Advice on First Caliber

this is easy, you have already made your choice as to what you want.

you stated that you eventually want to have that 45 acp. That tells me that the 45acp holds something very special to you, and that it is your 'grail" of cartridges so to speak.

as a result i can tell you that although you make it clear the 9mm is more then fine for you, you consider it to be a second best. something on the order of "i want rigatoni with a nice red wine, but all the store had was elbow macaroni".

if you get the new issue of Hodgdon reloading magazine, it has a very good article on reloading for the 45acp in revolver and semi auto. It uses 3 powders for reloading, and the loads are all power factors for modern sport target shooting, to standard "manstopper" loads.

my grandpappy who was in the big cluster known as ww2 said "yeah you can take a luger and put 8 rounds into a man at 60 yards, and itll be hard to do with a 1911, but you only have to do it once with a 45"
 
You could get a 92FS used for half as much as a 92A1(Although the 92A1 is
sweet!)

Or even a CZ-75. Both @400$ used.

I'd start with a 9mm, if you're not sure.
 
My girlfriend weighs 100 lbs and shot her first handgun (.357 magnum) the other day with no problems. I seriously doubt you need a .22.

I would go with the 45 personally. Or if you want, get a revolver that shoots .357 so you can shoot .38 special too.
 
You buy the gun once, but you pay for ammo every time you shoot. .45acp factory reload FMJ practice rounds are in the 33 - 40 cents a round range. The steel case stuff is a bit cheaper, but some don't like it. 9mm FMJ is in the 18-20 cents a round range and the steel stuff is 15 cents.

Since it will take 2-3000 rounds to become proficient, that's upwards of $1000 for .45acp practice rounds compared to around $500 for the 9mm.

You can look at that information 2 ways. Either a ringing endorsement of 9mm over .45acp for a first gun or a sound economic justification for a reloading setup.
 
eventually I will want to get a .45

If thats what you really want then start with that. The recoil is not going to be that much more. The .40 will kick more for sure.

If you don't get the .45 I would say go 9mm. Cheaper and a great defense round with premium ammo.
 
Master the big boys (not too big like .50AE or .44mag) like .45ACP and .40S&W in semi-auto and everything else will be second nature to you. They'll feel smaller. "That's it?!?!" At least that's what worked for me.
 
Back
Top