Recommend a 9mm handgun

[Kage127]

I'm a big fan of Keltec's PF-9. Life time warranty/made in the USA. When I bought mine it was about $220 and has great reviews. I have big hands but still feel comfortable shooting this smaller gun. It's rated for +P loads as long as you don't use them for a bunch of range shooting. Only holds 7 rounds but as far as concealment goes it easily disappears into a pocket in a pair of dockers. It has a little kick to it but I don't think its excessive.

My big concern when getting a gun was that I wanted something that I would carry as close to 100% of the time as legally allowed and I wanted something with more power than a 380. I knew anything to big or not reliable would discourage me from carrying it. In my opinion, this gun is the best for its price. I considered getting a glock 36 (the single stack 45) but went with the keltec in that it was a little(really not by much) smaller/lighter. I will eventually get the glock 36 as well and advise looking into it if you're looking for a subcompact and concealment is more important than magazine size.

 

[oyarde]

Why not?

Probably , every .32 ,.380 ,.40 ,10mm, .45 I have ever shot, shot better than any of the 9's I have. I find most handguns somewhat irritating , if I need it , it is not a good day .

 

[osan]

Why not?

Because 9mm is anemic. It is absolute shit as a combat cartridge and not much better as one for self defense.

My father used to go shooting at the armory in Brooklyn and he had many shooting buddies there. One of them owned a liquor store... I think in Bay Ridge IIRC. One day a big drugged/drunk guy comes in to rob him at knife point. He takes his HiPower and dumps 15 rounds into the guy and he kept coming. He had to put 33 rounds into him before he dropped, the last one in his head as I recall. He had two full magazines plus one in the snoot and used them all just to take down one guy - ALL center of mass hits - not a single miss.

I would not want to have to trust my life to 9mm Para. The 40 Smith can be loaded long such that you can get 1560 at the muzzle with 135 gr slugs. That is incredibly hot ammunition. You put a 40 Smith barrel/slide onto a 10mm frame and use the 10mm magazines to accommodate the longer rounds. They will turn your insides into jello. It is pretty much a one-shot stop in nearly all cases. A friend shot a deer with this load and there was literally NOTHING solid left in the chest cavity. Heart and lungs were liquefied. The added bonus is that the 40 Smith brass is actually stronger than 10mm. This gives you .357 magnum stopping power in a semi. The other alternative is 38 SuperAuto, another 357 equivalent.

If you're serious about saving your bacon in the event of a worst-case scenario, forget about bullshit rounds like 9mm. You want the most power you can accurately put on target with the largest reserve your hands can comfortably wrap themselves around.

 

[oyarde]

Because 9mm is anemic. It is absolute shit as a combat cartridge and not much better as one for self defense.

My father used to go shooting at the armory in Brooklyn and he had many shooting buddies there. One of them owned a liquor store... I think in Bay Ridge IIRC. One day a big drugged/drunk guy comes in to rob him at knife point. He takes his HiPower and dumps 15 rounds into the guy and he kept coming. He had to put 33 rounds into him before he dropped, the last one in his head as I recall. He had two full magazines plus one in the snoot and used them all just to take down one guy - ALL center of mass hits - not a single miss.

I would not want to have to trust my life to 9mm Para. The 40 Smith can be loaded long such that you can get 1560 at the muzzle with 135 gr slugs. That is incredibly hot ammunition. You put a 40 Smith barrel/slide onto a 10mm frame and use the 10mm magazines to accommodate the longer rounds. They will turn your insides into jello. It is pretty much a one-shot stop in nearly all cases. A friend shot a deer with this load and there was literally NOTHING solid left in the chest cavity. Heart and lungs were liquefied. The added bonus is that the 40 Smith brass is actually stronger than 10mm. This gives you .357 magnum stopping power in a semi. The other alternative is 38 SuperAuto, another 357 equivalent.

If you're serious about saving your bacon in the event of a worst-case scenario, forget about bullshit rounds like 9mm. You want the most power you can accurately put on target with the largest reserve your hands can comfortably wrap themselves around.

I have dropped a very large Coyote , nearly on me with one round from a.45, I have dropped fox , nearly in my lap with one shell of 12 Ga #4. And other things.

