Be sure and check out Taurus and Beretta. I have loved both Beretta's I have had, a 96 and a 92, and my current is a little Millineium from Taurus in 40SW. Love it! So easy to carry and covered with a light jacket or long shirt. I have a little Bersa Thunder .380 with me when I am on the bike. Great pocket gun and fits perfect in my tank bib.
Clean
- Thread starter mpieniaz
- Start date
Mitch
BOM 2/09-Keeper BOTtLe
Start by finding out if how your range feels about you showing up with your own ammo. Some will not let you use outside ammo in their rental guns.
You may find "Wolf" ammo cheap, but don't buy it for use in rental guns. It's steel case and many ranges would not want it in their guns.
Wal-Mart has cheap bulk pack ammo if yo don't want to mail order. On line I use Midwayusa.com Sportsmansguide.com and Cheaperthandirt.com mostly.
In general 9mm will be cheapest, followed by .40, .38 and .357 followed by .45 and then exotics. Lead has gone way up in price, so heavy bullets cost more. Stay away from .357 Sig, 10mm, 400 Corbon, and other exotics unless you also have the ability to shoot some cheap range ammo out of the same gun.
codemachine
Cigar n00b
I usually buy bulk ammo from Cabelas:
.40 S&W
9mm
They even include some dry-boxes for storage.
Of course this is just for range shooting. For self/home defense, spend the money on good stuff. And fire a clip or two of it now and then so it doesn't feel foreign to you to fire it should you (god forbid) ever need to.
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Mitch
BOM 2/09-Keeper BOTtLe
Plated mild steel makes for a cheap one use casing, But it is more likely to scratch or gouge the steel in your gun. Brass is the most common cartridge casing, sometimes nickel plated for greater lubricity, but mostly brass.
Brass can be reloaded as long as it's "boxer" primed (one of two common styles) and some people will pick up the spent brass and reload their own. Unless you are gonna start shooting hundreds of rounds a day, stick with factory. Win Rem both have good cheap range ammo. I like the Winclean line, shoots fine and not a dirty smokey mess.
"Factory Reloaded" are companies that buy spent brass from ranges and reload them to sell. Quality varies greatly with them, try a box before you buy a case. Some if very dirty in your gun and will produce vast amounts of smoke.
Klusterbuck
Corrupted At An Early Age
Bonus note:..... Dry boxes can store cigars.....
My $.02. After quite a few years training and yes, playing, I currently own only two hand guns. A pistol (main battle gun) Kimber Gold Combat, and a revolver(BUG), Ruger SP101 with a bobbed spur. I do own several long guns and intend to add a tac 870 to the mix but being kinda old school I have always been a 1911 fan. I can't see anything else being my primary.
That being said, My Bro is a state level IDPA competitor and he uses a Glock. I git ta mess wit his stuff too:stretchgr
Sarge:assaultri
That being said, My Bro is a state level IDPA competitor and he uses a Glock. I git ta mess wit his stuff too:stretchgr
Sarge:assaultri
Ratbert
BoM Oct '07
For range time and plinking, I like using Winchester White Box, or even better, Remington UMC ammo...they are some of the lower priced bulk packs that still shoot well. You can pick them up at Wally World or Bass Pro Shop reasonably. Bass Pro will run "10% off all ammo" specials occasionaly. Online, I've received good service and prices from ammoman.com
For a self defense round, you'll have to shoot a lot of different brands through your eventual choice of guns to find out what will shoot the best for you, as each gun will have a different preference. Remington Golden Saber is what I keep loaded in my S&W 9mm and my Ruger SP101 .357 and both perform well. Speer Gold Dot, Cor-Bon, Federal Hydra-Shock...all are excellent self defense rounds; it just depends on which one you shoot best with.
S&W Police Special. My first but not last.
2" model 38 S&W
Klusterbuck
Corrupted At An Early Age
4 inch barrel on mine Bill. I still love that gun.
It fits in my back pocket at work, although I have never had to use that one!! hehe.
Mitch
BOM 2/09-Keeper BOTtLe
Yep!
I sometimes carry my wife's S&W 6 shot 32 H&R mag. Light, great pocket gun.
She dosn't carry it often since she took a liking to a Sig 239 I brought home to fix up and sell. No longer for sale as you may have guessed.
Both of us love a S&W 66 4" .357 that sits in the front of a safe as a handy to grab house gun. I'll never sell that tack driver.
codemachine
Cigar n00b
I've got a Ruger GP100. That's fun to shoot at the range, people don't expect the bang from the .357 MAG. :gangfire:
I just retired a Glock model 23 (.40 caliber) that I carried for 10 years and a Taurus 2" .357 caliber that I carried for 3 years and purchased a Springfield XD 9mm SC. I love it so far.
I love my Glock 23. I also like my M&P 9mm. Oh, the Glock 20 in 10mm is fun to shoot as well. :bangbang: