akbound

Hi DTLarson,

The S&W 642 is a fine choice! We have one, (my wife won't let me touch it......"It's her's!"), and it stays in a Galco leather pocket holster. Cindy either has it in her right hand front pocket, or she has two separate purses that accept the holster and gun and maintain them in a constant, protected, position. She is extremely comfortable with it.

BTW, Speer developed a .38 Special +P, 135grain Gold Dot load that was specifically designed to work at the velocities from a 2" barrel. (One of the large northeastern police departments that issues "snub guns" for back-up and off duty carry requested these to meet or exceed the general law enforcement parameters for bullet performance.) CCI-Speer developed the loads for that purpose and also released them for sale to the civilian market as well. That is the load you will find most often in either our S&W 642 or our S&W 649 when they are carried for CCW.

Good luck with a nice choice!

Dave

PAHUNTER21

This is what I carry:

Taurus Millenium Pro (9mm)



Model: 111BP
Caliber: 9 mm
Capacity: 10 +1
Barrel Length: 3-1/4"
Porting: No
Action: DAO
Finish: Blue
Grips: Checkered Polymer
Weight: 24 oz
Construction: Polymer/Steel
Frame: Medium
Front Sight: Fixed- 1 Dot
Rear Sight: Fixed- 2 Dots
Trigger Type: Smooth
Length: 6-1/8''
Width: 1.125"
Height: 5.125"
Rate of Twist: 1:9.84
Grooves: 6
Safety: Manual Safety, Firing Pin Block, Trigger Block
UPC: 7-25327-31125-6
Order #: 1-111031P
MSRP: $445.00
Status: Available

loghead

Well call me cheap! I have a Rossi 38 five shot in stainless steel. It's light and handles very well.

texasaggiebowhunter

I got my wife a Desert Eagle 9mm. It was about in that price range and a great shooting pistol.

bigcountry

Danny, do you really believe that shooting one ragged hole vs. shooting 3" group at 15 yards, is going to make the difference in a home invasion? I don't. Things I believe will.
1. Some good glow in dark sights
2. Rather large sights. (rules out target sights that shoot one ragged hole)
3. Ease of use. Remember you scared, shocked, and groggy. I know from experience, with that mix, you better be able to operate the gun by pure instinct and conditioning. Glocks are simple, so are wheel guns. Can't mess that up too bad.

Nomercy

I see you picked one out, good for you, but I'll still throw my two cents in, in case there is someone else in your boat checking your post out.

I'd recommend a Ruger KP-97D or KP-95D, these are the P-series, stainless decockers with polymer grip frames....absolutely awesome guns especially for the price. The P-97 is .45acp, the 95 is 9mm, if they bring out a polymer stainless decocker .40S&W it would be better still for you. The polymer frames are light, and balanced towards the muzzle a great deal (since all the weight is in the slide and bbl, and most of it is in front of your hand. Fill the mag and it balances perfectly over your hand, and if you run them out in a hurry, as your shots are getting less and less stable from rapid fire, the balance point is moving more and more towards the muzzle, which helps reduce your muzzle hop.

Having polymer gripframes and having all the weight on top, recoil is translated more into a good rotation instead of a straight kick to the hand, which is good for beginners...and like I said, the gun being slightly muzzle heavy with a half mag or less helps keep this rotation down to a minimum, so the gun absorbs most of it's own recoil.

Beginners can get too caught up on all the gadgets on a gun, manual safeties are great and it's usually good to have one if your pistol is your first gun, but if you already know how to safely handle a firearm, a decocker is the way to go, you get double action/no safety speed of a double action with the light follow up shot trigger pull of a single action, pop the decocker and it's safe, but still ready.

Rugers are hard to beat, they may not be the finest firearms, but they're accurate enough for a pistol, and very very reliable. I've had my P-97 for nearly two years now, run around 10,000rnds through it so far, the only jam I have had was one stove pipe which happened when I only had one round and NO magazine in the gun, it shouldn't jam because of that, but it might have had something to do with it...if I were firing like that anywhere other than the range, it wouldn't matter because the gun wouldn't be worth much plumb empty.

Danny45

All I know is, the more accurate the gun, the more accurate the shooter is. If I aim center mass with that Kimber, I'm pretty dang sure that at least one bullet is going to take out the spinal column. End of aggression right there.

Yes, you have to have shooting skills, but the best shooter with a inaccurate gun is no better than an inaccurate shooter with an accurate gun. Here is where range time comes in. As far as the rest of your points go;
1. I have night sights on my Kimber.
2. They are large enough for me to see.
3. I spend enough time at the range that I can operate it "by pure instinct and conditioning". As a former police officer, I will probably be pumped up, and groggy, but I'm pretty sure I can take care of business should the need arise. That said, you don't need to have been a cop, or even gone thru the training. A good mind set, and plenty of time at the range practicing different scenerios will greatly improve your chances in a bad situation.

wesleykey

If I'm going to carry a gun on me, it's a Colt .380. Not good at a long range, but good for personal defense. It kept me from getting mugged once at the ATM.

bigcountry

Well Danny, I am glad you are prepared. Also glad you said "you don't have to be a cop", cause I see alot of police and prison guards struggling to qualify here in Baltimore/DC area. If I was them, I would not feel confident with anything as a home defense gun except a wheel gun. I would trust more people on this site than them. At the range I go to, which is close to Jessup state prison, I see all these cops all frustrated cause of poor shooting, practicing on thier own time, trying to improve. The problem is most of them have never fired a pistol or grew up with them. This may be thier first time shooting. I try to help them out when I can, cause thier qualifications are not that difficult from what I can tell. They have trouble with the rapid fire I see the most. I gave a few the army's manual on handguns which is loaded with good information.

But for a guy, that needs to ask, what to get, I think they should start out with something simple, (ie not a kimber, or berretta, or HK).

I mean if some guy gets on here, and says, "hey looking to buy my first rifle, what should I get", I don't tell them my 300RUM just because I am very good with mine.

Briman

I don't even worry about sights.
I've shot enough competition to learn that sights only slow you down- especially at close ranges. After shooting portons of IPSC matches, I don't even remember seing a sight picture- I'm not an exprt shot, but I'm very proficient. With a gun that fits you well and points well (I've found the way the 1911 fits my hand and points for me to be uncanny) you waste your time by aiming. With a good semi-auto- the bullets go where my thumbs point- pickup/draw handgun, point at target, squeeze trigger. Remember that if you use this gun for personal protection, especially in a house, the shots you could potentially take are going to be very close- probably 15 feet or less.