testtest

A few questions to get me started?

Pick a budget 9mm handgun :-)

  • Springfield XD Mod.3

    Votes: 12 50.0%

  • Canik Mete SF

    Votes: 1 4.2%

  • Canik Mete SFT

    Votes: 2 8.3%

  • Beretta APX A1 FS

    Votes: 1 4.2%

  • Other (please post in thread)

    Votes: 7 29.2%

  • Everything under $700 sucks, I know, just ask.

    Votes: 1 4.2%
  • Total voters
    24
Old_Me said:
....i don't understand the Glock grip angle "hate", if you can shoot one gun, you can shoot a Glock......actually, the Glock grip angle positions your wrist in a bit downward position for better wrist/arm alignment...at least this is what i have found....and i am a very old man, and i have no issues shooting ANY Glock......my carry is a G-19, not large, NOT small..."just right sized"...and NO, i am NOT a Glock fanboy.
Click to expand...

I totally get what your saying here, I know Glock makes great guns, but they they don't make great guns for me...

I just don't like the feel, I'm not holding it wrong, and I know which way the business end goes, I can also hit targets with it (terribly), could I practice to proficiency? sure, or I could find a gun that feels right from the start.

I'll use my bass guitar analogy again... There is a company called Ernie Ball that makes a bass called a Stingray (@BassCliff knows what that is)...anyway for all intents and purposes it's an AMAZING US made bass...that for whatever reason (string spacing I think) I just can't get comfortable with it....would I gig it? Yes if I practiced on it all the time and worked through my issues...or I could just grab my US Fender Precision bass and be done with it. YMMV
 
I can’t believe no one has said HK VP9 or Walther PDP. As much as I love my VP9s, and by the way, I spent $715 for my latest VP9A1F, I believe that the 4 inch PDP Compact is the best value of any striker fired pistol. Very accurate, great trigger, great ergos, nice looking, optic ready, easily concealable, $575 from Grab a Gun.

And for the sake of a rant, it baffles me that with all the pontificating that goes on around here about caliber, capacity, training being paramount in defending your life, anyone would encourage someone to put ok their life in the hands of a $300 gun. I don’t care how good you reckon your LC9, Kahr or Miami Blue SCCY is and anything is better than nothing is horsesh-t. RANT OVER.
 
OK, so thanks to everyone that has chimed in here! Keep em' coming!

I did get out today to a local shop & to a friends backyard range, I had a great time, we probably went through 400-500 rounds between the two of us..good times were had.

I even got to test a few guns on my list, and some I hadn't thought of.

So far:

Springfield Echelon - Great trigger, comfy grip, felt oddly nose heavy?

Springfield XD Mod.3 - Absolute barn burner for the price, probably my favorite today.

Canik TP9SFX - HUGE gun, insanely accurate, amazing trigger, overall just too big though (length)

Canik Mete SF - I really wanted to love this gun, amazing trigger, just a bit small overall, maybe I need to try the SFT?

SAR USA Sar9 - Never seen one of these, it shot good, great trigger.

Glock 17 (Gen 5 I think) - Meh, neither good nor bad, but my least favorite trigger by a country mile...Oddly enough, this was my buddies favorite of the day, go figure?

Walther PDP Full Size - Damn nice shooting gun (my 2nd favorite today), preferred the XD Mod.3 a little more.

Beretta APX A1 Compact - Smallest gun shot today, I wanted to try the full size, but the store owner said the triggers were the same, so I could at least get that sorted, nice gun, looks bad***, still would like to shoot the full size.

All in all a productive day!
 
Modern manufacturing approaches and/or low labor costs in foreign countries often result in economical products that perform as well as comparable products made in countries with high-labor costs, or products made with traditional materials.

The advent of polymers uses in firearms is both a technological advance and a manner to keep production costs down.

And some companies source all or significant percentages of a product from overseas in order to remain competitive even if they have to do the final finish work on a product.
 
Last edited:
Aged_Cheddar said:
Alright, long first post, so please go easy on me with the very likely nOoB questions.

