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Best handguns for beginners / home defense...great article.

5K views 49 replies 18 participants last post by  Iamfarticus 
#1 ·
https://www.pewpewtactical.com/best-handgun-beginners-home-defense/

I like how they say this about G17 / G19

It is a polymer, kind of boring, but ultra reliable. If I had the choice of only taking a random pistol into a situation…this would be it.

I've never thought Glocks are boring or not boring...the stinking gun fondlers. You can always tell the millennial, they love the word 'random.'

Great article anyway.
 

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#2 ·
This is an algorithm of sorts and assumes a shooter has no idea what they want.

1. Shooter has diminished hand / grip strength and is recoil averse
SW Shield EZ 380 - no thumb safety

2. Shooter has diminished hand / grip strength but can tolerate 9 mm recoil
SW Shield EZ 9 mm - no thumb safety

3. Shooter can afford a Glock 19 and has hands that can properly grip Glock 19
Glock 19

4. Shooter can afford a Glock 19 but has hands that can NOT properly grip Glock 19
Glock 48

5. Shooter can't afford Glock 19 but can afford SW Shield
SW Shield - no thumb safety

6. Shooter can't afford SW Shield
Taurus G3 or G2S

7. Shooter can't afford as Taurus - they have more pressing issues in their life than buying a firearm


Before you all get the vapors think about it a minute and admit I'm right. A shooter with no
idea about firearms will not know something may 'fit them' better than one of the firearms
listed so will not worry about it an will be able to shoot it just fine if they train with
it once in a while, which most will not.

The Shield EZ is without a doubt the firearm for those with reduced grip and hand strenght.

If someone can afford a Glock as get enough experience to decide something might be 'better' for
then, very unlikely but possible. They can get darn near all their money back from a Glock.

The shield at $350 or even $300 is an amazing thing.

The new Tarus are night and day better than some of the past offerings, seems somebody read a book
on quality control.

Sad fact of things is if a person can't afford a Taurus they have other things in their life
that are more pressing than buying a firearm.

Thank me

https://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=949022
 
#3 ·
$250 2” taurus 38sp, 5 shot 85 or 6 shot 856, not airweight version. load it mild to wild. get a couple of speedloaders and learn how to use them. nothing to fumble with if confronting a threat at zero dark thirty. one hand operating the flashlight, one hand operating the revolver. point and pull trigger, if it comes to that.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
#6 ·
$250 2” taurus 38sp, 5 shot 85 or 6 shot 856, not airweight version. load it mild to wild. get a couple of speedloaders and learn how to use them. nothing to fumble with if confronting a threat at zero dark thirty. one hand operating the flashlight, one hand operating the revolver. point and pull trigger, if it comes to that.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Absolutely. Point and squeeze.
 
#4 ·
There are (or I should say, were) plenty of used good quality guns around that you dont have to waste money on sub-par guns buying new. Id rather have a decent used S&W or Glock, etc, than a new Taurus, and a few others.

You need to trust the gun and feel comfortable with it.

I dont think it really matters what you learn with, as long as its within reason. Realistically, more full size of a moderate caliber would be the best choice, and really, for anyone. No 22's., no magnums, no Airweights or snubbies, etc.

How you learn is actually more important than the gun.

You need to learn to use the gun properly, and when you prctice, shoot like you intend to as if your like depends on it, as it does.

What you dont want to do is, practice basic target shooting and thumb cocking a revolver, when you should be learning to shoot it instinctively, and DAO for anything serious. Same goes for anything else.

If the person isnt going to be willing to put in the time and effort to learn properly and practice regularly, then a crash course in something like Rex Applegates WWII primer would be a better way to go, even with a novice, and no matter what the gun is.

You need to get them on board with making decent hits as fast as possible, up close, and without hesitation and focusing on the target. The last thing they should be practicing is slow fire bullseye type shooting at longer, or any distance for that matter. Youre just wasting time there.
 
#5 ·
This is the article I always point to when asked by a beginner about what is the best gun to get. A simple revolver until you see if owning a firearm is for you. I know that now all the rage is a plastic Hi-Cap 9mm that will need more training than the simple to use revolver but I still stand behind the wheel gun as a first choice for the new guys. And they still work for an advanced shooter as well.

https://www.hensleygibbs.com/edharris/articles/One Revolver.htm
 
#8 ·
A .38 revolver with at least a 4" barrel.

In my experience, magazines are the most confusing thing for new shooters to deal with. Being able to see the 'bullets' and the mechanism move seems to help new shooters put together what is actually happening in the gun

After that they graduate to a beretta 92.
 
#9 ·
Revolvers are hard to shoot. I love my revolver , but I’m much more effective with a semi auto.

