Looking for first gun

jfindon said:
Stopped by Walmart today, they had a 100rd box of WWB for $32 so I picked one up. Comes out cheaper than any deal I've seen online once you add the shipping, so I'll just stick with this I guess.

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Now I'm invested and I have to get the gun :D
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I've bought and shot many of those double white box at the range and my 19 loves 'em. Do check each round as you load them as a friend of mine did find some bad/bent rounds in a couple boxes he bought down south... a half-dozen real bad-bent and the unopened box also had a .380 round in it from the factory. Frankly, it's a good habit to just spin and feel and look over every round as you load it into the mag., no matter who makes the ammo... after you've loaded enough magazines checking each round becomes a rote memory process IF you consciously start checking each and every round from the git-go.

Did you decide anything about night sights?
 
Good tip, I had most of them out last night to mess with and the only thing I noticed was some discoloration/rust looking stuff on the casing/primer. Since brass doesn't rust I'm not sure what it is, but I'm assuming it's normal.

As far as night sights, I still haven't looked into them too much. Between Trijicon and Meprolight it doesn't seem like you can go wrong... I guess Meprolights appear brighter, Trijicons appear sharper, and the aspect ratio of the front and rear sights is closer (front sight "fills" more of the rear sight when aiming) on the Meprolights. That's about as far as I got though. Color wise I'll just stick to green because everything I read said the orange/yellow weren't as bright and didn't last as long.
 
jfindon said:
Good tip, I had most of them out last night to mess with and the only thing I noticed was some discoloration/rust looking stuff on the casing/primer. Since brass doesn't rust I'm not sure what it is, but I'm assuming it's normal.

As far as night sights, I still haven't looked into them too much. Between Trijicon and Meprolight it doesn't seem like you can go wrong... I guess Meprolights appear brighter, Trijicons appear sharper, and the aspect ratio of the front and rear sights is closer (front sight "fills" more of the rear sight when aiming) on the Meprolights. That's about as far as I got though. Color wise I'll just stick to green because everything I read said the orange/yellow weren't as bright and didn't last as long.
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My friend bought his rounds from some Walmart in the Carolinas and reported the batch to Winchester... these rounds were bent bad; When the bullet was pressed into the casing they must have been misaligned because it crushed the edge/side of the casing on a few... a couple looked like they had an "elbow" the were bent so bad. A few others weren't bent too bad but the top edge of the casing was rolled over at the bullet. He felt the bad one's in his hand as he was loading (part of the learned habit I mentioned) and then started to look closely at every round out of both boxes and found a total of 9 (I think) that would NOT have fed properly into his 19 (or any 9mm)... not to mention the .380 that he also found in one box.

I've had a product on all of my guns called "Night/Nite sighters(?)", which are tiny, glow-in-the-dark "dots" that you can stick onto your existing front and/or rear sights... about $20 and enough "dots" to do 3-4 sets of sights. They are brighter than anything I have found, BUT only when they are "charged". If they are on a gun in a safe/dark drawer, they don't do squat. You MUST put a flashlight to them for a few seconds to "charge" them up, and time and place may not be available to do that. Let me know what you decide on, because I'm looking myself for some "real" night sights. The Night Sighters are cheap and easy, but the need to charge them isn't always practical so I'm looking to change them out on those guns that have the ability to accept after market sights (I'll still keep the nite sighters on my Ruger SP-101 and LCP for example because the sights on them are built in).
 
Since you now have chosen your handgun and have mentioned area security- I will pass on a tip given to me that I recomend HIGHLY- examine the layout of your home and place Halogen flood/spotlights to illuminate the direction you might expect intruders to come in and approach your bedroom. They can be motion activated and turned off by a switch in your room or just turned on by the similar switch.

Advantages to using a flashlight:
If motion detected- they are on auto and come on while you are waking up.
May be enough to cause intruder to leave as soon as they are illuminated.
Are non lethal and do not involve a weapon mounted light that means if light is pointed/weapon is pointed- in case this is a no shoot situation(family member...)- allows positive identification.
Are relatively cheap to buy/install.
Are also useful should you awake to a house full of smoke, the lights will help illuminate through the smoke so you can get out.
Work to blind anyone trying to come to your location.- works well if you are under the light as you can see perfectly.
Weapons mounted lights are targets for determined intruders.

