So I decided to hold off on getting a .22 pistol until after the New Year but I am thinking a pistol for conceal carry and having for home defense. I was thinking of either a snub-nose .38, Makarov or the local gun store has a Taurus Model 738 for sale for $200. Which would GRM recommend? I am not sure about the relibality of the Taurus, carrying a .38 or the ammo availability of the Makarov ammo.
Personally, I would take the .38spl over the .380 every time. As for reliability, I would rate them .38spl, Taurus, makarov.
Taurus makes decent products and they have fantastic customer service. I recently picked up a PT24/7 PRO Compact .45. Great little pistol.
Bersa BP9 Concealed Carry. 9mm.
I seriously recommend saving some cash and buying a Glock 19, though.
If you are thinking about a Makarov, look at the CZ-82. Same round (9x18 russkie), but a little better looking in my opinion. It has an excellent reputation for durability and accuracy. The ammo is easily available mail order. I don't know if its in local stores. The 9x18 is similar to the 380.
The 38 specials are available is a wide array of pistols. Consider Charter Arms and Rossi. Taurus has a decent reputation for the price.
spitfirebill wrote: If you are thinking about a Makarov, look at the CZ-82. Same round (9x18 russkie), but a little better looking in my opinion. It has an excellent reputation for durability and accuracy. The ammo is easily available mail order. I don't know if its in local stores. The 9x18 is similar to the 380. The 38 specials are available is a wide array of pistols. Consider Charter Arms and Rossi. Taurus has a decent reputation for the price.
The Czech weapon industry is one of the best in the world, it was one of the reasons Hitler invaded. You can pick up one of the CZs cheap if you get one of the surplus ones and I have not heard anything bad about them.
When I can talk my wife into it, there will be one in my future.
if you're convinced on buying an unusual brand, see if you can find a Star ultrastar, they're a spanish company, imported by interarms. the ultrastar is a single stack 9mm luger with a polymer frame/steel slide. while not super light its thin enough and mine was reliable as an anvil. added bonus is it has an ambidextrous safety with decocker as well.
Out of those, I'd take the .38 special......I carry a taurus ultralight(titantium) .38 snub nose daily, never had any issues out of it to be honest. Snub revolvers are one of the hardest to learn accuracy with though, I'm glad I waited a few years to get one.
Strizzo wrote: if you're convinced on buying an unusual brand, see if you can find a Star ultrastar, they're a spanish company, imported by interarms. the ultrastar is a single stack 9mm luger with a polymer frame/steel slide. while not super light its thin enough and mine was reliable as an anvil. added bonus is it has an ambidextrous safety with decocker as well.
I had a Star .40 single stack. That was the most unreliable pile of crap I ever owned.
As yamaha mentioned a snub 38 is REALLY hard to be accurate with. However of what you mentioned it is what I would personally get. If you decide on a Makarov varient you may want to look for a .380 as it will be easier to find ammo locally.
Bobzilla wrote:Strizzo wrote: if you're convinced on buying an unusual brand, see if you can find a Star ultrastar, they're a spanish company, imported by interarms. the ultrastar is a single stack 9mm luger with a polymer frame/steel slide. while not super light its thin enough and mine was reliable as an anvil. added bonus is it has an ambidextrous safety with decocker as well.I had a Star .40 single stack. That was the most unreliable pile of crap I ever owned.
well i guess anyone can get a bad one, mine never had any failures, in over 1000 rounds that i put through it. i'd still have it if it hadn't been stolen. haven't seen one since.
Makarov ammo isnt to hard to come by, and if you buy it on line, not much more expensive than 9mm. A wide selection of high quality defensive loadings OTOH, good luck with that.
rebelgtp wrote: As yamaha mentioned a snub 38 is REALLY hard to be accurate with. However of what you mentioned it is what I would personally get. If you decide on a Makarov varient you may want to look for a .380 as it will be easier to find ammo locally.
I'm a crappy shot, but my s&w model 37 1 7/8 is pretty accurate at 30 yards. Fist size group, which is much better than I expected.
Joey
93EXCivic wrote: So I decided to hold off on getting a .22 pistol until after the New Year but I am thinking a pistol for conceal carry and having for home defense. I was thinking of either a snub-nose .38, Makarov or the local gun store has a Taurus Model 738 for sale for $200. Which would GRM recommend? I am not sure about the relibality of the Taurus, carrying a .38 or the ammo availability of the Makarov ammo.
