Saved by the Tape (Measure)

[Redcoat3340]

I had a hankering for one of those compact-compact plastic 9mmers for occasional carry. Started out looking for a Shield, moved on to a Shield Plus, then considered a Shield EZ, then saw stuff on Beretta APX, briefly considered a Sig 365 and Springfield, then sort of discovered great reviews on the Taurus G2C,

I was just about to hit the BID button on gunbroken for a $229 G2C when the thought occurred to me I ought to check the size versus my other carry guns.

So I did.

Bingo. I just saved $300. It's essentially the same size as my S&W CS9 and close to my CS45. Which are perfectly acceptable (better than acceptable, actually) carry guns. (Yeah, I know, all those 'extra' rounds in the polymer pieces. But as I read somewhere, "If you need more than 7 rounds in a situation, you shoulda brought more friends.)

I'd still like to get one of those little guns, just 'cause they are so neat. But I can't really justify the cost. And if I'm going to spend $300 of my "gun money" on something, it should be on a trigger job on my Sig 220. So later today I'm gonna look up those Sig special offers and get night sights and an action job. My new motto is "Upgrade!"

 

[JTQ]

Gun shows have saved me a bunch of money over the years. Some gun or knife that looks great on-line, but when I had them in hand, they just didn't seem quite what I was looking for, and wasn't better than what I had already.

 

[Tallball]

I had a G2c. It was an excellent pistol for the price. It was every bit as reliable as my Glock 26. They were the same size and could use the same holsters.

The Model 26 has a slightly better trigger (IMHO), so I eventually traded the G2c, but it was a good pistol.

 

[WheelGunMan]

I think you should get one the aforementioned guns and still get your Sig220 a trigger job... you'll feel a lot better for it. You'll thank me for it later!

 

[Howland937]

I'm not a fan of buying anything I'm not able to put my hands on first when it comes to guns. Even if it's just the same model, check it out then order one.

Buuuuutttt, I can rationalize buying something I don't need as well as anyone can...so being the same size wouldn't have bothered me.

 

[Pat Riot]

One of the reasons I like to rent a gun before buying is quite often the hands on experience of actually shooting the gun has shown me what I like and don’t like about a gun. This has saved me lots of money and aggravation.

 

[Riomouse911]

One of the reasons I like to rent a gun before buying is quite often the hands on experience of actually shooting the gun has shown me what I like and don’t like about a gun. This has saved me lots of money and aggravation.

Indeed! The ability to have given a gun “a test drive” before I bought would’ve saved me a bunch of money over the years .

I do like to read reviews and see pictures in magazines and now online, but I’m getting that persons feel for the gun... especially if it’s a really new gun style or a makers departure from the norms.

If it’s a known entity, like a S&W J-K-L-N frame or standard type 1911, I’m very familiar with those. In these cases the quality of the piece or feel of the grips is subject to my scrutiny.

Glad you checked the specs out before you broke the check out!

Stay safe.

 

[NorthBorder]

Buying a gun you don't need. Hmmm. If I didn't ever do that I could finally have that muscle car. Oh well. Still looking for that next gun I don't need.

 

[SundownRider]

One of the reasons I like to rent a gun before buying is quite often the hands on experience of actually shooting the gun has shown me what I like and don’t like about a gun. This has saved me lots of money and aggravation.

^This. There is a local range that allows me to buy a box of ammo and rent guns. Trick is, they let me (or anyone) trade out rentals during my range session. I want to try 10 guns, and send 5 rounds down range each. I can. Best LGS for rentals

 

[Pat Riot]

^This. There is a local range that allows me to buy a box of ammo and rent guns. Trick is, they let me (or anyone) trade out rentals during my range session. I want to try 10 guns, and send 5 rounds down range each. I can. Best LGS for rentals

My indoor range does that as well. Their selection is pretty good and if my range doesn’t have something I want to try they have 2 others that might. All I gotta do is drive to one of the other ranges.
Renting 9mm pistols is how I found that it was a good thing that I never bought a couple of the guns that I was so enamored with when handling them but was totally turned off when shooting them. I’ll forego naming them do as not to hurt anyone’s feelings. People can get so testy about their pistol choices sometimes.

 

[MedWheeler]

The G2C came out as a $200 gun, and is worth all of that and more. But, times being what they are, it's typically pushing three hundred and then some, and that has lessened its remarkability in value. Now really isn't the time to be buying guns "for the heck of it" if finding "value" in them is important.

If the gun-political environment was still like it was when the G2C (and G3C) came out, the intriguing new GX4 would probably be running at the $300 mark you were expecting to pay. That's the Taurus you'd want, but it's running closer to what the P365 was a year and a half ago.

 

[WheelGunMan]

The closest range to me that rents guns is close to 100 miles away. So my options are to shoot a friend's if they have one or to buy it and try it. I've been lucky so far to sell those ones for what I have I have in them.

 

[Spats McGee]

^This. There is a local range that allows me to buy a box of ammo and rent guns. Trick is, they let me (or anyone) trade out rentals during my range session. I want to try 10 guns, and send 5 rounds down range each. I can. Best LGS for rentals

The range near my work does something similar. When you rent, you can choose one of two 'plans,' for lack of a better word.
A: 20 rounds for $20 -- Shoot 20 rounds through any one of their rental guns for $20. -- ETA: I just checked and they've changed it to $10/10rds, maximum 50 rounds.
B: Hourly -- You pay the hourly rate for the lane (~$20/hr), and buy their ammo. Gun rental is included and you can switch out guns as often as you like from their rentals. So if you want to test drive a few different rental guns, it doesn't cost you any more than shooting one, or even your own.

 

[MedWheeler]

Spats McGee writes:

..it doesn't cost you any more than shooting one, or even your own.

Just curious, if you shoot your own gun(s) there, do you still have to use their ammo?

It's been a long time since I shot a rental. Being able to shoot as many as you want in an hour for $20 seems pretty reasonable, as long as they're not hosing you on their ammo. The one time I shot a rental, it was a .45ACP and I didn't yet own one, so I had no ammo of my own. I don't remember if there was any rule against using my own, though, if I'd had any.

 

[Rodfac]

One of the reasons I like to rent a gun before buying is quite often the hands on experience of actually shooting the gun has shown me what I like and don’t like about a gun.

Good post, Pat. Had I subscribed to it in heart and soul over the past half century, I'd be a richer, though less well armed, (LOL) man.

But we've lived on a farm for the past 33 years and I've never rented a gun...for a shooter, it's pretty much Nirvana...and with a wife that understands. The best of all worlds, but occasionally...expensive.

Best regards, Rod

 

[Pat Riot]

Good post, Pat. Had I subscribed to it in heart and soul over the past half century, I'd be a richer, though less well armed, (LOL) man.

But we've lived on a farm for the past 33 years and I've never rented a gun...for a shooter, it's pretty much Nirvana...and with a wife that understands. The best of all worlds, but occasionally...expensive.

Best regards, Rod

Thank you.
You can color me envious on living on a farm.
I chose a vocation that dictates living in and around cities.

A friend of mine that had property out in the desert would invite people out from work to go shooting there. One day he joked that by doing this he got to shoot a variety of guns without having to buy them first. Good move!