Need advice choosing a handgun

You should consider trying the Walther PPQ 9mm

 

FN 5.7 pistol.... 20 round magazine, shoots like a .22

 

These are my two favorites in my collection.

Cant go wrong with a good old 1911

Kimber Ultra Raptor II

And a Sig 229

 

Get the Judge revolver for home defense. Holds 45rounds and 410 shotgun shells. Keep 410 shotgun shells in it while in your condo, less likely to go through a wall into a neighbors place and there is small spread so 100% accuracy is not a must if shooting at an intruder. when traveling keep 45rounds in it.

 

Wish I had the money for a kimber. Nice guns

 

These were my divorce gift to myself hahaha

 

Oh lord, never debate what's the best gun,politics,religion,oil,tires,etc....

Ok, if your worried about over penetration then get an old pawnshop Mossberg 500 and saw the barrel off to 19in and feed it bird shot. A shotgun being racked will pucker the ass of the most hard core bad guy.
If you want a pistol, someone mentioned a revolver. Get a .357 cause you can also shoot 38 special outt'a it for training and wife range time. A .357 will damn sure do it! Get the "powdered metal" or rounds designed to break up and not over penetrate or the lawman .38's
Fact. You can kill someone with a .22 The wife has a Walther PP .32cal with hollow points and that will do the job. Small frame,easy to grip, great NPOA but If you want to knock 'em down then you can't beat the .45 with hollow points. A Taurus 1911 or XD are good buys. Built tuff as hell at a good price. I keep a Webley .455 in the night stand, a 12ga Winchester 1897 in the hall, a Ruger P85 9mm at the front door, and a Keltec .32 in the kitchen cookie jar! The truth is they will all do the job quite nicely.

 

In the cookie jar i like your style

 

i would go for glock if it fits your hands. get the g19 and some really good personal defense ammo like hornandy xtp critical defense or some kind of premium jhp.

train with it and with the ammo you intend on using in a self defense situation.

the glocks all have interchangeable mags so if your state allows for it get the 33 round mag and the g17 mags for back up thats a lot of fire power from a single handgun. my wifes 4th gen g19 is awesome we have put at least 2k rounds down range with it so far and we both love it.

edit: i would also recommend the fn fn-p series they all have high capacity mags are proven tactical handguns and shoot very well. there are a lot of choices when it comes to tactical pistols but, imo the glocks are extremely hard to beat. things like mag capacity, reliability, ease of use, and what ever caliber you get the mags are interchangeable thats a big plus in my book. i have a g30sf and i bought 5 glock factory g21 mags thats 15 rounds of .45 acp ready to go that should solve most any problem i would think.

also if this at least fr the time being is your primary home defense weapon you should probably invest in a tactical light for it. i went with the viridian c5l light laser combo its small weighs almost nothing and strobes @ over 150 lumens and has different setting for both the light and laser. in a dark house it lights things up for you the shooter and blinds the intruder. the laser pretty much takes the guess work out of things as well. aiming in a panic situation for non trained individuals is difficult to say the least especially in the middle of the night.

 

My first handgun was a Glock 19C, great shooting gun and fun to shoot. Last year got my CCH and for summer carry (thinner guy hard to conceal 19 very well) so I picked up a Kel-Tec PF9 (with only downfall being long trigger pull, but over all good gun). If I could do it all over again I would have bought a Kahr PM9/CM9, and had 1 pistol for all my needs, although having 2 isn't bad either can never have too many. So if I were you I would at least take this into consideration. Just my 2 cents. Also like someone mentioned earlier by another poster, my pistols are kept in my nightstand, but they are only to get me to my shotguns (loaded with 4/8 shot alternating) if needed for home defense. Just point in general direction and bang. Plus the sound of racking a round, is pretty much known by quite a few people.

 

I am a wheel gunner, so I have a Ruger GP 100 for home defense and a Smith and Wesson J Frame for CCW. If you want a gun for home defense you are better off going with a full size in a service caliber ( 38 special, 9mm, 40, 45 acp, and 357 mag ). With modern hollow point ammo any of these rounds will do the job. As someone noted a 357 revolver, like the GP 100 can fire the less expensive / recoiling 38 special. Look for a gun from some any of the name brand manufactures and you should be fine. Also if you are in a condo you will need to use hollow point ammo, to reduce the chances of round going into another apartment.

 

here is my piece glock 30 short frame, .45 acp and the viridian c5l light/laser.

 

i don't know the op's home situation either but, something to consider as well would be over penetration. if you live in an apt. building or if you have family scattered throughout your house ie, children in other rooms and such or if your house is extremely close to another home.

ammo selection is going to be important in this regard as well as caliber. 357 is a super high velocity round is expensive to train with and hard to find at some stores altogether. i personally would stick to 9mm .45 or .40 cal.

not that .45 ammo is cheap but, its readily available as is 9mm.
9mm is going to be more controllable for a novice imo and the rounds are everywhere and relatively cheap to boot. thats the route i would go with the right ammunition 9mm is absolutely enough for home defense. a couple of extra mags with a g17 or g19 and you have a lot of fire power on your side. check into this type of ammo for over penetration if that happens to be a concern for me its not but, your situation my differ. http://www.natchezss.com/product.cfm?contentID=productDetail&prodID=GY01200

 

If you're one of those people that thinks the world is going to end go with the 45 because it's a common ammo and easy to find. As far as guns go you can't beat the glock for the price, if you want something that will never let you down go for the 1911 Colt Defender, cost more but its worth it

 

Magazines then <sheesh>.

 

I think the OP is in the Socialist State of Kalifornia so all those "high Cap" guns are probably a nono. Face it, do you really need that many rounds? In most defensive shootings only 2 or less rounds are fired. It's not gonna' be the OK Corral.
The .357/.38 revolver is tough to beat and a 1911 firing hollow points the size of ashtrays will damn sure do it. With wheel guns you don't have to worry about jams and the real steel 1911 and revolvers can pistol whip the hell out of someone! TRUST ME ON THAT!
Be careful about putting a light on a gun! People have a tendancy to use the gun as a flashlight. Not good.
The most important thing is train,train,train till it becomes musscle memory no matter what you get or have. Ammo is cheap no matter what caliber compared to your familly's lives. It is money well spent.
Excuse me while I climb down off my soap box.

 

so basically youre telling people to carry an unloaded shotgun(a club) and to rack the slide(to give away their position) doesnt sound like to great an idea esp the birdshot

 

Thanks for the link.
going to have to look into a box or 2. Like others have said I am in a condo but only have neighbors on one side. This is definitely something I have considered but luckily the common wall is opposite the front door.

 

Yep limited to 10 rounds but hopefully 2 would be all you need. I really agree with the last paragraph. So good use of the soap box

 

I'm with you there. I've got a 6inch Gp100 loaded with 38 hollow points for my nightstand gun. The 357 mag round is too powerful for in house defense and you are likely to shoot through three walls and kill your neighbor.