From: basiji@stein.u.washington.edu (David Basiji)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: SUMMARY--RFI:getting a 9mm (not SIG, not Glock)
Date: 27 Jan 93 03:36:30 GMT
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle


Since someone expressed interest, here's the summary of my RFI on
getting a 9mm. As you can see, opinions vary. Once I get a loan from
our esteemed moderator, I'll probably get them all. ;o)
Names have been deleted to protect the guilty.


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      Try one of the East German Makarov's if you can - 
     inexpensive and well made as well as functional as a WALTHER !!

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	I have a Star M30MI, and love it.  It is very accurate,
very reliable, and very durable.  I bring this up, because 
today I saw an ad for the nickel Star M31P, ("updated" m30:
3.9" barrel, 38 oz, all steel, durable e-nickel finish)
for $280 wholsale.  If you wanted one of these you can have
an FFL, like myself order one for you (a dealer in your own
area would be more practical).  Star guns beat the Taurus or
Ruger autoloaders any day.

	Another thing you should consider is the Astra A-100
9mm.  My .45 version is excelent, reliable, all steel, holds
10 rds of .45 weighs less than a Colt Officer's model (34oz),
It will do ~1-2 inches at 25 yards, and everybody I've talked
to who has either caliber says the same.    Imporation of the
current batch will be delayed until march, but the A-90s are
still around.   Liberty Loan, near Pike place had a real nice
A-80 (same thing in .38 super, 16 rds, 3.8" barrel, 33 oz)
with a chrome finish that's worth a look.  They have lots of
neat stuff there most times.

The Astra A 80-100s are way better than the Ruger or Taurus,
and for less money.   ~280 wholesale.

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One word: Browning. 

Two more words: High Power.

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Well, if the Taurus fits you, the Beretta will also.  I have had two Berettas,
and have nothing but compliments for their quality, accuracy, and shootability.
One drawback - 9mm Berettas are too big of a gun for 9mm and 15-round capacity.

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Beretta 92s are too large for good concealment, in my opinion,
but then some people carry even larger guns concealed and seem
to succeed at it.  Check out single-column compact models;
S&W made some good ones (3913 I think was one).

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     David, I will skip the philosophy kind of stuff about guns because
 you seem to have covered (or at least started to cover) it when you
 started the decision about getting a handgun.  Good for you!

     Now on to the meat.  My best advice is to get a gun that _fits_ you.
 You have to be able to hold, grip, manipulate, fire, reload, etc the gun
 for it to be any good to _you_.  But you also have to make some trade offs
 about cost, overall size (as you said you may want this to be a carry gun),
 and caliber (affects everything else to a BIG degree).

     So you have already (preliminarily) narrowed the choice down to a 9mm
 semiauto. (not a bad choice in my book)  And you said you like the way the 
 Taurus felt in your hand and that an uncle might sell you a Beretta 92FSC
 (compact).  I like Beretta 92-series guns (personal bias here) better than
 the clone (the Taurus).  The Beretta's are better machined are usually
 of better overall quality, but you pay for all that ($$).

     My overall advice to you: See how the Beretta feels to you and try to
 go out and shoot it if possible.  If it fits you and feels good, then get it.


     Avoid the Ruger semi-autos (Bill Ruger has pissed off many people with 
 his supposed endorsement of magazine limits and other gun-control limits and
 the Ruger guns are _said_ to have lousy trigger feels.  Yes they are cheap,
 and why?)  The SIG's are nice feeling guns (good ergonomics) but a bit
 pricey and they have a different set of controls (not neccessarily better
 or worse, just different).  The Glock's are really different, some like 'em and
 some don't.

     Have fun with the choices and good luck!

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I spent 3 month on studying 9mm before I have my Beretta 92FS in my house.
My biggest concern was safety - only fire when you pull the trigger and no
jam at all.  I picked the Beretta.

$400 would be a good price on "MINT" Beretta 92FS compact, yet you are not
too far from buying a new one.  But, considering all other things with buying
it from your uncle, you will be all right.  Put in this way, if it is in mint
condition and on sale for $350, I will jump on it in subsecond.  The rest is
for you to decide.
 
I have the full size 92FS, since I don't carry it around.  I got into 3" group
on black area of the NRA 25 yd slow fire target paper and that was after about
200 rd.  I had never shot any handgun before and I was not trained by anyone
other than one small book on how to shot.  I think it is accurate.

There were something about the slide failure on 92 that people talking about
from time to time.  As far as I know, it happened on 92F model, 92FS has 
corrected it.  It ahs not happened to me or anyone I know owns a Beretta 92FS.

The grip is "big" for some people, do try it out to see if it fits you.  If
it is in you hand nicely, you are in the club.

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ok, let's make it short

forget the taurus, tey're mostly junk
hk nice and small, but pricy (pobably not your case if you dopn't want a sig)
tz75 also compact available, good value, cheap, get the non tropical finish
walther probablz cheaper than the sig

myu carry guns are glock 20 (waiting for nite site) and sig 226 with nite sites.for small guns i have a derringer and walther ppk

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