Cheap handguns

Darkker said:

You need to shop online if a Glock is $700 locally, that's stupid money. That said, those are VERY cheap Kimber prices.

So here is what I can tell you, having owned many of most of the mentioned stuff.
HiPoint. For the $100 they were selling for locally, a fun little jammer. NO WAY I would every bet my life on it, if you actually put a lot of rounds through it. I wore-out several parts, that rendered the gun inoperable. They gladly send you replacement parts in the mail, but not for dead-nuts reliable.

Kimber
IME, as long as you like a 1911, they are fine. The trick with them is that they get put together too tight. So you have to break them in, one way or another. If not, then they like to jam and be fickle about fouling. Once that happens, they are perfectly fine. THOSE pistols are the $700++ around here.

Glock
These are my choice, but I have no illusion about what they are.
They are ugly, and I like them; but yes, they are ugly. I only ever had one that flat wouldn't shoot, bad barrel from the factory. Otherwise they are plenty accurate for any task of defensive use, and better than many for distance fooling around. They are definitly not ergonomic for anyone. Frankly they feel like something from the kids MineCraft game. That said, they are an AK-47 when it comes to reliability. The ONLY time I've ever had an issue(even among others, who come to me to "fix") is limp wristing. That isn't a failing of a Glock however.


So, what should you get?? What do you want???
I love my Glock reliability and accuracy. You may not agree and that's fine.
I understand that some Communist republics may be a pain to deal with. I personally suggest moving. But beyond that, there really isn't A choice here, just options. There are VERY few guns that have been mine over time, that I ended-up keeping. I wanted them for whatever purpose or intruige, shot the snot out of them; then decided/discovered their nuances. Sometimes that caused me to sell them, sometimes not. I absolutely adored an EAA Witness & a Taurus I once had. But for as much as I shoot, they just weren't built tough enough, and wear became a serious issue. 98% of the folks out there would never have reached that point.

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Lost River said:

I agree with the other posters about getting a Glock 9mm.


Frankly, if you are serious about handgunning, the initial purchase will less than the $$ spent on ammo/components, over a course of time.

Plus Glocks are easy to work on, don't require expensive gunsmiths, and quite easy to shoot well, once you master the trigger.

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nachogrande said:

Few likely have exp with EVERY 9MM made. I do feel comfortable buying used Sigs & Glocks. Factory refurbished/reconditioned/warranty & police used are a big + for me. For the Glock aside from proven reliability, lighter wt, low cost (used), is the mags from a larger model will fit in the smaller same caliber gun. Sigs are top notch & the ones I can vouch for would be the single stack 9mm 239, for it's size. The double stack is a bit bigger & has it's followers. The full size 226 & 220 45 acp are legend. The new Kimber single stack 9mms, after a quick puter search came back with mixed reviews & higher prices than you found. Something to potentially save you or a loved ones life IS NOT the place to pinch pennies.

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Ko Improbable said:

Okay, so, people have already said, "don't skimp on something your life may depend on." I certainly second that. Moving on.

Based on nine years of selling firearms and talking to customers about what does and doesn't work, and seeing some of the ones that don't work come back to the shop, the issue you need to be concerned with, when buying the cheapest of guns, is whether or not the gun is going to blow up.

If you're going to go cheap, go Kel-Tec. Yes, they do feel like someone bought a toy gun and converted it into a real gun. They have a service life of ~6,000 rounds (which you're unlikely to ever reach, and, assuming a price of $15 for 50 rounds, 6,000 rounds of 9mm Luger is $1,800, just to keep things in proportion). Some may not feed properly right out of the box, but there are videos on how to do the very same refinement that Kel-Tec will do if the gun is still misfeeding after 200 rounds. You will also want to watch your mainspring (which runs down the back of the frame) for rust. I've heard of one Kel-tec that had a structural failing, and it was minor (the frame cracked apart).

SCCY, which is a copy of the same gun as the Kel-Tec P11, has had a bad habit of not properly headspacing their barrels, leading to some of them blowing up with standard factory ammunition. The last gun shop I worked for had a range, and one of their range guns was just such a SCCY. The headspacing was so bad that the nose of 115gr FMJ would engage the rifling, during chambering, so firmly that you would pull the bullet out of the case before you'd pull the whole round out of the chamber. It was a ticking time bomb. Blowing up was not an "if," but a "when."
That said, I do hear from plenty of people who haven't had a problem with their more recent guns.

Hi-Points are big and hefty, which is the only reason I recommend Kel-tec over them for the CCW purpose you stated. Most of them work, for a while, and Hi-Point will gladly make any of their non-working pistols work again. From some sources, it doesn't even matter if it's clearly your fault for abusing the gun.

Avoid Bryco, Davis, Jennings, Jimmenez, and Raven (this is not a comprehensive list, I just can't remember any of the other "ring of fire" companies, or their successors, off the top of my head) like the plague. Due to extremely poor manufacturing standards, they are all ticking time bombs. Even those that are .22 LR pistols have had structural failings whose catalyst was merely firing a cartridge.

Going up a bit in price will get you into the range of Taurus. Don't drop the semi-autos. Their drop safeties have been proven to be non-functional across several entire product lines, and they apparently don't care. In other words, make sure your holster's retention is good, and put it back in your pocket after using it on a BG so that you don't get ordered to drop it (cops get trigger happy when guns go off).

A used Ruger SR9c, SR40c, or LC9/LC9s shouldn't cost you more than $350, and that would be a good option. There are design flaws in these I don't like, but they're personal preferences, not things that can get you killed or maimed. The LC9s Pro lacks those design flaws, however, but they'll probably be difficult to find used.

On that topic, do not be afraid to buy used guns. Too many new shooters equate used guns with used cars, and they shouldn't. You're not going to get some half-functional piece of worn out junk because you bought a gun that's ten years old. With few exceptions, shooters take care of their firearms, and if they're taken care of, they can last centuries. Even if they're frequently shot, any gun of even intermediate quality can handle tens of thousands of rounds before anything needs replacing, and exceedingly few people will ever put enough rounds through a gun to ever need to replace something on it. Generally, when a used gun is in bad shape, it's still functionally perfect, but cosmetically degraded.

For about $400 to $450, you should start finding used or "low feature" new guns that are all excellent. Glock, Smith & Wesson M&P, Springfield XD, FN FNS/FNX/FNP, CZ, etc. Some may, as alluded to above, be in rough cosmetic shape, but will still operate flawlessly.
Also, while this won't reduce the price, many shops offer layaway, which allows you to spread the price out over multiple paychecks.

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