Mild Case of Buyer's Remorse on First Handgun Purchase

[Rustyshackelford]

If I had to have a black semi and didnt reload, I'd be looking for a used or police trade-in Glock 9mm in whatever size struck my fancy at the time...No, I am not a Glock guy, but was saddled with carrying one daily for about 20 years. They simply work with little care or maintenance.

I think the M&P is as good or better in this area of low to no Maintneance and still being reliable. This from a guy who dropped the M&Ps for Glock 19’s.

I don’t regret my decision to switch but my gun selection is a bit more vast and there is a method to my madness. But someone starting out, the M&P is as good and easier to boot.

the downfall of the M&P for my use was I had the full size and compact. Shot the compact as well or better than the full size, but it was a chunky pistol. The Glock 19takes up the same physics space as an M&Pc with a finger rest mag. I didn’t carry the compact with the finger rest mags, but figured if that config and the g19 concealed the same, why not have more rounds, and two or more pistols for carry and home defense, not more big and little.

I shoot the M&P better than i do the glocks, but in real world defensive purposes my accuracy is good enough with any of these pistols.

I had high hopes when HK released the vp9 compact, in that it would be more like the g19, but it was more like the M&P in overall size.

CZ is an excellent brand that is virtually never introduced to a new shooter, which is a shame. These are and have been exceptionally undervalued pistols for a long time.

 

[OkieStubble]

If I had to have a black semi and didnt reload, I'd be looking for a used or police trade-in Glock 9mm in whatever size struck my fancy at the time...No, I am not a Glock guy, but was saddled with carrying one daily for about 20 years. They simply work with little care or maintenance.

Me neither.

 

[_MementoMori_]

There is time to redeem yourself. I recently bought two Taurus G2C pistols (12+1) for $169 a piece and those damn things shoot! Very accurate, lightweight and easy to clean. Manual safety, trigger safety, visual and tactile indicator when ready to fire, and a nice divot to rest your index finger on if you're still practicing trigger discipline like my wife. They also came with two 12 round magazines each (13 rounds followed by 12 gives you pretty good odds). Get off my lawn, filthy looters.

Okay, I'm almost definitely buying one of these. Thanks so much for the mention. I'm price shopping right now. I'd like the stainless slide model if I can get a good deal on it.

 

[simon1]

I bought a Bond Arms Snake Slayer IV a few weeks ago for home defense with all of the recent unrest in the world. I just figured it was time. I love the gun, but I have to admit in retrospect that I was probably more concerned with aesthetics than I should have been. It is a BEAUTIFUL gun. But it's also a single action two shot pistol. I am now regretting that I didn't buy something semi automatic with a larger capacity. I know that I'm still in better shape now than when I didn't own a gun at all, but if I had it to do over again I don't think the Bond Arms pistol would be my first gun. Do any of you guys use it or something similar as your primary home defense firearm?

I don't think I have EVER regretted a firearm purchase. Although for what you bought it for there are better choices.

I've been thinking about buying a Bond derringer...heard they are great quality but never handled one. I'd use it to stash in a room somewhere. You just keep it around and stick it in your pocket for running to the store or something when you don't want to put on a holstered one.

For what you want, one of the current crop of combat tupperware should be just fine. Price point probably lower than what the Bond was...depending on what flavor you get.

 

[Rustyshackelford]

Aimsurplus is a decent place to scope of police trades. They typically have a good selection and have competitive prices. I would advise to buy a used smith or Glock over buying a Taurus, charter arms or Rossi brand gun. I don’t say this to drag any of them through the mud, they have their places. The reason I advise buying a more reputable brand is the level of quality, access to service should you need it, and resale or future trade value. Buying a used Glock or Smith will likely not cost you much of anything and could appreciate slightly over time, whereas the bargain brands are bargains new and have markedly less value in trade or resale later on.

