LuckyGunner Lounge has a new writer: Melody Lauer, who comes with an full set of credentials as an NRA handgun instructor and rangemaster. Her first article is well worth reading, documenting her abortive first handgun purchase – a Kimber Ultra Carry:

The day I turned 21 was one of the most memorable days of my life. Not only for the legal drinks at the local Applebee’s, but for the hour-long trek to a not-so-local gun store to make the most exciting, and ultimately worst, purchase of my life—a Kimber Stainless Ultra Carry chambered in .40S&W.

I took a lot of pride in choosing my first handgun. I believed I’d done my research.

Being new to firearms, I made a list of requirements and handed them to my husband. He came up with several guns that would meet these requirements and off we went, stumbling through a, sadly, anticlimactic purchase.

 

I had never been so excited as when I walked into that gun store, or so worried as when the owner implied that I was making a straw purchase for my husband. I was never so insulted as when he tried to talk me out of my beautiful Kimber and into a snub-nose revolver, or so stoic as when I demanded my 1911, or so annoyed at his lack of enthusiasm that this was my first handgun purchase.  I was never so confused as to why I couldn’t hit the target, or so infuriated that the gun wouldn’t fire three rounds without it jamming, or so exasperated as seeing the amount of money I spent on gunsmiths trying to get it to run. Finally; I was never so relieved as when a coworker bought it off of me for a fraction of what I dumped into it.

I shed actual tears over that gun, but learned some valuable lessons along the way.

Many years of concealed carry, a few dozen training classes, eight years as a firearms instructor, and two jobs behind gun counters have come and gone since that Kimber. I worked my way through a myriad of autos and revolvers, in all manner of calibers, carried in a number of different holsters.  Along the way, I’ve learned a few things about buying a gun.

I substantially agree with the ten lessons she relays, which are as follows:

LESSON 1 – DEFENSIVE CALIBERS DON’T HAVE TO START WITH “4”

LESSON 2 – CAPACITY IS COOL

LESSON 3 – SAFETIES ARE IRRELEVANT IF YOU ARE NOT SAFE

LESSON 4 – IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE MADE OF METAL

LESSON 5 – REPUTATIONS CAN CHANGE

LESSON 6 – FIND REPUTABLE SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LESSON 7 – GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE MAKES LOYAL CUSTOMERS

LESSON 8 – IF IT DOESN’T FIT, IT FRUSTRATES

LESSON 9 – LOOKS DON’T MATTER (BUT THEY KIND OF DO)

LESSON 10 – NOTHING IS MORE FUN THAN A GUN THAT RUNS

She closes the article with a question for her readers, which could make for engaging conversation:

Have you ever bought a gun and wish you hadn’t? What other lessons have you learned that hard way that other shooters might be able to learn from? Let us know in the comments below.