To be honest, style isn't important to me, its more reliability and comfort that counts. As with the Safety training course, I think that would be wise to do as well, seeing as how I barely know how to operate a pistol (I've shot a revolver once that a friend owned). And Aryk, I would totally love to do a range meet, although my problem is I don't drive. Luckily my family has a couple places out in the wild where I could practice and shoot some targets, plus its free! It might be possible to ask them if we could use the space out there to set up some targets and shoot. Well wish me luck, I'm headed to the shop right now.
Kelso is not too far from Vancouver. I would be willing to come out to your family's property and shoot up stuff! I can even pick you up.
With that being said, before you buy your gun consider a few things:
1) Are you planning on opening carrying it MORE than you are going to conceal carry it?
2) What are some of your safety concerns about a gun?
3) What is your price range?
4) What all do you intend you might be shooting? Bears? People?
5) How proficient are you with guns?
Some of those questions may help you when picking out a gun. I chose my revolver for a few reasons.
- Safety is not pulling the trigger
- It's a 3.5lb trigger, so a toddler can't pull it. Heck, some girls I know can't pull it!
- It's a point a shoot gun (no cocking)
- The bullet shells stay in the gun
- It carries .357 and .38 special, so I can defend against animals and people
- I got spurless hammer, so when I go to draw my weapon, it does not snag on anything
- It is small enough to conceal, but big enough to not look too weird open carry
- It's a 5 round revolver, so it really doesn't look like I am going to shoot the place up
- It's a revolver, so the business end of it clearly means... business
- If you have a misfire, keep pulling the trigger!
Downsides
- I would love a gun that is larger (I tend to OC more now than I conceal, and I think it's a smidge too tiny for OC)
- I would love a gun with more ammo. The revolver is good for one bad guy (or 5 if I get better)
- The reloading is a killer. I would love to just drop the mag and put a fresh one in (They do have speed reloaders, but I would still enjoy a mag)
- Because of the heavy trigger, the kickback on the gun is freaking insane. This makes aiming and long distance accuracy harder than I want. That being said, if the person is more than 20 ft. from you, you can probably run.
- It's a .357, so it is very loud. I have shot some nice 9mm's that don't blow my ear drums.
- It has a 2 inch barrel, so the long range accuracy is poor
Ultimately, I have shot my revolver quite a few times, so I am pretty familiar with it. Even with it's downs, I feel confident with it as a self-defense weapon. I will, however, likely get a new gun for public open carry and try to keep my revolver as a home defense or a concealed backup. If you let us know what your primary purpose for a gun is, or maybe answer those questions above, we can help you better find a style or brand of weapon that will fit.
Welcome to the intelligent, responsible, protecting world of open carry!
Joe~