New Handgun Advice Needed

Not necessarily. There are some people that have recoil sensitivity. I've seen very large, very tough guys not be able to shoot moderately-recoiling weapons. Also, and especially with a handgun, if it doesn't fit well, you're not going to shoot it well and sometimes that poor fit can translate to exaggerate drecoil effect.

If you compared hands with 50 adult men this afternoon, you'd see a dramatic variation in size and shape. But I'm not aware of anyone that makes multiple gripframe sizes in their handgun line.

Can you imagine pro baseball with one standard-sized bat?

Sig has come up with something similar. A modular handgun that you can customize to fit.

http://www.sigsauer.com/Products/ShowCatalogProductDetails.aspx?categoryid=54&productid=66
 
My neighbor is a sherrif, they have their own thoughts about handguns.
For myself... I got a dog that already .. well.. let's just say I'm happy their not dead..
For home protection 12 GA.. no substitude.
For a handgun... 9MM. Very few are "experts" with a handgun. 20-30' and the rounds are all over. No matter what's the stopping power.
My 9MM holds 17 in the clip and 1 in the chamber... I know out of the 18 rounds .. one will hit.. and one is most likely enough.... enough to swap the clips... SO I look for fast, and as many rounds I can get off in the shortest time. 45's are great but even the military is switching to 9 mills due to the round count. FOr fun I got the 357 mag revolver and I'm looking for a 44 mag rev.. but I have a tough time finding one. :(
 
I disagree on number of rounds. 1 good shot is better than 10 missed. If you can't hit someone in your house with a 10 round mag you have bigger issues. The military it makes sense because of the are at war.

I have a 45 subcompact and a 9mm compact for carry. The 9 is a Sig. It has NEVER jammed. every load I have put through it has fired with no exception, and I have put thousands of rounds through it.

The 45 subcompact is a taurus Millennium pro, it will stove pipe if you limp wrist it. It has only happened to me one time though.

The 45 was developed by the army to kill people with a whole lot of testing to back it. The other bullets were designed for other reasons all together. That in itself is a reason to go 45.

I personally feel that 40's have more kick than 45's do. the charge is hotter and I struggle to shoot them accurately. (I have had accuracy trouble with compact 40's and no trouble with SUBcompact 45 or any other size 45 I have shot)
 
I disagree on number of rounds. 1 good shot is better than 10 missed. If you can't hit someone in your house with a 10 round mag you have bigger issues. The military it makes sense because of the are at war.

Pistols aren't for everybody. Shotguns are.

The 45 was developed by the army to kill people with a whole lot of testing to back it. The other bullets were designed for other reasons all together. That in itself is a reason to go 45.

The 45 is a hundred-year-old caliber designed for somewhat weak pistols. The case itself has head problems. Most commercial pistols exacerbate this problem with open, unsupportive feed ramps. The 45 Super is a much more potent cartridge but few production firearms have the sterngth to shoot it ( exact same outside dimensions as the 45ACP). But that's OK. The 45 does OK just as it is. It's very uncommon in law enforcement use because of over-penetration issues. In reality, the 38 Special has ended more arguments than any other caliber ever conceived. As in your first point, if you can't hit it, you can't stop it.


I personally feel that 40's have more kick than 45's do. the charge is hotter and I struggle to shoot them accurately. (I have had accuracy trouble with compact 40's and no trouble with SUBcompact 45 or any other size 45 I have shot)

That depends alot on the pistol- moreso than the cartridge. You're dealing with basic physics. You have two factors, mass and velocity. And to a degree, acceleration. If you take a common off-the shelf load like the Remington Express, their 40 cal load at 180 grains and 1000 fps delivers 412Ft/lbs of muzzle energy. If you take their 185 gr 45 ACP load at 1000 fps, it delivvers 411 ft/lbs. Now obviously if you load your 40 with the 155 grain, 1300fps load that delivers an additional 150 ft/lbs of energy, your felt recoil is absolutely going to be different.
 
Will I notice a significant difference in accuracy/range with a compact vs. standard? I'm going to go check them out first hand but I'm probably going with the HK .40 or .45. I decided against the 9mm S&W that I was gonna buy. Pretty much a waste of $300 since I want the .40 or .45 anyways.
 
The differences in accuracy between the two frame sizes of the same caliber will be minimal with the pistol itself, when placed in the hands of the shooter the differences can be huge. I had a Glock 23 (.40 mid size frame) that I was deadly accurate with. I had a Glock 27 (.40 baby frame) that I couldnt hit a barn with. Was it the guns fault, absolutly not. Like I said in an earlier post, it at all possible try before you buy.

Or just do like a tried and true gun nut, and buy one of each.;)
 
The biggest difference between the two is going to be sight radius and secondarily, firmness of grip. Sight radius is the distance between the front blade and the rear aperature. The shorter it is, the greater the sighting error will be at any given distance. An inch is a big deal when you're talking about 4 or 5 inches total. The second one can be an issue too. I have really big hands and on many compact pistols, I have one finger hanging off. On the HK compact, it's not too bad, plus the gripframe is large enough with a Pachmayr slip-on that I can hold it well. Some of these ultra-small 45's? Forget it. I'd be better unloading the mag and throwing the rounds at them. Seriously, I'd rather have a little PPK in 380 that I can actually hit something with than an over-powered pocket cannon that I can't grip.
 
The biggest difference between the two is going to be sight radius and secondarily, firmness of grip. Sight radius is the distance between the front blade and the rear aperature. The shorter it is, the greater the sighting error will be at any given distance.




An inch is a big deal when you're talking about 4 or 5 inches total.

I wanna make a comment so bad.....:sifone:



The second one can be an issue too. I have really big hands and on many compact pistols, I have one finger hanging off. On the HK compact, it's not too bad, plus the gripframe is large enough with a Pachmayr slip-on that I can hold it well. Some of these ultra-small 45's? Forget it. I'd be better unloading the mag and throwing the rounds at them. Seriously, I'd rather have a little PPK in 380 that I can actually hit something with than an over-powered pocket cannon that I can't grip.

But the cannon may scare them more.

Seriously, I've never tried a slip-on grip. They actually work well vs the aftermarket replacement grips?
 
I wanna make a comment so bad.....:sifone:





But the cannon may scare them more.

Seriously, I've never tried a slip-on grip. They actually work well vs the aftermarket replacement grips?


If you have larger hands they work well. I have them on my HK and my Ruger. Give different feel to the stock grips, add a little size and a better finger grip in the front.
 
Qute:
An inch is a big deal ...
I have really big hands...


Naaaah... not gonna touch this one either. :rofl:
 
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