GunByte

Having bought about 8 of them in the last two years I can recommend the new S&W's 1911 E models that come out of their performance center. For the money you get a gun that is ready to go without any need for modifications. It has all the bell and whistles and is reliable. I had bought 3 Colts and none of them was 100% reliable which when you carry guns, is not good, but OK for other uses where your life is not on the line. Kimbers are not what they were when I bought my first one back when their Customs shop was not just a name put on mass produced guns. The new Ruger 1911 is supposed to be good as most Rugers are. I tried the new Remington and it was bad out of the box and I got my money refunded. Plus Remington has nothing to do with the gun other than licensing their name to another company. When you have a problem you do not talk to Remington but rather the corporation that makes them using the Remington name, I recommend the new S&W line. I bought this one for $1100 and it was well worth the money. They have it also with a scandium frame for carry and a new model with cuts in the slide that is just gorgeous. They are positioning themselves to offer custom gun features in a mass produced gun and are succeeding.

Not unusual. When I first started buying guns I was routinely ignored. Now that I have bought 30 from the same store the salespeople rush to help me. It seems the only way to get good service is to be a frequent buyer, missing some front teeth or driving a pickup.

Here are the popular guns used around here for IDPA: Glock 34/35 M&P Pro Glock 17 Glock 19 M&P 9mm Springfield XDM CZ 75B 1911 Your normal home defense or carry gun I understand the advice about shooting what you have and it is a very good idea to attend and see what everyone is using BUT if none of your current guns are suitable to make you at least feel competitive, you may get discouraged and quit. I see that happen all the time. It is a rare shooter who shows up regularly to be beaten by almost everyone else match after match. As to your choice of using a gun that you admittedly say you are terrible with, you will quickly find out if you are competitive or not. I am competitive so I do not compete with my snub nose or pocket nine that I carry. I use an M&P Pro with 5" barrel and a Comp-tac paddle holster and mag carrier for easy on/off during the match as I rather not carry the gun while waiting for my turn. As far as shooting sports go, if they keep score and/or rank you, it is a competitive event and I will use anything that gives me a competitive advantage. I do not need to win or even place near the top. I do however need to know that it is my lack of skill rather than equipment holding me back. Follow the excellent advice given by the other posters and shoot a match or two and then decide if you even like the stress of competition, IDPA in particular, and would enjoy not being competitive due to you equipment. If I were you I would take a look at Steel Matches because they do have a .22 division and it is a lot of fun. I also have an M&P22. Another fun sport is bowling pin shooting but I do not remember anyplace in NJ hosting that. Popular down here though and a lot of fun. Basically I prefer the sports that use reactive targets without a lot of things to remember for each stage. If nothing else, shooting in matches will give you increased skills, especially in quickly clearing jams, shooting faster than most do at the range and using cover.

I got that out of my system in Vietnam but a lot of guys I know are still fascinated with full auto weapons. I see no use for them other than fun at the range. It is my experience that you end up spraying and praying that you hit something. Having seen them used in combat they miss a lot more than they hit unless you are highly trained. Then there is the issue of where do you draw the line on weapons? Lots of crazy people out there that can legally buy firearms in many States. When I moved from NJ to Florida I thought it would be gun heaven but instead I am concerned about being around so many people who carry guns that they know nothing about or never even shot because the price of range time and ammo is so expensive. Most do not even use holsters and just last year we had 3 guns discharged in our local Wal-Mart and one in a restaurant. I do not know if I want these kind of people owning full automatic weapons. I have learned to be careful about what you wish for because you may get it and it might not be as you imagined. In short, while it would be fun to shoot them, I have to always remember that not everyone is like me, or you, and would use them responsibly.

NJ is already pre-cancerous so I have no doubt about it. At least here they do not register guns or do we have any requirement to record any private sales so it would be very difficult to take our guns because they have no idea of who has what. I suspect that the real initial goal is to compromise at requiring registration of such guns and more in deapth background checks. No ban, just registration of assault weapons. Then when that proves to not have any impact on mass shootings, the government and/or antigunners will be in a better position to confiscate our firearms. I am convinced that the future will not find private citizens legally owning firearms except for special needs like hunting, sports shooting, etc. and even then you may have to store your gun someplace authorized by the government. If you do not think this is possible all I can say is that having worked in London for a few years and often visited Australia, they thought it was impossible too and predicted an uprising. However when it came down to it no one really wanted to give up their nice comfortable life and drag their families to the Outback or hills to join a rebel band to fight the government. As much as I love shooting and my guns I am not so concentric or afraid of life to give up the very comfortable life I have built for myself to defy gun laws as most will not. I will use the power of my vote but if the rest of the country out votes me than they win. It is funny how so many people only seen to like democracy when it goes their way.

I can understand that as I switched from $1K customized Sigs to Glocks because I no longer wanted DA/SA guns and Glocks are just as reliable for my needs. However, as a posted, they did not provide me with any joy so I went to HK's that do float my boat. I have been shooting since 1970 and only bought my first Glock in 2011. Learned to disassemble them completely, did my own modifications, etc. but since I can afford HK's, what the heck.

I have been buying and carrying S&W Snubbies for a while and hate to say it but the Ruger LCR has a much better trigger out of the box, is lighter than the typical 642, and has better grips. I just sold the last of my S&W Snub Nose guns and this from a guy who loves all metal guns. But everyone should shoot a S&W .38. The only problem I see is that they are more carry a lot but shoot little type guns and you will soon find it to be a safe queen and hard to sell. How about a Ruger GP100 or S&W 686? My last fun handgun was a Ruger .357 Blackhawk. Love the SA guns. Reminds me of my childhood when I played cowboys and indians. You seem to be missing a Glock. I no longer own any but I did own 7 in the last few years. However if you are like me, a revolver guy, you owe it to yourself to get a SA, perhaps a Ruger Vaquero in .45 Colt to see how the Cowboys felt when they shot their guns. In my case I bought a Colt SAA as I wanted the real thing but $1300 for a gun I shot a few times a year did not play out and I sold it for a few other guns. At least I have experienced what it feels like in my hand.

