JC57

I don't have a gun in my nightstand.   After a couple of burglaries a few years ago, I have learned not to leave high-value theft targets in obvious places.  Burglaries of occupied homes with the intent of violence against the occupants are very rare compared to burglaries of unoccupied homes with the intent to steal.   If you want to ensure that your guns get stolen in a burglary, make sure to put them in the nightstand.  Saves the burglars a lot of effort.  Desk drawers are another labor-saving location for the burglars.

Bersa Thunder 45 UC Pro is a hammer-down, DA/SA auto.  First round is DA, SA after that.  Has a decocker/safety that operates like a .45 (flip down to fire) which you can leave enabled if you prefer, though the DA pull is sufficient safety in my opinion.   Only plastic is the grip panels - steel slide, alloy frame.  Size-wise, it carries about like a Glock 19.  Barrel is not quite as blocky, grip area a little larger.   May not be what you are looking for but mine has been reliable and accurate.  7+1 double-stack capacity.

How does he know who you voted for unless you volunteer the information? We have a secret ballot in this country last time I checked.

Just shy of 671 million mph.

Bersa parts can be found here: http://www.bersa.com/bersa-firearms/thunder-series/thun380mlt.html?limit=100 They refer to the follower as the "feeder platform" and the mag spring as the "feeder platform spring". They also sell the magazine bottom and magazine bottom holders. The only thing not sold separately is the magazine body itself. You can order magazines and other Bersa accessories from www.condorsflight.com as well.

I did read the purpose of the thread. I believe President Obama will be re-elected, and that's how I voted on this POLL. That's not necessarily how I may or may not vote in the ELECTION. But if I were betting on the outcome, with real money, I'd bet he gets re-elected.

I bought a Storm Lake 9mm conversion barrel for my Glock 22 Gen 4. It was about $130 from MidwayUsa when I bought it a couple of years ago. That and a couple of G17 mags and I was good to go. Dropped in without any gunsmithing required, 250 or so rounds through it with no problems. Accuracy is as good as the factory .40 barrel. Swaps in and out in a couple of minutes.

Yes, all of the 58x and 68x revolvers had the full underbarrel lug. It was the S&W answer to the Colt Python, minus the vent rib on top. I had one of the original 581s in 4" when they first came out, but I didn't want to swap out all of my leather at the time and it was a bit heavier to carry than my model 66 so I sold it shortly thereafter. At the time my department issued the ammo we carried (.38spl +P) so other than the coolness factor of the new gun, there was no real reason to switch.

124gr HST +P in my Glock 26. Reason is that I've seen enough reviews and tests on the Internet to recognize that it's probably one of the top 3 or 4 performers currently available, so it'll do for me.

I would buy a used S&W Model 66-1 4" square butt .357mag revolver and a used S&W Model 64-2 2" round butt .38spl revolver. And that's exactly what I recently did, and (not counting shipping and fees) it did cost exactly $1,000.

No odd feelings here. Since you and I are both psychic, and if you are sensing impending doom but I am not, then it's most likely that something bad is going to happen just to you, but not a big catastrophe. If I were you I'd hide in your bunker for a week or so until the feeling passes. Unless that's where it's going to get you (whatever "it" is), in which case you should go outside. Unless that's what they (whoever they are) are expecting you to do. Ah, just face it, you're doomed. Go about your business as usual, death will find you when it's ready.

This one is pretty much ours, I guess. The one time we needed it, the actual phrase was "Call 911 and get your .357! Someone is kicking in the door!" I was racking the 12-ga at the time. Burglar fled with no shots fired.

On the converse side, there was a guy on here a while back that sold quite a lot of guns regularly. He often asked higher than what I could buy a new gun of the same model for at several local gun shops, for what were always described at "LNIB" guns. There was one he was posting at one point and wasn't getting nibbles on, and when he bumped it a few times he made comments in his posts griping about why his gun hadn't sold sooner. I sent him a polite PM that explained that the reason he probably wasn't getting many offers was that his price was actually HIGHER than the full out-the-door with tax and TICS fee than I could buy the same gun through Gungenie, and I even sent him a link to their site. I wasn't trying to tell the guy what to do, just trying to help him understand why he wasn't getting any bites. His reply was a rather curt rebuttal that he thought it was a good price and he thought he'd get it. I think sometimes the reason person-to-person sales of used guns go for at or higher than retail is that the buyers either know they can't pass a background check, or they are willing to pay extra for an "unregistered" gun that can't be traced to them (i.e no bill of sale and no ID). So some of these are really delayed straw sales. I'm a retired police officer and just because I don't wear the uniform any more doesn't change my attitude towards the law. Any firearms I have ever sold have been as trade-ins to legitimate dealers (actual gun stores) or direct sales to people well known to me, who were either business professionals in my community or fellow law enforcement officers. And I still did full bills of sale with price, make, model, serial # of the guns and signatures of both parties, with each person keeping their own copy with the original signatures.

