enthusiast

For what it's worth, my Beretta brigidaire 9mm shoots great, looks great, ammo is dirt cheap, AND you can still find 15 round clips to boot.

redhead522

That isn't saying much, sinceClinton's Brady law expired last September. High capacity magazines have been produced for civilians by the truckload ever since.

Bulzeye

If any gun is to be used for defense, it's most valuable feature will be reliability.
It has to go bangEVERY time you pull the trigger. Period.
Several manufactureres have been mentioned to satisfy that.

Next of importance for any gun is how it fits you.
It should be comfortable, and when you bring it up to eye level it should naturally be aligned with your eyes pretty well.

Minimum Calibers for defense:
Revolver=38
Semiauto=9mm(w/ fast hollowpoints, otherwise use a 40 or bigger)
Still use hollow points on the big stuff too.

Decide on a type. Revolver vs Semiauto.
Learnthe pros and cons of both before you decide.

Choose an action type:
Single, traditional double, double only, or striker-fired (like double only).

Other things to think about:
How important is ammo capacity?
How important is the ability to reload quickly?
Do you want night sights for defense?
(Even if you use a light to identify your target, you'll still need to be able to see your sights too.)
Do you want a manual safety? (Nice feature, but not necessary)
Do you want a magazine disconnect safety? (I don't)
Magazine disconnect safeties disable the gun if the magazine is removed from the gun. You cannot fire even if there is a round in the chamber and you have the safety off. Some people, mostly cops I think, like the feature because it can be usedin a defensive way to disable their own gun if a bad guy is wrestling it out of their hands. I personally don't want to get caught in the middle of a reload without being able to fire the bullet that is still in my gun.

Here's another tip to help you be prepared when things go really bad.
Learn as many different action types, and models of handguns as you can. Learn how the safties work, how to operate different cylinder latches, where the magzine release is, and what a loaded chamber indicator looks like. You may be able to make a move if the bad guy's gun is on safe or has an empty chamber.(risky, but out of the question if you seethe gun is ready to fire)Also, you never know when you may end up having to fight with someone else's gun in your hands. There won't time for a lesson, it'll probably be dark, and you'll be so pumped up on the moment that figuring out something new will be a real challenge.

Welcome to handgunning.

biscuit jake

Old fuddy duddy here with a vote for the .45 auto 1911. If you are brand new to the pistolero stuff, she can take a little warming up to; depends on the shooter. Mrs Biscuit did well with it.... when she kept here eyes open shooting.

If the rock & roll of the heavier calibers is a permanent problem for anyone, then even the older mid bore rounds are better than throwing rocks and in good pistols they can be very accurate. One of my early career lessons learned was when a peer dropped a perp with the much aligned 38 spec 158 plane jane lead round nose. It even over penetrated. Marksmanhip, marksmanhip, marksmanship

Paul L Mohr

I had a browning High Power 9 mm. It was VERY accurate and reliable. No double action, pretty simular to a 1911. MY brother in law had a Glock .40. Very nice gun but was not real accurate. Plenty accurate for self defense though. It had one flaw that if you didn't grip it correctly it would not cycle right. You could not "limp wrist" it. Other than that this gun was a tank and you just coudn't make it mess up. Sort of like a the AK of handguns I always thought. This was 10 years ago however.

I honestly think the best defense handgun is a quality .357 revolver. You can even get them in full frame 8 shot versions. It is a very proven round and the revolver is Ultra reliable and simple to use. It does take some practice to shoot well in double action though.

I would say a nice 12 guage pump is the best home defense weapon. I don't own a handgun any more. If someone breaks into my house I'm grabbing my mossberg and shoving a few turkey loads in it!

Paul

Cervids

Just my 2 cents:

I am very impressed with my Steyr M40. It has a “well-supported chamber” having a very strong lock up system originally designed for 40 S&W not the 9mm scaled up for 40 cal. production. The well-supported chamber provides an added measure of safety and is important if you want to reload. The barrel has conventional rifling so you can shoot lead if you want to.

The M40 is a true double action pistol as pulling the trigger continues to cock the striker throughout the stroke until released.However, the action stroke is short an feels more like a single action with 1/8”” of travel and a quick reset (Reset Action System). Standard trigger pull is 5lbs.


