I’ve been reading this thread and getting different feelings about you…
PDP
G45
CZ P10
In a few days you will figure it out why … . . . . .
I know everybody’s preferences and likes/dislikes are different, but actually the list of 3 pistols above is in perfect order…
However I’d recommend to get all 3 into your hand and feel the difference.
If you like Glock, you should be good with CZ P10, if you like PDP, you probably be ok with CZ P10.
If you like CZ P10, you have to try Glock then… it may shoot better…
But the best you can do - stick to PDP. You cannot find better handgun these days. (ok…just my personal opinion… please don’t judge these firearms based on my post )
The PDP just felt like it was made for my hand and I like the optics ready aspect. Plus I love that they have the 30 day “test drive” and return policy if you find it’s not for you. This is especially important for me since my wife is not really on board with having a gun in the house at this point. That’s a whole other factor here. She grew up in Yugoslavia (Bosnia) so she doesn’t have that freedom imbued into her spirit like those of us who grew up here. She has officially lived in this country longer than in Bosnia (and Croatia where she lived for a short time going to school during the war) but she came here at age 19 so she was into young adulthood. Her father didn’t hunt, although an uncle did. So she has no experience with being around firearms and hasn’t spent the time in the mindset of supporting our right to have them that I have. I’ve been slowly churning towards putting myself in a position, through research and the training on this awesome site, as well as taking a handgun class at one of our local training centers. I sort of thought that she may have been thinking that it was at least highly likely that I had gotten there and that I would be buying a gun. However, when I came home and told her that I had bought one that day (to gauge how much trouble I would be in!) the response was not what I wanted to hear. I thought I would get at worst a hesitant “okay” and I could go right back and finish the transaction on that Walther PDP that had begun but ended when I my conscience wouldn’t let me go through with it until I discussed it with my wife. The thing was on the counter, in the box, paperwork next to it with the guy explaining what I needed to fill out, everything. But I felt I had to walk away.
So this is a very long-winded way of saying I have a few things to mull over. I apologize for the length of this. I meant to put this topic in the “women and guns” section as it’s more appropriate there, but here we are.
@Jorrtvh
In my opinion you have made a good decision, actually good two decisions:
1 - you have decided to own the firearm (you have an obligation to keep your Family safe and residing in USA requires owning the tool which makes you equally equipped to assailants.)
2 - you own the firearm which you feel that will serve you the best. You become comfortable with it soon.
I understand your position about owning the handgun and keeping it at home. My whole Family grew up in Poland where firearm was still a weapon of destruction, not defense tool.
War in Yugoslavia is still fresh in peoples memories, so don’t be hard on it. Eventually your wife understands the reason of owning that tool.
Your first decision has been made. Don’t think about 30 days return policy… just start the process of being familiar with the handgun. Go for a training at your local centers. Start slowly with basics. You can find out if your wife is also ready for it and do the classes together. More classes she attends, better chance she understands that her life may depends on the firearm.
Sometimes it’s better to ask for forgiveness after the fact than permission before the fact. Sometimes it’s not. Tough call. You need to respect your partner but you also have to respect your gut if it is telling you that you should be prepared to defend yourself.
My wife is not a fan of firearms. Not against them but just has virtually no interest in them. Though on the rare occasions that I can drag her to the range she actually really enjoys shooting the .22s. Especially at steel targets. She does not like the recoil of the larger calibers though she can shoot those well also. Maybe you could try taking your wife to a range that rents firearms and offers a basic 1 hour beginners lessons? Rent a .22 for her and 9 for yourself. Evan better if the class is taught by a woman.
Seeing that shooting can be fun as well as an important defense skill might help. Though she may hate it and then you will have to use the- I respect and understand your opinion but this is very important to me card.
@Jorrtvh, first off, I think it’s awesome you are considering your wife’s feelings and value your relationship! I love guns and the 2nd Amendment as much as anyone and want you to be part of that, but I think you are wise to get her on board. Would she be open to attending a basic firearms course, such as NRA Basic Pistol? I wonder if finding a course and opening her eyes to the values of the shooting community might get her on board and even develop into the USCCA CCHDF course and why we own firearms. I know I’ve had several students come through the CCHDF course who changed their minds on guns in general and felt much more comfortable once they see how responsible gun owners actually are.
My wife had never shot until she started dating me. She had a very anti-gun mother and grew up without them in her life. She wanted to try it out and fell in love. Just recently I received a stern reprimand for selling a pistol I didn’t use and not replacing it, so I’m very lucky. What drew my wife in was the fact it was something we could do together and she really fell in love with the gun community, who are some of the finest people out there.
I was pretty anti gun in my college years. I never saw a reason for it. I remember even arguing with my wife (girlfriend at the time) on how I thought I would make things more dangerous by carrying myself. Then my brother-in-law took me to the range to shoot some Glocks. I immediately fell in love with it.
Before buying a gun myself, I took a beginner class and a conceal carry class. A few weeks later I bought my first gun!
