A 9mm would serve you well. There's a whole lot of different brands of guns and models to choose from. A lot will depend upon your finances and how much you want to spend.

Also, you'll need to decide if you want a full-size gun, compact, or a sub-compact. Due to the current situation with gun control and all that, you might have somewhat of a tough time finding what you want at a decent price.

I would suggest going to a few local gun shops and such, and see what is available. You can always leave your name and number with them, if they don't happen to have what you're looking for. Most would be more than willing to give you a call if something happens to come in on trade or new stock.

Anyways, do some looking and good luck to you.

With current bullet technology, there isn't much difference between the 9 and the 40. The 40 has more recoil than the 9, so follow up shots will be more difficult. Again, with current technology, the +P is no longer needed for self defense applications. All it offers is more recoil and accelerated wear on your firearm. Find some Federal HST, Winchester Rangers, Speer Gold-Dots, or Hornady Criticals and you will be good to go.

A 9 will be fine,it performs well,ammo is cheaper and generally it has milder recoil than the 40.I'm no fan of the 40 but my son bought a plastic CZ copy,the recoil was surprisingly mild.If I want the power of the 40 I'll just grab one of my 45s.

Either of these calibers should serve you quite well with the edge going to the .40S&W. What you do give up with the .40 is capacity and a slight increase in time between followup shots. Training can minimize this but then again, your age could be a factor here if you have the onset of arthritis or some similar ailment. Quality ammunition has already been covered so I'll just say that my two choices in that department are the Federal HST and the Gold Dot. I use +P in both for the 9mm because I load them in guns with 4 to 4.25" barrels. With the .40S&W, my chosen load is the Gold Dot "hot" load 165 grain (#53970) or the Federal 165 grain HST.

BTW, you do not need a concealed carry permit in Arizona to carry concealed.

I tend to favor .40 cal myself although I certainly wouldn't turn down a fine 9MM handgun. I've owned a 9MM some time ago & enjoyed the heck out of it. Then I bought a Glock 23, .40 cal & finally a .45 cal Glock 21. Both of the Glocks went to my son when I retired from armed security & before WI had a concealed carry law. When I was shopping for a cheap handgun to be able to make use of my new CCL & until I could afford something more expensive I gravitated back to .40 cal & bought a Sigma 40VE, a Glock 23 clone but much cheaper. I thought it to be a good compromise between 9MM & .45 cal. I used the same logic when I ordered an M&P 40C which I'm still waiting for delivery. I plan to get a 9MM barrel as well as a .357sig barrel for the 40C to give me a choice of ammo sizes during the shortage & just for the heck of it, lol. The 9MM conversion requires 9MM magazines but the .357sig uses the same .40 cal mags. I also figure that eventually the ammo shortage will slow down & I'll use 9MM for range shooting. It might be a bit cheaper.

At this time I use Speer Gold Dot 165gr & Federal HST 180 gr for my SD ammo & American Eagle FMJ or Winchester White box FMJ, both 165gr for practice firing.

I want to thank everyone for their posts which has help me. Because of my age I think a 9mm will be my best bet and not to use the +P ammo and I have a small hand for someone that is 6'1" and 175 so the medium size would be best and I've used it before when I took a class. I really don't want to spend over $500 because I may never use it unless I want to start going to the range and shooting as a hobby which don't sound bad since I'm retired. However I don't want something so cheap that it will jam. If anyone has a suggestion on the model of 9mm that might suit me and I'm still not sure about the ammo. I'm just trying to learn enough to ask the right questions when I talk to the salesperson.

So many good options in 9mm are available before you pick you need to consider things like what size gun you want, is concealibility your priority or shootability and more magazine capacity. What type of action? Safety features? And so on. Take your time and do lots of research.

Originally Posted by lostsoul62

I want to thank everyone for their posts which has help me. Because of my age I think a 9mm will be my best bet and not to use the +P ammo and I have a small hand for someone that is 6'1" and 175 so the medium size would be best and I've used it before when I took a class. I really don't want to spend over $500 because I may never use it unless I want to start going to the range and shooting as a hobby which don't sound bad since I'm retired. However I don't want something so cheap that it will jam. If anyone has a suggestion on the model of 9mm that might suit me and I'm still not sure about the ammo. I'm just trying to learn enough to ask the right questions when I talk to the salesperson.

We could all offer a number of suggestions for guns you might want to consider and that is all well and good. I would suggest that you up your purchase price a little so you can include more candidates. And you are going to have to shoot quite a bit to become proficient enough to use that gun should you ever need to do so. I'll throw out some candidates, all in 9mm since you mentioned that as a preference. Glock 19/17, Smith and Wesson M&P 4.25" barrel, Springfield XD series, Ruger SR series. All of these are price competitive and worthy of your consideration. Then get to a range where you can rent guns and see what works best for you.

Good luck and for what it's worth, I'm 67.

If you're near Phoenix, you might want to spend a little time over at Shooter's World. They have a number of rentals, so you can play around with several to see what is comfortable in your hand, and the guys seem pretty knowledgeable. An added advantage is that they usually have ammo for you to shoot with. (Limit 1 box/visit.) Right now it's pretty hard to find any of that in the Phoenix area unless you're persistent.

I'm not a plastic fan but it does help shed weight for carry,which is nice as we age (I'm 49 and the torture to the body is really starting to let me know).HK is about the only plastic I like because I don't like "safe action" triggers or striker fired pistols,but even a used HK is $650 and up.My son bought a CZ copy plastic 40 by Tangfolio I believe and was kind of impressed with it,and he gave just under $500 for it brand new.I haven't tried an M&P yet but I don't like Glocks at all and the XD line just feels like a piece of junk to me.Everyone is different though,hit a well stocked store and fondle all you can to get an idea of what fits you well.

For ammo,the 124gr is the ideal weight to me for defensive purposes and cheap 115gr for practice.The 124s will print slightly higher on your target than the 115s but it shouldn't be a large difference.The 124 will give you a shorter point blank range (the real definition) but at defensive ranges you'll never know the difference.

I lean towards 9mm because of the cost of ammo. Now it doesn't matter because getting your hands on any ammo is next to impossible.