CraigC
Sixgun Nut
You do what you have to when you have to. Like I said, there's nothing wrong with buying a HiPoint if you need something right now and it's all you can afford. I prefer to have all the info possible and if I've bought something subpar, I'd like to know so I can plan ahead. That's where the saving pennies comes in. Nobody is born an expert. We all have to start somewhere and have usually started with inexpensive equipment. It appears that everyone here agrees that there are better choices that cost more money but the point of contention is whether or not to tell someone that.Pardon me for asking, but what if time were a critical factor?
If a woman on the lower economic scale (i.e, poor) just left an abusive relationship and needed protection now, as in that night? How would "saving pennies" work in that situation?
If it right to rob someone of their confidence just because they buy low-end off the bat?
I'm also not suggesting robbing someone of their confidence. All this can be handled in a productive manner. Seems to me what many here have implied is that people are best left in the dark to figure this all out for themselves. I don't understand or agree with this but we live in a politically correct society where hurt feelings are often seen as the worst possible outcome. There's no excuse for insulting someone who has not deserved it or belittling someone's choice in whatever. These situations can be handled in a productive manner that would be far preferable to leaving folks in the dark.
When I started leatherworking, I bought relatively cheap tools from Tandy. It did not rob me of my confidence to know that I was using less than great tools. They weren't the first tools I ever bought so I knew going in that they weren't that great. I bought cheap tools to learn with and as time passed, I saw that t his was something I wanted to do so I gradually started buying better tools. Would I have been better off if I had deluded myself into thinking that the Tandy tools were the greatest and anything more expensive was just "buying a name"? Hindsight tells me absolutely not. I've encountered quite a few people who have deluded themselves into believing something lesser was more than it really was and they are not better off for it. These are the reasons why discussions surrounding "cheap" guns become to confrontational.