So, I've got $1400 to spend...

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natedog

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Some saving, sales, and work has brought my (gun/fun) savings up to about $1400. $450 of that is being set aside for a 9mm Hi-Power, leaving me with $950. That would bring my handgun battery up to two, my other is a .38 Special 6" Colt OM. I'd like to spend the rest on handguns, as my handgun to long gun ratio is terribly skewed towards the latter. Anyways, what else do I need/should get? I was thinking a .45 or 10mm, fullsize pistol, and perhaps a more compact 9mm as well. What would you buy to fill out a handgun battery?
 
Well, I know you say you'd like another major caliber, but what about a .22? No battery is complete without one (or more). A good .22 auto, such as a Ruger Mk II / III / 22-45 shouldn't set you back more than a few hundred, leaving about $600 for another handgun, quality leather, ammo, and TRAINING.

Or, just spend the whole lot on leather, ammo, and training, so that you can be better with the ones you already own.
 
I think you might be able to pick up a Colt XSE Government for $950?

If not a NRM Government works well too.

A 1911 would be the direction I'd look towards, everyone needs a 1911.
 
I'd figure out what I was going to shoot, carry, or genuinely collect.
Buying guns on kewl factor or to "fill out a battery" is a money pit. I have sold, traded, or relegated to safe queen a lot of guns that I bought without thinking through my uses. Now I carefully consider what a new gun will do to improve my scores, self protection, or enjoyment. (I don't hunt and have never been successful wheeling and dealing for profit. Sold off a little collection when it got to where the next gun was outrageously expensive.)
 
Natedog, I agree that a good 9mm. is a worthwhile thing to have. However, I'd then save a bit more, take the rest of your gun fund, and invest it in a high-quality five-day handgun course. Since you're in California, I'd strongly recommend the 250 course at Gunsite in Arizona, not too far away. The course, ammo, travel, accommodation, etc. will set you back, in combination, anywhere from $2,000 to $2,500 - but the difference in your handgun skills will be absolutely HUGE!!! I can't think of a better investment of your gun money at this stage.
 
What Preacherman said. Decide what you want to do with firearms before you decide what to buy. I found myself in trouble (on a very small scale) because I bought guns then tried to figure out their purpose, instead of the other way around, which IMHO is a better idea. At this point, I'll have 1-2 long guns I shoot regularly, and 2-3 pistols. Instead of attempting to have huge collection pictures, I'm trying to be competent with what I have.


IMHO, if you are definitely getting the BHP, stick with that. Ammo for that, and if you plan on carrying, leather and training.
 
I'd also recommend a quality .22lr. They're inexpensive to shoot and with them, you can learn proper techniques much easier I think. Great cartridge to start out with to warm up at the range and to cool down with before leaving the range.
 
Take yourself and the BHP to a good shooting school, say Gunsite for the 250 General Pistol course, and you'll be light years ahead.

Not to mention all the money you'll save down the road by not buying silly stuff you don't need.
 
$1400. $450 of that is being set aside for a 9mm Hi-Power, leaving me with $950. That would bring my handgun battery up to two, my other is a .38 Special 6" Colt OM. I'd like to spend the rest on handguns.......... I was thinking a .45 or 10mm, fullsize pistol
Click to expand...

If I only had a .38 and a 9mm and had $950 to spend, I would get an EAA Witness 10mm (~$380) and a Ruger Mk II target heavy barrel (~$400) and spend the rest on a good holster for each and ammunition.
 
I agree with the Ruger MkII, Then get a used Glock .45 ( 21or 30) and your set!
 
I think something along the line of a 4" SS 357 mag Ruger GP100 would be a good thing to add to your collection as well as something like a Ruger MKII or Browning Buckmark 22lr pistol. I tend to like 22lr revolvers better but good quality ones tend to be expensive.

Also I noticed you don't have any smaller handguns, I don't know if that is a concern for you but you could look for something like a Colt Detective special to go with your OM or maybe a S&W J frame of some sort. Also you said you wanted a smaller 9mm possibly, not a bad idea even though you have a Browning in mind in 9mmpara I assume.

Maybe you could get a Makarov too, not extremely small and not a true 9mm but ammo is dirt cheap as so is 9mm para though and they are quite decent guns, more than they should be for their price range.
 
If you don't already reload, put aside about $1,000 of that money, and get yourself started in reloading. Don't rush out and spend the money right away. Buy some books on reloading and bullet casting, and read up on the internet forums. The first thing you should do is take account of the space you have for setting up your equipment. MEASURE EVERYTHING. How many linear feet of wall space have you got ... cabinets, overhead and floor level ... lighting present and lighting requirements ... space for mounting permanent tools like vices, bench-mounted drill press ... set up your shop so you have separate areas for single stage loading during load development, separate space for pregressive volume loading, separate space for bullet casting when you get to it, separate space for case cleaning and case prep. work, separate space for quality control ... measuring and weighing, etc. You can get a lot of the equipment used and in excellent condition on ebay and other places. Many people make the mistake of wasting thousands of dollars shooting factory ammo before they finally start reloading. All that time they wasted money, and shot their guns less than they would have liked because they could not afford to shoot more often. Don't go out and guy a ton of guns you cannot afford. Every serious shooter should strive to WEAR OUT at least one .38/.357 magnum handgun in their lifetime. To do that, you must shoot A LOT. regards to all.
 
Why not take that BHP, and spend about $725 with a good pistolsmith to have it tuned for reliability & accuracy, including a fitted match barrel, Bo-Mar adjustable sights and a good 4-4.5 lb trigger pull. Spend the rest of the money for new grips, ammo, range time, etc.

When you get it back from the pistolsmith you probably wouldn't want to shoot anything else.
 
Oh, man! For 1400 bucks-- oh, part of it's already taken for something else..

I was gonna suggest that you get a Mateba Unica 6, but I might be biased, because my lust for a mateba burns with the heat of a thousand white-hot .45-70 double-charges.

~Slam_Fire
 
If it were me, right now I'm leaning towards spending the $950 on a pre-lock S&W 625 JM-edition, then putting the remainder towards moonclips & accessories... or reloading equippment.
 
If you can get the FN Hi-Power from CDNN for $400 do it. Then I'd personally buy a stainless (or blue if you prefer) Colt XSE Government. Every serious handgunner needs a full size 1911 in .45 acp and I think the best gun for the money in that category is the new XSE.

XSE_LR9207.jpg


XSE_RR9221.jpg
 
Natedog;

Personally, I'd opt for something along the lines of a Smith 686 .357. Which might very well render your .38 redundant & free up money there.

Getting into reloading is an excellent suggestion & I'll add my .02 to that one.

So, lets see here. Now you'd have a 9mm and a .357, a semi & a wheel gun. With the possibility of a .38 adding some hundreds of dollars to the next gun. Possibly the 1911 platforn that was suggested above? Two semi's would lead to a serious need to reload. Srnk!

900F
 
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