I’m in the market for a sub $475(ish) 9mm optics ready handgun, and before the “you get what you pay for” crowd gets here, yes I understand that, for the same reason a cheap tattoo isn’t good, and a good tattoo isn’t cheap.

But as a LONG time musician, I’ve learned there is always one or three exceptions, for example the basses I regularly gig are $1500-$2000, but I’ve got 2 others that are sub $500, and in my hands they feel and play amazing (both have been on multiple studio sessions and countless live stages with zero fails & no complaints)…all that said, I have to assume there is a handgun version of my $500 bass guitar???

I have done exhaustive internet sleuthing, and have come up with a few contenders I’m interested in, ranging from $330 up to near $500

This is my first handgun purchase, but I have fired plenty over the years and I’m comfortable around guns, but of all the handguns I’ve shot, they have always been friends or acquaintances, and the guns we were using were of a quality well above my current budget.

I am NOT going to be concealed (or open) carrying, I’m not going to be in any shooting competitions, I am ONLY going to use it for weekly range practice and home defense.

My ideas in no particular order:
  1. Springfield Armory XD Mod.3
  2. Canik Mete SF
  3. Canik Mete SFT
  4. Beretta APX A1 Full size




I have tried to handle all 4 but…

The first mom and pop store flat out said “we carry nothing under $700, those guns are a waste of time & money”… I promptly left feeling a bit sour… Snobby entitled pricks IMHO.

The next mom & pop store was WAY more personable, but only had 2 of the guns I was looking at, but they wouldn’t let me even handle them without a completed background check, and a credit card on the counter…Is that normal???

The last mom & pop shop (and furthest drive) had the Mete SF & the XD Mod.3, now if I’m being honest, I liked the feel of the XD and loved the red fibre optic front sight, but I think I like the weight of the Mete SF, and I much preferred the trigger feel, though I’m less in love with the white dot front sight.

And finally I wound up at Bass Pro Shops where they had all 4 options I was looking at, the counter rep wasn’t too knowledgeable, but he was helpful at least….the only downside was all the guns had trigger locks, so I wasn’t able to get a feel for the Beretta trigger, and I assume the Mete SFT has a similar trigger to the Mete SF?

All said and done, of the 4, I think I preferred the Mete SFT as it fit my hand the best I think, but I really did like that XD Mod.3 too, and I wish I would have been able to at least get an idea of the trigger feel on the Beretta…



Can any of you pros & long time shooters maybe offer more insight into any of these handguns (pros/cons), I know ultimately the choice is mine (and I get what I pay for...), but real world usage is always preferred…yes I have watched a LOT of YT videos, and I always wonder how many are paid shills, and how many are really giving the honest reviews.


Sorry to the TLDR crowd, and thanks in advance for any info!
Click to expand...
Welcome to the forum. You'll find this is a place has a wealth of knowledge spanning many topics to include everything firearms to almost everything outside of firearms. I suggest shopping on Gunbroker.com and Grabagun.com. If you so desire, there are plenty of us here that have purchased from both and know the ins & outs of online purchases. I buy a ton of stuff online. If you do your homework on current pricing and have a modicum of patience, you can likely find something that will please for for hundreds less than your local dealers.
 
Aged_Cheddar said:
OK, so thanks to everyone that has chimed in here! Keep em' coming!

I did get out today to a local shop & to a friends backyard range, I had a great time, we probably went through 400-500 rounds between the two of us..good times were had.

I even got to test a few guns on my list, and some I hadn't thought of.

So far:

Springfield Echelon - Great trigger, comfy grip, felt oddly nose heavy?

Springfield XD Mod.3 - Absolute barn burner for the price, probably my favorite today.

Canik TP9SFX - HUGE gun, insanely accurate, amazing trigger, overall just too big though (length)

Canik Mete SF - I really wanted to love this gun, amazing trigger, just a bit small overall, maybe I need to try the SFT?

SAR USA Sar9 - Never seen one of these, it shot good, great trigger.

Glock 17 (Gen 5 I think) - Meh, neither good nor bad, but my least favorite trigger by a country mile...Oddly enough, this was my buddies favorite of the day, go figure?

