Firearm Suggestions for 1st Time Owners

LaBèlla said:

I would appreciate your input on firearm suggestions for first time owners. Please include small and large options and additional considerations for the home. Thank you.

~Bella

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Be careful and only shoot as a last resort. Any gun will do. Even a 22 will kill someone.

I'm kind of guessing by now the OP has decided what she is going to do, so I think I'll be done here.

Bèlla said:

I would appreciate your input on firearm suggestions for first time owners. Please include small and large options and additional considerations for the home. Thank you.

~Bella

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Do you still need input about this?

AR -15 the most popular HD firearm, surpassing a shotgun.
They are easy for Male or Female to shoot accurately with minimal recoil. An AR-15 is very loud indoors, but most firearms are lol.

We just became a handgun owning family this past weekend. My parents were buying themselves each one and asked if I would like one also, to which I said yes. I do not remember what they got, but I am receiving a Taurus G2C 9mm.

We pick them up later this week.

Isilwen said:

We just became a handgun owning family this past weekend. My parents were buying themselves each one and asked if I would like one also, to which I said yes. I do not remember what they got, but I am receiving a Taurus G2C 9mm.

We pick them up later this week.

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That's a great choice. I've got three of the previous model, and they've upgraded the main point (the trigger) that needed upgrading. I've got thousands of rounds fired on each of mine.

RDKirk said:

That's a great choice. I've got three of the previous model, and they've upgraded the main point (the trigger) that needed upgrading. I've got thousands of rounds fired on each of mine.

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I thought so too!

Was a little jealous (not really) because their guns are coming in nice plastic cases and mine is in a cardboard box... lol. I won't be using the box for storage, but rather a safe. However, for transporting to the range until I get my concealed, I was hoping for an actual safer case.

My daughter is moving out right after collage and ask for an AR for her new HD firearm.
She already has 2 - 9mm Springfield XDMs and a Sig P238 in 380ACP, but wanted to make sure she had enough gun....so I caved in and bought her a Saint.....she is very accurate and loves shooting it.

SAINT® 5.56, M-Lok® AR-15 Rifle, Pic Gas Block - Springfield Armory

Amy does a great job of explaining why an AR-15:

Pavel Mosko said:

I would also recommend you buy a few "safety" rounds for the gun you buy in addition to the "range" ammo. These are much more expense than standard rounds but very important. Safety rounds aka hollow points are important for home defense. They will keep any rounds you fire in actual home defense from penetrating the wall of your house and into the house of your neighbors (because they brake on impact rather than continue penetrating).

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This is the first time I have ever heard of a hollow point round or "dum dum" termed as "safety". The damage they do in a human body is horrendous. The entry wound is nice and neat but the exit wound is unbelievable. In 1899 the Hague Convention outlawed their use in warfare and now they are "safety ammo"??? Unbelievable.

JackRT said:

This is the first time I have ever heard of a hollow point round or "dum dum" termed as "safety". The damage they do in a human body is horrendous. The entry wound is nice and neat but the exit wound is unbelievable. In 1899 the Hague Convention outlawed their use in warfare and now they are "safety ammo"??? Unbelievable.

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Um guns and bullets are weapons made to kill or at least harm people....
So would it be better to fire a regular bullet that passes through the would be criminal, and continues on into a neighbors house....?


But will make a revision/correction these are specialized hollow points, for less wall penetration, even though standard hollow points penetrate less than range ammo aka regular bullets. That is why they cost 3 times as much as regular bullets....

None of the bullets/rounds I have ever made, loaded or fired were done so to "kill" people, not one in hundreds of thousands of rounds.
Ballistics even bullet design is a huge science and while some bullets are purposed for personal protection most are not.

JackRT said:

This is the first time I have ever heard of a hollow point round or "dum dum" termed as "safety". The damage they do in a human body is horrendous. The entry wound is nice and neat but the exit wound is unbelievable. In 1899 the Hague Convention outlawed their use in warfare and now they are "safety ammo"??? Unbelievable.

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Hollow points and "dum-dum" rounds are not the same thing. Nor are hollow points "safety ammo" except in one arcane sense that I'll point out shortly. And in some ways, hollow pointed ammo can be more humane than round nosed ammo.

How can they be more humane? Because the perpetrator is much more likely to fall down from the first round, or at least fewer rounds, and require less "perforation" to achieve the same effect. The immediate wound cavity is significantly greater (which is why it takes fewer rounds to "stop"), but not "horrendous" unless you're talking about rifle velocity rounds as opposed to handgun rounds.