Although I do not need permits, I am approaching retirement and promised my wife that I would only buy one more gun after buying 30 in the last 3 years. What did I choose? A Ruger 10/20 Takedown rifle. After 42 years I have never owned a takedown rifle and this one is a winner. It is at the gun store now waiting on a scope arriving tomorrow. This rifle will hold its zero after taking it apart and putting it back together again and it is as simple as pressing a lever and a 90 degree twist. Comes with a backpack that holds the two halves of the rifle and scope plus 4 25 round magazines and some room for whatever. The ranchers and farmers around here tell me that a .22 rifle or handgun will handle most of their daily needs from taking down coyote and smaller critters to warding off 2 legged critters too. Since we have to deal with hurricanes every year, most of us have hurricane kits of essential items to toss into our cars at short notice if we have to head out. The Ruger 10/22 Takedown fits into that role very nicely and its case also has enough room for me to slip one of my larger handguns with spare mags into it to suppliment whatever gun I am carrying on my belt. The case has molle straps so I can also attach some of the many bags I have that hold guns and ammo. Very useful and fun firearm.

Had many different ones over the last four decades but currently it is a Ruger Blackhawk .357. Like the slow paced simplicity of a SA revolver plus I do not burn though two boxes of ammo in 15 minutes like I do with my 17 round M&P Pro. I get looks from the firing line loaded up with people with Glocks and similar, when I pull out my big SA revolver and blast off a few hot .357 rounds. All my other guns are for home defense or carry so when I shoot them it is mainly to test reliability and proficiency; rarely just for fun. For fun I shoot the already mentioned Blackhawk, a derringer, NAA mini revolver, Raven .25, various .22's. Below is my favorite defensive gun to shoot:

I was banned from a gun forum for protesting against the paid advertisers being able to troll the forums and solict business without being identified as paid advertisers. Seems that they never missed an opportunity to remind us that we are not prepared at all without their training. When you face stiff opposition for not agreeing to the need to carry a gun into your own shower because of a few newspaper articles about it and statements that statistics and odds are meaningless because if something was possible, no matter how unlikely, we need to prepare for it, from people who ignore more likely threats to their health and welfare because they do not involve using a gun, being banned is a good thing.

I went with an M&P 5" 9mm Pro. Perfect for competition, range and home defense use. It is my only high capacity handgun and all that I need. Most of my guns have 3-4" barrels. I find that length balances well in my hands and allows me to quickly put the gun on target. I dislike barrel heavy guns and have sold a few that were like that. At my age my hand gets tired just trying to hold a long barreled gun straight for extended periods of time. I like the weight of my guns to be in my hand so that they feel like an extension of me when I point them.

During the last AWB my main gun was a CZ75B with 10 round mags. I had no problem with that for home defense/competition and carry less than that most times now. My 2 civilian encounters found me with a 5 shot .357 mag snub nose loaded with .38 +P's. It seems that it is true that most people do not want to be shot with anything as the mere display of my gun ended all bad intentions towards me both times and one of those times involved 3 men who surrounded me in a parking lot. After 62 years I tend to prepare for the possible that is most likely to happen rather than the unlikely merely because it is possible. Keep the gun. It is one of the great guns of all time and most people can shoot 9mm faster and more accurately than a .45 plus the cost of .45 ammo will make you practice less. I recently sold off all my .45's in favor of 9mm's. I can shoot them faster and more accurately and with the new ammo around they do perform well in real life.

I have. Sold off my Glock 26, 19, 17 and 30SF for an M&P 9c and 9 Pro. Replaced the 9c with an HK P2000SK but still have and use the Pro for competition and range. Just never felt anything about any of my Glocks to make me want to keep them. Very reliabile except for the 2 26's that were defective out of the box but I seldom felt like picking them up or carrying them like I do with my other guns. Sort of like my wristwatches which I take pleasure in wearing. I could get a Timex and it may even keep better time than the ones I have but the ones I have give me pleasure and Glocks do not.

I assume that NICS is NICS no matter where you buy your gun. I just bought two guns on Saturday and NICS went through immediately from a store in Florida. I do not know how they assign phone numbers to gun stores but it sounds like a problem with the store and not NICS.

Last time NJ not only allowed grandfathering but also the buyging and selling of grandfathered magazines if you had the $100 to buy one. They were pretty common during IPSC and Steel matches. I used to borrow one or two for a major match because I was not as smart as others who stocked up on them in anticpation of an AWB. I do not see how they can make you give them back since most have no serial number and there are many millions of them out there. I bought 5 high capacity magazines for every firearm I own before the panic buying set in so I am set for my needs. Funny thing is that I wanted to even get 12 round mags for my M&P22 too but could only find the 10 rounders. However I found out that they are both the same mag except one has a removable metal piece to block the last two rounds. So I ordered 10 rounders, removed the floor plate and metal tube and now have 12 round magazines. I remember during the last AWB, many people blocked their high capacity mags to limit them to 10 rounds and then removed whatever it was that they installed so that they could used the high capacity for competition. Always discussions about how legal that was but the last AWB law was written by people who did not know much about guns so it was vague and never heard of anyone getting into trouble for it.