Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Educate me, carry pistol.

For open/ field use nothing but they are too bulky to me to consider truly concealable

Roger dodger.




Dave

Went window shopping tonight, quick summary.

Shield, like this one alot, but no safety for a southpaw, Bummer.

Sig P938, very interesting, do I want to get into a 1911 style SA gun? Cocked and Hot, good lord, freaks me out for some reason.

No sig 229 to look at, how does the 938 and 229 compare?

They had a used sig226 in .40 that made me smile, SA and DA, I just know that gun would be fun at the range, little to big to be considered 'midsize', but felt great in the hand.

Browning 1911 in .380, a small frame 1911 that just feels small but good in the hand, Smooth as butter in all regards for a new gun.

Question for you guys over the age of 45, how the fug do you see these sights, nothing but a blur at the end of the barrel for me, two white dots, three, don't matter. I knew I was going blind but damn. Can't focus at arms reach.

Don't buy a safety equipped Shield. They suck ass. I should have clarified that in my original post. Sorry.


No.



Great pistol. You'll never carry it.



If you're going .380, go LCP or similar.



Travis

You dumbass, you should know by now I'm going to ask for reasons,,,,,

I need reasons.

You might want to take a look at the new Kimber Micro 9mm. It's a slightly scaled up version of their little 1911 style .380. Played with one in my LGS the other day, and it felt much better in my hand than the Sig 938 in 9mm.

I'll probably buy one after seeing how they stand up and if they feed reliably in a gun rag test or two. They've only been out to buy for about 3 weeks now.

As I recommended in my earlier post on this thread, my 3 top choices would still be the Glock 19, 43, and 42, in that order.

My next choice would be my Springfield XDS in .45 acp, which is basically the same size as the Glock 43. I find my self more & more lately, carrying the XDS in .45 acp around town.
But I live in a real low crime rate area. When I have to travel to DFW, Houston, Austin, or San Antonio, I always carry a hi-cap Glock! And extra mags! AND a BUG

You don't want to mess with a manual safety. Any additional step before squeezing off a round is too likely to cause a lethal flub at the worst possible moment, and that no matter how automatic you may think you've made the move during practice. For concealed carry, the two recommended auto-pistol choices are traditional double actions (which means double action on round one, then all the rest are single action) or a Glock style of striker fired trigger. Yeah, there are people still attached to the single action, but they are mainly nostalgic. Not that it cannot work just fine (Hell, a Colt SAA can be effectively deployed just fine, too). But there are many much better choices now.

Oh, dear God.

Disregard this BS for a SOB who is scared of people in pickups and "glowing eyes in the grass at night".

Take a reputable SD course, find a range to shoot a bunch, and choose what works best for you; safety or not.

^^^^Best advice yet.

I can see the need of a safety on a single action but not on a striker fired pistol. It's just something I might forget to do in a crisis situation. Sure you can train enough that it's not an issue but I know that I won't train that hard. I will be lucky to find time once a month to have a proper session.

You have about three choices.

You can learn to manage a SA pistol with a safety. Yes, this can be done. The safety stays on unless the pistol raised above 45 degrees, when it comes off. I goes back on when the pistol lowers beyond that point. You practice it util it becomes automatic.

You can learn to manage a short-pull pistol with NO safety. Take the 45 degree procedure above and apply it to 'finger on the trigger'.

http://www.thesixgunjournal.net/safety-tips-for-the-semi-automatic-pistol/

You can learn to operate a DA/SA pistol. Master the decocker first, then read everything you find by Ernest Langdon.

Any of these pistols will serve you fine but you should pick one and stick with it. Shoot it until you master it.

If you decide to go with a double action auto (erring more on the side of safety than you would with a Glock type trigger action), you should avoid those with thumb safeties. You just want a decocker. Sig and CZ make them with just the decocker, and Beretta offers models with just decockers too.

Here's the reason: Many say "just ignor the safety and only use the decocker," but you cannot risk the possibility of the safety becoming inadvertently engaged, so you will have to train to sweep it off every time you raise it to fire. Now you're in the same boat you'd be in with a single action auto, but with a less intuitively designed thumb safety than is typical on single actions.

This is the best thread ever. And its only 12 pages.

Not sure how many more times deflave is going to say "Get a shield - with no safety" before the thread dies, but look at it this way:

SA thumb safety = Do you cock it and fire or drop safety and fire in a SHTF?

vs.

DAO = pull trigger.


Nothing saying you can't learn the former scenario with practice, and many people find it easy, and some even had it come natural that they can't see it being an issue.

But step one of concealed carry is get something you can carry concealed, and you may as well get something easy to use without having to rely on months of muscle memory or training.

We all can't be pistolero's overnight, but you can increase your chances of being alive the next day after a puckerfactor event.

Or not.

You can distill this entire thread down to two quotes. Sage advice there.

your right we must be getting old, no call outs in this thread....

did anyone recommend a 9mm Shield without a safety yet??

(Or the almost identical Glock43)

Despite your saying mean things to me I will try and clarify.

The safety on the Shield is (IMO) a poor design and of no value. It is a tiny little feller and most dick beaters have a difficult time "sweeping" it down after the pistol clears kydex or leather. This is my own opinion as well as others that have owned the models with the safety. Also, if the Shield design truly needed a safety, S&W would not market and sell the version without the safety. Some people must have a safety, I am not one of those people.

In reference to the Sig, I'd not go that route for a number of reasons. One, being the sawed off frame/grip size. If you're not a pistolero, you're going to have a tough time learning to shoot with one. There is a chance you're going to knock down plates @ 25yds with one, but I wouldn't bet on it. And again, I don't like safeties and I see no reason for a novice to learn on a safety equipped CC pistol in the year 2016.

Another problem with pistols like the Sig is holsters. If somebody is new to the handgun world, I want them to be able to grab a gun and holster combo, and walk out the door. Carry, shoot, draw and use that combo for a number of weeks or months or even days. If you don't like it, sell that schit and try another. But again, grab the next holster/gun combo that is readily available and see if you like it. This is one of the main reasons I recommend Shields/M&P's/Glocks.

Last but not least you already admitted that cocked and locked 1911 styles leave you less than comfortable. Not comfortable is a bad place to start.

Taking a class can be good. If it's a good class.

I can't recommend spending money on what you see in this picture enough. In 9mm.




Clark

now that's funny. one question, it's head is still on it. traditional around here to cut the head off.

as i remember, the guy shot by the trooper weighed something like 300 or 400 pounds, just mounds of fat. Projectiles didn't get in there.
troop took a hit in the artery.

That was done after the photo was taken.


Travis

Travis what is exact model number of that 9mm Shield?

I too have been checking out CC pistols lately. The 9mm Shield or LCP in 380 Auto was what I pretty much narrowed it down to. Leaning toward the Shield just cuz I think it has more balls. Reading this thread has me thinking I am leaning in the right direction.

What about the Ruger LC9?

Anyone like it over the Shield?