my_favorite_handgun smurfus rex Out of three possible finalists, I choose the Springfield XD40. It's made by Springfield Armory, a venerable name in the handgun industry. It has a polymer frame like a Glock, a trigger safety like a Glock, an ergonomic grip like a Walther P99, a grip safety like a 1911, a decocker like a Sig, an ambidextrous magazine release like an H&K, and it has front and rear slide grooves like a Sig. I pick the .40 cal because it's midgrade...not as small as 9mm, but stops almost as well as .45. The XD line now has a subcompact model, which makes a perfect complement as a backup weapon. The XDs are put through the same torture tests as Glocks and have held up just as well. Call it the New Gun on the Block, call it a Glock knock-off, but it's still the one I want on my side. Which would you pick? 031210 ... smurfus rex not that it matters to anyone but me, but I have to make the following corrections: The XD does not have a grip like a Walther P99. It's more like the Glock, but without the new finger grooves and the angle is a little different. The XD does not have a decocker like a Sig. It does have a pin that indicates when the firing pin is engaged, but it doesn't have a decocker after all. ... I was given an XD40 for Christmas and I got to examine the gun firsthand instead of relying on secondhand information from other sources. In spite of the above corrections, it's still my favorite handgun. Okay, it's my ONLY handgun. But that doesn't change my opinion. 031226 ... minnesota_chris I have a habit of shooting my finger gun at people when I cut in front of them on the freeway. Pwing! Years ago I would shout various Mexican bandito phrases. A girlfriend at the time bought me a squirt gun for such emergencies. However, it turned me into a badass, I spent all my time posing with it, with the "SHAFT" themesong in my head. So I'm back to the finger gun now. 031227 ... Puffycloud At the moment, from what I've read, the new Glock sounds very promising. The one with the new 45 GAP round. Although till I own one or shoot one I remain loyal to the 1911. 031228 ... unhinged is the one that you keep next to your bed and when the thought crosses your mind i just thought you should know that all of us too think you'd be better off dead just like your designer jeans and fashionable weekend warrior drug habits your gun was just another desparate attempt for cool not even realizing that all your 'friends' around you were really snickering as the watched you fall grow out your hair dye jobs in emo black we all hate you now since you stepped on the glam track yeah, i remember when it all meant something to you before you were doing lines in the bathroom and shooting guns for the power of it but that was a long time ago there isn't a dream anymore cause you shot it dead with your pretty black 22 that was once aimed straight at my head empty for the power of it i remember when i would have laid my life down at your feet but not at the end of your barrel my favorite handgun the one that finally shot that old horse dead 031228 ... x was confiscated as evidence so was my_favorite_shotgun 031228 ... u24 beretta 92, purely on looks, I've never fired a handgun, mainly because they're illegal here in england's green and pleasant land. 031229 ... karl the weed see, goddammit, THATS what they need to do. its outlaw guns. here in america. yes, i know, its a constitutional right. well FUCK IT. we dont need guns you idiots! guns are for KILLING! oh, whats that you say, you dont kill with oyur guns? what then? oh you DEFEND with them, is that it? gotta have guns to defend your family. well what would you do in this act of defence? SHOOT SOMEONE! WITH A DEADLY WEAPON! and KILL THEM!!! now WHO would there be to shoot if NOONE HAD GUNS? NOBODY! but then you wouldnt be able to go to sleep at night with the comforting knowledge that you can reach up and to teh left, take aim, and BLOW THAT BURGLARS BRAINS OUT!! BAM!!! (that is, in the unlikely event that anyone will be in your house at night but you and your family) so thats the key, youve got to outlaw guns. for everyone. of course, law enforcement and such can have them, because then anyone who managed to get ahold of a gun couldnt be stopped, but no one else. no permits or anything. no gun shops. this is good in two ways. no guns means few gun deaths. now obviously, criminals and people will get them, but thats the second thing, if there are no exceptions to the no guns to the public rule, its easy: who do you go after? the guy whos shooting people! no guns to public=less people with guns means that its easier to catch criminals who are using guns, because noone has them! also, if there are no guns then theres really little reason to shoot someone. im sorta starting to repeat myself. oh well. the point: OUTLAW GUNS TO THE PUBLIC AND SAVE LIVES! FUCK THE CONSTITUTION! ITS OVER 200 YEARS OLD!!! its not the first thing we've changed from it. of course, no ones going to change it, because this is AMERICA! the land where we have the freedom to shoot whoever the hell we want! we go to prison, but hell, we did it! i mean, there was nothing PREVENTING US!!! 031229 ... birdmad ummm, "fuck the constitution?" i think not, karl. even if the 2nd amendment is either flawed or abused, the consitution and the other components thereof are all that keep us from lapsing all the way into an outright fascist state or reverting to the type of monarchy where the royal figure is more than just a figurehead though i hate to sound like one of those wingnut types who was responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing, they are right about one thing... if we are not careful, there could come a time when, as was the case with the Revolution/War of Independence, we need our guns to defend us not from foreign enemies or street criminals, but from our own government Jefferson and Thomas Paine debated the need to include it, Paine's argument was that it was plain and obvious sense that Americans already had the rights listed in the Bill, Jefferson's argument for including the first ten Amendments, was not that we needed to beg our government for this right or that right, but that the time might come when the government needed reminding of where it's boundaries lay or where its rights ended in relation to governance of the population It may be 212 years old, but i'll take the risk of being done in by a fellow citizen over the risk of being made to kneel like a slave to a government that forgets its role as "Servant" and decides to play its hand at being "Master" Oh, and i agree with u24 about the Beretta. It fires beautifully as i remember, but for pure stopping power and intimidation value, i am quite fond of the Colt .45 ACP, even though the recoil is a bit of a minus 031229 ... karl the weed yeah thats a good point, but i still stand by my original statement. i dont think thats gonna happen in the near future. and when it does, i'll get you people to lend me a gun because theres no way in hell the governments gonna outlaw guns. 031229 ... User24 I think 'it' is happening already, the danger, imho, is that as the world gets more globally orientated, and commercially led, not only do we not have a single country's government to worry about, but also multiple entities, publically and privately owned, within, and crossing between, our own countries. Also (thisisjustarant now) it seems the American government (I don't actually know about the UK's) is becoming more and more part of several international corporations, which means it's becoming harder to fight against corporations through traditional, legal, methods (such as law suits) as the companies have vested interests in the government, and vice versa. As Malcolm X said (paraphrasing terribly, but you'll get the gist), you don't ask a criminal to serve justice to himself, but you take the criminal to court, in the same manner, you don't ask a government to judge itself, but must take the government to a world court. Unfortunately, I doubt the resources of the only world court I know of; the UN(and I'm not really 'up' and this so there may be another world court; Europe may take a leading role, but it too has fingers in dubious pies.) yah! 031231 ... u24 ---and this = on this--- 031231 ... karl the weed "i got a gun the other day from sako, its cute, its small, fits right in my pocket" "sugar" by system of a down 040101 ... blayde squirts water at unaware citizens 040101 ... lux i've got an itchy trigger finger 090612 ... unhinged funny, i was just talking about him earlier this week when the subject of modest_mouse came up 090612 what's it to you? who go blather from