For the Beginners:

A beginner, looking to purchase his first firearm, was asking for some advice on new pistols. I thought that my response to him would be good advice to share with any other beginners out there. So, here, this is for the beginner:

"For a beginner, I would ABSOLUTELY recommend a striker fired or double action only pistol. Something with a consistent trigger pull where you don't need to worry about switching off a safety. It wouldn't be a big deal if you train often and train in context...if you fire a few thousand rounds a month and that safety goes off at extension and goes on at retention...but, you are a beginner. There is no guarantee that you will continue shooting a few thousand rounds a month a few months from now.

It is very necessary to take training BEFORE purchasing a firearm. You will learn a lot of things that affect how you choose to carry. You may be thinking a 1911 is an excellent gun, and you may plan on shooting only 300 rounds a year through it and carrying it. But, when you go to a class somewhere and someone explains to you what the body does under stress, you may realize that it might be troublesome in a ccw scenario. I have seen many people who carry a gun professionally (meaning, as their profession, not meaning that they do it well) have problems functioning their safeties under relatively minor stress. This is only one small example, and while it probably won't affect the guy who trains in context (safety on, safety off, every time he's firing) and puts a LOT of rounds through the gun, how would you even know to do it unless someone teaches you to? You can't learn everything from books, movies and the internet. And...300 rounds a year might sound like a lot of ammo to a beginner, but 300 rounds may be called a "tuesday" to someone else.

You MUST get quality training and then have quality practice. Most of the practice suggestions you see on this website [this was posted on www.pistol-forum.com ] are for people who have already had quality training or for people teaching quality training. You will be wasting every round you put downrange before you get quality training. Sincerely: I have active and former law enforcement and military members come through class every month or two. Nearly all of them (with the exception of a few) were never even taught how to hold a firearm properly, let alone shoot it properly. Why WASTE money? Get some quality training and THEN go about making INFORMED decisions. A gun that feels good in your hand now may feel awkward when someone shows you how to hold it properly. A while back, I seriously already owned 25+ guns and had 6-7 years "experience" (which was crap) before someone showed me how to hold a gun properly. Everything I sent downrange before that was "funtime" but aside from that was a waste of time and money."