A Glock 19 or glock 43 48 is a good choice.

Taurus g2c or a ruger security 9 are good on a budget.

I like my Glock. But honestly I shoot a few guns better and they are as reliable or just short of it. My xdm 9mm is just easier to shoot well. I don’t know why it just is. Same with a sig p320.
 
#10 ·
They are easy to shoot.

They are hard to hit stuff with.

Which is a minor concern for beginners compared to just making the gun go bang and send a bullet in the general direction of the target.

A LOT of people have a hard time racking a slide, dropping magazines and putting them back in. So much so it can be a deal breaker. There are reasons why revolvers, although inferior in everyway to an auto, are still very popular.

Shooting well is the goal...but just shooting is a the first hurdle.
 
#11 ·
There are reasons why revolvers, although inferior in everyway to an auto, are still very popular.
There are some of us who don't think the revolver is inferior at all to an auto except in capacity and maybe a faster reload. And reloads are only more important if you miss a lot.:D:

With a revolver they are simple to load. No magazine to lose or cause feeding issues. Lose your magazine and now your auto is a single shot. And thats only if your gun will even fire without a magazine. A lot will not.

With a revolver I can shoot everything from primer powered wax and plastic bullets to magnum loads that autos can't handle. The manual of arms is so simple that anyone can use them. I like and own both and don't discount one over an another. I own both but shoot revolvers more often. But the last handgun I bought was an auto.
 
#21 ·
There are some of us who don't think the revolver is inferior at all to an auto except in capacity and maybe a faster reload. And reloads are only more important if you miss a lot.


With a revolver they are simple to load. No magazine to lose or cause feeding issues. Lose your magazine and now your auto is a single shot. And thats only if your gun will even fire without a magazine. A lot will not.

With a revolver I can shoot everything from primer powered wax and plastic bullets to magnum loads that autos can't handle. The manual of arms is so simple that anyone can use them. I like and own both and don't discount one over an another. I own both but shoot revolvers more often. But the last handgun I bought was an auto.
but for beginners there is nothing or at most very little to recommend a revolver.

There are of course people with the skills to fight through the inherent deficiencies in revolvers but revolvers are clearly inferior to a quality modern pistol
I agree. I can’t see why a revolver would be a good choice for most newbies. ESP as a carry gun. A 2 inch revolver isn’t the best to shoot with full power loads. But a 4 inch revolver is a pin in the ass to carry.

That said I’ve been carrying my last gun purchase which is a 2inch revolver. But if I was really worried about a gun fight I’d take a full size semi auto.

Also “reloads “ really ? My full size semi holds 19 rounds. My revolver holds 6. I’d have to reload my revolver 3 times before I need to reload my semi !
 
#27 ·
I have only trained a few people to shoot. But when I do I don't force any particular design on them. I take several autos and revolvers and let them try all they want and let them make their own choice.

well a man has a right to be wrong if he wants to - but in general and for beginners in particular a revolver is simply inferior to a quality modern semi auto
In the parlance of Clint Eastwood "A mans gotta know his limitations".
 
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#30 ·
My top concern for any defensive gun is the inherent reliability of the weapon matched the the ability of the user to reliably use it. So any gun recommendation is entirely based on the abilities of the end user, and their needs.

A revolver is certainly among acceptable choices, particularly for someone lacking a lot of hand strength or mechanical abilities. It's the equivalent of the double barrel shotgun in the long-gun world. Stupid easy to use, very reliable, and probably solves nearly every defensive problem one reasonably encounters.

A semi-auto would not be appropriate for some people with very little hand strength, agility, mechanical abilities to fix malfunctions, etc. They are inherently more complicated and harder to identify and fix malfunctions. I've seen novices keep squeezing a trigger on a jammed semi-auto, or unable to strip out a magazine or perform remedial drills, and some novices lack the hand strength to rack the slide. The SW EZ pistols remedy the latter issue to some extent. I've seen novices struggle to load rounds into magazines due to lack of hand strength, or even incorrect bullet orientation - loading them backwards. Yes, this can all be taught with many hours of training. I've seen novices freak out when a hot piece of ejected brass ends up in their cleavage.

Semi-autos come with more complexity - Double action, single action, safety or no safety, trigger dingus or not, racking the slide to load a round, a solid understanding of when it's loaded or not, a solid understanding of the mechanics. If you recall, these are fairly complex things for a newbie to understand.

But the fact remains that some people are just not "gun people" and won't put in the time. So it is that revolvers are just easier to load, to use, to understand, and so inherently reliable with the best 'second strike' capability. The rotating cylinder to the next available round without relying on ejecting spent cases, primer reliability, or feeding issues eliminates the most problems found in handgun reliability. Eliminating feed problems, ejection problems, and primer issues by simply pulling the trigger again makes revolvers almost infallible.

