Steering new shooters away from Glock

[lewmed]

 I shoot at a local indoor range at least once a week and it looks like the lady at the gun counter 9 times out of 10 pushes Glock to the new shooters. I was shooting today and noticed an older lady about my age 65+ try to load a magazine for a rented Glock 26 she also had problems racking the slide. I helped her with the Glock and then let her try several of my guns  the 2 she liked the best were my P07 and my Sig p938 . She said  she wanted a gun to keep in a night stand by her bed and she ended up buying a P07 because of the decocker.  It happens all the time they rent a new shooter a Glock or a short barrel revolver sell them a box of ammo and point them to range.
 I think there are many fine pistols on the market many are as good or better than glock my choice is about any CZ that is DS/SA and hammer fired and for the money the P07 and P09 are hard to beat.  I do admit to owning one glock a model 32 357 sig with 9mm and 40 S&W conversions the only stock parts are the slide and frame the only reason I still have is it's only worth about 1/4 of what I have invested in it.

[armoredman]

Rental Glocks come with a contract from Glock to sell Glocks, just not the range guns, for a certain time period. They get more mercenary with that setup all the time.
Let the shooter decide - handle it first, ad if it feels like a brick, it probably will never ever feel right. Move to the one that feels right then shoot it.

[earlan357]

I don't steer people away from Glocks, but I'd prefer they make a choice after handling a variety of guns.  The glock grip and trigger feel fine if you've never handled another gun to compare it to.  Once you try a gun with actual ergonomics and a decent trigger, the Glock falls to the bottom of the list.  While it's better to shoot a variety of guns before making a decision, it's really not that big a deal for new shooters.  Most inexperienced people lack basic marksmanship skills, and shoot Glocks just as poorly as a $3000 race gun.  Better to set them up with a gun that fits their hand and is known to be reliable than one that the salesperson perceives is better.  I cringe everytime I see a new shooter, especially ladies, being told to buy an airweight S&W, or a tiny mousegun.

[SI VIS PACEM PARRABELLUM]

  I cringe everytime I see a new shooter, especially ladies, being told to buy an airweight S&W, or a tiny mousegun.

I see counter people do this nonsense all the time. While a small gun in .380 or 9mm can be useful and easy to shoot these guys push snub nose aluminum frame revolvers to new shooters and these are the most painful recoiling hardest guns to be accurate with there are.They require much dedicated practice and diligence to become proficient with and it just makes no sense to turn off a new shooter by talking them into buying a gun that they will hate to shoot.

[Raining_Brass]

  I cringe everytime I see a new shooter, especially ladies, being told to buy an airweight S&W, or a tiny mousegun.

I see counter people do this nonsense all the time. While a small gun in .380 or 9mm can be useful and easy to shoot these guys push snub nose aluminum frame revolvers to new shooters and these are the most painful recoiling hardest guns to be accurate with there are.They require much dedicated practice and diligence to become proficient with and it just makes no sense to turn off a new shooter by talking them into buying a gun that they will hate to shoot.

So many morons have recommended women guns like this for so long that when you recommend a bigger gun to them you're now the idiot that they think doesn't know what he's talking about...

[recoilguy]

That's true but I rarely care if someone thinks I'm an idiot if I'm right.

My sister in law went to a range then to a gun store and the consensues for her was to get a ....
Taurus G2 PT111 9mm. Thank goodness she called to get my input before she threw her money away.


She did not want a full sized gun wanted a small gun. I took her to the range and she shot as many of my guns as she could.
She then made a very wise decision and bought a P-01. She got some static about how big it was and how she can't handle it.
She took those nay sayers to teh range with their smaller "easy to handle guns" and shot holes in the black while they struggled to stayon paper.

she handles that gun pretty proficently, those others just held a light gun.

big differeance.

RCG

[Schwifty]

I always recommend a Glock 19 to new shooters simply for it's simplicity and reputation. Not much in the way of maintenance and the manual of arms is easy enough for anyone to get.
Glocks are just as good as any other firearm out there.

[SI VIS PACEM PARRABELLUM]

I like what I like but I tell people who are just getting interested in guns and shooting to spend time at the local range as they have a diverse selection of rental guns to be tried out.
If I bought every gun some one recommended I'd have a safe full of guns I hate. There's nothing like test driving the machine before you commit to it.

[J Lee]

Personally I like Glocks and have 5 in the safe and 1 on the nightstand.  I also really like CZs and tend to shoot them a little better than Glocks but hard to dispute the reliability and the ease of concealment carry of the Glock 19.

[SI VIS PACEM PARRABELLUM]

My PCR carries and conceals as well as a G19 and looks better doing it.

[Dr.Juice]

I tell new shooters to start big then work their way towards smaller guns as they get better. As far as getting a Glock or not I tell them to go to a gun store and hold as many as they can and to rent the ones they narrow down as contenders. I say that I'm not personally a fan of Glock's because I don't like they way they shoot or feel and I have found options that work better for me but that's just me.

[armoredman]

We won't get into a Glock bash here.
I would and have encouraged people to try as many as they can before they buy, especially when I worked at a rental range/gunshop, and it was often interesting what people ended up choosing. The only one that really threw us was the little old lady that chose a single action Vaquero in 44 Mag...and she could HIT with that thing, too. Freaked us all out, but what the hey...
But it all comes down to individual fit and feel. I don't like the Glock grip angle but qualify Expert or Distinguished Expert every year with one. Its a fine, functional well built sidearm, and if we all liked the exact same thing...what a boring world this would be!
BTW, I tried the "little gun for the little woman" thing with my own wife, before I realized I was an idiot, and it cost me four revolvers and two autos before she finally found her RAMI and was instantly in love. The day she picked it up her jaw fell open - it was made just for her hand, and I vowed to never, ever again buy a gun for someone that they hadn't tried.

[Slateman]

Why would you steer them away from a Glock?

Sorry, but Glock is a fantastic pistol for the price and sheer volume of aftermarket support. It's cheap, it's reliable, it has a ton of stuff to try. You can find used Gen 2/3/4 Glocks for under 400. Who cares what it looks like? This new shooter should be spending hours and thousands of rounds learning to shoot.

Honestly, they should spend the money and time on training, figure out what they like and don't like in a handgun, and then purchase something other than a Glock.

[Ruber]

I can?t get myself to like them, but agree a lot with Slateman.

Our local shops treat glocks like gateway drugs.  They are cheap, low maintenance, and easy to get new shooters on target.  That gets them coming back in buying ammo, accessories, and range time because they are hitting center of mass and having fun.

Many of the ones who stick with it develop skills and move on to other makes/models.

But really, the shop wants happy customers that come back.

And ya, there are those who pick up a CZ or Sig and say ?Wow, this feels great? right off the bat.  The shops just play the odds game.

[ThinLizzy]

I can't bash on Glocks either. I love them and have several.  To me, the ease of changing parts out as well as the availability and low cost of parts is a huge plus to me.  I had a P10 for a short while and while I liked the ergos, the trigger did not feel any better to me than my 19.  To me, the Glock won out based on simplicity and the P10 went away.

I went to the range yesterday and shot my PCR for the first time with all decocked shots. I couldn't hit a bleep thing with the double action pull.  I'm hoping that with continued practice I will get better, but for now I will carry the Glock over the PCR.  It was a frightening eye opener to see such poor results on what would be my first self defense shot fired.

Don't get me wrong, I love my CZs, but I love my Glocks as well.  Fortunately for all of us there are a lot of options in manufacturers and models available.

The most important thing is to practice.  It amazes me more how anybody could buy a gun for self/home defense and then not fire it on a regular basis to be competent with it, regardless of gun choice.