First Handgun in MA - Skip Larger Sizes Due to 10rd Cap?

JDL said:
Why would 2 or 3 armed thugs kick in your door in the middle of the night? I suppose in that situation I would want full capacity, how ever in that situation a shotgun with 8 rounds would serve you better
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Why would they? To take your shit. Because they hit the wrong house for dope. I’m not in that business so I can’t answer why but it happens.

A shotgun with 8 rounds? Why?
 
dukeofsoul said:
Everyone is so nice on here. It makes me smile.
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People are very nice, you should go to some of the meets.

What happens is either people ask very stupid questions and provide zero detail, proving that they did ZERO research so why should I do their work, or they give very bad reasoning.

Then you have the people that shouldn't give advice based on their horrible post history on NES but come out and try to advice someone on what is best. Those people get called out.
 
LakeTrout said:
I disagree with people saying don’t worry about capacity. It’s important. Maybe not on a flat range. But if 2 or 3 armed thugs just kicked in your door in the middle of the night, id much rather have 17 in the magazine than 10 and potentially have to do a reload under the most stress you’ve ever been in, in the dark, and your families lives are on the line. Is it the most likely scenario? Maybe or maybe not. But it’s worth preparing for that level of violence, if you’re going to prepare for any at all.

I would suggest you buy a gun that has a market for pre-ban standard capacity magazines. If it’s primarily for home defense, most of the time a longer grip is a good thing not a bad thing. But you do want to make sure it’s not too fat for your hands if you have little girly hands.

For a carry gun, I’m a little more in the camp of there are plenty of guns that are good carry guns because they are small and are only designed to have 10 round magazines anyway. I can see that. I’m big enough to carry the men’s models so I don’t need to go down that road. But to each their own.
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Bro, most NES members can't consistently hit a paper target 15 yards away, on a sunny day with no stress and all the time in the world to aim.

Forget about waking up in the middle of the night, when your brain is not working, it is dark AF and engaging in a shootout while kewping in mind where your wife and kids are sleeping. Literally 99.9% of NES has never practiced that and never will.

In my opinion, unless the OP is the 0.01% of people that are serious AF and jumps in 100% from day one, he should focus on comfort, aiming and reliability.

The serious guys know how to deal with mag capacity.

Also, the OP concern was with gun size due to his 10 round limit. Most people are saying to ignore the capacity limits and get what he can shoot best and is most reliable. If it is strictly a home defense gun, then it doesn't matter if it is a 365 or a G17. If the G17 fits better, get the G17. If you are an incredible shot with the 365, f*ck it, go with that one.
 
Broc said:
Bro, most NES members can't consistently hit a paper target 15 yards away, on a sunny day with no stress and all the time in the world to aim.

Forget about waking up in the middle of the night, when your brain is not working, it is dark AF and engaging in a shootout while kewping in mind where your wife and kids are sleeping. Literally 99.9% of NES has never practiced that and never will.

In my opinion, unless the OP is the 0.01% of people that are serious AF and jumps in 100% from day one, he should focus on comfort, aiming and reliability.

The serious guys know how to deal with mag capacity.

Also, the OP concern was with gun size due to his 10 round limit. Most people are saying to ignore the capacity limits and get what he can shoot best and is most reliable. If it is strictly a home defense gun, then it doesn't matter if it is a 365 or a G17. If the G17 fits better, get the G17. If you are an incredible shot with the 365, f*ck it, go with that one.
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I agree with almost everything you’re saying but the points you make about most people not being able to pull that off (myself included), are the exact reasons why capacity is important. It’s the serious guys that you mention that can deal with capacity, yes. The rest of us are far better off if we don’t have to deal with it. Which is why it’s nice to have as many rounds as you can without having to do a reload in that situation. Personally I’m more likely to hit the damn thing I’m trying to hit if I have 18 chances to do it instead of 11. Especially if I don’t have to fumble through a reload in the dark in a stressful situation.
 
LakeTrout said:
I 100% absolutely am, yes. I’m all ears.
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There are advantages and disadvantages to everything. A long gun is far easier to aim accurately than a pistol. A shotgun with buckshot is far more likely to stop a perp than a handgun.

On the other hand, a pistol is easier to store, easier to use while navigating around your house, and easier to hold in one hand while your other hand is holding a phone.

So pick your poison.
 
I get that the shotgun is great for home defense, but I personally like having the AR Pistol with a couple of extra mags close by when I'm at home. Yard is big, back fence is farther away than I would want to try to hit with a slug and bead sight.
 
M1911 said:
There are advantages and disadvantages to everything. A long gun is far easier to aim accurately than a pistol. A shotgun with buckshot is far more likely to stop a perp than a handgun.

On the other hand, a pistol is easier to store, easier to use while navigating around your house, and easier to hold in one hand while your other hand is holding a phone.

So pick your poison.
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Why not both? If I'm just checking if the a**h*** cat knocked over a glass at 1am, I'll grab a pistol. If I hear voices downstairs, I'm camping out at the top of the stairs with my 590.
 
G4Y4HK said:
MA LTC interviewing cop told me since I'm not allowed to have more than 10 as a civilian anyway unlike LEO, might as well buy a gun designed for 10. HK45.
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I like the HK45c a lot more than the full size. The "compact" is still bigger than other full sized handguns anyway lol
 
M1911 said:
There are advantages and disadvantages to everything. A long gun is far easier to aim accurately than a pistol. A shotgun with buckshot is far more likely to stop a perp than a handgun.

On the other hand, a pistol is easier to store, easier to use while navigating around your house, and easier to hold in one hand while your other hand is holding a phone.

