Recommend a pistol for my first RDS

[PatrioticDisorder]

Lol. You're not wrong.

Nothing wrong with a gen5 glock for $400 less.

So if you read the OP’s post, he wants a gun that is functional with and without red dot installed and is skiddish of the crappy MOS option (with good reason). If you take a OEM Gen 5, get the slide milled, get a plate cover for the mill work (my assumption here is he won’t be running the gun without a plate cover when the red dot is uninstalled), add useable sights you are now over $400 plus the cost of the gun and you are still stuck with 1980 ergonomics & mediocre trigger, you also don’t have the option of running suppressed or running a comp without purchasing a threaded barrel. Your resale value of the Shadow Systems will also likely be higher since nobody ever gets close to what they spent selling s a Glock they customized.

[gsd2053]

Team, I think an RDS equipped handgun is missing from my collection. Right now I don’t have an optic ready gun, and I figure I might as well just buy a dedicated platform rather than get an existing slide milled. Probably going to start with a Holosun optic. Other than wanting 9mm, I’m not too picky about platform, but figure a full size gun is the way to go. I had looked at CZs, since I like the CZ-75 and it’s derivatives, but it seems like there is some complexity in figuring out a mount, even for the optic ready models. I have also heard the Glock MOS guns have drawbacks vice just getting a regular Glock slide milled. I don’t mind having to send a slide for milling, but I do want a gun that is functional without a dot installed.

Primary purpose will be range work as I evaluate if I want to transition to RDS on my carry guns, with the high likelihood it will get used in formal training, so I do need something that will work with a duty holster.

"Other than wanting 9mm, I’m not too picky about platform, but figure a full size gun is the way to go."

9mm PARA is meant to be a compact round. So I say P365xl. Because 9mm doesn't need to be any bigger.

The closest I come to liking a 9mm was the P228. Even then I was like. This is too bulky for a compact little round like 9mm.

Don't even get me started on how I felt about the 92FS. I LOVED the gun but they really should have trimmed some of the fat and then chambered it in 10mm. That thing would have been perfect.

But seriously.

[TBAR_94]

9mm PARA is meant to be a compact round. So I say P365xl. Because 9mm doesn't need to be any bigger.

:

Ha, that's certainly one way to look at it. I don't like reloading, so tend to learn toward bigger guns--back in the dark ages I used to CCW a 4 inch N frame, though, so my perspective might be a little out of whack. I get a kick out of carrying my M9 with 18 round mags, because my Dad carried Smith and Wesson M15 in Vietnam with 18 rounds total. I'm also a P228 fan--I think it's interesting that the Air Force is now exclusively issuing the M18, compared to the last few decades when they had M9s and M11s in inventory to satisfy the "duty" and "concealable" roles. I do hear good things about the P365s, though, eventually I'm sure I'll have one in the collection.

[gsd2053]

"I don't like reloading, so tend to learn toward bigger guns"

I hear you. I want as many as I can reasonably get on tap. All the more reason to try a P365XL. Factory Flush 12 rounds add a mag guts kit and your at 14 rounds in that same 12 round mag.

They also have a 15 round factory mag. I think mag guts is planning a plus 2 for it as well.

It is so slim and comfortable to carry. I almost dont want to carry anything else.

Once you shoot one you'll be hooked. Especially with a HOLOSUN 507K x2

[jsbhike]

If you have a Glock get a Leupold Delta micro, I love it. As a matter of fact between this red dot and my ammo project, has shown me how great the Glock after market parts world is.

That has to be the best get your feet wet option at the very least.

[TBAR_94]

Long overdue update to this, I ended up a with a Gen 5 G19 with an RMR. I'm probably 2 range trips away from making it my carry gun. Accuracy with the dot is great--as a pistol shooter my biggest weakness is "acceptable sight picture," with irons I sometimes rush the shot before I'm properly aligned and throw a shot--the dot makes it easy to know when to break the shot. The downside is I'm still slower with the dot--I know that's just a matter of practice with grip and presentation. The upside is my first round accuracy is way better.

[Coal Dragger]

You want to get an optic-capable version of a gun you currently most familiar with. Running the dot largely relies on kinesthetic index so if your current gun points differently from what you're going to run with the dot, you're not setting yourself up for success. There will be enough early challenge learning the dot, you don't want to add another challenge of learning a new gun simultaneously.

Plate vs direct mill is a long-standing debate that lacks systematic analysis. My personal experience is that it doesn't matter much. Some people believe that plates offer some advantages, others don't. Plate vs milling shouldn't be a fixation point, at least early on.

This.

[MegademiC]

So if you read the OP’s post, he wants a gun that is functional with and without red dot installed and is skiddish of the crappy MOS option (with good reason). If you take a OEM Gen 5, get the slide milled, get a plate cover for the mill work (my assumption here is he won’t be running the gun without a plate cover when the red dot is uninstalled), add useable sights you are now over $400 plus the cost of the gun and you are still stuck with 1980 ergonomics & mediocre trigger, you also don’t have the option of running suppressed or running a comp without purchasing a threaded barrel. Your resale value of the Shadow Systems will also likely be higher since nobody ever gets close to what they spent selling s a Glock they customized.

Aftermarket plates address MOS
Direct milling is an option
Both allow functionality without optic or plate (he said functional, not asthetic)
Aftermarket irons are not necessary
Suprrssor or comp were not listed as a factor

Gen 5 with aftermarket plate is like $600 (last I checked) with high resale if he doesnt like it.
Direct milling is like $650.

Shadow systems is $900. Im sure SS is great, just offereing a functional cheaper way for OP if he wants it.

[Stopsign32v]

Find which ever pistol you can point with your eyes closed, open them, and have the sights mainly lined up and not pointing down or up.

Otherwise you will get aggravated constantly searching for the red dot.

[Ron3]

I just started carrying my Beretta 92X RDO Centurion with a 507c IWB appendix.

Um, it's big. This isn't going to conceal with just a t-shirt.