I was given my dad's late 90s Beretta 96 G Elite Brigadier, which is a 40 caliber 10+1 DA/SA handgun with a wider brigadier slide, smaller 3 white dot iron sights, decocker-only safety. It was unlikely he was going to give his old 1911 .45ACP to me, so I got the Beretta instead.
But seeing that it has no rails, no plates, doesn't seem to have parts (not a lot of parts from the 92/96FS will fit it, on account of being made a little differently with wider slide and shorter barrel), and not something I can afford to replace if something happens to it, decided to look at something I would actually carry. Especially since 40SW rounds aren't that inexpensive to practice off of.
Was looking around at some of the usual suggestions for 9mm, be it Glock 19/17, Sig Sauer P365X, S&W Shield Plus, Ruger RXM, some of the clones like the PSA Dagger, etc, but many didn't have the features at the price point I wanted, basically bright night or fiber sights, optical capable, has a rail, and felt decent in my hand. Til someone in a group I'm in pointed out that Smithfield makes a $300 pistol that has all that, and is actually a great budget gun out of the box.
Granted it's a full size, it feels comfortable and I feel like I can actually keep up practice with this one, already put a couple hundred rounds thru it since a week ago.
Since I have a habit of 'collecting' things I end up liking, there's a high chance that sometimes in the next year I'll end up with an Echelon if it's any similar to how the XD feels.
I'll likely keep this one optic free and train off the iron sights, but may still get a small light for it, something like an Olight Baldr maybe. And the Beretta from my dad will likely stay home with some 40SW JHP, treating it more of a home gun that's also a family heirloom.
But seeing that it has no rails, no plates, doesn't seem to have parts (not a lot of parts from the 92/96FS will fit it, on account of being made a little differently with wider slide and shorter barrel), and not something I can afford to replace if something happens to it, decided to look at something I would actually carry. Especially since 40SW rounds aren't that inexpensive to practice off of.
Was looking around at some of the usual suggestions for 9mm, be it Glock 19/17, Sig Sauer P365X, S&W Shield Plus, Ruger RXM, some of the clones like the PSA Dagger, etc, but many didn't have the features at the price point I wanted, basically bright night or fiber sights, optical capable, has a rail, and felt decent in my hand. Til someone in a group I'm in pointed out that Smithfield makes a $300 pistol that has all that, and is actually a great budget gun out of the box.
Granted it's a full size, it feels comfortable and I feel like I can actually keep up practice with this one, already put a couple hundred rounds thru it since a week ago.
Since I have a habit of 'collecting' things I end up liking, there's a high chance that sometimes in the next year I'll end up with an Echelon if it's any similar to how the XD feels.
I'll likely keep this one optic free and train off the iron sights, but may still get a small light for it, something like an Olight Baldr maybe. And the Beretta from my dad will likely stay home with some 40SW JHP, treating it more of a home gun that's also a family heirloom.
Welcome to the forum from the Wild Wild Upper Midwest.
