Plastic? Reliable? Pos?

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kimbershot

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arrrrrg! i am contemplating a new carry gun. have a colt 1991-a1 compact--great gun, great shooter. problem--i now live in the hot south. it's just not comfortable to carry and i don't want a rust bucket, so i am looking at a replacement.

plastic seems to be the best choice--but which one--glock, kahr, springfield? looking at single stack 45's and will actually rent a try and buy. my concerns--reliability, concealibility. i know what i got but i don't want to get stuck with a pos.

i would appreciate some real life experiences. :banghead:
 
I just recently got a Springfield XDs (fitting your single stack .45 polymer requirements). It is 100% reliable, quite accurate and easily concealable.

Be sure you give it a good look and good luck in your quest.
 
May the spirit of JMB forgive me as you all know me as a steel and wood, old school, revolver and auto guy.
I give the nod to a Glock or a CZ polymer if you can find one.
 
I carry a G26 daily. Bought one for my daughter and one of my sons. If I thought something else would be better, I'd be carrying something else. I also live in the hot, muggy, gnat-ridden South.
 
It's a CCW gun, so 25 yard knockdown power against wigged out natives isn't the issue. Most actual shots in encounters are less than 10 feet. Caliber is no guarantee of power, bullet construction is.

Therefore, open up the requirements to include something you can easily carry in a hot, humid environment, and something like the S&W Shield in 9mm or .40 can work.

Just a suggestion. A great many don't carry .45 or a Browning, and crime hasn't jumped up because they are undergunned. Insisting on a solution before all the points of the question are addressed isn't problem solving, it's just rationalization.

Ask all the guys who carry snub noses. Yes, you can walk on the dark side and survive.
 
Round and round we go! Where will it stop? Nobody knows!

G26 here. Texas. It's hot. Conceals fine. Loves to go bang when I tell it to
 
I carried 1911s for the better part of three decades. I decided to look at plastic, and ended up going with a Glock 30. I found I shot it far better and more comfortably than any other polymer .45acp - especially the single-stack ones.

Had I lived in a hi-cap state, I'd have considered other calibers. The G30 holds 10+1, which is the limit, so capacity vs caliber debate was moot for me.
 
I normally prefer Glocks, but in this case I'd at least consider the Smith M&P if you are married to 45.

I think overall the Glock is a very slightly better gun, but to me the G-21 and 30 are just a little too thick for a carry gun. The G-36 just doesn't have the same reputation for reliability and is a 6+1 gun. Otherwise it is the right size.

The M&P in 45 is a 10+1 gun and is much smaller through the grip and would in my opinion be a better all around size for a carry gun than the Glocks.

If you're not married to the idea of 45 then the G-19 or G-23 are darn near perfect. The Glocks in 45 GAP are another option, but I'd 10X rather have the M&P in 45 ACP, and I'm a Glock guy.
 
Kind of a strange question to be asking in 2012. I think this question was answered ~25 years ago by Glock.

Now that pretty much every LE agency carries polymer day-in and day-out. "Reliability" is a non-issue if you are considering any of the big name brands.

Personally, I prefer steel, but that isn't because of reliability.
 
After analyzing-and-analyzing-and-analyzing-and-analyzing all the carry guns out there, I've decided that (for me) anything outside of Glock or S&W is a waste of time.

But, hey, that's just me.
 
Glock, CZ, Springfield. These are the only ones with triggers good enough for what you're looking for IMO.
 
I've shot almost every large manufacturer polymer there is and have found many to be decent, but my favorites are Glock and S&W.
 
Hey, I live in the HOT HUMID SOUTH, NW FL. I carry a Kimber .45 (all metal) with no problems. It might be what you need to do is to look for the right holster. If you already have a gun you trust and handle well, DON"T CHANGE PLATFORMS! Just change the carry device. If you feel you need to make a change for a technical reason, well then by all means, press forward in your search. Just a thought. Good Luck.
 
Its ugly, plastic, ugly, and plastic.......did i mention it was ugly and plastic?


But I carry it all day every day, and I trust it to do what it supposed to when I need it to ...Glock 36

101_0122.jpg
 
For myself, when hot weather is here, and that's a LOT of the year, I carry a P345 Ruger when in the .45 ACP mode.

Accurate, easy to conceal, and trouble free since I bought it several years ago.

Proper holster selection makes many supposedly "hard to conceal" guns disappear from sight. Funny how, for decades, 1911A1s were carried concealed, as well as the High Powers, and the likes. Suddenly, it can't be done anymore, based on the respected research of the Internet Commandos.

Glock handguns will work, as will the XD, the M&P, several HKs, the mentioned Rugers, and on and on. Reliability isn't an issue, accuracy is good, and durability is also excellent.

Rather than adhere to someone elses idea of the "best gun for you", get out there and handle as many as you can. Fire them, and see what works best for you. THEN make the choice.
 
I work outside on job sites in the summer heat. I also spend a fair amount of time around vented bottles of industrial strength chlorine bleach. I've had a couple of pistols show a bit of surface rust. Nothing major, mind you.

However, my carry guns of choice these days are Glocks. I had a 36 which was great. I currently carry a 26 simply because I downsized my caliber for cost sake. It's a soulless unsexy piece of polymer which I will not pretend is the be-all-end-all firearm arm of all time. However, it works, and works and works and works. It's not picky about ammo, it's light weight, it won't rust unless you flat out TRY to get it to. I run a couple boxes of ammo through it every other week, clean and lube it twice a month, and that's it.

I've been very pleased with the three Glocks I have owned.
 
It's a soulless unsexy piece of polymer which I will not pretend is the be-all-end-all firearm arm of all time. However, it works, and works and works and works. It's not picky about ammo, it's light weight, it won't rust unless you flat out TRY to get it to
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And that my friend is why this 64 yr old steel and wood, 1911, revolver, and CZ fanboy may get one. :)
I will just have to suck up the friend and family ridicule for being a vocal anti plastic hater for all these years, or I may get a praise the lord, he has seen the light reaction :)

BTW You left out boxy and ugly.
 
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