So pick your poison.
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These points are true. The stopping power of a shotgun with buckshot is its advantage. I think it drops off to more disadvantages than advantages from there. Enough so that for me it’s last behind an auto loading rifle and pistol.
 
Boston4 said:
Hi all,

Looking at purchasing my first handgun (mostly a shotgun guy). At the moment, I’m considering the VP9, Glock 19, or the M&P 2.0 Metal. This will be mostly a range toy and a home defense gun - maybe I’ll carry it occasionally but don’t expect to do so very often which is why I am not too concerned with the size.

That said, all of these are designed to hold like 17 rounds and I’d obviously have 10 round mags as a MA resident. Part of me is wondering whether I’d be better off with something with a shorter grip that is designed to hold closer to the 10 round MA cap, but I see lots of MA people carrying these or similar sized guns even though they can’t really use the capacity.

Does it make more sense to look at smaller guns like the VP9sk or Glock 43/26 that will fit my whole hand with an extended mag finger grip and have less wasted space in the grip? Or should I just go for a larger frame and use mags that are like half spacer?
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Had this same question when I started shooting. Full size is easier to control and nice, if you get the glock you can buy preban mags which are also nice.

Guns around the vp9 size are difficult to carry iwb as they're a bit bulky so If you want to edc eventually I'd recommend a different gun like the sig 365.
 
Drix said:
Had this same question when I started shooting. Full size is easier to control and nice, if you get the glock you can buy preban mags which are also nice.

Guns around the vp9 size are difficult to carry iwb as they're a bit bulky so If you want to edc eventually I'd recommend a different gun like the sig 365.
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Depends on the person, I can AIWB carry my vp9, or glock 45 with no issues. I shoot them both a lot better than a 365, but the 365 is still nice for some things too
 
vcman said:
To get around the 10rd mag cap problem in massachusset, I shoot my pistol with my right hand,and hold a spare mag with my left hand to made reload faster, accuracy is not good but at 10 yards it acceptable
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IMG_3727.gif IMG_9612.gif


T-Unit said:
Why on Earth would you recommend a .40 to a noob? Let the dude get his feet wet with 9mm first, then he can start looking at other options.
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You see other other issues with his post or did you just lock in on .40 and jump? lol
 
LakeTrout said:
These points are true. The stopping power of a shotgun with buckshot is its advantage. I think it drops off to more disadvantages than advantages from there. Enough so that for me it’s last behind an auto loading rifle and pistol.
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Right now, I don’t have a place upstairs to store a long gun. So my primary is a Glock 19 with red dot and light. In the unlikely event that I have advance warning, then I’ll get a long gun from the safe downstairs.
 
M1911 said:
Right now, I don’t have a place upstairs to store a long gun. So my primary is a Glock 19 with red dot and light. In the unlikely event that I have advance warning, then I’ll get a long gun from the safe downstairs.
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If you sleep with the rifle I think you dont need storage. Im not a lawyer though, or your wife
 
I'm not a semi-auto handgun aficionado like most people here, but a long time ago I was a member at MFS and shot there once a week. I shot all but a few of the handguns they have available to rent, and I narrowed in pretty well on what I like. That turned out to be "compact" size 9mms. Well, it's DA/SA revolvers, really, but if we're talking about something that might be carried, I think we should be talking about 9mm semi-autos. I have had several micro, compact, and full-size 9mm pistols, but the compacts are the only ones I have actually liked. There's something "just right" about the recoil impulse. I usually carry a micro 9, but I don't very much like shooting it.

Now if we're talking a handgun for home defense and fun at the range, I really like the S&W 327 TRR8. It's very easy and relatively inexpensive to mount a red dot on it, and if you get one with a QD mount like the one from Meprolight, you can pop it off at the range to practice with your irons. Heck I even have a scope with QD rings set up for mine.
 
@Boston4 Welcome to NES. I have some recommendations for your sanity.

  • Block everyone who recommended Glock. They are all children and tend to get irrational when anyone does not suffer from their delusion that glocks are great.
  • Block everyone who suggested HK. They will cost you way too much money in the long run. Buy HKs on your own if you like them, but HK fanbois are dangerous
  • Block anyone who recommends a S&W M&P of any flavor. If they are recommending on roster guns, they have no imagination
  • Block @Broc on principal. He is an agent of chaos, thinks he is funny, and once bought a Hi Point
 
M1911 said:
Right now, I don’t have a place upstairs to store a long gun. So my primary is a Glock 19 with red dot and light. In the unlikely event that I have advance warning, then I’ll get a long gun from the safe downstairs.
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Yeah. Advance warning is extremely unlikely.

The question of "what's a good housegun?" really boils down to "what gun are you most comfortable with when something goes bump in the night?"

I've got friends that have SBRs with nightvision and suppressors on them as their houseguns. I know a couple of guys who swear by their shotguns. I'm most comfortable with a pistol, so that's my first choice.

I've got a G31 with a 9mm conversion barrel in it, a trijicon rmr on it and a streamlight tlr-1 as my primary house gun. It's holstered in a knapsack that was designed to carry a firearm.

Loaded handguns in a mini-vault in the bedroom and also in a gun locker in the "safe room", (that would be my wife's walk-in closet). Two in each because my wife has her own guns - she really, really, really hates my Glocks.

"Cruiser ready" shotgun and a couple loaded handguns in the gunsafe. Loaded mags for the handguns and AR-15s nearby.

Rules in my house are simple:
If a handgun's in a holster, it's probably loaded. If it's not in a holster, it's not loaded.
Long guns are left unloaded, with the exception of the pump shotgun which has the action open and is stored in the safe.

Good thing this isn't Massachusetts, Connecticut or similar - reading above, I realize I have 8 loaded firearms in this house, some of which are "unsecured".
 

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