I can’t say your wife would have the same reaction, but shooting is fun. The gun is a lot less “evil” once you shoot it. The first time I picked up an AR the words that left my mouth were “it’s a lot smaller than I realized”… they’re tools for self defense, but they’re also great fun (as long as we’re safe).
After getting married and having our first child, protection became one of my primary focuses, especially as we’ve seen violence growing. In a home invasion, what are you going to do? If someone decides to hurt you while you’re in the parking lot, what are you going to do? Many people say “call the police” but the police usually just make it in time to write a report… you are your own only defender in a real life threatening encounter. Many people will come up with a wild story, “I’ll run, I’ll throw something, I’ll use my martial arts skills” (all which COULD be good), but in reality a gun is simply the best tool for the job.
I wish you the best! All of those guns are great options.
Well, first of all, thank you, everyone for your thoughts, advice and encouragement on this subject. You all are truly, truly amazing in doing so. I really mean that.
There is one more part of this that I decided to leave off of my long post earlier just because I was getting pretty long winded.
My wife had a mental health issue crop up starting a couple of years ago that came to a head in the fall/winter of 2019. It’s hard to tell exactly when the issues started but it caused her to be forced to resign from her job. A really good job as a senior financial analyst for a local, gone global, company here in Des Moines. I still didn’t know she was having this experience at that time. I thought she just had trouble getting along with others because she had high standards and could be very demanding.
Anyway, that seemed to really exacerbate her condition. She started having manias and delusions that people were after her, were going to hurt me at work, etc. My daughter and I were woken up and dragged outside in the middle of the night because she thought someone was releasing gasses in our house. She made multiple trips and calls to the police; we had the fire department here one night at 2am. So many stories I could tell…
I ultimately had to get a court order with the help of the principal of our daughter’s school (there was an incident with an email my wife sent that scared the heck out of a lot of parents) and have her taken to the hospital to get help.
It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through in my life. And I’ve lost both of my parents. I was saying that when I had only experienced the loss of my father, thinking that after my mom passed that might change. Well after losing her a little over a year ago, the truth is that watching my beautiful, sweet wife, my soul mate, the mother of my beautiful daughter go through that is still the hardest thing. With the help of her medication all of the mania and delusions have melted away and all is well now. She has yet to return to work but that is fine, as long as she is happy and healthy. That is what matters most.
Okay, I’ll finally wrap this up!! I have all of this in my head with this decision that I’m trying to make. I know that my constitutional rights are not affected by her situation, but I worry that down the road, years maybe, having a firearm in the house may not be a great idea. If she starts thinking people are out to get her again at some point that could be a problem, it goes without saying.
So I’m not sure if she would even be allowed to go to the range and shoot with me. She is no longer under court order so maybe that won’t be an issue.
Sorry for another long post and thank you for all your thoughts and advice.
And I promise that all my future posts, if any, will not be super long!!
Sounds like a challenging situation you all have been through. That does complicate the decision process quite a bit. First I am very glad to hear your wife is getting the treatment she needs and that she is responding so well. So many people in this country are not getting the help and support they need due to the stigma attached to mental health issues.
Ensuring that a temporary relapse does not result in tragedy absolutely has to be your biggest concern. If you do decide to go the firearm route, I would first invest in a high quality safe that only you have access to. Many quick access safes are way too easy for a truly determined person to get into. A sturdy jewelry style safe bolted to the floor with an electronic lock could be a good option unless you plan to pick up some rifles in the future.
You just keep the firearm on you. Lock in safe when at home, carry on you when out of the house.
Keep your Family safe even you have hard time with firearm at home.
Shamrock and Jerzy-
Yeah I’ve thought I could just get a safe that only I have access to. Having one in case of (another) break in and to keep the kiddo from playing with it is the right thing to do.
So that’s probably the play I’ll make. Thanks!
The safe first. As a side note, Grab A Gun and Bud’s will have all you need at about the cheapest price you will find. Again, safety first so safe first.
I was eyeing them at the shop the last time I was there. The day I walked away from the PDP…
I forget the brand but they had some I could have on the nightstand and ones I could have in the truck. I was pondering both.
I have never bought a firearm online. It takes to long to get it. I would rather go to the gun store, see it, hold it and know what I am getting. I have heard horror stories of people purchasing a gun online and not getting what they ordered.
My experience has been that they are normally at the ffl in 2-3 days. Feel it at the lgs. Those 2 online stores are usually hundreds less. I have never had to send anything back.
I’d get online and search till you find one and have it sent to your local FFL. There’s a search tool for that online. Anything over 10 round capacity might get flagged if you wait too long. But I decided to buy a boat at Cabella’s but found a guy selling his Ranger for $38,000. I took my guns to him and we did a test drive in his boat. It was fast. So fast that it lost control and flipped over. Lost all my guns. Man I was pissed.
IF I buy a gun online I would go with one of the ones I’ve held and/or shot already but I don’t know if there can be much variance in how a gun feels in the hand if it’s the same model. Now shooting, on the other hand, I can see the possibility of there being some variance.
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