Thread: Gun advice needed

One thing that puzzels me a bit: what does the price matter?

I get that you don't spend thousands of dollars if hundreds of dollars suffice.
But in the end, you carry this gun on a daily basis, you trust your life to it, so you probably want to have a gun that is absilutely reliable and ergonomically suited for you.

So if that means it costs 600$ instead of 300... do you really care?
An unreliable gun is even worse than no gun, because you might just end up pointing a jammed chunk of metal at someone intent on harming you, whereas with no gun at least you'd be looking for cover or exit already.

Many times quality comes with the higher price tag MOST of the time...but within reason. Everyone has their own budget, but as you see below none of my pistols are "high dollar". I prefer night sights on my carry weapon. I don't have a lot of money, but I trust my life with each one of these except the Judge. It has promise, but I haven't put the 500 rounds thru it to "earn" that title. Here is what my wife and I carry from top to bottom:

Taurus PT1911, .45acp-My primary. Other than my Browning Buckmark, I have never had a pistol that felt so "right". I only use Wilson Combat magazines in this one. Average price with Night Sights is $600 IIRC

German Makarov, 9x18-My other primary. This is really a nice, small, & reliable pistol. Average price is somewhere around $375

Taurus 2 1/2" Judge, .410 or .45 LC- Showing a lot of promise, but bulky. Average price is somewhere around $500

Glock 26 w/ NS, 9mm-Wife's gun. Great gun after trigger work & extended mag release. Glocks are ugly, but IMO they are the best affordable pistol available...they go bang every time no matter if dirty or whatever you put it thru. Average price with factory Night Sights is approximately $575

NAA Pug w/ NS, .22 magnum - This one goes with me EVERYWHERE. Average price is $300. The most conceal-able firearm I know of. It's small in caliber, but I still follow the #1 rule due to it...have a gun.

Originally Posted by Bruno

One thing that puzzels me a bit: what does the price matter?

Price matters a lot to a single mom making minimum wage.

Originally Posted by joesixpack

Price matters a lot to a single mom making minimum wage.

Wouldn't it then make more sense to buy a second hand quality gun in good condition, instead of a new gun of lesser quality?

Originally Posted by Bruno

Wouldn't it then make more sense to buy a second hand quality gun in good condition, instead of a new gun of lesser quality?

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.

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.

The used gun bargains I've gotten have been only because I was buying directly from a friend, not consignment through a gun shop. The fact that guns DO last a lifetime is why they hold their value so well.

My wife and I both carry a PA-63 with alloy frame in 9x18MM. I usually carry it in the small of my back in a IWB kevlar holster that I made. It has an alloy frame so it is fairly light for its size and it is darn reliable. Being a Walther PPK clone it is extremely reliable. Yes its a former Soviet Block gun but its built like a tank.

The good thing about this is My wife and my girls can shoot this very accurately. At 30 yards Holly can roll tin cans with hers. It is mild shooting and easy to handle. The problem I have with some of the little Kel Tek type pistols is they are not comfortable for me to shoot because
they are SOOOO small.

I almost forgot to add you can find these for around $200. maybe less if you shop around.

Originally Posted by joesixpack

The used gun bargains I've gotten have been only because I was buying directly from a friend, not consignment through a gun shop. The fact that guns DO last a lifetime is why they hold their value so well.

We have a little magazine here that's similar to Auto Trader but specific to the area and the people in it sell pretty much anything. There are frequently decent guns to be had at reasonable prices.
My carry gun, when I carry (work specifically prohibits weapons at work and knife has to have a sub 3" blade on it unless part of a leatherman type thing. Somehow pepper spray is OK b/c I saw a HR girl with some on a key chain so I keep that in my jacket pocket at work now.) is a Taurus PT-111. I purchased it used for under $300. After about 20 rounds I noticed a pretty significant feed ramp issue so I pulled it apart and gave it a quick look over and saw that it was something I didn't want to fix myself. I took it to the shop I picked it up from and because Taurus has a lifetime warranty they sent it back to Taurus for repair. Two weeks later I had it back in hand and the shop even gave me a box of ammo to use. I only paid shipping costs to Taurus.
Shoots far more accurately than I can. I'm not a huge fan of the SA/DA action with the crazy long trigger pull but I've put about 2k rounds through it in the last two years since I sent it back and haven't had a problem. I'm considering trading/selling for one of the Taurus .357/.38 special snub nosed revolvers. I don't plan to carry .357 in it often but for hiking in to fly fish or mountain biking in areas with heavy bear population it would be nice peace of mind to have a little extra "oomph" in there.

Also, have any of you seen this thing: http://heizerfirearms.com/technology.htm ?

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.

Originally Posted by Bruno

Wouldn't it then make more sense to buy a second hand quality gun in good condition, instead of a new gun of lesser quality?

Wait, I'm not sure where it was I said that she would ONLY be interested in a new gun. Certainly a used high quality gun would be considered.

The trouble I've seen is that good guns maintain their value pretty well. I don't see a lot of well made used guns selling for significantly lower than their new counterparts. Going by on-line auction sites like Gunbroker, there aren't a lot of bargains out there on used handguns.