Bill
 
timcsaw said:
My friend bought his rounds from some Walmart in the Carolinas and reported the batch to Winchester... these rounds were bent bad; When the bullet was pressed into the casing they must have been misaligned because it crushed the edge/side of the casing on a few... a couple looked like they had an "elbow" the were bent so bad. A few others weren't bent too bad but the top edge of the casing was rolled over at the bullet. He felt the bad one's in his hand as he was loading (part of the learned habit I mentioned) and then started to look closely at every round out of both boxes and found a total of 9 (I think) that would NOT have fed properly into his 19 (or any 9mm)... not to mention the .380 that he also found in one box.

I've had a product on all of my guns called "Night/Nite sighters(?)", which are tiny, glow-in-the-dark "dots" that you can stick onto your existing front and/or rear sights... about $20 and enough "dots" to do 3-4 sets of sights. They are brighter than anything I have found, BUT only when they are "charged". If they are on a gun in a safe/dark drawer, they don't do squat. You MUST put a flashlight to them for a few seconds to "charge" them up, and time and place may not be available to do that. Let me know what you decide on, because I'm looking myself for some "real" night sights. The Night Sighters are cheap and easy, but the need to charge them isn't always practical so I'm looking to change them out on those guns that have the ability to accept after market sights (I'll still keep the nite sighters on my Ruger SP-101 and LCP for example because the sights on them are built in).
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Yeah I'm not big on glow in the dark sights, it's not going to be out in the light to charge them up.

Right now I'm leaning toward the Meprolights, just about everyone says they have a better sight picture in daylight.

lmalterna said:
Since you now have chosen your handgun and have mentioned area security- I will pass on a tip given to me that I recomend HIGHLY- examine the layout of your home and place Halogen flood/spotlights to illuminate the direction you might expect intruders to come in and approach your bedroom. They can be motion activated and turned off by a switch in your room or just turned on by the similar switch.

Advantages to using a flashlight:
If motion detected- they are on auto and come on while you are waking up.
May be enough to cause intruder to leave as soon as they are illuminated.
Are non lethal and do not involve a weapon mounted light that means if light is pointed/weapon is pointed- in case this is a no shoot situation(family member...)- allows positive identification.
Are relatively cheap to buy/install.
Are also useful should you awake to a house full of smoke, the lights will help illuminate through the smoke so you can get out.
Work to blind anyone trying to come to your location.- works well if you are under the light as you can see perfectly.
Weapons mounted lights are targets for determined intruders.

Bill
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Interesting tips, never thought of that either. Thanks.
 
harkamus said:
Have fun with it and practice, practice, practice, and when you're not practicing, go dry fire. I recommend Azoom snap caps for dry fire drills.
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Yep, have them coming to me already. I would have had them by now if stupid Amazon didn't wait until Thursday to ship everything out (I ordered last Sunday).

One thing I was surprised at is they gave me the gun in the case, that people handled and all that. I figured they'd give me an untouched one from the stock or something. They're no physical damage or anything, I just thought it was odd.

I also have a manilla packet with a technician's name and a date collected... does that mean it was in for warranty work already or do they all come with that?
 
smith and wesson m&p with a safety....... i would not recomend a glock for your first pistol because i can almost gaurntee your gun safety in not on par with seasoned gun owners
 
I need to have this topic title changed I guess.

And it doesn't take much to keep your finger off the trigger and check the gun to make sure it's empty before trying to dry fire. I don't like mechanical safeties that can malfunction, you end up putting too much trust in them and that's even more dangerous than common sense.
 
jfindon said:
I also have a manilla packet with a technician's name and a date collected... does that mean it was in for warranty work already or do they all come with that?
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The manilla packet has a spent casing inside that one of the techs fired. This is standard practice. Every gun you buy that is new will have this spent casing. Some have two. These are called witness cases. In some states, when you buy a firearm, the dealer has to send a casing to the state police. They maintain it in a database as a ballistic fingerprint. It does not mean your gun was in for warranty work. By law, the manufacturer must include these cases. Now whether one casing gets registered is dependent on the state you reside in.

