FL-NC
Member
I'm on this road too. No limiting issues using 9mm, 45, or 40 YET, but right now it hurts to make a fist. Heavy bag workouts and knuckle conditioning in MMA gloves or garden gloves has a price.
What Is Your Absolute Favorite Handgun and Why?
- Thread starter Capybara
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Armored farmer
Member
You are likely sick of seeing pictures of my 66 S&W but it is my favorite handgun.
Why?
I just like the wsy it looks, points, and shoots.
I personally think it is the most intimidating looking handgun ever.
Not only does it look good, but I shoot it better than my 4 inch guns.
I was sighting in with this box of factory PMC ammo. I had opened the box and it was sitting on the shooting table with the sleeve slid about half open, exposing 15 or 20 rds still in the box. When I touched off the first shot the concussion sent some of the rounds flying out of the box and all over the shooting table and floor.
It's a beast!
Why?
I just like the wsy it looks, points, and shoots.
I personally think it is the most intimidating looking handgun ever.
Not only does it look good, but I shoot it better than my 4 inch guns.
I was sighting in with this box of factory PMC ammo. I had opened the box and it was sitting on the shooting table with the sleeve slid about half open, exposing 15 or 20 rds still in the box. When I touched off the first shot the concussion sent some of the rounds flying out of the box and all over the shooting table and floor.
It's a beast!
chicharrones
needs more ammo
md7
Member
Whew… tough question.
Honestly, my favorite one depends on what I’m doing with it. One’s a favorite for ccw, one for range, one for woods bumming…
But in keeping with the intent of your question, I would say my overall favorite is my Mil Spec 1911 followed closely by my Beretta 92’s
It was a gift from a friend, and my first 1911. I’ve really grown to appreciate the 1911 design.
I don’t think it’s the only one I would keep if forced to only have one pistol, but it would make me think long and hard.
huntsman
Member
Blackhawk 45 convertibleMy handguns are strictly utilitarian in nature and I have no real bond with carry guns beyond their use.
But I tend to build a bond with my hunting guns and my Blackhawk falls into that category, I don’t shoot it as often as I do the carry guns but when I do it’s more for pleasure than practice.
.45Coltguy
Member
Hmm. Revolver, that would be my Uberti/Taylor's "Old Randall" in .45 Colt. Semi-Auto, my SA mil-spec 1911-A1. Both absolute good shooters. had to pick only one, mil-spec.
No doubts.
Edit: As to the why, the 1911-A1 fits my hand better. Very comfortable shooter.
No doubts.
Edit: As to the why, the 1911-A1 fits my hand better. Very comfortable shooter.
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Riomouse911
Member
I’ll never get sick of that 66 and the background you have in your pictures, they look great
. I toted my 2.5” Model 19 for a while in the 1990’s, but I never was able to shoot it as well as you do with your 66. (The 3” 13 was only acquired about ten years ago.)
Stay safe.
I'd have to go with the Springfield SA-35 I bought a month or so ago.For whatever reason that Hi-Power clone fits my hand(I broke the outside bone in my right hand in a bar fight and it grew together crooked so some pistols don't fit me well) better than my 1911's which I also love.It has a feel and balance that makes me shoot it better than any of my other handguns,it's accurate and has plenty of capacity at 15+1.I've put 300 rounds through it without anything even close to a malfunction of any kind.Any time I carry concealed,it's either that one or my Performance Center Shorty 40,but since the Springfield came along,the Smith has been getting a break from being carried every day.I have a couple of nice 1911's as well,and I love both of them,but that SA-35 just has a feel to it.I hope I never have to make the decision of only being able to have one.
The Night Rider
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Guns don't thrill me, they just don't. The longer I carry one the less interesting I find them. It's a specific tool for a specific purpose.
The gun I carry most frequently is a Glock 26. So, if I have a favorite it's that.
The gun I carry most frequently is a Glock 26. So, if I have a favorite it's that.
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Capybara
Member
I get that. I have a Glock G17 Gen 3. It's about as exciting as and less aesthetic than a 2x4. The grip feels like holding a 2x4. But I can shoot it ok and it always goes bang. Same as a Hammer or a Screwdriver. But I also get the nice revolver aesthetic,
I have the Smith & Wesson 625 and the Smith & Wesson 17, both are mechanical works of art in comparison to the Glock. I have lots of plastic guns and they are cool in their own right, but the metal, hand fitted/crafted guns are more interesting to me
personally. But all good. Guns can be many different things to many different people.
1. Ruger GP100, with original-pattern factory grip, 4” barrel, adjustable sights. It is the one shown in my avatar image. Perfect fit/ergonomics. Just right, in the Goldilocksian way.
2. I love the way it shoots. I like its history, since the day I bought it, in the early Nineties. It has become a vital artifact in my family’s history, and, I used it defensively, to fire a decisive shot, during a deadly force incident, one night in June 1993, when it was my duty revolver. (My heirs will decide whether it is an “heirloom.”)
3. Well, the .357 Magnum is one of cartridges that can “do it all,” and, I can dress around a medium/large revolver, so, with 1 and 2, above, factored into the equation, the answer should be self-evident.