The bargain brands have improved in some ways through the years and deteriorated in others. But let’s face it, none of them are cheap when it comes to your cash leaving your wallet, but there is a smart way of going about buying guns.

As a salesman, I have talked plenty of folks up from bargain brands and down from overpriced hype. I always considered myself honest, and wanted my customers to enjoy and trust their firearm, not doubt or struggle with it.

if you are looking for a decent pistol that I do t believe has been mentioned yet, that is of surprising quality considering the value price point, look into BERSA.

 

[Bhugo]

Okay, I'm almost definitely buying one of these. Thanks so much for the mention. I'm price shopping right now. I'd like the stainless slide model if I can get a good deal on it.

Take your time and research all the choices. You may end up buying something and wanting something else if you rush. On the other hand, if you are like me, you will always want another gun no matter what.... That’s why they make big safes!

Truthfully, a carry gun is very personal. You really need to fall in love with it or you won’t enjoy carrying it. A good shop will let you hold and even holster different pistols for the right fit. I stick with Ruger mostly, but that’s me. I would agree with most of the names mentioned already as good brands. I have no experience with Taurus though.

Good luck on the search!

 

[jar_]

A few words on personal experience with after sales support.

Without a doubt the very best after sales support I have gotten from any gun maker has been with Charter Arms.

Smith & Wesson recently has been nearly as good but with absolutely terrible communication. It was almost impossible to find out even if they had received my pistol much less get an estimate of reasonable ETA for return. However they DID solve the issue and return my pistol within an acceptable if long turn around time.

I'll admit that since most of the guns I carry or use are long, long out of any warranty or even likely manufacturers repair I have had limited experience with current repair stats.

 

[Ad Astra]

This is making me nostalgic for a High Standard derringer.

A terrible choice for SD these days, but in the 70s, one of my sister's BFs carried one. I was impressed.


AA

 

[Rustyshackelford]

A few words on personal experience with after sales support.

Without a doubt the very best after sales support I have gotten from any gun maker has been with Charter Arms.

Smith & Wesson recently has been nearly as good but with absolutely terrible communication. It was almost impossible to find out even if they had received my pistol much less get an estimate of reasonable ETA for return. However they DID solve the issue and return my pistol within an acceptable if long turn around time.

I'll admit that since most of the guns I carry or use are long, long out of any warranty or even likely manufacturers repair I have had limited experience with current repair stats.

There is also the fine line of knowing you will need to use the customer service or happening upon a good customer service experience.

For a tool you will be placing so much trust and reliability in, the expectation that you will need to use a warranty/customer service is not a desirable position to be in. Again, not putting anyone’s personal guns down, but my personal and professional experience with Taurus, Rossi and Charter Arms has made me expect to see their guns go back for service or visit a gunsmith. I have seen a brand new charter arms 357 go out onto my range, and less than 2 dozen 38+p rounds through it the barrel simply broke and fell to the ground. I inspected as did the trained gunsmith, there were no squibs and there weren’t any handloads used, just low quality pot metal cast and made into a barrel. this soured me in newer make charter arms, the old ones are much better.

Taurus and Rossi are basically the same. We placed an order for a Taurus revolver for a customer. When it arrived there was, honest to god, more than an inch of slag/left over metal from the casting process that was never removed from the muzzle. This gun made it from Brazil to Ohio with quality control checks and a factory test fire without having the muzzle cut and crowned. The customer knew how long the service would take from the factory and didn’t want the headache and he liked the idea of keeping the gun in this condition as some sort of trophy. He placed an order for smith 617 on the spot.

My stepfather bought a Taurus 1911, it was a very nice looking and nice feeling gun. Unfortunately, there was never a trip to the range when this gun didn’t break somehow. The basic components of the gun were fine, but the quality of the screws, pins and other hardware was poor and they sheared or broke or backed out resulting in them falling out entirely. This gun never shot anywhere near POA and at 15’ was alway 8” low, no matter the shooter. He finally was will to give up the thing when I got him a good deal on a kimber.

