Whatcha Want To Know Wednesday

"How did you decide to buy the gun you bought?"

I did not so much decide to buy the gun I bought as I got impatient and went out and just bought one.  I had never in my life heard of Glock or Ruger or rimfire or chamber or, I think you get the picture.  I had absolutely no clue what to buy or even where one would go to buy a gun, so I did what I always do...

I Googled it.

I Googled, "Guns for women"

Almost all the articles said, buy the gun that fits best in your hand and one that you will shoot.

Yeah, that is not helpful.  So, I Googled gun stores and went to every one within 90 miles of my house.  I have to say that most of the gentleman who helped me were not helpful.  It was obvious that I had no clue and none of them were really interested in educating me.  They were in the business of selling guns and answering direct questions. I didn't know what to do, so I just kept looking.  I ended up at a local pawn shop. The guy there was extremely friendly and would have talked to me all day if I wanted. My husband says he thinks he was a little to friendly, but...

While I was at the pawn shop looking to buy a gun, my husband was 3 hours away with our daughter at a volleyball tournament.  He was not feeling all that good about my little adventure.

At the pawn shop, my choices were between a couple of revolvers or a Glock.  I have no idea why, but I did not want a revolver.  I didn't know anything about revolvers except I knew I didn't want one.  Why or how I developed this strong negative opinion I don't know, but since I had, I was left with the Glock.

The pawn shop owner told me that the Glock Generation 3's did not have an ambidextrous(left side or right side) magazine(the thing that holds the bullets) release(button that drops the magazine out of the gun), but the Gen 4's did.  It just so happens that one of the guys that works in the pawn shop has a Gen 4 that he would sell me for $500.  Ok, sure I said.

I am left handed.  In the course of my gun buying expedition, I learned that some guns are made for right handed people, some for left handed, and some for both(ambidextrous). This seemed more important in the beginning than it does now.

The guy from the pawn shop brought the gun in, I looked at it(having not a clue) and bought it. 

I bought my first gun in the parking lot of a pawn shop from a guy I didn't know.  The first in a long line of mistakes I have made in my short gun buying experience.

The Glock I bought was the Glock 23 and it does not have an ambidextrous magazine release.  No Glock does.  It turns out this really isn't a problem for me, but one should maybe buy a gun from someone that knows a thing or two about guns. I will say that while this was probably not a smartest way to buy ones first gun, it turned out ok.  Similar Glocks do sell for around $500, the gun came in it's original case with all the original parts and my husband has shot the heck out of it with not a single problem.

However, it was not the gun for me.  The Glcok 23 is a compact(smaller than a full sized gun)gun, but on me it was like carrying a large cat on my hip. Had I slowed down at all, I probably could have found a way to carry the Glock 23, but since I was full speed ahead, I forced my husband to drive at night, in a rain storm to buy me the smaller subcompact Glock 27.

The Glock 27 shoots a .40 caliber bullet(basically the size of the bullet). Incidentally, the Glock 23 also shots .40 caliber.

Once I had the gun, I did a ton of more research, but I didn't realize until after I had the gun and shot it, that it has a big recoil(the kick of the gun after it shoots a bullet)  Since I had never really shot before, I thought that was how all guns felt.  It didn't bother me at all.  I took it to my Conceal Carry class and shot close to 600 rounds over 2 days and was not sore one bit. I was so naive, I had no clue that other guns had less recoil and that many woman do not like the kick of a .40.  My gun ignorance and nativity rarely serves me well, but this was one time it worked for me.  I had no preconceived ideas so I wasn't scared of the kick.  I was, of course, scared the first million times I shot, but not because of the kick.

I would not suggest this way of gun buying, but what I have learned is that unless you grew up around guns and have had the chance to shoot many different kinds of weapons, gun buying is often very similar. 

There are so many variables in finding the right gun for every kind of person and their needs, that it is nearly impossible to know what the exact right gun will be, plus as ones skills grow and develop that first gun might not serve one well anyway. I follow Central Iowa Defensive Training on FaceBook and a while back they posted a link to an article that addresses this very issue. What is best?

I got lucky because I do love my Glock 27 and even as I have grown in my gun skills and knowledge, it still serves me well, in fact, better.  I have shot several other guns, and I like them all, but I always come back to my Glock.  I love it.  I feel the most comfortable and confident with it.  I have no idea what I will feel like as I continue to learn and grow, but I can't see my Glcok being very far away from me for very long.