Thread: Gun advice needed

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

Bruno has a very valid point, most of the guns I have bought over the years were used, if kept in good working order they will last lifetimes.

I've shot Steel Challenge pistols with 200,000+ rounds through them.

Thanks for the suggestions. I forgot about the glock and XD compacts. I'll check those out, too. My biggest issue with the Taurus was trigger pull (least two zipcodes) and size/weight.
I'm not planning on pocket carry but due to some of my medications causing weight fluctuations thinner is my friend. Otherwise I'm going to have a hard time carrying when I'm bigger than usual.
Weight is a concern for me because I do spend a good bit of time out in BFE Mtn. Biking, fly fishing remote areas, and hiking. Right now I have a small can of bear spray I keep velcro'd to my frame and keep it handy while hiking and fishing, too. We just have black bear in the area but coyotes have been a pain this year. I saw one chasing a deer in broad daylight this weekend and saw three deer carcasses that were coyote kills while I was out, too.
9mm isn't the only option but I'm not a big fan of .380. And I have a lot of 9mm ammo around.

The Glock 26 is what I bought my wife to carry if that tells you anything...with factory NS.

Originally Posted by joesixpack

That's so funny, I was reading that very post last night. I haven't seen GWH here for a while. I think he's not so active here any more?

Originally Posted by Bruno

Nope. He was absent for a while, then came back, and then dropped off the map again.
I'll shoot him an email to see how he is doing these days.

I didn't hear back from him. Too bad. I wonder if he is still in his old line of work.
I only had the email address with which he registered so that might be obsolete.

Originally Posted by shooter74743

The Glock 26 is what I bought my wife to carry if that tells you anything...with factory NS.

Is it the regular Glock trigger pull or is it the super long pull of a lot of the subcompact pistols?

I think I might need to get rid of my P22 and end up with a nicer gun than I originally intended.

Originally Posted by bharner

Is it the regular Glock trigger pull or is it the super long pull of a lot of the subcompact pistols?

I think I might need to get rid of my P22 and end up with a nicer gun than I originally intended.

FWIW, just about every one of my pistols has a professional trigger job. The crispness (from a softer pull to something akin to a thin rod of glass breaking) and the pull weight (from 1-2 pounds for an IPSC competition gun to 4-5 pounds for a CCW) has to do with how the gun will be used as well as personal preference. Many of my rifles also have a trigger job, including a long range varmint rifle with a pull under a pound that breaks like glass...excellent for ultra accurate pulls.

Originally Posted by eflatminor

FWIW, just about every one of my pistols has a professional trigger job. The crispness (from a softer pull to something akin to a thin rod of glass breaking) and the pull weight (from 1-2 pounds for an IPSC competition gun to 4-5 pounds for a CCW) has to do with how the gun will be used as well as personal preference. Many of my rifles also have a trigger job, including a long range varmint rifle with a pull under a pound that breaks like glass...excellent for ultra accurate pulls.

Most of mine have had trigger work done as well. I do it myself on my Ruger Mark I & III's (I'm not going to buy a MKII unless I find a slab sided Gvt. model for the right price) and my 10/22's. The reason I do it on them is that I know Ruger will ship me any parts I screw up quickly and cheaply. I've gone overboard with both the Dremel and hand sanding the sear on a 10/22. On the up side, it's fun to pull the trigger once and go through every shot. Except that the ATF doesn't like that.... Haven't bothered to do one on my Blackhawks because they break pretty cleanly. Not sure if my dad already did one before I got them from him or not.
I'm pretty close to doing one on my Marlin 336 as it's my main deer rifle and I don't like the roughness of it but I'm going to wait till I get a big loop lever and maybe a new extractor before I do it all.

I've noticed with all the sub compact .380's & 9mm (pocket pistols, mostly) that the trigger pull is super long and usually hefty. Some of them use that in lieu of a safety. Anyway, a buddy asked me last night about buying my PT111 so I'm going to take him to the range after work today so he can try it and hopefully buy it. After that I need to ditch that silly Walther and try out a few things. Gun show on the 10th so I'll probably leave there happy .

Originally Posted by bharner

On the up side, it's fun to pull the trigger once and go through every shot. Except that the ATF doesn't like that...

No they don't! This happens ever once in a while at my local IPSC matches when a guy overdoes his trigger job...automatic!!! It's easy to build a machine gun, it's harder to make it a reliable semi automatic. Lastly, I agree about the long pulls. My first competition gun was an old Beretta 9mm. It's a DA/SA design. The first pull cocks the hammer...and requires something like 14 pounds and about a mile of trigger travel! The second and subsequent shots are much easier in single action mode. Didn't like it at all and I quickly switched to Single Stack division with a proper 45 cal. Now I shoot 40 call in Limited Division on a 2011 frame. Fun!

See my comments in bold below:

Originally Posted by bharner

Most of mine have had trigger work done as well. I do it myself on my Ruger Mark I & III's (I'm not going to buy a MKII unless I find a slab sided Gvt. model for the right price) and my 10/22's. The reason I do it on them is that I know Ruger will ship me any parts I screw up quickly and cheaply. I've gone overboard with both the Dremel and hand sanding the sear on a 10/22. On the up side, it's fun to pull the trigger once and go through every shot. Except that the ATF doesn't like that.... Haven't bothered to do one on my Blackhawks because they break pretty cleanly. Not sure if my dad already did one before I got them from him or not.

Doing your own trigger job on any Glock is cheap, simple, safe, and IMO well worth the time. The stock DAO trigger is serviceable, has a fairly short pull and reset, is set at 5.5 lbs. by the factory (most models, some are at 4.5 out of the box), but can feel a bit gritty. The trigger job involves swapping out the stock connector with a 3.5 lb. aftermarket part, either by Lonewolf, or the Ghost Rocket, and polishing metal surfaces (by hand, NOT dremel!!!). I own 8 Glocks, and have done this on all of them. It smooths out the trigger and reset nicely.

I'm pretty close to doing one on my Marlin 336 as it's my main deer rifle and I don't like the roughness of it but I'm going to wait till I get a big loop lever and maybe a new extractor before I do it all.

I ordered a BL lever, the "bearproof" extractor, and the "no-flop" trigger from Wildwest Guns in Alaska. Check out their website for parts availability and to drool over some custom Marlins they've put together. Just installing these three parts in my Marlin 336SDG has made all the difference, and turned it into an even better rifle than it was out of the box. Caution: If you haven't worked on the Marlin before, you may want to get some pointers before you start! I got stuck in the middle of the lever install, and ended up running over to a gunsmithing friend's workshop with the disassembled rifle...

I've noticed with all the sub compact .380's & 9mm (pocket pistols, mostly) that the trigger pull is super long and usually hefty. Some of them use that in lieu of a safety. Anyway, a buddy asked me last night about buying my PT111 so I'm going to take him to the range after work today so he can try it and hopefully buy it. After that I need to ditch that silly Walther and try out a few things. Gun show on the 10th so I'll probably leave there happy .

Good luck, let us know what you end up getting!

ETA: Picture of my Marlin , also sporting a XS rail and a Comp ML2 red-dot sight...

Nice looking little Marlin. Looking at wild west gun's site made me want the lever when I first saw it. I believe it was on one of their "cowboy assault rifles". I like the red dot. Is it magnified? I have a 336CS that I keep a 2x red dot on. Battery died the other day and I'm not heading anywhere that sells them till next week so I stuffed her in my pocket and went back to the iron sights for the rest of this week's hunting.
Thanks for the info on the glock triggers. I've never owned one but have shot my dad's old duty gun a few times but I know he did trigger work to it.