OT - Diving for the Glock...

[pvwingchun]

I gottcha, keeping a gun well maintained and clean should be common sense,

Unfortunately this is not always true.

[Losttrak]

Went gun shopping again yesterday...

You ever get the feeling when you put a weapon in your hands... tingling... perfect balance and it feels that its molded to your hands? Thats what I felt when I put the 1911 Springfield .45 in my hand. It was a moment of pleasure to view the lines and strength in its form, the weight in my hands... I was smitten the moment I touched it. Dayam. Even dreamt about it last night. Sheeesh. Plus it has a very heroic history. It will be mine, Oh YES.. it will be mine. I even spotted a few guns for the chick. She held a few of them and WHOAH... there is something about a woman with a gun in her hand.... reow. Well, as long as it isnt pointed at me.

[Waidan]

Someone mentioned the Ruger P series. Man, those guns feel clunky and cheap to me, kinda similar to the Colt semi-autos. I originally checked out the P series when I was shopping for a .40, and shot the .40 DAO model. I ended up going with a H&K. I like Ruger in general (I own a 10/22 Ranch, a Mark II, and a GP100), but I steer people away from the P's.

[Black Jack]

The 1911 pistol is the most prolific and IMO the greatest pistol design ever produced. It's historic history could be argued as second to none. Iwo Jima saw plenty of use of the .45 caliber pistol. Medal of Honor citations have showcased some of this in sterile black and white.

I am lucky enough to have my grandfathers WW2 Navy S&W Victory Model .38 Special.

[Radhnoti]

The XD is available in 9mm, .40 cal, .357 Sig. The typical barrel length is 4'', though the "tactical" model is 5'' and Springfield has just released the 3'' subcompact 9mm.
Rumor has it that 2004 will bring the release of a .45 cal.

I am greatly interested in the subcompact...

[Fred Sanford]

So I shot the XD-9 (9mm) today, its a full size pistol.

it shoots pretty well and at first glance looks like a clone of the glock 17 (9mm) which I was shooting today also.

I thought it shot fine, to me it felt about the same (maybe a little better)as the glock 17 but the glock is old with worn grips, so....

the XD is slightly higher profile than the glock,

it does have a grip safety which you can make up your own mind about.

The biggest gripe that I personally had was that the magazines seemed really cheap in quality, guess they had to cut cost somewhere. Just bare metal, I got the feeling that if you were pressing down hard trying to get those last couple of rounds loaded and slipped that it would be easy to cut
yourself.

for me it had come down to either the Glock-19 or the XD9 and I have to say that I'm going with the glock. I just like the feel a hell of a lot better and it's more easily concealed than the XD plus i'm not too keen on the grip safety.

[Serpent]

It is absolutely terrifying to me (as someone that grew up in the UK and now lives in Australia) that you all talk so casually about all the guns you own and the joy you get from them. So blase.

Terrifying.

[Fred Sanford]

It is absolutely terrifying to me (as someone that grew up in the UK and now lives in Australia) that you all talk so casually about all the guns you own and the joy you get from them. So blase.

LOL. It's because we are evil.

you are just jealous, admit it.

[joedoe]

I gotta admit guns fascinate me. However the thought of widespread ownership of them kinda sends shivers up my spine. I know how many idiots there are around and the thought of them being able to own guns is frightening.

I can accept that guns are a fact of life in the USA, but I don't think we need them here in Australia.

[pvwingchun]

That is the problem with gun ownership in a country where citizens have the right to own a gun, fairly unimpeded, even the idiots can have them. But it is one problem I am willing to put up with.

[joedoe]

The USA is a different case to Australia because of the existing number of guns in the USA. I would probably want one over there too

[Serpent]

Originally posted by Fred Sanford


LOL. It's because we are evil.

you are just jealous, admit it.

No, really. You couldn't pay me to live in the US.

[dwid]

It is absolutely terrifying to me (as someone that grew up in the UK and now lives in Australia) that you all talk so casually about all the guns you own and the joy you get from them. So blase.

You have to understand the context here. People who enjoy firearms and develop a little expertise/knowledge about them tend to look at them the same way as people who really enjoy cars look at cars. There is a beauty in the engineering and construction, and wide variation in opinions regarding performance of each type of machine.

It's a little hard to understand coming from a culture in which firearms are strictly controlled, but you have to understand that America has a long and proud history of firearms ownership, so people have no reason to be ashamed or feel awkward talking about how they enjoy something that is a constitutional right.

[Radhnoti]

Fred, I have one more piece of info on the XD 9 that you may find interesting. The XD (probably not the sub-compact though) enjoys legal post-ban high capacity magazines. How? The clip for the .40 cal XD fits in the 9mm, perfectly. If you load the .40 cal clip with 9mm, it holds 15...perfectly. It is not illegal (I have a document from the ATF that states it to be legal) because the clip was manufactured to hold .40 cal, and it has not been modified by the owner. Thus, with the XD you can have inexpensive clips that hold 15 9mm shots.
It may become a non-issue when the 10 shot "assault weapon" ban sunsets...or (as I suspect/fear) this issue might be a bone Bush throws the anti-gun crowd.

Here's a searchable bb with more info on the XD than you'd ever want to have:
http://www.hs2000talk.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi

[Losttrak]

You have to understand the context here. People who enjoy firearms and develop a little expertise/knowledge about them tend to look at them the same way as people who really enjoy cars look at cars. There is a beauty in the engineering and construction, and wide variation in opinions regarding performance of each type of machine.

Amen. There is something as spiritual in the gun as in the sword. We all played guns as kids and grew up with the fantasy and after owning one... their sleek form and complexity entrall me still. Plus, in the role of protector... I never want the ones I love to suffer violence for my inability to escalate.