is annoying and unnecessary - the Tanfoglio Polymer for instance has this area smoothed out.

I did a lot of research on the Taurus Millennium G2 PT 111, but I didn't remember reviewers talking about the trigger safety blade, which irritates my trigger finger after about 50 rounds. When I mentioned that on the Taurus Forum, the hard-core Taurus fans really seemed to get upset about it, while a few admitted that the Taurus trigger safety irritated them after shooting a lot or their wife or girlfriend complained about it irritating their finger.

But that kind of stuff seldom comes out in reviews.

And honesty I would have purchased the Taurus Millennium G2 PT 111 anyway, even if I'd read about the irritating trigger safety blade because I bought it for a GHB anyway and didn't plan on shooting it a whole lot.

But I haven't personally handled the last 6 handguns I've purchased until after I purchased them.