Recommendations for CCW please

[RockingRook]

Don't get me wrong, I like the Glocks. Looked at the Sig!! Sigs, Colts and Kimbers are really nice guns but they are all kind of pricey. Don't
mind spending money but can probably get 2 Rugers for the price of the Sig.

The only Sig I have is the Mosquito.

I recently purchased a brand new, in the box Colt 1919A .45. I paid $750 for it. Had it engraved and gave it to my son.

"To Thomas from Dad." He has a son named Thomas as well and hope that he hands it down.

I have 3 Glocks, in 26,27 and 36 as well as the Ruger P-89. The 36 is not much bigger than the 27. I can carry that but the 27 hides much easier.

The only gun that I have purchased that I do not really like is the Beretta PX4 Storm SC 9MM. It recently fell apart on the range while shooting.
That one I sent back to the shop for repair. Less than 2 months old. When it comes back it will be up for sale. Good gun but not for me any longer.

My handguns are like my rifles, all black. Why? My wife thinks I have only 1 handgun and 1 rifle. If I get a stainless handgun then she will think I have 2.

Seriously she thought that for a long time till one day I opened my gun cabinet and she saw 8 black rifles. I guess she really does not mind
but going $1K for a handgun is a bit much for me.

Chuck

[AEA]

Guns are like anything else, you get what you pay for.

If you only have a Hi-Point budget, then buy a Hi-Point and hope it works when it is needed.

If you have a larger budget, buy what everyone else buys, they gotta be right.......right?

You decide what your life is worth.

[RockingRook]

You decide what your life is worth.

In that case I will get a Daisey.

[michael e]

I carry a glock and the lack of a manual safety doesnt bother me. I wouldnt think of carrying anything else since I shoot them so much and dont want to add something diff into the mix if I thinking fast under stress.

[RockingRook]

I carry a glock and the lack of a manual safety doesnt bother me. I wouldnt think of carrying anything else since I shoot them so much and dont want to add something diff into the mix if I thinking fast under stress.

Yes, very good reasoning!! What do load in your Glock for carry? I have my G 27 loaded with 165 grain Hornaday Critical Defense ammo. What do you use?

[hangfour]

I for one do not buy into the idea that you need to carry the gun that you are the most comfortable with. I do buy into the idea that you need to carry the gun that you are the most efficient with when your life depends on it.

Yes, Yes, and Yes ... and that goes for holsters too. I have had to experiment (read spend $) to find the 'right' holster: one that safely secures the gun but allows for a smooth and rapid draw with just the right hand position on the weapon.

[bnc]

I'm with everyone else that thinks there is nothing wrong with a G27 and a round in the chamber. When I got my first handgun I wasn't comfortable leaving it loaded, even just sitting at home. Then I was okay with a magazine in but an empty chamber, and finally got comfortable with keeping it fully loaded. And this was my CZ that has a decocker and no safety (that didn't really factor into my initially timidness, I was just new to handguns). You'll eventually get comfortable with it.

If you really want a gun with the safety I'll second the M&P .40 with a thumb safety since it is pretty similar to the Glock and slimmer.

[comp73]

Another option, albeit a more expensive one, is to go with an HK P2000SK. HK also offers the LEM (Law Enforcement Modification) trigger which basically keeps the trigger pull constant from first (DA) shot to last. The LEM version does not come with a safety, BUT, if you get a non-LEM version that includes a safety/decocker, you can install the LEM trigger and keep the safety.

[RockingRook]

Thanks to all!! Yes, everyone has their favorite guns. A lot of good recommendations. My Glock 27 and my other Glocks are really fine guns, in my opinion.

Because my Beretta is off to the repair shop I have been carrying my G 27. Tomorrow I will be heading to Cabellas to buy some ammo and look at guns.

My trip to Cabellas was already planned but it was to buy 9MM carry ammo. I wanted to pick up son Federal 124 grain +P ammo. Instead I will be looking at guns
and ammo for the .40

If I do pick up another gun I will let you guys know tomorrow what I get.

Thanks again!!

Chuck

[jmoney]

Personally I would get a holster that allows you to feel comfortable with the glock, try a crossbreed or Mtac from compt-tac. But if it is just a nerves thing, I would try M&P, with ex safety, H&Ks, possibly a sig if you don't mind the weight and find one that can fire 1k rounds without any malfunctions. If you find a 1911 that you are comfortable great!, I would still take the high capacity of a double-stack over a 1911, unless it was a Wilson Combat or Ed Brown. Any 1911 with a barrel shorter than 4.25 inches should not be considered for the purposes of CCW/Personal defense due to reliability issues.

