recommendations

[wewo]

I will be a first time pistol purchasers. I want to buy a 9mm compact or subcompact, mostly for home protection but i would probably carry on weekends. Both my wife and I will be shooting the gun at the range, she is petite and I have normal to smallish hands. Should I be looking for a compact or subcompact? Also any thought on Springfield XD, Beretta 92 and or Taurus millenium? I have seen good reviews on all. Also I am left-handed, my wife is right-handed.

[dgg9]

I will be a first time pistol purchasers. I want to buy a 9mm compact or subcompact, mostly for home protection but i would probably carry on weekends. Both my wife and I will be shooting the gun at the range, she is petite and I have normal to smallish hands. Should I be looking for a compact or subcompact? Also any thought on Springfield XD, Beretta 92 and or Taurus millenium? I have seen good reviews on all. Also I am left-handed, my wife is right-handed.

Beretta 92 = probable non-starter for small hands.

You might rent and try out a Glock 19. Since one of you is lefty and other righty, the fact that the Glock slide has no levers is a plus.

I have brought several women to the range and none found the G19 too big. Plenty of ranges rent them.

[jdlv4_0]

If your looking for a Beretta 92FS, I have a LNIB Beretta 92FS with w/2 factory mags, and 8 MILSPEC magazines, a Galco NSA II IWB holster and shoulder holster components for sale. I'm asking $700. PM / eamil me for deatils.

If you want to go smaller I'd recommend the Bersa Thunder 9mm. It's a little more friendly to smaller hands. The XD9's are pretty neat (my wife thinks they are too blocky, and hence won't carry one.)

[TonyF]

I will be a first time pistol purchasers. I want to buy a 9mm compact or subcompact, mostly for home protection but i would probably carry on weekends. Both my wife and I will be shooting the gun at the range, she is petite and I have normal to smallish hands. Should I be looking for a compact or subcompact? Also any thought on Springfield XD, Beretta 92 and or Taurus millenium? I have seen good reviews on all. Also I am left-handed, my wife is right-handed.

I would agree with dgg9 in that the 92 series would be too large. The G19 may or may not be. The XD's feel better to me in my hands than glocks but YMMV.

One pistol you should take a serious look at is the new S&W M&P. It is also ambidexterous and has interchangeable backstraps to better fit the end users hands. It's been getting very good reviews.

[dgg9]

There are two kinds of gun buyers: do you buy a gun because it's a new model or do you NOT buy a gun because it's a new model.

I tend to be the latter. New guns are cool, fun, etc, but I buy a gun for a deadly serious purpose, so I'm only interested in models that have demonstrated a sustained track record for reliability over the years. Glocks in 9mm fit this bill, as do Beretta 92's, Sigs (228, 229, 226), H&K USPs. Each of them has about a billion rounds downrange, by way of vetting.

For me personally, I don't want to be the first on my block to own a new gun model.

[danp]

A compact would be fine, but the best way to find out is to go to a shop and hold a few guns. I will however strongly second the recommendation of a Glock 19, it's what I carry. I think glocks are one of nicest most reliable handguns on the planet, and for the quality the price can not be beat. Others will disagree, but you asked for suggestions

[LittleRedToyota]

another glock fan here.

imho, SIG and H&K also make very nice and reliable pistols.

the XDs are also very nice guns. i've heard they have a problem with rusting very easily, but i don't really know. i have shot one, though, and it shot very well and felt like a very solid, well-made gun.

given all the horror stories i have heard about berettas (esp. from guys who are issued them in the military), i wouldn't touch one, but that is just my opinion.

[27hand]

I'm with Tony_F on the M&P with the interchangable grip. I am going to get one but am not sure if I will go with the .40 which is now available as well as the 357sig and 9mm or am going to go with the .45ACP when it comes out next spring.

I also have a Kahr P9 which has a smaller grip than even a Glock 19.
This little 9mm has a 3.5 inch bbl and you can get a 6 rnd flush fit mag for concealment or 7 rnders.

So many options.

Do research on any subcompact you buy(actually do the same before you buy any gun) to see if a model you want is prone to any specific problems.
I read that some people had problems with the early Kahr PM9's feeding because of the more pronounced angle of the feed ramp. There was also an issue with the recoil spring although I don't remember the exact problem. This may have been corrected.

Some manufacturers have better customer service than others.

If you can, either go rent these different guns or find some different people to shoot with that have a variety.

Buy quality.

27

[LorDiego01]

if you are looking for a 9mm...

I'd definitely get the XD in .45

The OLD 9mm XD had rust problems, but thats apparently been worked out thourgh a new finish called melonite, or something like that.

The XDs are cheap, reliable and shoot great. More and more people are buying them over glocks too. And more and more people are taking their XDs to competitions.

I've put about 1,300 rounds through mine and have had zero malfunctions of any kind. And Im not the type that cleans the gun after every trigger pull either.

go to http://www.xdtalk.com/ if you want to learn more about the XD line.

[dgg9]

given all the horror stories i have heard about berettas (esp. from guys who are issued them in the military), i wouldn't touch one, but that is just my opinion.

The horror stories all seem to derive from the cheap, aftermarket mags they use in the army.

You shouldn't see any such problems with factory mags.