need help from those with more experience

[shawn]

I will soon be buying my first gun. I want something compact that can easily be concealed. I am about 6 foot tall 165-170 pounds. I do not plan on carrying often, especially since my work will not allow it. Mostly I want it for the range so I can stop renting when I go to shoot and home protection. I have been looking at the G-19. I get some slack from one of my friends because he is not a glock fan but I slike the simplicity of the design. I dont want to have to use special tools for cleaning and baby a gun so that it will work. My one good friend is a cop so he can get me his discount at the place where he goes. Any suggestions as to what other brands/models I should look at?

[agonist]

Glocks are great, you pretty much can't go wrong there. Check out the Smith & Wesson M&P. They've got a full size and a compact model. Much of the design is based on the Glock with a few "improvements" as they say. It comes with three different grip inserts to fit your hand and it looks way better than the Glock (now I'm in for it). Also the Springfield XD is a great gun and the compact model also accepts a hi cap mag with a grip extension. I find the XD a bit clunky but it's a top notch service pistol. The Walther P99 is another option (also comes in a compact). Great looking pistol if you like a hi tech look although I'm not sure it can boast the same track record as the other three it does have a good reputation. If you've got money to spend and like the 1911 style pistol, check out Springfield's new EMP 9mm. Very sweet.

Whatever gun you get you will need some basic cleaning tools besides what the manufacturer supplies with the pistol.

Have your cop friend or someone with experience go through the cleaning process with you.

Take good care of whatever you get and it will serve you well for many years and retain it's value if you decide to trade or sell it down the road.

[beltbuckle]

A gun to take a serious look at is the Beretta PX4. Its rotating barrel system reduces recoil, its very accurate and comes with night sites. To take it apart, takes all of ten seconds without any tools. It's been tested tough and very very few people can find faults with it. The canadian border patrol just adopted it as their official carry pistol, even over the glocks!



And like agonist said the M&P and the XD are also great pic's due to the price and quality. Not to mention that the PX4 and the M&P have the different backstraps to fit different sized hands.



I'm like your buddy however, allthough I do believe glock makes a great pistol I dont personally like them and dont recommend them all that often.

[agonist]

Thanks Belt, I knew I was forgetting something. I'm digging the PX4. Might be the only Beretta I really like.

[beltbuckle]

I know I've fallen in love with it. And sometime this month the compact and the .45 come out!

[agonist]

So many guns, so little money....

[fuzzy1911]

well there is alot of nice little guns out there also alot of junk.I like glock and springfield's xd series> I happen to own a g19 and love it easy to clean and if...IF it breaks it is easy to fix

[shawn]

I was looking at the sig p229 on this site and it looks great. I watched a youtube video of the disasembly and it seems like a pretty simple design. The site lists it as a full size pistol but from the dimensions listed it doesnt seem much larger than the g-19, a little thinner even. Does anyone have this? Is it concielable? I still have to wait anothe 2 weeks for my permit so I have plenty of time to shop.

[g4l]

My friend "frequentshooter" has one and loves it, I think he carries but not sure how much, its to big for my taste to carry though. I do enjoy shooting it, its very accurate, has one of the best grips Ive held, and just an all around great gun. You can find his name in the sig229 thread, click on it and shoot him an e-mail.

[agonist]

I don't own one but I have shot a couple. The ones I've tried I didn't like the trigger reach or pull.