Just remember when you dry fire the gun to practice safe firearm handling skills. Ideally, dry firing is supposed to mimic real life shooting except you have no recoil.
 
harkamus said:
The manilla packet has a spent casing inside that one of the techs fired. This is standard practice. Every gun you buy that is new will have this spent casing. Some have two. These are called witness cases. In some states, when you buy a firearm, the dealer has to send a casing to the state police. They maintain it in a database as a ballistic fingerprint. It does not mean your gun was in for warranty work. By law, the manufacturer must include these cases. Now whether one casing gets registered is dependent on the state you reside in.

Just remember when you dry fire the gun to practice safe firearm handling skills. Ideally, dry firing is supposed to mimic real life shooting except you have no recoil.
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I see, thanks. That would explain why it says what type of rifling the barrel has.

EDIT: As for safe handling skills while dry firing, I already have those just from airsoft. I always treated that gun like it was real so my finger was never on the trigger and I always made sure it was 100% safe.
 
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Speaking of rifling, your Glock has octagonal rifling. You should minimize firing exposed lead rounds (casted bullets) through polygonal or octagonal rifling, or simply not do it at all. On these types of rifled barrels, the exposed lead can foul up the barrel walls, especially if the lead doesn't have sufficient Brinell hardness. Without adequate hardness, which depends on the velocity of the round, the lead can start to become liquified which deposits on the walls. Firing cast bullets is a lot more forgiving in standard land and groove rifling.

Thankfully, most commercial ammo is of the plated variety, IE: FMJs and JHPs.
 
jfindon said:
EDIT: As for safe handling skills while dry firing, I already have those just from airsoft. I always treated that gun like it was real so my finger was never on the trigger and I always made sure it was 100% safe.
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IMO airsoft (and paintball) is good scenario training. Also, they make VERY realistic airsoft replicas of almost every weapon on the market, so it's also good for draw/reholster/malfunction/quick aim training at home with minimal risk.
 
harkamus said:
Speaking of rifling, your Glock has octagonal rifling. You should minimize firing exposed lead rounds (casted bullets) through polygonal or octagonal rifling, or simply not do it at all. On these types of rifled barrels, the exposed lead can foul up the barrel walls, especially if the lead doesn't have sufficient Brinell hardness. Without adequate hardness, which depends on the velocity of the round, the lead can start to become liquified which deposits on the walls. Firing cast bullets is a lot more forgiving in standard land and groove rifling.

Thankfully, most commercial ammo is of the plated variety, IE: FMJs and JHPs.
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I'd probably never use them anyway, but good to know.

thatotherguy said:
IMO airsoft (and paintball) is good scenario training. Also, they make VERY realistic airsoft replicas of almost every weapon on the market, so it's also good for draw/reholster/malfunction/quick aim training at home with minimal risk.
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Yeah, my G19 pistol I have is insanely close to my real G23. If it wasn't for the lack of trigger safety I never put on, it would be near impossible to tell them apart from the side. They even weigh practically the same, and break down the same.
 
jfindon said:
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:)
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Sweet, congratulations!

Now, when you have the spare cash, pick up some Crimson Trace laser grips for it and you can build your sight picture and commit it to rote memory while sitting in your Lazy-boy. (EMPTY GUN) Pick a target across the room (not the cat... wife hates it when I target the cat:D), pull up and point it at your target and squeeze the laser activation pad to "fire" the laser "bullet" on target.

This is an excellent way to memorize proper sight picture. Point, "fire" laser, see where it "hits". This exercise is designed to do NOTHING besides build sight picture, but with a whole lot of practice you WILL find that your mind will build-in the proper picture.

After a while, you WILL be able to move from target to target (the lamp, the picture on the wall, the light switch across the room etc... but not the cat!) and you WILL find that your ability to aim and move from target to target will improve dramatically. Once the snow melts and you can get to the range, your brain and hand will naturally "remember", and you will see the results with live fire... I guarantee it.
 
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