Moreover, the hollow point round is much more likely to stop within the body of the intended target, and that's the most important point. A solid-point round, even in small caliber, is nearly certain to penetrate the intended target and go on to strike something or someone else.

Presuming there is a genuine legal need to shoot in the first place, the hollow point bullet is safer for everyone on the scene.

Dum-dum bullets are intended to fragment into several pieces, which is not the case with hollow pointed bullets. A hollow-point is designed to expand but remain one piece...fragmenting actually reduces the effectiveness of the bullet and is the fault of a poor hollow-point design.

An actual "safety" round is designed to be non-penetrating. They are usually of very soft material or composition that is either completely frangible (shatters on skin impact with little, if any, penetration), or rapidly expands on impact to a size and shape that won't penetrate to any significant extent.

Rubber bullets, btw, are not "safety rounds" because a direct hit with a rubber bullet will substantially penetrate a human body. Rubber bullets are designed to be fired into the pavement in front of the target and create spalling that discourages the target.

All things being equal, bigger is always better. A bigger gun is always easier to control and results in less felt recoil. If you eventually plan to conceal carry a gun regularly, I would carry the largest gun that you can hide on your person. Small guns hide well, but they suck to shoot. I carry a Glock 19, and I wouldn't want anything bigger. (This is not a Glock sales pitch. When I get the money, I plan to change that up. Brand loyalty can blind us to really good options from different brands.)

If you get a gun that is a dedicated home defense gun, a long gun will always be superior. A rifle or shotgun has more points of contact making it more intuitive to shoot, making it better and more reliable under stress. All things being equal, a rifle or shotgun will always be better than a handgun. A handgun is always a compromise gun. I carry a handgun because I can't conceal a rifle.

I believe that capacity is king. You don't know what kind of threat you will encounter, and I like the peace of mind that comes from having lots of rounds just in case. Nowadays they make semi-auto shotguns in addition to the semi-auto rifles. An AR-15 chambered in .223 is pretty easy to shoot, and there are lots of options depending on your price point. If you are worried about overpenetration (a valid concern), then a semi-auto shotgun might be better. A .410 gauge is pretty easy to shoot, but I don't know you and you might be fine with a 20 gauge or 12 gauge.

When it comes to handguns, I am generally of a mind that one of the big name brands of polymer-framed striker-fired pistols is the way to go. They are durable and reliable with an easy trigger pull, and they are generally high capacity. Some of those brands are Glock (who kind of started that phenomenon), Smith and Wesson, Sig Sauer, Walther, Springfield, CZ, HK, etc. All those brands have good reputations, but some are more time-proven than others. It is almost certain that one of those brands will have something that fits you.

As for revolvers, the type of trigger "action" that they have makes for a much heavier trigger pull every time you pull the trigger. You can [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse] the hammer before each trigger pull to make the pull lighter, but when you need to fire rapidly, that would slow you down. A heavy trigger pull isn't necessarily a big deal, but it is a factor with accuracy. Lots of training can overcome that, but if you don't specifically *need* a revolver, I would avoid getting one.

I would start with a full-sized handgun chambered in 9mm. The Smith & Wesson M&P 2.0, the Glock 17, Sig P320, CZ P10f, Springfield XD, etc are all good full sized guns. They also come in compact versions if you wanted, which just means that the barrel and grip are a little shorter, but they're just as thick. Almost all of them have the option to get the compact version and then get an extended magazine with a sleeve that makes it fit neatly into the smaller gun.

I hope that helps.

Arc F1 said:

Be careful and only shoot as a last resort. Any gun will do. Even a 22 will kill someone.

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At one point many years ago the world record grizzly bear was shot dead by an 80 year old Indian woman with a single shot from a 22.

JackRT said:

At one point many years ago the world record grizzly bear was shot dead by an 80 year old Indian woman with a single shot from a 22.

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That's called "good shot placement".

Darkhorse said:

That's called "good shot placement".

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That, or "luck".

She was servicing her trap line in the Swan Hills region of Alberta when she heard something behind her. She swung around to find the bear towering over her and she reflexively fired for the head. The bullet entered the open mouth and through upper palate straight into the brain. She brought out the skull. This was the first indication that the legendary Plains Grizzly was not extinct.