I'm sure the Glock is a fine choice for a first gun. A number of people love them. That said if your intent was home defense AND you've never had guns before I would have simply said buy a 12 gauge. Low over penetration risk and hard to miss with at close range.

If people who've never had guns before tell me they bought a handgun for self defense I simply say well ok...then at least the first year go target shooting monthly. You want to get intimately familiar with every aspect of your handgun and how it shoots so that when you need it, it will be muscle memory. Shoot as much as is practical. Most people tend to enjoy it so it's more an ammo cost issue.

Pistols can be fine for Home Defense but aren't ideal, if you intend to use it as one then you have to put more effort into accuracy and familiarization. Shotguns really tend to be an idiot gun at close range they are difficult to miss with and even if you do miss most bad guys are going to be thinking GTFO when faced with a shotgun.

Practice enough and you'll be fine, BUT you do need to practice and even when you are comfortable and accurate you still need to refresh your skills regularly.

I actually did consider buying a 12 gauge shotgun, but my budget only allowed for one or the other. I had planned to practice in a local indoor range, so I went with the handgun.

Incidentally, in case I decide to go back later for the shotgun, is there anything you should look for in a home defense shotgun, or are they all roughly the same?

For home defense rounds you might want to consider these:

http://www.shopcorbon.com/Glaser-Saf...g/500/500/dept

Specifically designed not to go through walls, yet they do tremendous tissue damage if they hit a person.

This and nice choice on the HK! Father-in-law is a huge fan of them and has the HK Mark23, and several versions of the P7. THAT MK23 is one big damn gun! Almost uncomfortable to shoot. I prefer his Wilson Combat 1911 much more though. :D

I am considering trading in my SIG P226 .40 cal for a HK 9mm USP compact for my conceal/carry. For some reason I am partial to the 9mm versus the .40. I always found the muzzle flash from the .40 to be distracting at the range. I'm not sure though as I like having a variety of calibers. Let us know what you think of the HK! Congrats!!!

Hopefully I'll have it by next weekend. Definitely looking forward to getting that bad boy to the range. :bang:

Part of buying guns depends upon if it's multi-use or not. If you want a gun for recreational target practice and home defense a pistol is fine. If you're looking at a shotgun part of the question to ask is, is it home defense only or do you think you might want to use it for hunting or skeet shooting later?

If you want to be flexible then you'd probably look to buy a more traditional shotgun. There are a number of possible options here, see what reviews are there and what values you have. If you're looking for a home defense only gun then you might look at a shorter more tactical shotgun but those tend to be fewer in options and more expensive but the shorter lengths make it more maneuverable.

The pistol can work fine but it just requires you practice quite a bit more. You want to get to the point where shooting and aiming is just natural so that when the extremely stressful HD situation happens you don't think, you body just reacts with muscle memory.

The reason that I tend to recommend a shotgun for novice shooters is that I know people who will say yes I'm going to shoot a lot but when they get a gun, life happens and it sits on the shelf. The statistics are real on this, a gun in a novice's hands can be more dangerous to them than no gun at all. I'm being a bit nanny here, but it's what was beat into me as a kid with gun safety and responsibility.

Sure would be nice to take my ruger and tactical shotty to the range. Wal mart (only place in town) has been out of ammo for the ruger for well over a week.

You can always order it on line. If Walmart is the only game in town, they probably jack up their prices. I know the one in my hometown does.

22.67 for a 100 pack w/o our 9.25 tax.

This is the site I get ammo for my AR from

http://www.aimsurplus.com/catalog.aspx?groupid=32

Thinking about this. Need to do more research.

http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/p...ducts_id=69657

Sounds like a great deal, especially with the scope.

I can't find reviews on it anywhere. Hopefully the AR experts chime in tomorrow. I'd love to get my fiancé one for her bday next month.

Type in the model number in google and see what you get. There seem to be youtube reviews about pretty much everything as well.

Also they can recommend which is better for bringing down large game, like Frigidare refrigerators. :p