The slide is tennifer hardened and rides on steel rails (complete steel sub assembly) inside the pistol, it does not directly contact any of the fiberglass-reinforced polymer.The rails are beveled at 45 degrees for bore axis even lower than a Glock.Accordingly, the felt recoil, even in 40 S&W, is minimal with very little muzzle flip.Slide to frame fit is excellent. There are NO rattles of any kind.The grip is a very comfortable 111 degree angle with a nice indent at the topwhich seems to nest the pistol into your hand very well.The pistol is very accurate out of the box. It eats all ammunition.

There is a safety on the trigger for c/c purposes similar to Glocks. There is also manual safety above the trigger guard.When engaged, a safety indicator/release mechanism extends pushes down into the trigger guard in front of the trigger. The indicator is easily felt and has a very visible white dot.You activate it with your off hand, and deactivate with a quick and easy upward and away motion (from the trigger) with your trigger finger, very quick.There is plenty of room for the manual safety in the trigger guard. The manual safety system is similar to that found in the M-1 Garand, M-14, Ruger Mni-14/30 etc.As mentioned, the M40 has a manual safety if you want to use it. It also has 3 passive reset action passive safeties: 1) the trigger safety; 2) drop; and 3) a firing pin block.Additionally, there is also an integrated key lock adjacent to the take down lever (2 keys are supplied).There is a loaded chamber indicator that protrudes, and a slot milled into the top of the slide that allows you see chamber status.

You will either like the sights or hate them.However, the sights are steel, not plastic, and can be easily swapped.(Sight radius is 6.22”.)

The rail is proprietary.USASteyr lists an adapter but it is sold out.Bummer.

The entire gun is well rounded and has no levers or edges to catch on holsters or clothing.Besides the 40 S&W, Steyr makes a 9mm (M9) and .357 Sig (M357).There are some “S” (small) series pistols.

The pistol is manufactured in Austria by Steyr Mannlicher which has been around since 1864.I’m sure these pistols would be more popular if Steyr had better advertising. IMHO, at $299-400 you cannot find a better shooting, manufactured, or engineered pistol.Again, IMHO this pistol should be considered among the Sigs, H&K’s and other top pistol brands.Buy a Steyr with a 10,000+ serial number, as these are later production guns with ejection and trigger pull bugs worked out.

No, I don't work for Steyr, I just think these gunsare awesome.

T/C fan!

One thing thats not been brought up is,do you have family living elsewhere in thehouse? Mostdefensive handgun calibers are capable of pentetrating walls and putting your family in harms way. If thats not the case, I'd suggest a medium framed revlover in 357mag. Plenty of punch and will more than do the job with just about anytype of ammo. If you have family in the house, I'll agree with Paul, a scatter-gun is what to go with.

Paul L Mohr

I read an article once where they shot a 44 mag at dry wall and it did the equivalent of going thru like 4 apartments or something. That is definately something to consider when using a selfdevence weapon. Especially a 357, 44 or the corbon 9mm type stuff.

They do make specialized rounds for this though, I think they are by Glazer or something like that. Magsafes sounds right? They fragment and don't penitrate bariers as well.

Paul

rick_reno

1911's are used for targets and defense. I've found my Les Baer to be 100% reliable and with the 1.5 inch package it's also very accurate.

Big Al C

As has already been said, this is really opening up a can of worms!
IMO a medium-frame revolver in .357 magnum with a 4" barrel is a great tool for target shooting and self-defense. You can shoot .38 Spl. wadcutters at targets and to get used to shooting a handgun. Then load full house magnums for defense. (Just be sure to practice some with them as well.)
Another possibility to think about is buying a .22 in the same type of gun as your defense gun, and doing most (but not all!) of your practice with the .22. This way you have a great excuse to buy twonew guns!
I'm not saying that autoloaders are a bad idea, they just take longerto get used to. A .45 1911A1 makes a great defense gun, andcan be very accurate as well. (But thegood ones will cost more than a comparable revolver.)
Try everything you possibly can, then take your time deciding. Good Luck!