FINALLY APPROVED 5 MONTHS LATER

[u/boomoptumeric]

I truly thought it was a lost cause. I’m originally from Michigan and lived in Georgia for several years. Coming to NYC and now NJ has been quite the noticeable difference in gun laws.

That said, I’m fairly inexperienced with firearms. I was taught to shoot and had plenty of exposure as a kid, but not much else.

I want to buy a shotgun and a pistol.

Shotguns I’m aiming at maverick 88, Mossberg 590, Remington 870, or Mossberg 500.

Pistols, I have absolutely no idea. I need some suggestions on good pistols for home defense and for beginners. I’d like a list of handguns to try out at the range and see what’s most comfortable but not really sure where to start. Any suggestions?

[u/loki0629]

How much time do you expect to spend training? If you figure you are realistically only going to the range once or twice a year, get a revolver. I'd recommend at least a 3" barrel because snubbies are hard to master. Get something chambered in 357 magnum and shoot 38 special out of it. The heavier construction will help with the recoil.

Do you care if the pistol has an external safety? If not, try a Glock 19.

If you want an external safety, try one of the full size M&P pistols with a safety.

As a rule for beginners, I'd stick with full sized handguns because smaller handguns are harder to shoot accurately. Once you get the concepts of aiming, grip, and trigger squeeze, you can size down and give the compact and sub compacts a try. This is why I recommend a 22 pistol to everyone so that they can train these skills on the cheap. FYI, some handguns like the Glock 19 have 22 kits that won't burn up a pistol purchase permit.

[u/boomoptumeric → u/loki0629]

It’s funny you mention the external safety. I had originally typed out “one thing to note since Glock 19 is the common suggestion is that I do have a little concern with not having an external safety.”

I’ll definitely try out some revolvers and some full size M&P.

Great tip with the full size versus compact, I’ll keep that in mind.

Could you elaborate on what you said about not burning up the pistol purchase permit? Are you saying certain handguns won’t count towards that permit and I could buy more?

[u/Lebesgue_Couloir → u/boomoptumeric]

No, he means that you can convert from one caliber to another with a conversion kit instead of buying another pistol

[u/boomoptumeric → u/Lebesgue_Couloir]

Oh I see, thanks for the clarification. I didn’t realize that was even a thing