Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Pistol recommendation

I have many pistols, but if I had only one to choose to cover almost anything that a pistol should cover it would be my S&W 4" model 66 in 357 mag. Cheap and comfortable to shoot with 38s. A good self defense and an OK hunting round with 357s, and easy to shoot snake shot loads through for late summer scouting trips and fishing trips.

a 4 inch S&W 686 in 357,learn to shoot with a revolver first.

just my .02

Easy - Kimber, take your pick on model (I really like my Eclipse Pro II), make it a .45 ACP and never look back. I've had several Kimbers, now own two (one's a 10mm).

That's the way I did it. I "cut my teeth" on a Smith & Wesson Model 67 Stainless Combat Masterpiece. Many tens of thousands or rounds on that with a mix of target wad-cutters and full power loads (and dry firing) perfecting my double action shooting before I picked up an automatic.

It's funny but the best gun for me to shoot has always been the 1911.

I cut my teeth on a Dan Wesson .357, one of the originals. It worked okay but I never really like it, sold it. My second gun , was a Ruger .22lr with a 5" bull barrel. I shot it a lot, liked it some but sold it. I would have preferred a S & W Model 41 but could never afford one. My third gun was a S & W model 19 in .357 shot it some what, like it some but sold it. My fourth gun was a Ruger single action Super Black hawk in.44 mag. with a 5 1/2 " barrel, still have it, shoot it rarely as I no longer hunt. My fifth gun is my 1911, still have it and shoot it the most of all when I can.

The 1911 is an easy pistol to learn to shot as a first one especially with some one to teach you. My wife can pick up my 1911 and keep all her first mag shots in center mass at 25 yards and this with out much practice.

This is a FYI.

kim..,

We are in agreement. May go to gun was always a 4" Mod.19. For all the reasons you describe. But the poster was thinking 1911. A fine firearm, I have two, but not the answer for everything.

O

My first handgun was a Ruger Single Six quickly followed by a S&W Model 27. No reason a 1911 can't be your first. I'd recommend a Kimber or a Springfield, though there are many good ones out there (Taurus, Smith and Wesson, Para Ordanance) without breaking the bank. Shooting a 1911 can be pricey but Ciener makes a nice .22 slide and mag kit that allows you to shoot .22's out of your 1911.

I will have to agree with MO-GC on the .357 revolver that can let a person learn using .38spl light loads. It is extremely depandable and will get the job done in spades.

A person who is starting out with NO pistol experience does NOT want to start with a semi-auto. There are several things one needs to know how to do first and the revolver eliminates most problems that can accure simply put.

The guy wants a Browning Hi-Power. So get a Browning Hi-Power and be veryyyyyyyyyyy happy. You can't go wrong with that one. Load ol' John with 13 9mm hollow points and as I said; be veryyyyyyy happy.

Happy hunting and enjoy that Hi-Power
..

I'd suggest a revolver in .357mag or .44mag. You can shoot lighter loads, i.e, .38 or .44special for lighter recoil or practice.

Sounds like you want a semi though. My first gun, first I owned was a semi-auto 9mm and I now carry either a 1911 (.45) or a Ruger Blackhawk (.44) and I really like them both. For a "woods" gun though I prefer the Blackhawk.

Glock 20

That's simply not true.

In modern nomenclature, both pistols and revolvers are handguns. Pistols include single shot handguns, multi-barreled handguns, revolving pistols, and semi-auto handguns. Revolvers, in modern usage, are handguns with multiple chambers bored into a revolving cylinder which each in turn, by some mechanical action, line up with a single and separate barrel before firing.

Early on, revolvers were sometimes lumped in with "revolving pistols," but that's an archaic ambiguity stemming from their mechanical similarity to revolving pistols, which had multiple revolving barrels rather than a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers which each in turn line up with a single and separate barrel. Revolvers have been categorized as distinct from pistols (including revolving pistols) for well over a century now. Revolving pistols fall into the subcategory of pistol, not revolver, because they are merely complex multi-barrel forms of pistols, falling with revolvers into the larger category of handguns.

A good operational definition for a "pistol" is any handgun wherein the loaded chamber is a single unit with the barrel through which the bullet will be propelled. A "revolver," on the other hand, has chambers which are distinct from the barrel through which bullets are propelled, and is defined in more detail above.

This is a revolving pistol:

I have carried a Kimber pro comp for 15yrs, it has never failed me. 13+1 in 45 ACP. I rotate mags every 2 weeks for reliability. The 230 gn +P FMJ will punch a long deep wound channel in bears, hogs, or mountain kitties. I have only shot a pig that got to close while bow hunting deer. Huntin buddies have hit the bears and cats, the 45 always works. Good Luck on Your selection...Gunner500

Glock 20

Sig 229



You've already received good advice on the 1911. If you're willing to spend the time to get familiar, pick one up and burn powder. I picked up a scandium S&W and it has become my "go-to" when off duty.

George

I would get a 41mag or 44mag revolver. You can use it to take just about any big game your likely to encounter. Like supose you set your rifle down and up pops a bear at 50 feet away. Your pistol will be ready and there.

I guess this is the part where we agree to disagree.

"Samuel Colt designed the Colt Revolving Belt Pistol of Naval Caliber (i.e., .36 cal) between 1847 and 1850 - the actual year of introduction. It remained in production until 1873, when revolvers using fixed cartridges came into widespread use..."

But revolvers aren't pistols. Samuel Colt must've been wrong...

He wasn't wrong in the sense that the nomenclature at the time permitted that usage (revolvers were very new then, as he had just invented them). The nomenclature, however, changed shortly thereafter to make distinctions between revolvers and pistols. The key distinction is that pistols have chambers which are a single unit with the barrel and revolvers not only do not have this, but also have revolving cylinders.

PS I bet that the first watches were referred to as pocket clocks too. Today we distinguish between watches and clocks. They are both time pieces, but a watch isn't a clock and visa versa. Nomenclature tends to evolve over time.

FWIW... if you're not interested in a .45 acp 1911, i have in my possession a colt combat commander in 4.25" bbl chambered in 9mm. cool grips, and i have the originals. slick shooter, and if you got the juice, you can get .38 super mags and barrel for it up front. .38 spc to .357 mag right away...

just offerin'.

-tom