Gun Safety, what to purchase, how to get training?

My master is in the front of the houses, with the guests/kids bedrooms all in the back of the house. That is how I ended up staring at a Bear about 8 inches from my face/front window/master bedroom few nights ago!

 

Thank you for the detailed info.

If I need to hit a bear (most likely around here), I don't want the bullet to pierce the bear, hit my Husbands GT3 and go into the neighbors house and kill someone.


(dumb question), when I select a gun or bullets, can they be limited by range? As in I am not sitting in my bedroom hunting two streets over. Just looking for protection.

 

It all depends on the person really. I can understand that and know exactly what she means. Some women are terrified to take it with men so rather be with all women.

IME I think some women, not all of course, just really work themselves up about it. By the time we run through all the information, do this, don't do that, hold your hands like this, stand like that, then they get out into the range with all the noise, more rules there, open the gun, load the gun, guns are dangerous, yada yada...I think their brain just starts to melt out their ears from being overwhelmed. I've had some that no matter how many times you tell them to get that finger off the trigger or to keep pointing down range, they ultimately are magnetized to the trigger and try to turn around constantly and wonder why I keep deflecting their arms back forward. lol I've had to send a few of them out for being unsafe.

Majority of the time though, everyone is safe and has a great time. They come in terrified and leave wanting to come back for more. I did have one who shot one round, decided guns weren't for her, and never came back. lol

 

Assume all bullets will travel to infinity in the direction you point them. That said, hollow point expanding pistol rounds will expand and slow somewhat on soft targets , whereas "hardball" FMJ rounds will be more likely to pass through a soft target and continue.

 

Use hunting ammo with expanding bullets in a rifle, not military ammo. A guy I used to know went elk hunting and carelessly used armor piercing ammo. He shot one elk, the bullet killed that elk, went through a tree and killed another elk. Then he was shooting bushes with another rifle so someone called the game agents. The agent discovered he'd killed 2 elk with one shot. He was not the sharpest stick in the box, I no longer associate with him.

Use the correct ammo, expanding hunting bullets in a rifle and hollow point bullets in a pistol. This will help a lot with over penetration and hitting something beyond the threat. All military type ammo will over penetrate.

I compliment the OP for educating herself.

 

I'm one of them cross threaded Springfield Armory fans, so much talk of Glock here I figured I'd join in

I'd highly suggest trying out a Springfield XD of any line they make. I conceal carry a XDS 45 acp. Recoil isn't that bad either.

Also, lots of ranges have rentals and you can try out different types of handguns etc, you may like 9 mm over 45 acp, or maybe even like the 40 S&W. Or may even like a Smith & Wesson .357 mag/ 38 special revolver.

 

Hey man I loved my sv650....

 

I can, even with that little 3.3" barrel!

 

Agreed. All kinds of pistols out there that are great, anything but a Hi Point IMO.

 

I read the first 2 pages and am ignoring what ever is going on above.

The slides on a Glock are more difficult to operate than those with an external hammer. In my experience, I have found that is challenging for many girls (not trying to sound sexist). I carry a Walther PK380, which is a mid-compact single stack external hammer semi-auto. I like it because although smaller, it still fits my larger hands and is easily concealable. But every girl that has shot it has absolutely loved the ease of use with the slide, the lower kick of the .380, the size of the grips and the hybrid size of the firearm itself. It also has a traditional safety, which I am not a fan of but many new gun owners tend to like.

That said. No-one can recommend a perfect gun for you. The gun club/range to which I belong allows you swap out your gun rental as many times as you want for the standard rental price. This means you pay a flat fee and can shoot every single gun in the case. It is the only way to buy a firearm IMO. Because while stats or opinions may be great, the firearm needs to feel like an organic extension of your body, especially in a high stress senario. And that is not something that can be read online.

 

9mm is solid starting point to narrow down a firearm. It's a common, inexpensive round, balance of power and low recoil. LOTS of weapon options. Fitting your hand will be the most important thing. Can you reach the controls easily, slide release, magazine release, etc. without changing your grip position?
Sig P320 is a strong, reliable platform with multiple grip size options. (Not sure if these are available in CA...)
Gen4 Glocks (17, 19, 26) have modular grips for different sizes.
I hear great things about CZ75 series pistols, but have not been able to shoot one yet.

My lady is 5'9, about 120lbs and she can handle my Glock19 pretty well.
She's put about 300 rounds through it herself and is starting to get better with the basics.

Take a local class. Homefront Consulting is an EXCELLENT firearms instructing company, local to Southern California. I highly recommend taking a class from them. They have beginner classes that will teach you what you need to know.

Shooting is a perishable skill. I would suggest shooting a minimum of 200 rounds a month, If you join a range, 50 rounds a week (~$16) will be more than sufficient to learn and maintain proficiency.

Edit: I would definitely go with a semi auto instead of revolver. A compact model like a Glock 19 holds 15 rounds, whereas a revolver will hold only 5-8, depending on the model.

 

For ammo, range I use blazer brass 115/123 9mm

www.targetsportsusa.com is my go to for ammo until Jan 1 when we can no longer purchase online in CA.

I pay About $210 shipped for 1000 rounds of 9mm. As far as home defense 9mm, I use gold dot hollow point. Home defense you should only purchase 20-40 rounds of hollow point since it's expensive and you should cycle your rounds (shooting them at the range) about every 6 months - year depending on your living conditions. If there is a good deal, stock up and store the ammo in a container with those little packets they put in food or shoes that absorb oxygen.

Try out different hollow points when you make your purchase. Not all hollow points cycle through the firearm well. Need to find what works for your firearm without fail.

 

^ Hollow points are good because they offer good penetration, but slow down rapidly upon hitting a target, lessening the chance of over-travel. I use hornady critical defense, at about $1 a round. It feeds in my Glocks as well as match ball ammo. I only keep 19 rounds out of a box of 25, it stays in my carry gun. (Glock43, holds six rounds, I have three magazines + one in the chamber.) I shoot the rest to make sure it still cycles reliably.

Blazer, BBM and Remington make great, inexpensive 115gr ball ammo. The Blazer is a bit dirty but that's not really a problem.

 

I tried a box each of gold dot, hornady critical defense, and cheap Remington HP. I had no issues but went with the critical defense because it's pretty...