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Capybara
Member
OMG, I have been dying to get my hands on one of those. I have shot but never owned a vintage Hi Power. Ever since the SA-35 came out, I have been lusting after one. Unfortunately it is not on the California Handgun Roster since it's new
and will never have microstamping. My chances of even overpaying for one in California are pretty remote for the foreseeable future. That gun will easily fetch $2k-$2.5k here in the state that Freedom left. Enjoy it!
Pistolay
Contributing Member
I moved down to .380 about a year ago, a G42 and LCP Max. It's not so much about the recoil, although that is an issue. It's more about racking the slide and manipulating the gun.
Right now though, I'm not really shooting anything. The arthritis got bad enough that I had to have a thumb arthroplasty in January. I went to the range last week for the first time since last November. I mostly shot my LCP II .22lr, but I did put 50 rounds through the LCP Max. Easy to rack and disassemble, but the recoil was marginal for me before, and it's worse now. My doctor says my wrist and thumb will never be more than about 75%, so I'm not sure about the Max recoil going forward. The G42 is already gone because it doesn't tolerate a weak wrist, and the only way I can shoot it reliably without limpwristing is by using the old Dirty Harry grip where you hold the wrist of your shooting hand. Not good.
I just picked up a P365-380 on Monday, and I'm expecting that to be my salvation. I haven't shot it yet because the hand still paying for shooting the Max last week, but it's very easy to rack and disassemble/reassemble.
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Capybara
Member
I'm sorry to hear that, that must be frustrating and painful. Have you been able to try the S&W Shield EZ? It is supposed to be the hot tip for diminished hand strength and mobility.
Pistolay
Contributing Member
I haven't shot the EZ 380, but I did shoot the 9mm about a year ago. It was pretty easy to shoot and to rack the slide, but there were things about it that turned me off. The upside down grip safety didn't work well for me, but the bigger issue was the trigger. It's so light that it cries out for a manual safety, and I don't want a manual safety on a carry gun. Also, the 5" grip height is taller than I want.
Not to worry though. I have high hopes for the P365-380.
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Capybara
Member
Good luck to you, that's excellent feedback for others who have asked me about the Shield EZ.
A friends daughter loves her Dad's Shield and she wants to get a CCW but she cannot rack the slide on her Dad's regular Shield.
I have the Shield 1.0 I've carried since it came out and I just acquired the Shield Plus PC. They were both very stiff when new, but that's the
price you pay for a short barrel with a double captured spring, striker fired.
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Capybara
Member
Accidentally re-quoted myself! Doh!
I slept on this question and decided I couldn't name one gun as my favorite. It would be like picking between my daughter and grand daughter. I also don't plan to sell any of my guns. The best I can do is say Walther pistols are my favorite brand.
Remington1911
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Favorite....that is hard. I really love my 1911, but if you want the thing I shoot the most it would have to be a single action heritage. It is just fun, out of all the 22 hand guns I shoot, and like most I have a few, I will grab that little six shooter, and a "cowboy" holster box of shells in my pocket, it takes a while to spend 50 in a gun like that, my timer and just wonder out back. I have many things that I shoot better, and are more modern, but that little 22 is just flat fun.
Pat Riot
Contributing Member
You are likely sick of seeing pictures of my 66 S&W but it is my favorite handgun.
No, that’s a great looking revolver and a very nice photo. I would like one of my own.
badkarmamib
Member
I actually asked this question of the three of us on the way back from the range yesterday. We took my Springfield XD-S 3.3 40S&W, the M&P FS 40S&W, my wife's new Shield Plus in 9mm, and my new Tisas Duty 1911 in .45ACP. I was reminded how much I like the XD-S. Carries great, accurate, fits my hand, reliable. If I was relegated to one, that would be it. When they first came out, in 9mm and .45ACP, I was waiting for a .40S&W. Two weeks after it came out, Dad asked me to go to the LGS with him, asked what I would pick for him as a new CCW. I had him take a look at it, he liked it, asket the owner what kind of deal he would do for 2. Happy birthday to me. Definitely the last pistol I would part with.
My first reply to a post on the forum since joining. A great question, your favorite handgun. Hard choice but it would be my Ruger single six 22. My first handgun bought in 1969. Followed by my S&W model 53 22 jet magnum and my S&W model 27-2 3 !/2 inch barrel.An honorable mention given to my S&W model 340pd that I bought for my 50 birthday. The only other handgun I have is a Ruger Mark 1 bull barrel that I installed a Thompson center contender scope mount and a lobo scope on it in the 70's and it has been truly fun gun to shoot.
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Capybara
Member
Interesting responses guys. Keep it going!
BigBlue 94
Member
Braking the rules slightly, but it would have to be this pair of Colt New Service revolvers. One a 45 ACP M1917 (1919 mfg) and a 38-40 civilian model mfg in 1923 iirc. The M1917 is a workhorse. Its rough enough to carry in the mountains, but mechanically 100% reliable. Even has a p.o.'s SSN electro pencilled on the side. The 38-40 is in immaculate shape and a powder puff to shoot with factory ammo. Its deadly accurate. Both were bought and kept for a long while by my grandpa, who has been gone almost 18 years now. Something about the New Service just screams iconic revolver to me.
38-40
M1917
If i were limited to one gun, it would not be either of these. First would be my stevens 22-410, followed by a romanian sks, glock 20, then the M1917.
38-40
M1917
If i were limited to one gun, it would not be either of these. First would be my stevens 22-410, followed by a romanian sks, glock 20, then the M1917.
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