Walther PDP Full Size - Damn nice shooting gun (my 2nd favorite today), preferred the XD Mod.3 a little more.

Beretta APX A1 Compact - Smallest gun shot today, I wanted to try the full size, but the store owner said the triggers were the same, so I could at least get that sorted, nice gun, looks bad***, still would like to shoot the full size.

All in all a productive day!
Click to expand...
If you liked the feel and size of the SAR USA Sar9, I suggest you take a look at the EAA Girsan Regard MC. Comparably priced and the Regard MC is light years better in my humble opinion.
 
Aged_Cheddar said:
OK, so thanks to everyone that has chimed in here! Keep em' coming!

I did get out today to a local shop & to a friends backyard range, I had a great time, we probably went through 400-500 rounds between the two of us..good times were had.

I even got to test a few guns on my list, and some I hadn't thought of.

So far:

Springfield Echelon - Great trigger, comfy grip, felt oddly nose heavy?

Springfield XD Mod.3 - Absolute barn burner for the price, probably my favorite today.

Canik TP9SFX - HUGE gun, insanely accurate, amazing trigger, overall just too big though (length)

Canik Mete SF - I really wanted to love this gun, amazing trigger, just a bit small overall, maybe I need to try the SFT?

SAR USA Sar9 - Never seen one of these, it shot good, great trigger.

Glock 17 (Gen 5 I think) - Meh, neither good nor bad, but my least favorite trigger by a country mile...Oddly enough, this was my buddies favorite of the day, go figure?

Walther PDP Full Size - Damn nice shooting gun (my 2nd favorite today), preferred the XD Mod.3 a little more.

Beretta APX A1 Compact - Smallest gun shot today, I wanted to try the full size, but the store owner said the triggers were the same, so I could at least get that sorted, nice gun, looks bad***, still would like to shoot the full size.

All in all a productive day!
Click to expand...
Being able to shoot the candidates is very helpful. I find it interesting that you refer to the TP9SFx as a huge gun. Other than having a barrel around 3/4" longer than pistols with 4.5" barrels, the other dimensions are quite similar to pretty much every other one.

The addition of a brass backstrap changes the balance of the long barrel Caniks in a good way. I wouldn't let the size of that pistol disqualify it given what you want to use it for. Accuracy and a good trigger are valuable assets I a defensive weapon, IMO.

With regard to the Echelon, I wonder how much of the nose heavy feeling you report is created by the grip. I find the palm swell to be a bit too large in the the OEM module. With a fully loaded 20 round mag and an optic on top ours doesn't feel unbalanced to me. I agree with your evaluation of the trigger on it. SA really delivered when they released it. I find it markedly better than the XD, and I like those pistols a lot.

Glock, yeah, whatever. Even after putting a couple hundred dollars into parts and time into polishing the internals the trigger won't be the equal of the Canik or Echelon. The OEM sights are markedly inferior to most everything else on the market. I often wonder if Glock enthusiasts are blinded by confirmation bias or are ignorant of better options on the market.

Sounds like you have been able to find direction in your search. I wouldn't have a problem recommending any of the candidates I have experience with for a first pistol. You may want to do a bit of research regarding reported issues, aftermarket support, customer issues, and resale value. These could tip the scales in a manner that surprises you.
 
SimonRL said:
I can’t believe no one has said HK VP9 or Walther PDP. As much as I love my VP9s, and by the way, I spent $715 for my latest VP9A1F, I believe that the 4 inch PDP Compact is the best value of any striker fired pistol. Very accurate, great trigger, great ergos, nice looking, optic ready, easily concealable, $575 from Grab a Gun.

And for the sake of a rant, it baffles me that with all the pontificating that goes on around here about caliber, capacity, training being paramount in defending your life, anyone would encourage someone to put ok their life in the hands of a $300 gun. I don’t care how good you reckon your LC9, Kahr or Miami Blue SCCY is and anything is better than nothing is horsesh-t. RANT OVER.
Click to expand...
So this would be a "no"? 🤣
1770865583695.png
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top