Their main drawback is of course capacity. And while that is in fact a serious drawback, we can see from statistics that probably 99% the presence of a defensive gun resolves the issue, and secondly, in that remaining 1%, the overwhelming defensive cases are resolved in under 6 shots. Only in the outlier situations are more than 6 shots required.

So a revolver is not a bad option at all for home defense.

The second drawback is weight and dimensions, making it harder to effectively carry and conceal. That can be overcome but it is more difficult.
 
#38 ·
The absolute best gun for beginners is the one that a person can shoot with some degree of accuracy over and over again.

I did some shooting instruction last week for a first time shooter....the range had a HUGE variety of 9mm pistols ( I would say about 30) that you could simply swap out at any time for another to try out.

Interestingly we shot full size, large size, medium, compact and sub-compact pistols all 9mm......the results were interesting to say the least. The Glock 17 was the easiest to shoot, the sub compacts you could get your hands around too painful.....and what wound up being the most manageable for that person. The Glock 48 provided the best balance of everything overall after shooting a bunch of pistols.

Honestly the answer is different for every single person....I can shoot my Walther CCP and an HK USP compact very well but I am not as accurate with my P99.

Revolvers are dirt simple....very little that can go wrong......if a person is not mechanically inclined it is a great choice.

HK
 
#39 ·
Excellent points.

Nobody likes going to the range with a gun that is painful and of dismal accuracy. It's very defeating to a shooter if he/she cannot hit the target at 5-10 paces. They quickly lose confidence and interest and won't bother carrying it.

Far better to steer them toward easy to operate, medium or full sized guns with full grip, nice sight radius, easy to use trigger, generally a hammer fired gun allowing them to fire in Single Action to get confidence and slowly learn how to fire in Double Action, etc.

It's the same with teaching a kid to ride a bike. A nice, non-threatening bike with training wheels on a level surface. They graduate to removing training wheels, riding on slopes, going faster, etc. Nobody starts out on a Kawasaki 1200 and race track.
 
#41 ·
Since 40% or the background checks are women these days it is particularly true.

My wife struggled with her shooting skills even though she has taken instruction and shot combat classes.

On youtube there is a channel featuring woman shooters only....the grip is different that what she was taught and from one second to the next her shooting came together.

So when I mention, the best gun to shoot is the one you can shoot....this particularly applies to women who generally do not have the same hand strength as men to rack slides, control recoil and have smaller hands physically.

As far as .22 semi-autos go I am kind of mixed on the philosophy.

On the bad side of shooting a .22 it that it can be a crutch....they are extremely light shooting even when compared to a .380. It's easy to get a false sense of security when shooting these because when you finally do step up to a larger caliber and a bigger BOOM it can really throw you off.

One the positive side of a .22 (My experience is with the Walther P22) it is easier to learn trigger control, clear FTF's, learning how to aim. Also IMO, shooting small semi auto pistols like this take quite a bit of focus to get your groups tight....they will never be as tight as a centerfire round but you do get some good shoot skill enhancements here.

HK
 
#43 ·
One the positive side of a .22 (My experience is with the Walther P22) it is easier to learn trigger control, clear FTF's, learning how to aim. Also IMO, shooting small semi auto pistols like this take quite a bit of focus to get your groups tight....they will never be as tight as a centerfire round but you do get some good shoot skill enhancements here.
I'm not so sure about 22 groups not being as tight as center fire groups. I've seen some very tight groups at 20 yards from my old Ruger MKI target pistol, a cop friends High Standard auto and my buds Browning Buckmark.

But one thing about 22s is they do have preferences for certain 22 ammo. I did that once. I took my single six and a big box of assorted ammo and shot test groups and the differences between ammo brands was an eye opener. And it wasn't always the most expensive ammo that gave the best groups either.

If your 22 doesn't group try some other types of ammo. You may be surprised.
 
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#46 ·
It worked well enough that day!

I recall them going 29.95 in the 70's, and 39.95 in the 80's.

In the 60's, they were one of the most popular throw away guns in town. Them and the .25 Italian Galsei (?) the miscellaneous .22 derringers of questionable quality. There was the California guns like the Lorcin, Jennings, Raven, and the Davis derringers and crapola .380. All were under 50 bucks.

For a little more money, you could get the Astra cub/Colt junior .25, or the Rossi .38 revolver, and various Harrington Richardson .22 revolvers as well as the Ever Johnson cadet 8 shot .22 like Sirhan Sirhan killed Bobbie Kennedy with. The cadet was like 49.95.
 
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