Most well rounded sidearm?

[em2b96p]

If you're talking sidearms I'd say beretta 92FS. External safety, 15 rounds, full size, long barrel, many holsters, many parts, and affordable.

If you're talking CCW I'd say Glock 26/27.

If you're talking range/HD I'd say Glock 19/23/17/22.

[arjohnson]

External safety I'd reccommend a 3913.


No nonsense reliable hi-capacity gun that will do everything you need it to do G17

[Glockman]

The center firearm (well rounded) is the Glock 19. Start there and decide each of your parameters. Do you need something smaller or cheaper or higher capacity (doubtful) or flatter. Revolvers are heavy and lumpy and obsolete. I advise hundreds of students a year on gun choices. Lately my favorites are Glock 19 or Sig P250 9mm (a little heavier but 100 dollars cheaper and a great NJ house gun. The Ruger LC9 Perfect Flat carry gun but it only holds 8 rounds.(usually enough). For folks that don't plan to practice and need an idiot proof gun, the Ruger LCR filled with Glaser safety slugs or its cheap mate the Kel-Tec P11 filled with Corbon PowrBall .

Taurus PT111 also worthy of a look.

For max concealment go with the Ruger LCP.

Your oft repeated question should be "Why should I buy this one instead of the flat 20 ounce 16 shooter of utter reliability? GLOCK 19

[harold63]

Based on your introductory post, I'd settle on basket weaving, or something of the sort.

[Steve_NEPhila]

The center firearm (well rounded) is the Glock 19. Start there and decide each of your parameters. Do you need something smaller or cheaper or higher capacity (doubtful) or flatter. Revolvers are heavy and lumpy and obsolete. I advise hundreds of students a year on gun choices. Lately my favorites are Glock 19 or Sig P250 9mm (a little heavier but 100 dollars cheaper and a great NJ house gun. The Ruger LC9 Perfect Flat carry gun but it only holds 8 rounds.(usually enough). For folks that don't plan to practice and need an idiot proof gun, the Ruger LCR filled with Glaser safety slugs or its cheap mate the Kel-Tec P11 filled with Corbon PowrBall .

Taurus PT111 also worthy of a look.

For max concealment go with the Ruger LCP.

Your oft repeated question should be "Why should I buy this one instead of the flat 20 ounce 16 shooter of utter reliability? GLOCK 19

When it fails, it pours fail down the mountain and fills basements ruining beanie baby collections. Translation: the above is mostly terrible advice.

I will start with the reasonable, then delve into the ignorant. The Glock 19 is a reasonable weapon, good for defense and plinking. The G19 is inexpensive, has a good warranty and parts/ammo are everywhere. That is about the only reasonable opinion from the above post.

Revolvers are obsolete and heavy, according to the above. I suspect that statement was made without much subject matter knowledge. However, the intrepid poster then claims to have advised "hundreds" as an attempt to establish some kind of credential. I am calling bullshit. As an anecdotal example, I own a 22 ounce seven shot .357 magnum revolver that has been converted to DAO and that in my hands can hit a lawn mower at 100 yards freehand. Since when has hitting ones target become "obsolete?"

Full disclosure, I am a revolver guy that also loves automatics. I am gun guy that does not discriminate (except for cheap crap, I prefer the nice over the more). My 35 ounce Smith and Wesson Performance center 327 M&P R8 holds 8 rounds of .357 Magnum excellence and puts those lead pills in small groups, how exactly is that "obsolete?"

Think of this in terms of swords, as swords are very similar to firearms. What can one teach the sword? Nothing. What can one expect the sword to do? Nothing. It is the hands of the bearer and the will of the mind that will make the cut, nothing more.

This "expert" goes on to describe the LC9 as "perfect" which is quite odd. That tiny little safety on the side of that polymer frame sure looks imperfect to me, especially for a beginner. A safety on a DAO gun is analagous to 15 year old snow boarders, mostly worthless and often dangerous. Kahr has been doing the single stack thing for much longer and their products are very high quality. Wait, the above post gets better...

After claiming revolvers are obsolete and heavy, in an expert stroke of contradictory genius and poetic panache comes the following "For folks that don't plan to practice and need an idiot proof gun, the Ruger LCR filled with Glaser safety slugs..." I must add, for folks that do not plan on practicing with a weapon, spend time training up your medium distance running. Running will be safer for you and for all of us. However, I must digress... here is a self described "instructor" claiming to reccommend a firearm to someone (possibly hundreds) who by their own admission may not intend on practicing!!! By all means, let us know where you "train" and "advise" people so that I can make sure to discourage future clients of yours.

The above is foolish and terrible advice. Besides all of the nitpicking I have done with the above the last and most important problem is capacity. Whenever anyone talks about capacity and somehow insinuates what may not be enough really is full of shit. For most people shots will never be fired in a fight for ones life. In good enough hands, one shot can be all that is needed. If you find yourself facing down 5 guys with guns a 300 round magazine will not be enough because if they know what they are doing you would never have a chance to use it. My point is that mental capacity is far more important that ammunition capacity. Plan, think and evaluate what you are doing and what others are doing... nature gave us this massive brain, put it to good use.

[medsteele]

I'm still wrapping my brain around one of his current favorites being a Sig 250, and what about it makes it a "good NJ house gun". Especially comparing it to a G19. If you're looking at cheap Sigs, look at the SP2022, and stay the hell away from the P250. Would also like to know the criteria for something being a good Jersey house gun.

LC9 has some big flaws-- the safety being one of them. Kahr or a S&W M&P Shield (it's safety is much easier to engage/disengage from a shooting grip). But the Kahr is reallt king in this class.

Revolvers might not be ideal CC weapons, but are far from obsolete. And a J-frame holds comparable amounds of ammo with a bigger payload than the pocket .380s. Larger revolvers tend to be tack drivers at range. What's so terrible about that?

And I agree with not recommending firearms to people who admit they won't train. Not everyone needs to put thousands downrange every month, but at least become proficient with it so you're not hitting bystanders or getting yourself killed because you don't know how to load it or disengage the safety or clear a jam.

[lemko]

I wanna check out a Glock 19 Gen4 myself. I noticed they added a larger magazine release button and now a double recoil spring. Seems like a nice compromise between my subcompact Glock 26 and a full-size Glock 17.

[Zeke2A]

For folks that don't plan to practice and need an idiot proof gun, the Ruger LCR filled with Glaser safety slugs

LCR ....no practice ..I am baffled ... a snub nose .38 is one of the guns you MUST practice with. I own a LCR CT .38 , it is by no means a hellfire missle launcher. It took me several hundered rounds to get it to where I am comfortable with my skills and shot placement. It is an excellent platform highly concealable and I am just fine with the 110 gr Cor-Bon DPX loads I am using for SD at this time. But to call this idiot proof is irresponsible.

Also recommending Glasers is poor advice they are a gimmick round that has had very dubious results ... the only Glasers I have are the .44 mag silvers sitting in a speedloader in the nightstand , just in case the 5 .44 special 200 gr DPX's in the gun don't do the trick .

[grannas211]

Most rounded sidearm=Glock 19

[Sparxfly72]

K-frame S&W 38spl, 4" barrel. Dead nuts reliable, fixed sights and 38spl is more than capable caliber, at least it was for law enforcement for 75+yrs.