aproaching 40 years in a few since I started "collecting", buying I got down (pretty much), selling is the hard part. you got me beat buying and selling, esp selling. tougher to hagle with than an Armenian rug salesman.
As a former LEO, I carry an airweight, usually on my ankle. I just sold my H&K p7 because of the weight. Had it for a number of years and to me, the best semi-auto on the market. NEVER had a jam, even shooting cheapo police qualifying rounds. But carrying got to be a pain because it would drag down the belt and too big for the ankle. A revolver is also good for the "take shot" deal because in single action mode there is no heavy trigger pull, creep, or pulling left or right. IMO
Choose a gun that you can shoot comfortably and fits your hand then get a good holster for it and carry it.
I started carrying a Colt Government model pistol concealed when I was 25 y/o. At the time I was 5' 10" and 135 lb. with 30" waist. I would carry it using a Bruce Nelson's IWB holster (which we all now know as the Summer Special) with Hawaiian shirt in the summer. I still carry a full size 1911 pistol most times using a Milt Sparks VMII IWB holster and I don't notice the bulk or the weight. You can learn to get used to anything.
When you first start carrying a handgun you think everybody in the world can see your piece but in reality nobody really looks at another person while out in the public. Nobody will see your pieces unless it's out in the open... event hen maybe somebody will notice.
I found this old thread on another forum. This was advice given from an old experienced LEO guy to a young guy making his first purchase.
I think it aptly fits this thread and I couldn't say it any better.
You are living in the 1930s. Maybe even way before that. Well, okay, the 1970s then.
I say those things because you are totally in the wrong about the semiautomatic pistol and it's "jam"ming.
First off, there are more parts to a revolver than your modern semiauto. The standard revolver has in some cases 72 parts to it. The modern semi auto 32 in some cases. The moving parts to a revolver? Eight in most cases, some more, depending on the design of the action. The semiauto; six, including the slide and barrel. If you take those out, four. Trigger, transfer bar, striker, striker block. The revolver is FAR more complicated than a pistol in so many ways; not just moving parts but exposed chambers and action to dirt and dust, and let's face it; a revolver truly poops where it eats. Because of the exposed chambers, the fouling from its own ammo can cause failures and slow reloads. I know this, I have taken two day classes with revolvers and spent time swabbing out my cylinder between courses of fire to keep it going. Revolvers are good for about three hundred rounds before things go wrong. I know you say "I'll only need six." But this is a prep site; what if you do need more? Or don't have the means to keep the thing cleaned out?
Much of the vaunted reliability of the revolver is a farce, based on the unreliable ammunition of the semiautos of yore. Not even the pistol themselves, but the ammunition that was used. Ammo design has come a very, very, long way since the FBI shootout in Miami (one of the instances that forced law enforcement and ammo manufacturers through pressure by the FBI to look at the way things were being done) and the improvements to ammo have made the semiauto probably a far more reliable piece of machinery than the revolver, also more effective. These days the revolver improvements in ammo have come because of the semiauto, not the other way around. It used to be that semiauto ammo was simply versions of the revolver ammo; until SuperVel came along in the 70s, no one really designed specifically for the semiauto. Then Winchester started developing the Silver Tip line for better accuracy and reliability (the round used by the FBI at the Miami shooting in their SW 669s) and all of a sudden Federal came out with the HydraShok, and the world changed for the semiauto. Super exciting times for defensive shooters in the 80s believe it or not.
+1 on a good holster and belt. I'd avoid an open top for something with better retention. cheap snaps get loose and it's real embarassing when your piece falls out on the floor for all to see.
