Should I buy gun X or gun Y?

[Princi]

First, being relatively new to this forum, I must say that I've seen some very good and informative posts. Then I've seen a lot of posts that do nothing more than increase the post count of the "contributor".

Where I've seen this the most is when someone asks an honest question of which gun to buy. I won't give any quotes for fear of offending anyone, I'll just give a question and some answers that are typical:

Q: I was in a gunshop looking at gun X and gun Y. They were priced about the same, the owner said his preference was for Y, but I wonder what you people think.

A. By all means X

A. Y

A. They couldn't give me Y as a gift

A. I had a Y and it was a POS

So how much information was given to the person asking the question. What they are really looking for is WHY? Just a couple samples of answers to illustrate what I mean:

A. I had an X, and I ended up sending back to the factory 3 times because of the extractor breaking.

A. I had both the X and Y, and shooting off sandbags my groups with Y were 3 times better than with X.

A. I suggest you go to the ww.x-forum.com and do a search on keywords x and extractor, you will see there have been a lot of problems.

A. My buddy, Bubba, has a Y and has put 10,000 rounds through it without a problem. However, I don't shoot it well because I have small hands.

It would be nice if we had a system of scoring posts like they have on some product web-sites. Then other members could give you a score for how good and informative your post was. Then instead of keeping track of the number of posts you made, it would give a score from 1 to 5. (From what I've read so far, 1911Tuner would have a 5.)

So, please, let's make our responses informative and helpful.

 

[glockman19]

Q: I was in a gunshop looking at gun X and gun Y. They were priced about the same, the owner said his preference was for Y, but I wonder what you people think.

A. By all means X

Must be a Glock

A. Y

Another Glock

A. They couldn't give me Y as a gift

A Taurus

A. I had a Y and it was a POS

Another Taurus

So how much information was given to the person asking the question. What they are really looking for is WHY? Just a couple samples of answers to illustrate what I mean:

A. I had an X, and I ended up sending back to the factory 3 times because of the extractor breaking.

A Kimber

A. I had both the X and Y, and shooting off sandbags my groups with Y were 3 times better than with X.

Could be any gun It's shooter error

A. I suggest you go to the ww.x-forum.com and do a search on keywords x and extractor, you will see there have been a lot of problems.

must be m-1911.com

A. My buddy, Bubba, has a Y and has put 10,000 rounds through it without a problem. However, I don't shoot it well because I have small hands.

Another Glock

 

[Majic]

What they are really looking for is WHY?

That's an assumption on your part. How do you know what someone is really looking for? The senerio has the person looking at 2 different guns with the owner preferring one over the other. The only question was what others think which could mean perferences just like the owner gave.

 

[jerkface11]

I always love those threads. The guy asks which of two guns is better gets the consensus of the forum. Then buys something else.

 

[MrBorland]

They were priced about the same, the owner said his preference was for Y, but I wonder what you people think.

While I agree responses aren't always very informative, or are repetitive and/or subjective, I also have to agree with Majic, in that the OP's question is often very vague (such as the one in your example). If someone wants specific info, asking the right question would help a lot. I try to reply to an OP's exact question, but my reply (at best) is only as good as the question asked. If I can't answer their exact question, or I don't understand the question, I (usually) won't reply.

 

[10-Ring]

I'm w/ bro jerkface on this one. We (as a collective) normally do what we can to steer them one way or another but somehow, when they get in a shop and see the shiny new this or that they always go for what's behind door #3 & forget X & Y entirely!

 

[supraneurotoxin]

I wholeheartedly recommend Y in stainless with a 4" bbl, unless X is on sale

I think if people are at the point where they have it narrowed down to two guns, they have already heard everything there is to hear about the two in question, and quite possibly they are just looking for a general consesus. I for one wouldn't want read "the problem with the firing pin is....." 80 times in a row.

 

[Ian]

There's a variant to the question, where the original poster says "I was looking at X, Y, and Z...I've definitely decided against Z because of such-and-so, do you prefer X or Y?"

And inevitably, at least one person will reply "Get Z", often without giving any sort of reason why.

 

[Crunker1337]

Often in threads of these type, the OP fails to present the purpose for purchasing the gun.

As such, it's hard to say which gun is better without parameters for use.

Even so, I think it's always important to justify your answers in a seemingly simple question like Which gun should I buy.