Creaky_Old_Cop
member
My litmus test for guns is "Can I fight with it"?, or rather "Will I trust it in a fight?".
Having said that...I can buy a Glock under the LE blue label for right around $419. For a few more bucks I can get them with night sights, but i never go with that option because I am not a huge fan of most night sights and prefer to add my own TruGlo TFO or TFX because I consider fiber optics to be the better choice for most applications, and the combo of night sights with a fiber optic to be optimal all around. No one who truly has any experience, or real knowledge can say the Glock is not reliable. For less than five hundred bucks, the Glock is a solid value. It's the ONLY semiauto I trust to pick up, load, and trust my life to it without ever having fired a shot. I don't recommend that practice, but Glock is the only semiauto I would if I were in that situation.
The HK USP 40 and USP 45, in both full size and compact are guns that I have used extensively as duty guns when my department bought them. We had no option but to carry the USP, so I spent a lot of time on the range learning that gun. It was a great pistol, and I am one who hates, and I mean absolutely hates the DA/SA trigger on a semiauto because so few manufacturers ever got it right. HK did a "pretty good" job. But, at twice the price of a Glock...though it is a good pistol...I don't consider the HK to be a good value.
The Ruger P Series. I have already mentioned that I am not a fan of the DA/SA semiauto, and especially those with slide mounted safeties/decockers...but the P Series from Ruger, all the way from the first P85 to the P345 work. I mean, they just flat out work. I have one P345 and a P89 9mm. I have had them so long, I don't even remember where I got the P89. I got the P345 off the prize table at a USPSA match. But for a pistol you can regularly pick up for around $300 I consider them to be really good values.
You can lump in a bunch more striker fired polymer guns...the M&P, the XDs, the Ruger striker guns, the SigP320....etc, et al, ad nauseum. They are all good guns at comparable prices, and all are solid performers. It all boils down to personal choice in this area...Ford, Chevy, Dodge. I am not going to bag on your choice of any of those. Some I like, some I am ambivalent, and others I don't like but that is a matter of "How they feel in my hand versus another". BUT...just because I like one model, I am not going to run out and buy one because I am a shooter, not a collector, or one who attaches my ego to the cost of my gun. I am utilitarian, and none of the ones I mentioned are as good, for me, as the Glock. Contrariwise, one of those might be a lot better for you than the Glock, and if that's the case...Happy Meal.
1911s...I love the 1911. But, I feel that spending more than $800-$1000 on one becomes a waste of money. Once you get above that dollar amount, you're paying for ego dollars. I build 1911s, and have for over 20 years...so to me...buying the base model and making it what I want it to be makes more sense. But again, that's me and my opinion. Yours may differ, I don't care, I won't argue. Since I have the ability and know how to build them...my priorities are different than the person who lacks the skills to do it.
Revolvers...Smith & Wesson...for me. Yes, there are a couple of Rugers I like and own (Super Redhawk and an SP101)...but in general my go-to revolver will be a Smith & Wesson. Smith, Ruger, Colt...in that order, however I am a huge fan of the Taurus snubbies.
In the end...as long as it goes BANG 100% of the time, and you can actually do something silly like train and practice with it a lot before it falls apart...use it.
Having said that...I can buy a Glock under the LE blue label for right around $419. For a few more bucks I can get them with night sights, but i never go with that option because I am not a huge fan of most night sights and prefer to add my own TruGlo TFO or TFX because I consider fiber optics to be the better choice for most applications, and the combo of night sights with a fiber optic to be optimal all around. No one who truly has any experience, or real knowledge can say the Glock is not reliable. For less than five hundred bucks, the Glock is a solid value. It's the ONLY semiauto I trust to pick up, load, and trust my life to it without ever having fired a shot. I don't recommend that practice, but Glock is the only semiauto I would if I were in that situation.
The HK USP 40 and USP 45, in both full size and compact are guns that I have used extensively as duty guns when my department bought them. We had no option but to carry the USP, so I spent a lot of time on the range learning that gun. It was a great pistol, and I am one who hates, and I mean absolutely hates the DA/SA trigger on a semiauto because so few manufacturers ever got it right. HK did a "pretty good" job. But, at twice the price of a Glock...though it is a good pistol...I don't consider the HK to be a good value.
The Ruger P Series. I have already mentioned that I am not a fan of the DA/SA semiauto, and especially those with slide mounted safeties/decockers...but the P Series from Ruger, all the way from the first P85 to the P345 work. I mean, they just flat out work. I have one P345 and a P89 9mm. I have had them so long, I don't even remember where I got the P89. I got the P345 off the prize table at a USPSA match. But for a pistol you can regularly pick up for around $300 I consider them to be really good values.
You can lump in a bunch more striker fired polymer guns...the M&P, the XDs, the Ruger striker guns, the SigP320....etc, et al, ad nauseum. They are all good guns at comparable prices, and all are solid performers. It all boils down to personal choice in this area...Ford, Chevy, Dodge. I am not going to bag on your choice of any of those. Some I like, some I am ambivalent, and others I don't like but that is a matter of "How they feel in my hand versus another". BUT...just because I like one model, I am not going to run out and buy one because I am a shooter, not a collector, or one who attaches my ego to the cost of my gun. I am utilitarian, and none of the ones I mentioned are as good, for me, as the Glock. Contrariwise, one of those might be a lot better for you than the Glock, and if that's the case...Happy Meal.
1911s...I love the 1911. But, I feel that spending more than $800-$1000 on one becomes a waste of money. Once you get above that dollar amount, you're paying for ego dollars. I build 1911s, and have for over 20 years...so to me...buying the base model and making it what I want it to be makes more sense. But again, that's me and my opinion. Yours may differ, I don't care, I won't argue. Since I have the ability and know how to build them...my priorities are different than the person who lacks the skills to do it.
Revolvers...Smith & Wesson...for me. Yes, there are a couple of Rugers I like and own (Super Redhawk and an SP101)...but in general my go-to revolver will be a Smith & Wesson. Smith, Ruger, Colt...in that order, however I am a huge fan of the Taurus snubbies.
In the end...as long as it goes BANG 100% of the time, and you can actually do something silly like train and practice with it a lot before it falls apart...use it.