[The Annoyed Man]

Personally I would get a holster that allows you to feel comfortable with the glock, try a crossbreed or Mtac from compt-tac. But if it is just a nerves thing, I would try M&P, with ex safety, H&Ks, possibly a sig if you don't mind the weight and find one that can fire 1k rounds without any malfunctions. If you find a 1911 that you are comfortable great!, I would still take the high capacity of a double-stack over a 1911, unless it was a Wilson Combat or Ed Brown. Any 1911 with a barrel shorter than 4.25 inches should not be considered for the purposes of CCW/Personal defense due to reliability issues.

This is simply not true. I've carried a 3" Kimber for over 3 years now with nary a hiccup. Quite accurate. Runs flawlessly. Goes BANG every single time. Does not jam (so long as you don't limp-wrist it, but then that is true for most semi-autos). There are a significant number of us here on the forum who carry 3" barreled 1911s without any complaints. You're misguiding someone by making that statement.

3" 1911s are perfectly acceptable carry guns. As with any other carry gun, you need to know what you're doing. If you don't know what you're doing, and you don't want to learn, then just get a revolver—but don't load it so you don't accidentally hurt yourself or someone else, and keep your boolit in your shirt pocket. Otherwise, feel free to buy a nice 3" Kimber/Colt/Springfield/Etc., and learn the satisfaction of owning these great little pistols.

[jmoney]

How many rounds have you fired through your carry 3" kimber without a single error? the answer should be 0, and it should be 0 after at least 2000 rounds. People have fluctuating standards for what is considered reliable, but after listening to a few of these instructors teaching handgun classes, I am inclined to agree with them. For example, my new g19 had 2 ftes using 115 gr ammuntion within the first 1k rounds. I immediately would not use this weapon with that gr weight of ammunition for any self-defense purposes. However, after moving to 124 gr, 2k rounds, 0 Problems. I now can feel very confident that this weapon is always going to perform.

Just because "your" kimber 3" has been suitable does not discount the several reliabilities issues that have been reported in a 3" single stack 1911 style pistol, there are good reasons why the top 1911 makers do not even consider making a 3" model.

What is misleading, is telling someone that there are no reliability issues with a 3" 1911, and anyone they pick up will run flawlessly, because that is simply not true.

[G.A. Heath]

I'll bite. For a few years I carried a Rock Island Armory compact (3.5 inch barrel), for the record it is their tactical model. This particular little gun has had two issues. The first is the front sight was not properly installed, a quick shipping of the gun back to Nevada got that taken care of. The second issue was my fault, I wanted to see how far the recoil spring would go before getting too weak to be used. I never found out because just past the 2500 round mark the recoil spring broke, but the gun kept running (It did not make your hand feel good to shoot it though). This little gun has always fed correctly, and has eaten everything I put into the mags. This gun has had no no ejection problems either. In fact the total stoppages for this gun (excluding empty magazines) is zero, even with a broken recoil spring. Currently this little gun has a round count of 5325 and the only reason I'm not carrying right now is that it doesn't have night sights.

[AEA]

After a bit of tuning (by me) my Springer Ultra Compact 3.5" runs flawlessly. A search on the internet will show many folks have had a lot of problems with this particular model. All are fixable without sending it back to Springer.

The ambi-safety was not fitted correctly and broke (MIM) BEFORE even firing the gun! I fitted a Wilson Combat replacement.

I removed the dual captive recoil spring and put in a GI style rod and 24# Wolff spring.

I removed the ILS MSH and replaced it with a Fusion aluminum chainlink one with Ed Brown internals.

I fitted and installed an oversize Firing Pin Stop to eliminate the extractor "clocking" in the channel (this can be the main reason for FTF and FTE in any size 1911).

I polished the barrel feed ramp.

I left the Springer factory mags (6rd) in the plastic box and use Wilson 47OXC (7rd) exclusively.

I would suggest that anyone that knows a bit about 1911's can make all of them work better than the assembly line function of a high volume gun manufacturer.

[jmoney]

Then I would say that you have a suitable CCW weapon, as long as you continue to check it after replacing any part for consistency. I am not making the statement that any and all 1911 style pistols under the commander length of 4.25 are terrible weapons and there is no reason to own them. What I am saying is that as one shortens the barrel and slide length below 4.25 there are timing issues, where every little thing has to work just right. While other striker fired pistols at this same length are more reliable as many have less parts, this was a real problem on 1911s. Companies, especially those like kimber, which have mass produced these smaller 1911 pistols have for the most part eliminated these timing issues, however they still can and do exist on some of them. Take the many people that have SA handguns from taurus and love them, however they are the brand of SA weapon besides a few of the cheaper berettas, and recently sig, that I consistently see experience problems at the shooting range. I remember when I took my CHL shooting exam, and literally every single person who brought their shiny new taurus out there had continual malfunctions, and the instructor finally just swapped their pistols out with some of his own.

Nobody is saying that those of you who have these weapons should go and throw them away, but to simply claim that these reliability issues do not exist is silly