 

[Romulus]

I never knew 9 was so disliked... do others agree? I have a 380 LCP but need real stopping power. This will not be a conceal. I guess id like a compact size still.. Should I look to a .40 then? I sold my old s@w in. 40 because the trigger pull felt like 100 lbs. I forget the model.

I was thinking 9 for ease of ammo and accuracy .. but stopping power comes first so maybe then it will be a compact 40.

 

[Kage127]

I think the 9 mm is a very capable cartridge, but to each their own. If concealment isn't an issue the 40sw is the way to go. I'm pretty sure the glocks that shoot 9mm and 40sw are the same size gun. 9mm might be easier to find but since police use the 40 sw I don't see the market for it drying up.

Also if your interested "Boston's Gun Bible" is a very good book for anything gun or gun related. The guy is a fanatic though so take him with a grain of salt.

 

[jtap]

Agreed that the .40 bullet is better than the 9. That is just physics and can't be argued with. You also pay for it. It might be worth considering that a bullet off-target is worthless and that practice is essential to good shooting skills and habits and that at about twice the price you will either pay more to practice with .40 cal or you will shoot less. Just something to consider as there is no easy answer and so many variables.

Considering price and reliability my opinion and research would recommend Glock or S&W M&P or Springfield XD.

The only reason to not get a Glock would be if you don't feel comfortable with it or shoot as well with it. They are so reliable. Their grip angle is a bit different than most guns (feels weird to me) and their sights don't line up so well for me (you could change the sights though if you wanted - so it's not as big of a deal as the grip). All 3 of the above can be had in .40 or 9mm with each having a couple different models with different grip/mag size and gun barrel size.

Good info in this thread.

The weird thing about Glocks is that because they are so similar and they change so little you can almost recommend all models and there isn't really a dud in there. S&W makes a lot of guns and I'm in no way endorsing all of them, just the M&P, although you can't go wrong with a revolver either. With Springfield I am only confident of the XD series and have no experience with the other but they don't have too many other guns, mostly 1911s (which can be very reliable and there are tons of options if you wanted to go that way also).

 

[Aeroneous]

I never knew 9 was so disliked... do others agree? I have a 380 LCP but need real stopping power. This will not be a conceal. I guess id like a compact size still.. Should I look to a .40 then? I sold my old s@w in. 40 because the trigger pull felt like 100 lbs. I forget the model.

I was thinking 9 for ease of ammo and accuracy .. but stopping power comes first so maybe then it will be a compact 40.

You'll find quite a few more people who like it than those that don't. There's a couple personalities in the gun world that you run into quite a bit...

-The "my brand only" guy who can't accept that other manufacturers make solid guns as well
-The "big caliber" guy who thinks that anything below X caliber is just a waste of time

I think there's no question that .45 ACP or .40 S&W is the better round when it comes to stopping power. This doesn't mean that 9mm is bad, though. osan's story is pretty unique, and in that situation I would bet that the .45/.40 would both take their fair share of rounds as well. If the guy took 33 rounds of 9mm, one .45 ACP to the chest wasn't going to do the trick either. Let's just all be thankful that osan's grandfather was allowed to carry "high capacity" magazines!

As I said before, you need to find what works best for YOU. You can listen to people fight about calibers, brands, and models all day but it all comes down to what you feel most comfortable with and what you shoot most accurately with. When I'm helping someone find their first pistol, I typically suggest they narrow down to a caliber they like and then try all the available options in that caliber. In your case, you might try firing several pistols in each caliber that meet your size requirements. I personally don't feel much of a recoil difference between 9mm and .40 S&W, but have met several people who find the .40 to be a bit more than they care to handle. All the stopping power in the world won't matter if you can't place the round on target.

The only way you'll figure out what's best for you is to go to the range

 

[ClydeCoulter]

And you might look at the RIA 1911A2 .22 TCM, very little recoil, fast back on target, 17 rounds, 2000fps. It's a full size and has a 9mm barrel/spring so that you can change it out. The ballistics look very good from what I've seen so far, but I'm looking for better testing (I'll be doing more myself).

