Looking for a handgun?

Question

I am looking for a handgun for target pratice. I would like it to be (around) the fallowing.

Length 8” height 5”

weight 20-30 oz

38 cal or 9 mil

>10 round mag

i would love to hear some sugestions. thanks.

Answer 1

I will say Glock 17.

Answer 2

Amanda-

I would suggest a Ruger GP-100 with a 4 or 6 inch barrel, this revolver is chambered for .357 Magnum, but you can shoot .38 Special without an issue.  In fact that is pretty standard.

I own a Ruger GP-100 4 inch and a Taurus 607 6 inch revolver(s).  Both are excellent choices.

As an instructor I normally recommend the .357 Magnum Revolvers for starter handguns for nearly all of my students. There are a couple of resons behind this, and I would like to take that opportunity to share that with you, if you please.

First, the revolver is a very good first basic handgun.  They are very simple, and very straight forward.  They are also very simple for students, and first time or beginning shooters to learn, and learn well.

The .38 Special Cartridge is a very mellow cartridge, and though its size may place a different thought as to how nice it is to shoot, once fired, most of my students cannot get enough of this cartridge.  The .38 Special is a very accurate cartridge, and also makes a pretty good self defense cartridge should you desire that function from it.

Revolvers have no safety, no slide release, and no magazine.  So learning how to use them effectively, is very easy on the student, (and the instructor).  :)

I also have a very important reason for recommending them for home defense.  They only require one hand to use in a hostile situation.

Lets setup the following situation.  

You are in your home and you awake to an intruder in your home.  Next to your bed you have wisely placed a small gun locker.  In that locker you keep your loaded handgun.  Next to that locker you also keep your phone.  

So you remove the handgun from that safe because you have left your bedroom door slightly open, and see this person now making an advance on your bedroom, or worse yet, your child's room.  You now have the 911 dispatcher on the phone and you are reporting, and the intruder turns in your direction because they heard your whispering.  

As the intruder enters your room, you see that he has a knife in his hands and moves toward you, you pull the trigger and your Semi-Automatic pistol just went click.  What are you going to do at this point?

So lets press pause on this for a moment.

You being a safe person decided to place the pistol in the safe without a cartridge being in the firing chamber.  Lets even give you the benefit of the doubt, and say you placed a loaded magazine in the pistol.  

And... Now back to our Feature Presentation!

The intruder now knows that you are either empty or the gun just malfunctioned.  So now you have to put down the phone, cycle the slide and get back on target in time to put a bullet into this person who is intent on doing you harm.

But wait, Amanda had her revolver, and all she did was pull the trigger one more time, and the bad guy was now the proud owner of a 125 Grain Jacketed Hollow Point Brain Scrambler.

This is what I teach in my classes is home defense.  With a Semi-Automatic Pistol, yes you may have more cartridges, but it does not do you a bit of good in the above situation, if you are not willing to keep the firearm loaded and ready.

Most people that I have a chance to talk to, have a real issue with keeping a loaded Semi-Automatic pistol properly at the ready.  However, the revolver gives you no choice about it.  Its either loaded or unloaded.

Most gunfights are going to occur inside an area that is no larger than your livingroom or bedroom, (21 feet by 21 feet).

Think about it for a moment, how big is your bedroom, 10x12?  That's about the size of mine, that my wife and I use every night.  My kid's room?  10x12.  

Most gunfights are over and done with in less than 1 minute and 3 or 4 shots fired.  The ones that you hear about in the news where "3000 rounds were fired and the bandit was hit 3 times", yeah, so where did all of those other rounds go?

Oh yeah, those were the innocent bystanders that were injured or killed.  Yeah, I forgot about those folks.  

The point is, its not the amount of cartridges you have in your gun, its how proficent you are at making those rounds count when you shoot them.

When your aggressor is within 21 feet of your person, with a knife, club, baseball bat, piece of pipe, or anything else he/she can use as a deadly weapon, you have 3 tenths of a second to make the decision to live or die.  Can you, (in a malfunction condition with your gun), correct it, cycle the slide, aim, and shoot in that amount if time?

This is my reason for the revolver.  If the gun goes click, just pull the trigger again, and again.  One of those 6 rounds is going to make his day.

Judge Ruger and the jury of 6.

In my classes you learn about the two loudest sounds in the world.

1. Click when the gun should have gone bang, AKA: Thunder Click.  This is when time stops, and all activities freeze frame except for the bad guy, who just heard the distinctive sound of a firearm on empty.  Time to make his move.

2. Bang when the gun should have gone click, AKA: Thunder Clap.  This is the point at which you are explaining to the Police Officer that you were "Just Cleaning Your Gun".  And, you thought the pretty red, white and blue lights were so patriotic.  

I try to bring a little levity into my classroom, it makes the classes more fun, but also places folks in a comfortable situation were they are feeling good about learning.

In any event, I suggest that you seek out an insturctor in your area, get some basic safety skills under your belt, and learn how to use your pistol well.  

And if I am preaching to the choir, then in either event, have fun.  

Good Luck, I hope I helped you out.

Answer 3

It could be a lot of different guns but I'll throw this in:

a 357/38 Special snub-nose revolver.

The length criteria you set would make it a small gun, not the best for target practice. Your criteria meets concealability dimensions.

Go to the Taurus website and look at the revolvers and small semi-auto pistols. Find something that catches you eye. We can work from there.

Smith and Wesson, Ruger, Glock, Sig, Walther, H&K

Answer 4

Maybe a Smith&Wesson MP?

Answer 5

Check out Ruger's P series, Glock, and Beretta for great 9mm pistols.

Answer 6

It might help if we knew what you might like, semi-auto or revolver. Are you tall or short? Tall=bigger hands. What is your price range? Do you just want one for target practive or one that will double as personal defense as well? Have you done any shooting ar will this be a first ever for you? There are a ton of options out there.