If you are a civilian who wants to purchase a handgun for self-defense, which weapon would you pick? I am sure someone in this forum owns a handgun.
God, Glocks are terrible. They have a 2 pound pressure trigger. You can drop the thing and it would fire. Not safe. I would never trust such a weapon to protect my loved ones. Very reckless.
It requires 9 pounds of pressure, excuse me. Any other hand gun requires about 15 pounds. And, on top of that, Glocks have no external safety mechanism, the safety is on the trigger. Its retarded.
Actually the Glocks can come with a 6 lb., 9 lb., or 12 lb. trigger-pull. Lack of a true safety is a drawback, but Glocks are equipped with a safety housed within the trigger. The trigger has an "inner" trigger that acts as a safety (somewhat). You pretty much have to pull the trigger to get it to fire, but there's no way to set a separate safety to prevent an accident pull of the trigger from causing it to fire. There is also no external hammer, which is a plus since it can't get caught on clothing or anything to cause an accidental firing. I believe the average trigger pull for most pistols from the factory is about 8 lbs. I know it's not 15, that would be a bugger to shoot. Actually a Glock .40 caliber is my choice. For reliability it is the equivalent of the AK-47, it fires dirty, rusty, clean, and is pretty much idiot proof. The .40 cal. round is big but not too big. The 9 mm is much too anemic to be reliable in self-defense. The .45 is a great manstopper (probably the best) but the .40 is a better size unless you have large hands. But pretty to look at it is not.
handgun Select a Glock in whatever caliber you can get.They are as pretty as a pair of old comfortable boots but they have one rather important thing on their side they go BANG when required.
The Colt 1911 is still a good gun, but I wouldn't want one loaded in my house. If you carry it uncocked, then you have to cock it before you fire. If you carry it cocked, something as simple as jumping up and down is liable to cause it to fire. We carried them in the Military Police (before 9mm) and those who dared to carry them cocked with a round in the chamber often accidently blew out the bottom of their holster if they did something as simple as jump down from a fence. But then again, these pistols were 25-30 years old when we carried them.
I think that for personal protection, I would go for a Magnum 500. Even though the ammunition load is limited, and it'll hurt like hell to fire (I'd imagine, with a .50 cal. bullet and the same muzzle pressure as an AK-47, on a revolver), but if you hit something, it won't get up again - ever. With some of those puny little .22 cal. revolvers out there, you can fire the whole clip into an attacker, without him stopping to notice he's been hit until after he has killed you. Besides, the size of the Magnum 500 would probably be enough to scare more than a few crooks. If we can go automatic, the 9 mm. Ingram Model 10 would be sure to deliver a lot of impact, however it would also pretty much ruin your entire apartment if you were to fire one inside your house.
If you want a handgun for home defense you should consider a revolver.A revolver can remain loaded forever.If you were to keep a magazine for a semi-auto loaded for an extended period of time,there is a real possibility that the spring would lose tension and fail to feed the weapon.With a revolver you could also have a speed-loader ready if you choose to keep the weapon unloaded.A .357 Cal. S&W Model 19 would be a good choice.
Also,if you were to choose a semi-auto,you could keep the magazine only half full to reduce wear on the spring.
Home defence handgun If you choose a revolver you have the choice of semiwadcutter or extreme hollowpoint ammunition that will function in your pistol and stop anything you hit whereas many semiautos are very ammunition sensitive and may require ball or similar ammunition
Dirty Harry carried a .44 Magnum, a cannon when compared to the .357 Magnum. Actually the .357 is my favorite, but six shots can be expended rather quickly in an excited shootout. And the .357 semi-autos are somewhat clumsy.
Ever tried .357 revolver with 7 shots? Taurus even got 8 shot revolver, thought it is large frame. Edit: S&W also got 8-shooter .357 Magnum. Maybe others too?