TexasCHLforum.com

bradfromearth, that is very nice for you to offer. I may have to take you up on that someday as those are two guns that I would like to shoot. If I can get over my hangups about the smaller .380 caliber, I think an LCP would make an excellent carry gun for the attire I wear and situations I have to be in daily.

Just today I was having lunch with a client, and ESPN was on a TV at the restaurant. They were running some story about professional athletes carrying guns, and they had a lot of clips of them shooting. The client, who is also a friend of mine, just shook his head and said, "That's ridiculous"--commenting to the fact that he didn't feel they needed guns. I thought we might end up getting into a conversation about guns, CHL, etc.. but I had to let it slide. He was much more anti that I had expected, so I just let him talk and I avoided making any revealing statements about myself. Meanwhile, I was thinking to myself how important it was to keep my gun absolutely hidden as I couldn't afford to be 'outed' at a client's office and potentially lose the business.

As for your wife, I hate to hear that feel you need to hide it from her. She could be your greatest asset if things go south, and you could really use her support. If you whip a gun out of nowhere that she had no idea you had, you could find yourself in hot water! My wife grew up around guns and in a family that hunted avidly, so she doesn't have the "oooh, guns are scary" that many people do.

Well, I made a trip out to the Arms Room. Quite a few more used guns than I expected, and fewer new ones. Their prices seemed decent, and fellow I spoke with was very helpful.

I finally got to see the Kel-tec's. I wasn't real thrilled with the build quality, but I guess that's just because they are all plastic. They had the Kahr's too, which I am shying away from now because of all the negative reports I've heard. I think the little Kel-tel .380 would make a great pocket gun, which is what I feel I need at this point for carry at work.

Marburger's had the Taurus PT 27/7 Pro C, which we had mistaken for a Millennium. That was a surprisingly nice gun!

Thanks, Moonpie!

I'm going to hit Arms Room and Marburgers today if possible.

bridge wrote:Indeed, 1st Gen Millennium.... I heard Taurus had some problems with these pistols and it seems they took a lot back.

The Academy in Pasadena had the same special line up front, and it was 22-25 people long. Doing the math of 10-15 minutes per application, and I figured it was going to be awhile. I asked one the guys to show me the gun, and that's when I saw what it was, decided to save myself the time and left the store.

When I mentioned to a friend that I was considering the Taurus, he made some disdainful comments about how he'd rather have a $2 Saturday night special that that piece of doo-doo. I know the early Millenniums had a lot of problems, so this reputation isn't entirely undeserved. What I find puzzling is that Taurus would continue to pump that gun out and continue their bad reputation! In fact, they don't make it easy to distinguish the different generations by part number, model designation, or some other marking. It's up to watchful buyer to decipher their product line, and come up with the distinctions that make up the different series. Who would have thought that you could buy the older problem-laden model to this day? Why not sell the Taurus Millennium Pro mk3, or v.3? Give the public something that says, "hey we've made improvements here, and things aren't as bad as they were".

Maybe I should look harder at the Glock 26.

Mike1951 wrote:You beat me to it! It is the FIRST gen PT-111.

Haha, Mike I see you over at Taurusarmed.net too!

Are you sure it's 1st gen? I was thinking it was 2nd, but it's definitely not 3rd.

Update: the gun at Academy is NOT the "Pro" version.

Ugh... Oh well, this gives me a good reason to head off to the Arms Room later today. I'd rather support a local in any case.

bridge wrote:Whats the difference between the 111 and the 145?

9mm vs. .45 Auto

Also the 145 has a rail.

It is on sale through the weekend, but it doesn't do much good if they're sold out!

In any case, please do post back what you find. According to Taurusarmed.net:

First Generation

* The guns were marked only as Millennium
* All were DAO


Second Generation

* The guns were marked as Millennium Pro
* Magazines were modified and will not interchange with First Generation models


Third Generation

* The word "Pro" was moved from the left side where it read "Millennium Pro" to the right side where it reads "PT145 Pro"
* The sights are dovetailed into the slide rather than screw mounted
* The guns are now SA/DA rather than the traditional DAO

And 3rd gen 9mm have 12 round magazines

bridge wrote:I ...they did have their gun stats book and showed me the page. It says DAO, so the ad is a misprint and the guns are new old stock.

That's disappointing. I wonder how possible it is that their stats book is just off, or was it a stat specifically for the gun that was going to be for sale on Friday?

It makes sense that it would be new old stock. We used to do that at another large retailer I worked at. They would make a special deal with a vendor to buy thousands of a discontinued item and sell them at an unbelievable price.

Personally, I don't think this is a very good deal unless it's the 3rd gen model. I guess there's no way to no for sure until Friday morning?

agbullet2k1, thanks for the suggestions. My F-I-L bought several guns from Marburger's, so I've been meaning to check them out, and I completely forgot about Carter's Country!

Oh yeah, and as for the Millennium I am going to check and make sure it is a 3rd generation model. It's not such a hot deal if it is for old stock of the previous models. The biggest difference is that the 3rd gen. is SA/DA, and the 1st & 2nd were DAO.

Wow, looks like some great gun buys to be had this week. I think I'll snag the Millenium. For that price, I can afford to add two guns to my collection. Maybe a Millenium for 12+1 capacity and an LCP for a quick throw down...


Edit: the ad says no rain checks. I wonder how many they will have on hand

bridge wrote:Also, you can't go wrong with Academy if looking for a Taurus...they always have plenty and the lowest price. Looks like they've got a 9mm Millenium on sale for $229 this week.

Got any details on this? I can hit the store in the morning, but I didn't see anything on their website.

I've never been to the Arms Room, but it's pretty close so maybe I'll stop by tomorrow. Also, I was out looking at mountain bikes today, so I stopped by the four pawn shops that I know of in the Clear Lake/Nasa area--nothing much as far as guns go. One had a very overpriced Glock.

I have been to ProDefence as well, but I thought they carried more full-sized service pistols.

I hate to buy from Academy if I can support a local company, but $229 for a Millennium is a pretty nice price.

The bottom line:
Where's the best place to buy a gun in Houston? (and surrounding areas as I'm near League City)
I'd like a large selection to browse and/or rent
I'd like somewhere that isn't currently gouging their customers due to the Obamadness?

The back story:
So my wife decided that she wants me to carry all the time, and for me that means a new gun. My work brings me into strange parts of town, and there are times when I'd rather not be there myself. In any case, I've been doing heavy research on holsters trying to figure out just exactly how much gun I can (and will) conceal on a daily basis.

I figured I'd head off to the gun show to try a bunch out and see how they felt. Wrong! I ended up skipping the last two gun shows after reports of the unwashed masses showing up there--crowds of people aren't really my thing.

I figure I'll be looking at a pocket-carry single stack 9mm (like the Kahr, Kel-tec, or even Ruger LCP) or possibly IWB a Taurus Millenium or Glock 26 or PX4 Sub-compact for the extra rounds if I think I can get away with it weight-wise. My work attire is dress slacks with a pressed dress shirt, no tie, no jacket. So any recommendations on gun and/or carry style would be welcome although I know this isn't really the place for it.