First Handgun - How to Narrow Down the Choices?

[1lowlife]

Originally Posted by McCallTX

Thanks, you will have to direct me to some good ranges

Tomorrow I plan on going to The Shooters Club in Fort Worth (I am in Grapevine so I imagine I will have the option of either big city.

This is a good one.......
DFW Gun Range, Training Center and Retail Firearms Store

I-35E and Mockingbird.

I'm over here on the east side so I don't know much about Tarrant county ranges.

As Frenchy stated (he is one of the good ones here) the Glock 26 is a fine choice.
A bit smaller than the XD9sc, but the XD fit my hand better.
The back-strap of the Glock dug into my palm.
It may not do that for you.
With either of these you can get a finger extension for your mag and get a full grip on it.
Springfield Armory XD Series
Glock Plus Extensions by Pearce Grip

I'd rent a Glock and an XD both in 9mm.
Some guys love the 40cal bullet.
I feel it is too snappy and would rather have a 45acp than a 40cal.
My XD45 compact has less felt recoil than the XD40 I rented.
The 40cal has a muzzle flip, the 45acp has more of a push back.
But the 45acp ammo is a bit high.
The 9mm has a bit of recoil but it is very controllable.
Stick with the 9mm, shoot 9mm target ammo to practice.
But carry 9mm +P ammo in the pistol when you carry it.
But do practice with the 9mm +p at the range as well.
Just not too many, a good 9mm +P ammo will run over a $1 a piece.
I prefer Speer Gold Dot +p.

Whatever you do, have fun with it.
There is a lot of info on this forum.
I've learned a lot here, about a lot of things, not just guns.

Good luck Bro...........

[McCallTX]

Thanks!

I have a similar post over at glocktalk, a few are suggesting I buy/rent a .22 handgun and put a few thousand rounds under my belt before moving to anything larger. I understand thier reasoning, it has been a while and maybe my perception of felt recoil is not accurate. Down the line I would like to carry, and it would be larger than .22. Do you feel that is a necessary step? I am a about 210, and though I have not shot in several years, I did grow up with them up into my teenage years.

[Mr. Wolf]

Originally Posted by McCallTX

Thanks!

I have a similar post over at glocktalk, a few are suggesting I buy/rent a .22 handgun and put a few thousand rounds under my belt before moving to anything larger. I understand thier reasoning, it has been a while and maybe my perception of felt recoil is not accurate. Down the line I would like to carry, and it would be larger than .22. Do you feel that is a necessary step? I am a about 210, and though I have not shot in several years, I did grow up with them up into my teenage years.

McCall,
Glad you're interested in getting back into the fold.
22 pistols are good for practicing the fundamentals and it's dirt cheap to shoot as well.
22 LR conversion kits are a great way to practice on the platform of choice. Several companies make 22 conversions for the Glock, but I do not know of any that have one out for the XD.

For a do it all gun (HD, Range, CCW as you described in the first post), I'd recommend the XD 45 compact. Use the short magazine for CCW, and the larger full capacity one for HD and range.
Springfield Armory
For practice drills and getting back to the fundamentals, I think the Ruger Mk 2 or Mk 3 are very good. Abundant used weapons, cheap ammo, reliable, same grip angle as the XD line, you have 2 weapons instead of one and a conversion slide and the Ruger is a great weapon to teach new shooters about weapon safety and marksmanship. Only negative to the Ruger Mk 2 and 3 is that it is a total PITA to field assemble/disassemble.
GunBroker.com guns: Ruger 22 semi-auto standard model pistol (item: 96976166 ends: Apr-16-08 12:57:31 PM)

Cheers,

[xds&chevys]

i recently bought an xd .45 in the 4" service model. I LOVE IT!!!!! But it all depends on what you are going to use it for, .45 is a lot more expensive if you go to the range and blast 500 rounds a week vs. the 9mm, but for defense it really packs a whollop. only thing i didn't consider when i bought mine was that there are 13 rd. mag extensions for the compact model to basically convert it to a service model at the range but smaller for concealment. hope this helps, good luck let us know what you get

[1978z28]

+1 on the 45 compact xd, what a great gun, if you can afford to feed it. if not and you really want that subcompact go with the 3in 9mm subcompact, both awesome guns, i shot both and decided on the 45, but i bought a 22 soon after so i could afford to so a pistol haha

[cjive134]

I know this is an XD forum, but have you handled a Walther P99? I comes in several trigger varieties and sizes. The QA model has a Glock like trigger while the AS model has a traditional double action or SA/DA trigger. It comes in a service size with 4" bbl and a compact version with a 3.5" bbl.

