I am biased. With that out of the way, look at Glock first. I have owned Sigs, Glocks, HKs, Colts, A S&W M&P, beretta 92 and kel-tec and a few revolvers... And come back to the Glock every time. Glocks are simple and reliable. They are very cost effective and do not have "active safeties" that you must train around. Same pull every time, abundant, cost effective mags and accessories like bolsters and such. They are light weight and more accurate than 90% of the people who own them.

Personally, I am a fan of either the 9mm or the .45. One of my Sigs was in .40 but Neither myself nor my wife cared for snap of the recoil, but YMMV. Look hard at the Glock 19 in 9mm or the Glock 30 in .45. Most any range will have those guns for you to rent and really that is some of the best money you can spend before you buy. Any gun. Oh yeah, I'll also second the idea of a dedicated .22, especially the browning buckmark <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

GLOCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 40S&W gives more rounds than a 45acp and more power than 9mm. Sigs are nice but pricey. sound like the XD is nice but I have never used one. Also the Glocks sub compact you can use the compact and full frame mags for more ammo. and the compact can take the full frame size mags.
the glock 40S&W can be had in 22, 17, 15, 13, and I think 9 round mags.

"I haven't fired a pistol since I was about 12."

44Fred nailed it. One of the worst things you can do when shooting is to get bad habits. Start off with the .22 (I also prefer the Buckmark), get comfortable, get confident, get good habits, and shoot, shoot, shoot. When you compare the cost of shooting 500 rounds of .22 ammo to 500 rounds of .9mm/40/.357 you'll see a huge price differential too.

Then move up to the firearm of choice.

Even today, after shooting hundreds of thousands of rounds in the last 40+ years, I like to fire a few hundred rounds of .22 to get into the grove before loading up the Taurus .357 revolver or the Glock 17.

When I was shooting competively in the Army, we must have dry fired at least a thousand times for every live round sent down range. But dryfiring is boring, boring, boring and most people (without a coach/pro) are very poor at identifying what they may be doing wrong. But using a .22 in place of dry firing gives you a visual representation of problems with mechanics, if you know what to look for. If you don't, hire a pro. HIRE A PRO!

One way to look at it is you'll spend several hundreds of dollars on a firearm, and hundreds more on ammo, so why balk on another couple hundred for a good coach/pro?

Here is a link to several "Shooting mistake correction" charts. Hopefully they will be of some help to you.

http://www.google.com/search?q=shooting+...366&bih=644

Here is a much better one for a right handed shooter

http://is-lan.com/challenge/images/Pistol-Correction.pdf

And here is another (better)depiction PLUS additional explanations.

http://www.bullseyepistol.com/training.htm

Can folks here speak a bit more to this? I've been poking around and finding some folks are shooting lead, some with no problem, some gleaning the barrel well after, other folks saying buy an aftermaket barrel etc....

Is there a simple clean answer to this? Thanks Dogs! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

The rifling glock uses should not be used with lead
Bullets. The rifling is called polygonal rifling and is for jacketed ammo
Only.

I say get a glock 19 for yourself. I say get a 9mm it is a cheep ammo and still a good nock down round. I would say for you wife a single stack Kahr. I would say stay away from 1911 they are a pain to strip and clean.

40s&w is my favorite pistol cal. Its got plenty of power lots of rounds in the mag. 40cal glocks are carried buy more law enforcement agencies than any other gun for a reason.

Another consideration is to get a pellet pistol. They are inexpensive and cost next to nothing to feed. I enjoy using it in my garage to practice a bit when I can't get to the range. It would work well in a backyard too. I have several and enjoy starting new or nonshooters out with them. A cheap reddot sight can help a bit also. My favorite is a blowback sig x5. It has the same mechanics as my main pistol.

22lr conversion are nice for practice as all the controls are in the exact location as the full caliber versions. 1911s, Beretta 92s, cz75, sig classic line, and glock can all be used with one. S& W has a 22lr version of the m&p line.

For the main pistol just about any manufacturer will sell a good pistol. I suggest figuring out what features you want and what you don't want before diving in to the 100s out there. If you need an external manual safety, glock and xd are out. If you like metal frames the list narrows.

And 9mm is carried by NYPD and LAPD after each did extensive testing. Modern JHP ammunition in either caliber is very capable for self-defense.

You can't go wrong with a Spingfield. I have an XD and an XDM im 9mm. They are not too expensive and very accurate right out of the box. Also, Springfield customer support is second to none. Hope it helps.