First Pistol-- .22LR or 9MM?

[David4516]

"$400 out the door. How about a Makarov 9mm and a Ruger Mark II both could be had for around your budget and you get two reliable, cheap guns."

Great sugestion. For the money, there is no better handgun than a Makarov. You could buy a Mak and a Ruger, and still spend less money than you would on just one Glock for example...

 

[MK11]

Get the 9mm. It sounds like what you want anyway.

.22s are wonderful but I don't agree that they are such a great training tool for centerfires. There's too much difference between them, even with a soft-kicking round like the 9mm. Save that $10 that would have gone for a 12-pack on the weekends and you can buy the 100-round Winchester valuepacks of 9mm at Wal-mart.

Get the .22 later on when you've had enough centerfire shooting under your belt that you can just relax and enjoying shooting rimfires without worrying about what you might be missing out on.

 

[RON in PA]

Since you already have experience with centerfire pistols I'll advise a 9mm and in particular a Ruger P95 if you like the feel of the gun. Also the CZ 75, but not as reliable as the Ruger in my experience(flame away CZ lovers). Under most circumstances I'd advise the .22.

 

[Ky Larry]

I have to agree with Rich357 about the Ruger MkII with a 5 1/2 bull barrel. I have one and really like it. I remember my starving student days and very limited budget. For about $10 you can shoot 100 rounds of 9mm. For about $8 you can shoot 500 rounds of .22's.

 

[Calanctus]

I started with a 9mm, a SIG 226 that was a police officer's off-duty carry gun. It looked a bit dinged (slide finish has faded about 50%) , but shoots great and had little to no wear on the barrel, slide rails, etc. Tons of police trade-ins and deals can be found all over the place (mine was $400, including 15 round mag). The 22 came next, and it is great to shoot all day for the price of 2 boxes of 9mm. Keep your eyes open at the next gun show.

 

[TODD3465]

I'd go with a used Glock police trade-in or a CZ. Since you're experienced some with handguns like you said cheap 9mm ammo is around.
And like other's have mentioned conversion kits can be had later for either gun. I'd like to get one for my Glocks soon.

 

[Berg01]

Last weekend, I saw a LNIB Sig P228 with nightsights & 2-10 rounders on consignment at a gunstore for $469.00. If I didn't already have one, I would have jumped on it; you can't do too much better than that for a 9mm service pistol.