I often encourage people to start with a 22lr and I have in fact tried this out with new shooters but lets say you don’t want to buy a 22lr, you want something ‘more powerful’? Well then I would suggest you just buy a 9mm handgun. (9x19mm or 9mm parabellum). Again the reason is economy, there are many fine 9mm available, so many it may be hard to choose and 9mm ammunition is going to be less expensive than 40 cal (SW), 45ACP, 380 acp,32, 38 spcl, 357 magnum etc. Other calibers such as the 45acp and the 40sw (cal) may have more “knockdown” power and are often suggested as superior self defense rounds. I recommend starting with the 9mm because it is more cost effective and more manageable. It does not matter how much knock down power you have if you don’t hit your target, so I think you are better off learning to shoot with the ‘lighter weight’ 9mm. If you are one of those people that tends towards a survivalist mentality or are a self professed ‘prepper’, you might find that after the ‘SHTF’ that there is more 9mm available then the other calibers. 9mm x 19 is very widely used, produced and is less expensive to ‘Stockpile’ should you be planning for disaster preparedness.
One other advantage to 9mm over say 40, 45, and most other rounds is that its smaller size and weight makes it easier to carry. should you need to carry ammunition around with you or store it in a small storage area, you can carry/store more of it. Here in California we are only allowed to buy 10 rnd magazines for semi-automatic weapons, but 9mm handguns often have higher capacities than 40 and 45 caliber weapons. At either end of the spectrum you will find that most 9mm handguns are designed to carry 15-17 rounds in one magazine, where as a 1911 45 acp typically holds 7.
Another notable advantage is the recoil. While the felt recoil of 40 and 45 are not particularly uncomfortable for most it can be a bit of hurdle for new shooters in a couple of ways. The more recoil the more the gun moves around. New shooters may find it more challenging to maintain a consistent grip with the larger recoil. There is also another consideration of the follow up shot. Follow up shots are the shots you take with a weapon after the first shot. After the first shot the muzzle of the end of the barrel where the bullet exits will tend to rise. The shooter must then ‘recover’ their aim. While just about every type of weapon behaves a little different, typically the lighter the round, the less recovery is needed. In self defense the follow up shot is very important. It seems to me that follow up is often not given enough weight when it comes to selecting a firearm. The same argument would apply to a 22lr over a 9mm as it does to a 9mm over a 40cal or a 45.
I have another personal bias I would like to point out for the purposes of purchasing a firearm and that is that I will lean towards buying American made or made in the USA. I figured with our current economics there was no point in buying a foreign made firearm without a compelling reason. I bring this up because I know quite a few people who are out of work, people who are losing their homes and many more who are just plain old struggling to make ends meet. I have heard it said that if each American simply about about 15% more American Made products then it would have a very positive impact on our economy.
Buying American may not be quite as straightforward as you might think. Take for example the Springfield XD series, a very popular handgun as of late. Springfield has produced firearms in the US for many years, the History of the name “Springfield Armory USA” actually takes some explaining that you can read about here and here , but the XD series Pistols are actually made in Croatia. (for those of you new to geography, Croatia is not in the USA). I have nothing against Croatia and I think the XD pistols are good products. On the other hand FN or FNH actually makes a Pistol in the USA. (FNP, FNS)
Another point on firearms from overseas is that unlike the Springfield XD pistols many of them have gotten very expensive. I think this is probably do mostly to the fact that the American Dollar has been losing value compared to other currencies. Your Sig Sauer P200 series and Hk USP pistols have risen from the $600-$700 range to the $900-$1100 range. Sig Sauer does have an American made pistol that is considerably less expensive than its European counterparts. the SP2022 AKA the Sigpro.
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