Try various handguns at the range, like other said, and see what you like.

 

[Acala]

I was thinking 9 for ease of ammo and accuracy .. but stopping power comes first so maybe then it will be a compact 40.

I have 9s and like them. Sometimes I carry one even when I could carry something bigger. But if "stopping power comes first", then you don't want a 9. .40SW is better. .45 is better still. Full house 10mm is even better. If you go with a revolver, .357 is good. .44 magnum is better. But nothing that shoots full house 10mm, 357 or .44 magnum that is also compact is going to be pleasant for practice. And a 9mm that you practice with enough so that you can hit the target is infinitely better than the biggest "stopper" that you rarely shoot for cost of ammo or because it is unpleasant.

 

[GunnyFreedom]

Ya, I carry a H&K using .40 HP.

And I carry a Smith & Wesson Tactical .40 on .40S&W

To be honest, I'd have preferred 10mm, but .40S&W won the cartridge war between 10mm and .40S&W, and the second most important thing to consider is ammo availability.

9mm will of course have the same or greater availability than .40S&W (but .40 may eventually surpass 9mm as all federal agencies are moving that way). Carries more than a .45ACP (less than a 9) and has more punch than a 9 (less than a .45)

The 10mm was really the best of both worlds. Carried the quantity of rounds as a .40 but as much ballistic energy as a .45ACP.

I go with the .40 because it's not quite as good as the 10mm, but available pretty much everywhere. About 80% of Federal, State, and Local authorities have gone to the .40 as a primary weapon (I imagine a lot of THEM still use a 9mm for a backup).

The way I see it, you don't need the 3 to 4 extra rounds if each round has 150% of the impact energy, and you are good enough to put them on target. Same rationale a .45ACP user uses lol I know, but I like having 3 to 4 more rounds than he does, only almost as much power...

I'd rather have a 10mm, but the .40S&W is an order of magnitude more common, and commonality is important. I actually like 9mm more for a short CQB style carbine rather than a pistol, if I'm honest....

 

[GunnyFreedom]

I never knew 9 was so disliked... do others agree? I have a 380 LCP but need real stopping power. This will not be a conceal. I guess id like a compact size still.. Should I look to a .40 then? I sold my old s@w in. 40 because the trigger pull felt like 100 lbs. I forget the model.

I was thinking 9 for ease of ammo and accuracy .. but stopping power comes first so maybe then it will be a compact 40.

One of the issues I have with my S&W Tactical .40 is that the double-action trigger pull is a PITA, but the single action trigger pull is like butter. Not an issue except, recessed hammer. So if I want first-shot accuracy, I have to yank on the trigger a little, grab the hammer as it comes out, and pull it back to manually cock it.

Also, I got a DRMO weapon from the Atlanta Police Department, so following their SOP it doesn't have a proper safety, just a de-cockiong lever, which thing I don't much like.

Other than than, it has been perfect. The weapon came from the factory with Tritium sights - a feature they only offered active duty police at the time - so I was willing to compromise on the safety in exchange for the factory fitted tritium sights.

Really though, the pistol I wanted was the S&W M&P .40 with a real safety. It, too, has a recessed hammer though.

No matter what, however, be absolutely sure to fire one before you buy it, because honestly I have NO idea what the single action trigger pull on the M&P is. A review just said "6.5 pound trigger pull" and said it was an incredible improvement over the Sigma series, so chances are it will be better than what you remember.

 

[youngbuck]

9mm is just fine, especially if you use high quality hollow points for personal defense. Ammo is cheaper, more readily available, which can mean more training time. Lower recoil and high magazine capacity are compatible with a "shoot it till it drops" mentality if you are forced to use it.

 

[Romulus]

That was the other thing I liked about the Sig p250 compact. No safety. I'm not a fan, if I want safe, I'll keep my finger off the trigger.
And I can get either a .40 or 9mm. in a 13/15 capacity. It was a good fit for me.

The range I used to go to let users try whatever they had. I might have to make the trip again if they have one where I could try other models too.

 

[GunnyFreedom]

That was the other thing I liked about the Sig p250 compact. No safety. I'm not a fan, if I want safe, I'll keep my finger off the trigger.
And I can get either a .40 or 9mm. in a 13/15 capacity. It was a good fit for me.

