Steel 9mm with least muzzle flip/recoil

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Mosin77

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Long time lurker, first time poster here. Shooting my buddies’ Glock 19 and Sig SP2022, they were controllable enough, but not what I considered enjoyable by any stretch. They felt very snappy. I actually liked my .45 1911 better, but my .32 Colt 1903 best of all.

I added a P.08 Luger to the collection and found it similar, better than the polymer guns but a bit snappy for a really enjoyable shooting session. I wrote off 9mm for a long time. Then I tried a Browning Hi Power and it was a completely different experience. Really pleasant. Sadly I only had a chance to run one mag through that gun.

I like steel guns, no plastic. What other 9mm guns are out there that aren’t snappy? This is for the range/open carry in the field, not ccw. That said, my hands are on the small side for a man. I’ve dry fired a Beretta 92 and find that I can reach the trigger well enough, but it just feels “big.” I also shot a friend’s Sig P365 and it felt surprisingly tame for such a small gun.
 
Browning Hi-Power and it's derivatives. CZ-75 and it's derivates. Sig P210 is an utter joy to shoot. Maybe a Colt M1908? not 9mm, but all steel, .380, and another joy to shoot. The Luger looks great, and has a storied history, but not a fun gun too shoot, except to say you've shot one.
 
Same for rifles and shotguns - heaviest gun with slowest and lightest load equals least recoil (and thus least muzzle flip)
 
I find the CZ Shadow 2 runs very flat and muzzle jump is minimal.

However it is a big ass gun and heavy, so if you go that way and have small hands, you may need thin grips. I needed bigger grips, but there are options.
 
Tanfoglio (EAA Witness) Stock II or Stock III or Limited (for SA only). All have a lot of weight, very low bore axis, and are slightly friendlier to smaller hands than their CZ cousins. If you're not going to add a compensator and want something that will fit in a conventional holster, these (and the CZ's) are pretty much the answer to your question.

Which is why they have become so prevalent in the production division of USPSA, which is all about fast splits and transitions with an uncompensated gun that fits in a holster (along with a few other requirements).
 
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I enjoy the EAA witness 9mms and .40s
I actually prefer the 40 to the 9.

Right now the only 9 I've got is a canik tp9 sfx, which is plastic, but amazingly nice to shoot.

My buddy has RI double stack 1911, 10mm. I think will be my next gun purchase, and I also think they make that gun in 9mm which would be a fantastic shooter.
 
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Either a CZ (or clone) or 1911 would get my vote. Plenty of good options within those two categories

Yep. And if the OP really, really wants to do all he can to reduce muzzle flip, he should look for the full-dustcover versions of those things... extra frame weight out front settles things down.
 
Meeks36: my newish Star 9mm is lots of fun.

But as a Lefty with no tng. on “cocked and locked” guns, plus the safety only on the left side, it’s not a good carry gun for me.

The ergonomics etc are excellent and it must be a very nice carry gun for “Righty’s “.
 
To repeat what others have said:

Browning Hi-Power and its derivatives. (I have a Hungarian one that is pretty good.)

CZ-75 and its derivatives. I have no less than five Tanfoglios. Most are labelled as EAA Witnesses. The steel ones have very little recoil or muzzle flip. The older Tanfoglios (often available as Israeli surplus for cheap) are built on a slightly larger and heavier frame than the modern CZ's.

There are plenty of 9mm 1911's out there. They are pretty good for folks who don't have huge hands. Mine is very mild to shoot.

The Star Super B's are pretty much 1911's with no grip safety and a Hi-Power type breech locking system. Mine is very mild to shoot. They are good quality and inexpensive, albeit surplus from a defunct company. The Star BM is similar, but a bit smaller and uses the 1911 locking system.

I own all of the above, they have steel frames, and all are soft shooters.

I like Beretta 92 variants, but they do have an aluminum frame. I am pretty sure that my S&W third generation 9mm has an aluminum frame also (maybe someone could help me with info on that).

It didn't happen if there's no pictures:

The Hungarian Hi-Power clone. I bought it barely used in 1988. It is comfortable and reliable.
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One of my Israeli surplus Tanfoglio CZ75 "clones". This may be the softest shooting of them all.

I am a 1911 fan. This one cost me very little used, and its recoil is minimal.

I like my Stars a lot. This Super B was something absurd like $250 OTD. My FiL bought himself one right after he tried mine. It is a gentle and accurate shooter. MIne was barely used at all, and my FiL's was unissued.
 
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Mosin77

One of the least snappiest all steel 9mm.s I ever had was a MAB PA-15. It used a rotating barrel action (much like the Beretta PX4), and could handle a wide range of bullet weights without any problems. It was a very soft recoiling gun with little if any muzzle flip.
 
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I did an informal test of my “service sized” 9s and both I and another shooter agreed that the CZ75 and Hi Power were not among the softest feeling of the bunch we tried. In fact for me they are among the flippiest. I keep hearing people say how the “low bore axis” (usually misspoken as bore access) of the CZ makes it shoot really flat... but a thinking person will realize that simply moving the frame rails to the outside rather than the inside doesn’t actually move the bore any lower in relation to your hand. But nobody ever points that out.

Regardless, MY CZ is my sharpest recoiling 9, and the M&P CORE 9L, Beretta 92 FS Brigadier, and PX-4 are the softest.

Here’s the vid for any interested. Other shooters, especially any with preconceived notions, would likely select different picks for the lightest recoiling.
 
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