If you get the Mak you will be by and large limited to buying your ammo online. Which isn't bad, because you can buy bulk ammo and get a good price. Some places stock 9mm Mak but it's usually over priced in my experience.
.38 Special has been killing people for a long time. If that's what you want, get it, but be aware the demand for .38 Special is going down, and prices are kinda high (I sold my LCR because I couldn't find ammo for under $0.35/round).
As for that Taurus, they do not have a great reputation, and .380 is a pretty wimply caliber IMO. It will still kill someone, but at the same time, it's much more expensive than 9mm and performs worse
Of those options I would say get the .38 revolver. But if I may offer two other options. 1) If you simply must have one gun that does both CC and home defense, get a Compact Glock (19/26 etc). I carry a G19 every day and it's my night stand gun. High enough capacity for home defense, long enough barrel to make efficient use of defensive loads, and small enough that with just a little carry I can carry without a problem.
Or 2) get two guns. Get the .38 revolver for carrying and get something else for the home. Because limited yourself to a 6 shot snubnose for home defense just makes no sense to me.
In reply to Drewsifer:
Eventually plan on buying a shotgun. Local gun store does carry Makarov ammo. Also I don't really care for Glocks... I thought Taurus's reputation had really improved recently.
rebelgtp wrote: As yamaha mentioned a snub 38 is REALLY hard to be accurate with. However of what you mentioned it is what I would personally get. If you decide on a Makarov varient you may want to look for a .380 as it will be easier to find ammo locally.
Ruger LCP. $300 new.
I prefer to carry higher cal weapons, but I believe we have discussed this. If you don't know why, Rebel or I would be happy to explain, I'm sure.
Tiff carries an LCP. Not a bad little gun, very much an up close and personal weapon though.
93EXCivic wrote: In reply to Drewsifer: Eventually plan on buying a shotgun. Local gun store does carry Makarov ammo. Also I don't really care for Glocks... I thought Taurus's reputation had really improved recently.
Fair enough. Another thing to consider is holster options. There aren't a lot of options for Maks. And you can make your own kydex holster pretty easily, but still it's something to consider.
I don't want to sound too critical of Taurus, but this is my opinion. They have improved, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're good yet. Taurus still seems to be hit or miss, with too many misses. And they still seem to be struggling with customer care. More than likely, if you get a gun from them it will work fine and you won't have any problems with it. But if you do, it can be a pain in the butt to fix, and it's always super frustrating to deal with a screwed up gun.
SO like I said, of the three options you listed I would get the revolver. But I think there are better options.
In reply to Drewsifer:
Their semi auto offerings have me guessing(I might buy a 24/7 pro, but none of the others), but their revolvers are honestly good.
Snub nose revolvers can be decently accurate, they're just next to impossible to learn with. If its your first handgun, you want real sights to learn with.
yamaha wrote: Snub nose revolvers can be decently accurate, they're just next to impossible to learn with. If its your first handgun, you want real sights to learn with.
I have shot a snub nose .32 before. I was at best ok with it.
Honestly having done some research I may grab that Makarov depending on where it was made and if it is a real Makarov or if it is gun that fires Makarov rounds.
just triple check all ammunition purchased.........9x18 is alot different than 9mm luger(9x19) and .380acp/9mm kurz/9mm browning short(9x17).....the latter two fire a .355 caliber round, whereas the 9x18 makarov fires a larger diameter (.365ish IIRC) bullet. It is a decent round, but protection ammunition is a bit hard to find for them.
The Makarov makes a better fashion statement.
rotard wrote: The Makarov makes a better fashion statement.
Huh?
The Makarov is definitely the coolest of your choices. Taurus seems to be hit or miss, but mostly hit. If you get a snubby, why not get one chambered in .357 mag so you can shoot .38 spc as well?
rotard wrote: The Makarov is definitely the coolest of your choices. Taurus seems to be hit or miss, but mostly hit. If you get a snubby, why not get one chambered in .357 mag so you can shoot .38 spc as well?
I am going to look a .357/ .38 snub nose. I don't it just doesn't seem like an ideal conceal carry for me. I will have to check some out and see if I am crazy or not.
You'll need to log in to post.
