2026 SHOT Show, Second Day:
Vicki and I were participants in several interviews today, but I did get to several more booths.
Of interest:
At the Daniel Defense booth, I examined their H9 Pistol (as I did last year). The H9 did not receive a great deal of emphasis at the DD booth this year. The H9 is the size of the G17, but all steel, so it is heavy, and at $1k/copy, on the pricy side.
The Turkish-made Girsan MC9 Pistol, at $450.00/copy, is yet another Glock-like carry pistol. I haven’t seen any in courses, but the copies I examined are very well done.
The Turkish-made Canik Pistol (the one you want is the METE MC SL) we have seen in Courses, and they enjoy my recommendation. All have run fine. For a $500.00 carry-pistol, they’re hard to beat!
Diamondback’s 6-shot, 38Spl snubby revolver, the SDA-A (internal hammer, trigger-cocking only), which I shot during Range Day on Monday is very satisfactory as a carry-gun and carries a pricetag of $600.00. In my Quip of 19 Jan 26, I incorrectly reported a price of $1.6k
Charter Arms makes a similar snubby, albeit a five-shot, called the “Off Duty,” that retails for $400.00/copy
Ruger’s RXM, a G19 look-alike, retails for $400.00, considerably less than a genuine G19. Looks well put-together and very functional to me!
Yesterday, I talked about “premium” pistols. Today, I stopped-by the Les Baer booth and looked at their 1911 pistols in 45ACP and 10mm. They are truly wonderful, and range in price from $4k to $5k!
You can equip yourself with a perfectly satisfactory defensive pistol (revolver or Glock-pattern autoloader) for $400.00-$800.00. You can surely spend more, much more, but when I’m asked by students for advice with regard to “what pistol should I buy?” my first response is always:
What is it for?
Do you want it in order to impress your friends, or impress your enemies?
When the reply is the later, then my suggestion to my student is that he spend $400.00-$800.00 on a good, plain-vanilla service pistol (and there are many excellent choices, some of which I’m mentioned in this and the last two Quips), and then spend all the money saved as a result of not buying a “premium” pistol on ammunition and competent training, maybe optics!
More tomorrow!
/John
