Thread: New to Handguns...

The best way to figure out what you'll want and keep is to try a few. If you've got a few friends with pistols, spring for a box of ammo and get them to let you try it out. If you live close to a range that rents give that a whirl. Make sure they show you how the gun works and be safe. Same rules apply with a hand gun as with a rifle. Just remember how short that pistol barrel is! It's real easy to get it pointed in the wrong direction. There are a lot of great pistols out there. I started with a revolver and they are great to start on and easy to understand. If you take to them there will always be one more that you'll have your eye on. Happy Hunting and be safe

You can't go wrong with the CZ 75B in my book but as with everything it is a personal choice. The CZ 75B will give you years of good service and the 9mm is not bad to shoot money wise. Not yet anyway. Good luck.

Originally Posted by gmaske

The best way to figure out what you'll want and keep is to try a few. If you've got a few friends with pistols, spring for a box of ammo and get them to let you try it out. If you live close to a range that rents give that a whirl. Make sure they show you how the gun works and be safe. Same rules apply with a hand gun as with a rifle. Just remember how short that pistol barrel is! It's real easy to get it pointed in the wrong direction. There are a lot of great pistols out there. I started with a revolver and they are great to start on and easy to understand. If you take to them there will always be one more that you'll have your eye on. Happy Hunting and be safe

Thanks, I plan after buying a handgun one of the first things I plan to do is to take a handgun safety course, as it will only help (guns are fun, but one has to be always careful) and it will also double for my course I need to get the concealed carry permit. (even if I normally won't be carrying it due to the fact I work in a courthouse, a concealed carry permit would only help.) The shorter barrel will get used to, as at least with a rifle there no question one where its pointing at.

I guess when I go to the gun store I should handle a couple handguns and see which fit my hands.

Yep, sounds good! Touch and ask a lot of questions. Don't be too quick to leap even if you fall in love. For a self defense weapon a 9mm or 38 special would be a good place to start. If you are working in the court system then you are around a lot of LEO's so you have an excellent pool of information at your finger tips to draw from. Start bugging a few with questions. One of them just might take you under their wing and help you with your learning curve.

The CZ's are fine weapons, but if you get one, get one with adjustable sights. I don't know if the 75's can be had with them, but I do know that the 85 can. These are about as fun as anything else in the centerfire range. I am more accurate with my 85Combat than any other 9mm I own, and I own quite a few. For fun, you might also consider getting a .22 of some type, or perhaps even starting off with a .22 and develop your skills and increase your knowledge base before buying a centerfire handgun.

There really isn't anything in your price range that will "maintain/improve" it's value, at least not for the first several decades. A new pistol, if kept in mint condition and in it's box for several decades will most likely keep or increase it's value. But where is the fun in that?

As for the "right gun" for $600 or under: There's no way of finding the "right" gun right off the bat. Try as many things as you can, but keep in mind that: 1. You won't know if it's right until you've used it for a while, and 2. There's always something new under the sun that you won't have, and you will eventually buy more handguns in the pursuit of something better (or at least different...).

PhilR.