Hitting the gym to become a swoletariat, looking to arm myself as well.
I've gone shooting before, and my Dad just bought a couple guns himself because of all the pogroms he's been seeing against Muslims in ingerland.
I'm based in the United States of Amerikkka, mods please let me know if this isn't allowed!
Coming in with a suggestion that I'm surprised isn't more common: get yourself a revolver.
All guns are "in case of emergency" items (if you aren't a hunter or a plinker). So if you want something that you can leave in a safe/nightstand for 5 years, and then feel completely confident it's going to fire if/when you need it, you need a piece with the fewest possible moving/degradable/high-maintenance parts, which is a wheelgun. If you aren't looking to disassemble and maintain it regularly (or go out to a commercial range/shop and pay to have them do it for you every year or more), it's really the only option you can feel confident in 10 years down the line.
It's also a great first because if you do end up collecting more, you'll still always have a near failproof backup.
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I don't know that I agree 100%. Shooting any type of gun ought to be practiced if the idea is to be able to defend yourself in the case you ever have to, and a revolver isn't so much more complicated than a pistol that it's going to take much longer to get used to. What do you see as being the most difficult differences?
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I guess I may be in the minority then, just since they don't seem quite as drastically different to me in terms of feel and difficulty to shoot with decent/moderate accuracy. I'm not shooting for points though, so I'm not too disappointed by an inch left or right at the range, especially when I'm going to be within 20 feet of any target in any likely self-defense situation. And once I learned to avoid muzzle dip (didn't take longer than a day at the range) the double action doesn't seem too troublesome
This isn't really correct. Revolvers have quite a few moving parts and they can absolutely break and their timing can go out or just straight up fail. A striker fired gun that you can tear down yourself and re-assemble is a much simpler and easier to diagnose and fix weapon than any revolver.
Easier to diagnose and fix once you learn everything, but also a lot more that can go wrong/break/jam. I'm just saying that I'd trust a revolver left loaded in a toolbox for 15 years way more than a 10 year old Glock I might see next to it if I needed to grab one and fire.
That's the beauty of the Glock, there's so few parts that there's not much of anything to learn. Revolvers are like lever actions, in that it seems like they'd be simpler and more robust firearms than newer things, but it's really the opposite of the truth and neither are user-serviceable. Getting either to run right may very well require the gunsmith to not just replace parts but custom fit them to make the timing work right.
Revolvers are way more complicated than pistols.
As a plus, you can leave a revolver loaded without issue, whereas magazines need to be stored empty.
Springs don't degrade from being stored compressed, they degrade from being cycled. You can store mags full without worry.
That's (good) news to me; retired cop turned gun store salesman told me to always store them empty. Not saying he knows what he's talking about, because, after all, he was still a pig, and cops are about as bright as a box of rocks.
Yeah you can store mags full without worry, if it makes your brain itch just grab a few replacement springs and toss em in the ammo can with the loaded mags for a just-in-case
Keeping a Colt Single Action Army with a comically long barrel as your everyday carry in your pinstripe dress pants is a life goal of mine.
Or it would be if I was misfortunate enough to be American.