On the other end of the service spectrum, Sig make rather expensive products, but I will tell you they are not making a quality product across the board, and their service and guarantee is atrocious. I spent close to a decade in a gun shop and training setting and I will tell you we sent just about as many sigs back to the factory or our gunsmith as we did the bargain brand guns. Our Gunsmith made a lot of money off of their poor service because people could give the guns to him and get a better guarantee on the work and get their gun sooner. Sig doesn’t fix anything of theirs for free. I highly advise to stay away from their gimicky offerings. If it’s not a 220, 226, 227, I would not touch it.

Brands like Glock and smith may not have the best communication, but when it comes to servicing your firearm in an unlikely event it is needed, they will take much better care of you and rarely ask you for anything more than money for return shipping. There are others out there just as good, but these are my two main examples.

One last thing to consider on taking advice from folks on what gun brands to buy. Consider that there are folks that never put more for than 2boxes of ammo through a gun in their life, but boast about their home defense gun that serves them just fine. Get advice from shooting enthusiasts, the guys running 4-800 rounds or more through their gun each month, and have been doing so with these guns for years. Cops aren’t always those guys, neither are all ex military guys. Go take a sampling of guys who frequent a range and you can see do a lot of shooting, talk the staff at a rental counter and see which of their rentals come back needing service from time to time. This is one of the better ways for a retailer with a range to speak about the long term reliability of the guns. They don’t take immaculate care of them, and they get somewhat questionable maintenance, and they see a ton of rounds go through them. We were able to track some of our guns into the 30-80k round counts based on rentals over time.

 

[Ad Astra]

There is also the fine line of knowing you will need to use the customer service or happening upon a good customer service experience.

For a tool you will be placing so much trust and reliability in, the expectation that you will need to use a warranty/customer service is not a desirable position to be in. Again, not putting anyone’s personal guns down, but my personal and professional experience with Taurus, Rossi and Charter Arms has made me expect to see their guns go back for service or visit a gunsmith. I have seen a brand new charter arms 357 go out onto my range, and less than 2 dozen 38+p rounds through it the barrel simply broke and fell to the ground. I inspected as did the trained gunsmith, there were no squibs and there weren’t any handloads used, just low quality pot metal cast and made into a barrel. this soured me in newer make charter arms, the old ones are much better.

Taurus and Rossi are basically the same. We placed an order for a Taurus revolver for a customer. When it arrived there was, honest to god, more than an inch of slag/left over metal from the casting process that was never removed from the muzzle. This gun made it from Brazil to Ohio with quality control checks and a factory test fire without having the muzzle cut and crowned. The customer knew how long the service would take from the factory and didn’t want the headache and he liked the idea of keeping the gun in this condition as some sort of trophy. He placed an order for smith 617 on the spot.

My stepfather bought a Taurus 1911, it was a very nice looking and nice feeling gun. Unfortunately, there was never a trip to the range when this gun didn’t break somehow. The basic components of the gun were fine, but the quality of the screws, pins and other hardware was poor and they sheared or broke or backed out resulting in them falling out entirely. This gun never shot anywhere near POA and at 15’ was alway 8” low, no matter the shooter. He finally was will to give up the thing when I got him a good deal on a kimber.

On the other end of the service spectrum, Sig make rather expensive products, but I will tell you they are not making a quality product across the board, and their service and guarantee is atrocious. I spent close to a decade in a gun shop and training setting and I will tell you we sent just about as many sigs back to the factory or our gunsmith as we did the bargain brand guns. Our Gunsmith made a lot of money off of their poor service because people could give the guns to him and get a better guarantee on the work and get their gun sooner. Sig doesn’t fix anything of theirs for free. I highly advise to stay away from their gimicky offerings. If it’s not a 220, 226, 227, I would not touch it.

Brands like Glock and smith may not have the best communication, but when it comes to servicing your firearm in an unlikely event it is needed, they will take much better care of you and rarely ask you for anything more than money for return shipping. There are others out there just as good, but these are my two main examples.

