Newbie looking for carry pistol advice

[JEB]

my vote goes to the sr9c hands down. very accurate and reliable, as well as a soft shooter. all in all, just a great pistol!

 

[Guildenstern]

Your budget limitations and limited availability of non-Glock rentals will probably prevent this but you really need to shoot all the candidates you are considering. I held several Kahrs and even dry fired one or two and ruled them out because I didn't like the trigger. I recently fired a Kahr MK9 and liked the trigger a lot. Weird huh?

I fired 100 rounds through two rental Sigs (229 and 239 both in 9mm) on two seperate occassions and didn't shoot either well. I recently bought a used Sig 239 for my son (for his upcoming birthday) and it shoots like a laser. Double weird.

Best wishes and good luck!

Trust me, I'd love to shoot everything on my list, but we just seem to be lacking in good rental ranges around here. And most of the gun stores stock new guns that they really don't want you dry firing, hence all my questions about the triggers. I may just have to set aside a weekend and find someplace a little farther out that'll let me handle the guns a little more extensively.

Anybody know of any good rental ranges in SW Washington?

 

[GlackAttack]

I reccommend the sr9c. Also the kahr may be worth a try since it is singlestack and should conceal easier.

 

[Ala Tom]

I also recommend the Ruger SR9C. It handles very well and is easy to get out of most holsters and to shoot accurately. Some people do not like any manual safety but I like the safety on my SR. You are a little safer when digging for the gun in an IWB holster (inside the pants) where it would be easy to get clothing caught up in the clothing. People say all you have to do is keep your finger off the trigger but the trigger can snag on clothing in some designs.

Before you actually begin carrying a gun routinely, you should take a class in CC or at least read a good book about it. Two books I have read recently are "THE CONCEALED HANDGUN MANUAL" by Chris Bird and "Gun Digest Book of Concealed Carry" by Massad Ayoob. As soon as you step outside your home with gun on your person, you expose yourself to the chance of losing all your money and your freedom if you don't do things just right. They give examples of good guns, good carry techniques and also of situations in which people legally carrying a gun got into considerable trouble. So far I have not found the need to carry.

As I write this, I am hearing the news of the Aurora Shooting. Could someone carrying have stopped that nut before he killed all the people he did? Probably not. You don't want even to draw your gun in a crowded theater with smoke and noise and a guy who is protected wearing armor from head to toe.

 

[Guildenstern]

Big thanks to everybody that contributed their opinion on here. I dropped by my local gun shop today and handled each of the firearms I was considering. The guy behind the counter was a great help about it and let me dry fire each and hold each in the waistband to see how well they concealed. At the end of the day, I became much more confident in the Kahr's trigger, slim profile, and lower price point, even though I did have to trade down on magazine size somewhat (though 7+1 should still suit me just fine). So I made a withdrawal and put the money down on it. Paperwork should go through within the next several days and I should have it by next weekend, at which point I'll head out to the range with a few buddies to see how it shoots.

Again, thanks a lot for the input, folks, I appreciate your efforts to help out a new shooter.

 

[ColdDayInHell]

SR9c or G19.

 

[edfrompa]

Ala Tom, This is just my opinion. If someone is shooting up a theater and smoke or whatever and I am armed, I be damned not to at least try to stop the threat. I would not sit on my arse with a firearm and say oh well he has body armor, he has whatever. And just let him kill me, you have got to be kidding me. The school that I came from says kill the enemy before he kills you!! Use whatever means possible at the time. Believe me even if I had a 22cal on me I would use it. Not sitting on my hands while someone is throwing lead all over the place is not in my rule book. When you are in a firefight situation it is called survival my friend, nothing more nothing less. Protect yourself or die!

To stay on subject: the sr9c is very accurate and easy to handle firearm. You will not be disappointed with this firearm. Not too expensive either.

USMC Vietnam Vet

 

[WinThePennant]

Ed - I agree. From time-to-time, I act like a hard-head and say that I'd only protect myself and my loved ones. I've often said that if you made the decision to not carry a concealed weapon, then you've made the decision to be a victim. Well, truth is, if I saw kids getting killed I would certainly put my neck on the line. I'd never let children or young people get slaughtered if I had the means to put an end to it.

 

[KTXdm9]

Big thanks to everybody that contributed their opinion on here. I dropped by my local gun shop today and handled each of the firearms I was considering. The guy behind the counter was a great help about it and let me dry fire each and hold each in the waistband to see how well they concealed. At the end of the day, I became much more confident in the Kahr's trigger, slim profile, and lower price point, even though I did have to trade down on magazine size somewhat (though 7+1 should still suit me just fine). So I made a withdrawal and put the money down on it. Paperwork should go through within the next several days and I should have it by next weekend, at which point I'll head out to the range with a few buddies to see how it shoots.

Again, thanks a lot for the input, folks, I appreciate your efforts to help out a new shooter.

Congrats! I'm glad you got the chance to at least hold and test carry before purchasing. I'm with you, I like the slimmer single stack for iwb carry. One word of advice, you might want to do a little research on the proper break in for the Kahrs. Some of them can be a bit finicky.

 

[9mmepiphany]

It sounds like the OP has made his choice and given his thanks for information offer.

I'm going to close this before the thread drift continues.