appears there is going to be a nuclear war...so what handgun for the apocalypse?

[Coal Dragger]

While I still maintain that the Beretta 93R in a SERPA is the ultimate apocalypse blaster, because it's a silly gun for a silly concept; if I am forced to take this seriously:

1.) Mild short term apocalypse: Any quality 9X19mm full size or compact service pistol that you know runs well and and that you can shoot. I'm not super picky and I'm able to do well with most action types. I guess if push came to shove it would be a Glock 19 or clone thereof. Maybe a Shadow Systems gun because I like the sights on those out of the box. That said any Beretta 92, Beretta PX4, Sig P series gun, P320, HK anything, S&W M&P, CZ, whatever that I have more than 2-3 magazines for would work. The chances of shooting any of them to the point they break with quality ammo is minuscule, and their job is to get me out of trouble not go looking for it. This scenario is assuming that existing ammo and components will still be out there and not significantly degraded in quality or reliability.

2.) Long term bad apocalypse: Years down the road I have somehow survived the post nuclear hell-scape and need to continue dominating others as a powerful warlord. Ammo is now scarce, and exposure to the elements has made some of it unreliable, components to make ammo are also scarce and of questionable quality. With the right tools ammo can be broken down and loaded into other calibers of similar projectile diameter, but probably won't maintain the pressure curve needed to run a semi-auto. So I will need a blaster that can better tolerate lower quality ammo that is easier to perform immediate action on. So I choose a double action revolver, probably a Ruger GP100 or Super GP100 because they're virtually indestructible and being revolvers will run just about anything shoved in the cylinder as long as the bullet exits the barrel. Plus they'll look cool with my black leather armor with studs and spikes and shit all over it as I drive around in my monster truck terrorizing my enemies and striking adoration in my slaves.... er I mean people. Yeah OK, I still don't take this one seriously.

[The Dumb Gun Collector]

While I still maintain that the Beretta 93R in a SERPA is the ultimate apocalypse blaster, because it's a silly gun for a silly concept; if I am forced to take this seriously:

1.) Mild short term apocalypse: Any quality 9X19mm full size or compact service pistol that you know runs well and and that you can shoot. I'm not super picky and I'm able to do well with most action types. I guess if push came to shove it would be a Glock 19 or clone thereof. Maybe a Shadow Systems gun because I like the sights on those out of the box. That said any Beretta 92, Beretta PX4, Sig P series gun, P320, HK anything, S&W M&P, CZ, whatever that I have more than 2-3 magazines for would work. The chances of shooting any of them to the point they break with quality ammo is minuscule, and their job is to get me out of trouble not go looking for it. This scenario is assuming that existing ammo and components will still be out there and not significantly degraded in quality or reliability.

2.) Long term bad apocalypse: Years down the road I have somehow survived the post nuclear hell-scape and need to continue dominating others as a powerful warlord. Ammo is now scarce, and exposure to the elements has made some of it unreliable, components to make ammo are also scarce and of questionable quality. With the right tools ammo can be broken down and loaded into other calibers of similar projectile diameter, but probably won't maintain the pressure curve needed to run a semi-auto. So I will need a blaster that can better tolerate lower quality ammo that is easier to perform immediate action on. So I choose a double action revolver, probably a Ruger GP100 or Super GP100 because they're virtually indestructible and being revolvers will run just about anything shoved in the cylinder as long as the bullet exits the barrel. Plus they'll look cool with my black leather armor with studs and spikes and shit all over it as I drive around in my monster truck terrorizing my enemies and striking adoration in my slaves.... er I mean people. Yeah OK, I still don't take this one seriously.

Actually not a bad idea. You can reload spent .38 shells with tire weights, match heads and any other reasonable powder.

[falnovice]

I agree with some of the posters above that it would depend entirely on what sort of scenario you have. I think the bog standard answer is probably going to be Glocks in 9 millimeter. I personally would probably lean towards something a bit smaller because in almost any scenario that I would actually consider to be world-ending I don't intend to limit myself to a pistol unless I absolutely have to. Thus I'd want something a bit easier to conceal as I see the pistol use would be in one of the few occasions I'd be limited to a pistol alone. In that case, it's probably gonna be my M&P shield and kick my own *** for not picking up the new one.
Pretty much any of the combat Tupperware would be fine for this and is likely to last longer than your ammo supply.

In a mid to longer-term scenario, you would have to plan on cartridges becoming difficult to source. If you're dealing with home reloaded under less-than-ideal conditions, maybe with black powder, then I think you're dealing with large revolvers probably in something like 44 magnum so you have enough case capacity to do something. I like 357 but I wonder how much black powder can you get in one of those cases with a seated bullet? 20 grains? I would be inclined for a Ruger or maybe The Dirty Harry classic Smith and Wesson as the mid to long term sidearm. I don’t doubt the Rugers may technically be tougher, but I doubt with black powder loads you'd ever wear out the Smith and Wesson

For long-term to forever scenarios, as in this is the way life is going forward and I better plan for my grandchildren, I better know how to knap flint and make black powder; You might be back to flintlocks of some variation within a decade. Could be valuable to put some energy towards knowing what sort of breech-loading mechanism would work best for flintlocks with powder and ball or perhaps, if you are lucky, paper cartridges. Without the fully functional power of the industrial revolution we can't make modern cartridges, primers, or percussion caps even. I know people have all sorts of home recipes for primers or percussion caps, and using match heads and soda cans and so forth, but you're going to run out of matches pretty quickly…..and they may be more valuable as matches in these scenarios. Not to mention there simply isn't that many matches kicking around anymore, at least I always have to hunt for them when I want them. Hell, I bet you run out of matches before we run out of ammo conventional commercially loaded ammunition.

So, the extreme forever and ever Amen term, better figure out some good flintlock technology.
Or put away 100k rounds for your descendants. Hmmm, half a million primers might not be a bad idea too.

[Rmorris]

Glock 23 kit w 9mm conversion barrel and .22 upper.
Can use 17,19,22,23 magazines and either 9 or 40 ammo.
Most easily supportable.

[TriggerFish]

The top one is/was Rick's favorite