I wish I could give this two "wows", thanks.

Noted.


AA

 

[Rustyshackelford]

I wish I could give this two "wows", thanks.

Noted.


AA

I just cringe when folks jump at a new pistol for $229 that I know is questionable. Especially when they can buy a used or LE trade in pistol for $279 that will likely never fail them, and if it does, the manufacturer will stand behind their product.

 

[Ad Astra]

I just cringe when folks jump at a new pistol for $229 that I know is questionable. Especially when they can buy a used or LE trade in pistol for $279 that will likely never fail them, and if it does, the manufacturer will stand behind their product.

I'm a big fan of milsurps/police trade-ins.

At least you know they work ...


AA

 

[jar_]

I very very very very very much doubt your assertion that Charter Arms has EVER sold a gun with a pot metal barrel.

Sorry but that set of my BS meter big time.

AbE:

Also my customer service experience with Charter Arms was in converting my revolver to spurless DAO while my customer experience with S&W was because my brand new Military & Police Bodyguard 380 would not hold open on an empty magazine.

 

[BigFoot]

Me neither.

Me neither. That is why I had to dislike the OP when he started mentioning Smith and Wesson and not Glock. David you may be responsible for the crap load of razors I own but I cannot accept this.

@_MementoMori_

 

[Rustyshackelford]

I very very very very very much doubt your assertion that Charter Arms has EVER sold a gun with a pot metal barrel.

Sorry but that set of my BS meter big time.

AbE:

Also my customer service experience with Charter Arms was in converting my revolver to spurless DAO while my customer experience with S&W was because my brand new Military & Police Bodyguard 380 would not hold open on an empty magazine.

The bodyguards from smith are a very poor quality gun. I’ve seen no less than 3 fire out of battery and break the polymer frames. A good friend/coworker of mine had the rental bodyguard do just this. He had small shards of the polymer in his face for over 2 years.

Ive been around, I’ve seen a bunch of issues with many different guns and manufacturers. Nobody is perfect, not at any price point. I’m not saying that because one or even fifty guns from one manufacturer had a failure that they are all bad. What I am sharing is based on my first hand experience.

Would I own a charter, Rossi or Taurus, heck yeah, if the price is right. I’m not buying them for my defensive guns, they are my range toys. If they are built like tanks and never skip a beat, great. If they are unreliable, oh well I’ll tinker until I can fix it. But they just aren’t my choice for a defensive tool.

 

[_MementoMori_]

Me neither. That is why I had to dislike the OP when he started mentioning Smith and Wesson and not Glock. David you may be responsible for the crap load of razors I own but I cannot accept this.

@_MementoMori_

What have I stumbled into here? Haha. I should've known that guns would have just as passionate a fanbase as razors. Forgive me - I'm a newbie!

 

[bberg100]

What have I stumbled into here? Haha. I should've known that guns would have just as passionate a fanbase as razors. Forgive me - I'm a newbie!

Don't even get them started on caliber...

 

[_MementoMori_]

Well, I bought a Taurus G2C. If I don't like it, so what. It was so cheap it's really no loss. I can already tell that I'm not going to stop until I own 10 guns anyway. Haha.

 

[Rustyshackelford]

Well, I bought a Taurus G2C. If I don't like it, so what. It was so cheap it's really no loss. I can already tell that I'm not going to stop until I own 10 guns anyway. Haha.

If you buy a safe, buy bigger than what you think you need and if your lucky you will only fill it, not have to buy a second.

 

[nortac]

This is making me nostalgic for a High Standard derringer.

A terrible choice for SD these days, but in the 70s, one of my sister's BFs carried one. I was impressed.
AA

I am actually in possession of one in .22WMR, it actually belongs to a SIL who resides in Kalifornia, so I'm just the caretaker. HORRIBLE trigger! Shot it a few times, would never carry it.