The range I used to go to let users try whatever they had. I might have to make the trip again if they have one where I could try other models too.

I like to keep a round in the chamber 24/7/365. I can reflexively thumb off a safety a lot easier and more quickly than I can chamber a round or cock the hammer. I like having a real safety, because I like to carry in Condition 1. I can't do that without a safety so I have to carry in Condition 2, which adds a few milliseconds response time that I would rather not add.

 

[Romulus]

I can understand that. It's all about being familiar with the firearm. I feel better w/o one, along with a proper holster that covers and protects the trigger when I carry and draw.

 

[pcosmar]

I like to keep a round in the chamber 24/7/365. I can reflexively thumb off a safety a lot easier and more quickly than I can chamber a round or cock the hammer. I like having a real safety, because I like to carry in Condition 1. I can't do that without a safety so I have to carry in Condition 2, which adds a few milliseconds response time that I would rather not add.

I always liked the 1911 for it's multiple safeties. It is still very fast.
I would take .38 Super over a 9mm.. but prefer .45. (.45 super )

I would be happy to own an ElCheapo .32 revolver with nobody giving me shit about it

 

[AFPVet]

Because 9mm is anemic. It is absolute shit as a combat cartridge and not much better as one for self defense.

My father used to go shooting at the armory in Brooklyn and he had many shooting buddies there. One of them owned a liquor store... I think in Bay Ridge IIRC. One day a big drugged/drunk guy comes in to rob him at knife point. He takes his HiPower and dumps 15 rounds into the guy and he kept coming. He had to put 33 rounds into him before he dropped, the last one in his head as I recall. He had two full magazines plus one in the snoot and used them all just to take down one guy - ALL center of mass hits - not a single miss.

I would not want to have to trust my life to 9mm Para. The 40 Smith can be loaded long such that you can get 1560 at the muzzle with 135 gr slugs. That is incredibly hot ammunition. You put a 40 Smith barrel/slide onto a 10mm frame and use the 10mm magazines to accommodate the longer rounds. They will turn your insides into jello. It is pretty much a one-shot stop in nearly all cases. A friend shot a deer with this load and there was literally NOTHING solid left in the chest cavity. Heart and lungs were liquefied. The added bonus is that the 40 Smith brass is actually stronger than 10mm. This gives you .357 magnum stopping power in a semi. The other alternative is 38 SuperAuto, another 357 equivalent.

If you're serious about saving your bacon in the event of a worst-case scenario, forget about bullshit rounds like 9mm. You want the most power you can accurately put on target with the largest reserve your hands can comfortably wrap themselves around.

Full powered 10mm brass was originally designed to safely handle 50,000 CUP. SAAMI downloaded it to 37,500 CUP due to some of the problems with the Bren Ten. The .40 S&W has a max pressure rating of 35,000 CUP; whereas, there is MUCH more safety/wiggle room with the full powered 10mm. Also, look at the primers... the .40 uses a small pistol primer and the full powered 10mm uses a large pistol primer! Look up Double Tap or Buffalo Bore... they make REAL 10mm... they way that Norma did it! When you push both cartridges to the limit, the 10mm pulls way ahead... it's like comparing a .308 to a .30-06.

 

[MoneyWhereMyMouthIs2]

One more recommendation for a glock 19, subject to the criticisms mentioned here regarding accuracy, feel, etc.

I think the 9 mm is a very capable cartridge, but to each their own.

I think +p defense rounds will do. Availability and capacity help too, imo.

 

[oyarde]

I never knew 9 was so disliked... do others agree? I have a 380 LCP but need real stopping power. This will not be a conceal. I guess id like a compact size still.. Should I look to a .40 then? I sold my old s@w in. 40 because the trigger pull felt like 100 lbs. I forget the model.

I was thinking 9 for ease of ammo and accuracy .. but stopping power comes first so maybe then it will be a compact 40.

I agree the ammo is a plus.You can probably get a better deal on it than anything.If the budget is no constraint , I would go with the .40 instead.I would want to shoot it before I pay for it , only way to see if you like it.