S and I have had various discussions about travel, and his fairly strong feeling that I need to become proficient with a handgun for most of the places I want to go, or places that he has suggested for mutual travel. (He says carrying a machine gun makes you just an average Joe, but a handgun shows you mean business ...)
See, so far I've been a long gun girl - mostly shotgun, a bit of rifle, although I do prefer shotgun. Nothing like seeing a clay bird vaporize against a twilight sky, and the feeling of "I did that". I did, however, really enjoy the family day where they let us in the SIM room and we got to do training with the
C-9 and the
C-6, as well.
I inherited a small pistol (similar to the one at left) when my uncle passed away, but due to Canadian gun laws, (
barrel length (snub) and .32 caliber) I can't actually own it. It requires a "prohibited" class of ownership permit, and the government no longer issues those. Thankfully, I have a friend who got grandfathered in when the law changed, and the piece now lives with him. I visit it occasionally, while deciding what to do. I will likely end up selling it.
My friend has an impressive collection of firearms, so I on my last visit, I shot a few of his handguns, trying to get a feel for what I like.
He had a .22 pistol that I liked, but S says I am wasting my time with that. I liked a couple of the .32s as well, but again, there is that whole licencing issue.
The research I have done to date has me leaning toward 9mm. It is (I've been told) a good beginner gun that still has stopping power. So I am currently looking at picking up one of these: a Baby Eagle 9mm from Magnum Research. It is a fairly inexpensive gun, and 9mm ammo isn't as expensive as some others, so I should be able to get some decent practice in. (S, who gets paid to practice, his firearms and ammo supplied, often forgets the realities of those of us who have to pay for our own)
I would like to shoot one before I commit, which is a bit more of a challenge up here. Maybe time for a road trip to the states again? We'll see.
Love to hear some thought from those of you who know about these things.
I'm at a bit of a disadvantage not knowing the Canadian gun laws and such but I would totally agree with S about the .22. It's a "fun" caliber to plink around with or squirrel hunt if you really want to practice precise shooting but totally worthless really in self-defense.
ReplyDelete9mm sounds like a very good choice for what you're looking for especially if it works with your gun laws.Easy to use, a joy to handle and yea it's got enough dropping power that in experienced hands it a real fine and dependable firearm.
My ex-wife wanted to get a handgun back in 1990 and to make a long story short she became an Olympic Style pistol (.22) and air pistol shooter, even trying out for the Olympics two different times. Because of her connections and so many of the woman participating that were American military, she got used to "unlimited" practice ammo as well. Of course .22 casings were and are cheap so that's a bit different.
This has nothing really to do with this but on the 24th of FEB a new movie is coming out called "Act Of Valor". They use active duty Navy Seals and in many of the fire fight scenes they are using live ammo basically because SEALS can. I watched a special on the making of that film...wow. Here in the States of course. SEALS are the big thing because they waxed Bin Laden so I think that film will be huge...
anyway, when you mentioned S getting all the Ammo he needs I thought of that.
Where do you intend on traveling that requires carrying a handgun? The concept of carrying a weapon at home, and even moreso abroad, just... makes me cringe.
ReplyDeleteI've heard that Act of Valor movie was a Navy Seal promo turned into a full length feature. The ex-infantry on M's course are all going nutso over it :)