OT: Guns

Working for a PD for 10 years I knew Glock was the way to go.  So, my question to you gun owners is....is Glock STILL the way to go and is the ammo affordable?  We've decided(my MIL and I) that we need our own personal firearms given the state of our country.

not sure - I won't spend the cash on glocks - I like torus and kal tek personally but whatever u  serously look at price the ammo n see how avalible it is - it is insane how hard some calibers are to come by right now

Yeah that's what I've been hearing a lot about...ammo being cost prohibitive!!!!  How crazy is that!

What a timely post! I bought a Glock M26 yesterday. DH is retired LE and I'm very familiar with Glocks from the get go. I paid $12 a box for target  ammo BUT Federal/Winchester hollow points are going for $20 for a 20 round box....$1 each. But I don't plan to plink around with those, those are for defense, I'll use the cheapies for target practice.

Gun shows get a bad rap but thats the way to go for your target ammo. Go buy some in bulk.

Actually, there's a big gun show this weekend in Pasadena. I'm tied up but DH is going to go and check out the ammo for one...I'm sure he has several things on his 'list'!

Knowing only that I wanted a Glock and probably a 9mm, we went to an indoor range that rented guns. I tried the M26 and the M19 Glocks and a Sig Sauer, I forget the model number. The Sig was discounted right off as out of our price range. There's isn't a lot of size difference in the M19 and M26 but the M26 just felt the best to me. I'm very happy with it.

Ok, being an avid gun owner and a firearms instructor, I have a slew of questions for you but lets go to the basics. I personally own 2 Glocks and they are some of the most dependable and durable weapons on the market, Dont go cheap when your talking about personal defense. The comment about ammunition is very broad because Glock makes NUMEROUS calibre's so....  My opinion is if you buy a semi auto handgun that you stick with 9mm it is probably produced in greater quantity that other calibre's.

For ease of use Glock is probably top of the list. Its also a weapon that you need to be very familiar with. H&K (expensive), Sig Sauer (expensive), Smith & Wesson (dont care for their semi auto's but are great revolvers), Kel Tec (would not rely solely on this gun as my only line of defense, its reliable but extremely small and at times I find it toooo small), Taurus (very reliable and dependable and offers life time warranty but their customer support is HORRIBLE).

Like I said, I own 2 Glocks, a 21 (.45 ACP) and a 30 (.45 ACP) and LOVE them.

Go to a gun store and handle as many different makes as you can. The most important thing is to find one YOUR comfortable with.

Questions

1- Are you a current gun owner
2- Are you familiar with the operation of semi automatic hand guns
3- Have you ever taken a hand gun safety course or concealed handgun license class

John,

I have a question for you.  My father-in-law gave us several rifles and a pistol a year ago for personal protection and for use on our property in Arkansas.  My husband and I have never owned guns, loaded guns, shot guns - complete noobs.  We planned on taking a gun safety course but haven't gotten around to it.  He also gave my 14-yo a .22 rifle that he has never had the opportunity to shoot, either.  What would you recommend?  I agree with Kris that things could get a lot worse as more people loose their jobs.

Contact your local gun range and ask them if they offer any courses for gun safety and training. If not go to the range and observe people shooting a few rounds and then jump in there.

As far as your son goes. I highly highly highly recommend taking a hunter safety course,

http://www.hunter-ed.com/tx/index.htm , hell for that matter I would recommend anyone taking it even if you never plan on actually hunting. It will teach you how to handle a weapon safely. By all means teach your son to shoot that thing. The more familiar he is the safer he will be with it.

1 = No, not yet.
2= I have a very general idea.
3= NO, the two civilian classes our range master offered while I worked
for the PD in CA were BOTH held on dates/times that I was on duty and couldn't take them(sucked to have free classes offered that I couldn't take).

My husband used to have a couple of guns(years ago) and had a CCW license. I think at this point we'd just like to get a gun safe, take a class or two and get a couple of handguns for home safety.

Without starting any pointless political discussions(I have my beliefs and they aren't the same as EVERYONE else and I know that and DON'T want to know others beliefs...), I don't trust the direction this current administration is taking our country.  I see a lot of civil unrest brewing and that doesn't have only to do with the incredibly awful unemployment rate either.