doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Off Topic - Hand Guns in Canada

my first choice would always be a trad. 1911 in 45
If you want something smaller look at a Walther PPK in .380
enough power for your use,
external hammer (don't like the latest craze 'hammerless' autos - dangerous & unintuitive in my opinion)
first shot SA and or DA - then SA
absolute 'safe' safety - blocks the firing pin with a slab of steel!
can be carried ready to go

one of the safest and best made autos I've ever come across!
And small enough to carry inside your belt all day long

But then, you like revolvers -

to get any useful result out of a revolver (especially short barrel, you need a .357 at least, and they make a hell of a racket out of a short barrel. But you know all that...

I remember back in the 70's in Kenya, I dropped a .38 special out of a SW mod. 36 (2") on a standard interior kitchen door - didn't even go through something like 1/2" of wood from about 3 yds away!
Picked the slug out with my fingers....

just my 2c

rgds
Gunter

Thanks Craig, sounds like fun. However highly illegal here to use a hand gun to shoot anything other than paper targets, at a approved range.

No self defense allowed, no hunting allowed. No concealed or open carry allowed.

Gun must be stored, empty, with a trigger lock, in a locked container or locked cabinet or safe and with ammunition stored, locked, in an entirely separate part of the house, so that putting the gun together with the ammo is an inconvenient and slow process. Them's the rules.

Except of course, for those who don't give a damn, cause they are going to break the law anyway. Obviously our Lib govt cant see that.

It's not restricted to storage at your club unless you want it that way King.

Ottawa is not polling to ban hand guns, they are conniving to. All the more reason to kick up a fuss, rather than roll over and take it up the a$$.

2.2 million licensed gun owners in Canada, King. That's a pretty large special interest group if we didn't have FUDDS trying to throw hand gun and black gun enthusiasts under the bus. 30,000 new PAL licensees in Ontario in the last 6 month. Over a third are restricted. At $300 for the PAL and over $400 for the RPAL, I 'd call that healthy.

Don't forget, all those RPAL holders then need to go buy a gun, 2 strong boxes and join a club, which will be a minimum of $500 in Ontario. We are talking well over $1500 at a minimum.

Is interest in gun use and ownership dying? Hell no. Although there is a concerted effort to kill it.

If your local gunshop is dying, I would suggest that has more to do with his retailing skills than anything else. As you know, I'm pretty familiar with retail.....it's tougher and tougher for every kind of mom and pop operation to survive no matter what the product category is.

Ain't that the truth!

Gunter, I know next to nothing about hand guns. But a good friend who knew what I was doing recommended a 1911 45ACP and someone tried to sell me a PPK about 7 years ago. I'd have bought it if I had the license, but I had to pass. I did like the way it felt in my hand. Nice fit.

I think I will probably start with something in .22 that I can pile rounds through at the range, on the cheap, just getting used to shooting a hand gun. But if past history is anything to go on, that won;t be where the gun buying ends. LOL

Ooops, sorry about that. Maybe, some time you can work out the NH thing, and maybe leave a fun gun or two down in the states with a friend. I bet your boy would have a time going after a soup can, and many places have a no season no license policy for varmints and some predators. Nothing wrong with paper punching. I'd say have fun, but can I wish you an appropriate sporting purpose.

Thanks, James. You raise an interesting point. Could the strong interest in shooting that you mentioned in Ontario be caused by the attraction of competitive shooting at ranges (where coincidentally women can do as well as men)?

On the Southern thread, a member noted that there might be 20 young people attending among one thousand participants. That's what I'm seeing here in the Maritimes, fewer hunters every year. Scads of game but few early risers.

The women angle is tantalizing to the imagination. They seem to be taking over the world, men seem same-old and slow by comparison. Maybe their activism will do for shooting what they've accomplished in other fields.

That�s great to hear congratulations

Congrats on getting your license!

If you are limited to target shooting, I think that a single action is a good choice. I own several and use them a lot. If I just want to shoot, I often pick up the Ruger Single 10 and a box of .22 ammo. And I frequently carry a .45 when working around the farm. I am far more likely to shoot a coyote than to need it for self defense, and I think I have a better chance to hit the coyote with it when compared to one of my self defense guns.

I have tried to deer hunt with a Colt SAA .45 with cast bullets. The folks who know say that it will kill a deer just fine, but I have shot at 2 and missed both. I think I have given up on that idea, but I have taken around a dozen deer with a TC Contender. That would be another option for you since you are limited to paper. It's kinda cool to hit a target 200 yards away with a handgun.

I think a single action handgun and a sxs shotgun just go together, so I think it's an appropriate recommendation for this forum.

Good luck in deciding.