I have a Storm Lake 9mm conversion barrel for my G22. Dropped right in and has worked flawlessly, using G17 mags for the 9mm ammo. Bought it from MidwayUSA.

Smith and Wesson Glock Colt Bersa Dan Wesson

For me, 3 per handgun is sufficient.

The main reason I own one (Glock 22) is that when I was shopping for a new full-sized home defense pistol, it was during the Great Ammo Shortage of 2010, and the only type of ammo I could reliably find in stock was .40 S&W. Another reason - due to large volume gov't purchases, you can often find good quality self defense ammo at good prices, often cheaper than similar quality 9mm. This is a minor selling point unless you plan on stockpiling SD ammo. And with a simple conversion barrel and a couple of mags, I can switch back and forth between 9mm and 40 as I choose or as the availability of ammo dictates. Other than that, I don't see it as a sufficiently superior round to the 9mm to make any significant difference.

I don't have personal experience with it, but I have read that the Sig P238 has low recoil for the .380 since it is not a blowback action like so many of them. It is also SA only so the trigger pull should be pretty easy. She'd just have to learn and practice using the safety properly. I have a Beretta .25 ACP and while it is pretty tame with just regular practice ammo, Hornady XTP makes for quite a snappy recoil so you may find that a .25 isn't the right answer for her either.

Interesting thread. I'm neither an operator nor a fudd, if I understand the terms correctly. I have purchased firearms from all three of the metioned dealerships in the past couple of years - Arms Fair, Classic Arms, and Guns and Ammo. I have had positive experiences each time and would buy from any of them again. Whenever I have visted these shops I have found the sales staff attentive and friendly. Don's Guns out in Collierville is a very friendly little shop and while they don't have a big selection, sometimes they have some some interesting used guns at good prices. Right on Poplar just before the Hwy 72 split off.

I prefer all steel pens that have protective guards over the push button so I can't accidentally write something on my leg.

Glock 22 Gen 4 and Glock 26 Gen 4 here. I chose the Gen 4's because I prefer the feel of the grips, both the texture and the smaller size (I use them without either of the two backstraps). I have never had any problems with either of them.

Jonnin, I agree that being able to rack the slide is important in clearing malfunctions. However the lady's limitations seem somewhat significant in being able to operate ANY gun. When presented with a challenging set of restrictions, then some solution is better than no solution. My real preference in her case would be a decent revolver but it seems the DA trigger pull is an issue. J-frame Smiths have miserable trigger pulls, so I'd suggest a decent K-frame with a quality trigger job by a good gunsmith to lighten it up as much as possible. But she didn't seem to like the weight and size of the OPs Ruger GP100 so the K-frame Smith might not be perceived as much better. He mentioned the tip-up barrel Berettas. I have one of those in .25 ACP and while it is a decent little close-range shooter, the slide still takes some effort to rack by hand, and the recoil with full SD rounds (Hornady XTPs) is surprisingly sharp. The .32 ACP version would be preferable there, but again, probably even snappier recoil and still the same issues with racking the slide if she needs to clear a jam.

For self defense purposes, it shouldn't be that important that she can rack the slide, just load it ahead of time for her. You might want to consider one of the full-sized .380 pistols - Bersa Thunder 380 (I have one of these) or Thunder Plus (15+1), Walther PPK/S, Sig P232, Beretta Cheetah 84/85, or CZ 83. The .380 recoil is mild in the larger guns, and out of the longer barrel (compared to the pocket guns) you can get better performance from the round. Also, fairly high magazine capacity in some of those can make up for the weaker caliber. There is still the issue of being able to rack the slide, but unless I'm going to the range or cleaning my autos, I never need to rack the slide on them. Pre-load it for her and you're good to go.

Allow your home to be broken into twice in about a year, and let her come home first and discover the break-ins herself, alone. That seems to have put some gun-toting religion into my wife, who has had her permit since they first came out, but didn't carry that much. Now she does. I can't help you with the shooting part. My wife is a dead-eye shot, astoundingly accurate. Maybe take her to the range a few times to let her get used to shooting before you worry about the HCP. And seriously, it's not a safe world. It's nice to live with that delusion, but hopefully it won't take her becoming a victim of a crime to get her to wake up to the real possibility of something happening.

I order from those guys all the time. In fact I have an order on the way right now. They often have special deals on some really great ammo. Low prices and fair shipping rates. I occasionally buy from ammunitiontogo.com too, but their prices haven't been very good recently so sgammo.com gets most of my business.