You will never find a pistol with a better grip. Grip comes with 3 size back straps to suit different size hands and shooting styles.

All this being said, you will be happy with an XD too. I love the XD. It is great right out of the case. Just clean it before you shoot it the first time, as with all new guns, they are lubed extra sloppy.

[billbrasky]

Originally Posted by McCallTX

Thanks!

I have a similar post over at glocktalk, a few are suggesting I buy/rent a .22 handgun and put a few thousand rounds under my belt before moving to anything larger. I understand thier reasoning, it has been a while and maybe my perception of felt recoil is not accurate. Down the line I would like to carry, and it would be larger than .22. Do you feel that is a necessary step? I am a about 210, and though I have not shot in several years, I did grow up with them up into my teenage years.

no need, unless you have terrible form, or you are a petite little man. Look at the springer precision videos, he used to have a video of some 100 lb chic firing away with perfect form with a 1911 .45

Especially if you have experience with guns, i think half the trouble is folks are trigger shy. Fear of the bang.

You can go right to .45 with my blessing. As long as you can afford the bullets, .45 is the way to go. My xd 45 compact hold 13 rounds and is just a tiny bit bigger than my cousins sig p239 a highly recomended single stack carry piece, and just a tad bigger than my single stack sig p225.

The deal breaker for the glock vs. xd is the grip safety on the XD. I think the way to narrow it down is what does a glock do or have that a XD does not?

Whats the biggest caliber you think you want? If you didnt answer .45 please explain and we can help you narrow down further.

[McCallTX]

Thanks for all the input fellas, I did rent several handguns this morning, spend about $120 in rentals and ammo. Well worth it, although I did not leave with a gun. This is by no means to be taken as a "range report" on these handguns, just my experience as a relatively inexperienced shooter.
P22. great, 50 rounds thought it, I did feel like it was a good warm up, as my aim wasn't that great. It felt great in my hands though, I will defiantly want one one sooner or later.

G19. 50 rounds. Felt pretty good, I will admit, the 9mm did surprise me a bit at the first shot. First mag was a little all over. Got the hang of it and felt really comfortable with it.

xd9sc. 50 rounds. Felt pretty good as well, although it was a different feel. I wish it was a clear winner or loser over the g19 but it wasn't.

G26. 50 rounds. Wish I could have liked it, unfortunately it did not have a grip extension and I was not quite as comfy with it (big hands). I felt that I would have liked it with the extension though, I do like the overall size. Accuracy was the worst with this one (no counted the first 100 rounds).

G23 (lent from gentleman next to me). One mag for a few bucks. Felt good in the hands, wasn't so great on the paper, haha. I was not too surprised on the "snappiness" and didn't find it too bad, but I was more comfortable with the G19.

aaaaaaaand, the lady at the counter let me take out her G30. 50 rounds. Absolutely loved it. I was a little nervous loading the .45 as they look huuuuge. But I was pleasantly surprised that the kick really wasn't that bad, I expected it to be much worse than the 9mm and .40, in my perception this wasn't the case, and honest to god truth... the my grouping was by far the best on this one. I would credit a lot this being that I had quite the warm up previous to it and was taking a little more time. It had an extension and felt much better than the G26 w/o extension. Ammo cost hurt. But I enjoyed shooting this the most. Makes me really want to try a G26 with extension.

Sooooo many options. Practice would be a lot more efficient with the .22 or 9mm, but I felt pretty damn comfy even with the .45 round at the end of my visit. I am sure I want a .22 handgun sooner or later. There are a few more handguns I want to try out... an XD45 and perhaps another .40 or two to give the caliber a fair shot. This place seemed a little Glock Biased

From one stand point going with a .22 would be wise, but on another point a service caliber would be wise as well. I really do appreciate everyone's help. This is a great community. I don't want to take anyones advise for granted.

[XDONBOARD]

You should check out the 45 compact and 9sc with the extensions. So comfortable to shoot both!

[1lowlife]

Originally Posted by XDONBOARD

You should check out the 45 compact and 9sc with the extensions. So comfortable to shoot both!

+10000000000000
I have an XD9sc.
I'm much better with the finger extensions.
I also have an XD45 compact......
For whatever reason (I don't know what is is), I'm more accurate with it,
Than any pistol I've owned for over the last 14 years.

But if the Glock 30 works for you, by all means look into it.
Also, your range may not be the best place to buy a handgun.

But just to let you know, the XD trigger takes a little getting used to.
I shot low and to the left for awhile until I got used to the XD trigger....

McCallTX, PM me and I'll give you a few gun stores that have the best prices that I've found in the DFW area.