[casey97]

I am selling my Ruger LCP and all the extras to a friend. I was afraid that I would come into contact with a bad guy with a hard drive in his pocket (see below). I wanted to go from the 9mm short (.380) to an actual 9mm. I have looked at numerous single stack 9's and 40's. I have settled on the Beretta Nano. It will be a couple of weeks until my friend's money is sufficient. This means you guys have about 9 days to tell me all the Nano horror stories, and why ___________ is the better choice for a small single stack 9mm.

This is a picture that shows the .380 round denting the hard drive and my Glock 27 (40) blowing a hole through it. Having a 9 instead of a 380 will hopefully protect me against an IT professional, who happens to turn to Bath Salts, after being fired for hard drive thefts.

 

[casey97]

My 27 is great. Not getting rid of it. However, pocket carry is not at all comfortable with it.

 

[Danzig]

Were you doing your Office Space imitation?

 

[Grabber GT]

Check out Hickok45 on YouTube. He seems to like it. I have an XD subcompact 9mm and like it just as much as my 26. I think they are all excellent choices.

 

[Blackmagic02]

I handled both the Nano and S&W M&P Shield yesterday. Both felt good in the hand however I thought the trigger pull of the Shield was better. Both are advertised at 6.5 lbs. but there is no take up on the Nano. The Shield pull is pretty much identical to it's bigger brothers. Similar to a Glock but a pound heavier. The Shield has an external slide stop where the Nano is internal like a PPK. The Nano is a single stack where the Shield uses a semi-staggered mag. My only point to that being that the Nano mag base plate looks like it is about twice as wide as it needs to be. The Shield has an external safety lever which I will never use where the Nano has no external controls beyond the mag release. Mag release is reversible on the Nano but not on the Shield. Not a bad thing if you are left handed and relatively new to autos. I have been shooting right handed guns for so long that is not a help to me. The Nano is an ounce or 2 lighter and about .5" shorter in overall length. Roughly the same width. The Shield in 9 mm holds 7+1 and comes with an extended mag that holds 8+1. Nano is 6+1. I bought the Shield 40. It holds 6+1 and 7+1. Both about the same price. There is a good article/review on the Nano in the August issue of Guns Magazine and the Shield in the July issue of American Rifleman. The only other thing I noticed is that the Nano's are sitting on the shelf and the Shield's are flying off the shelf. I still haven't seen a 9 mm Shield in person. I saw where 6 of them use to be yesterday but other stores have not seen their first 9 or 40 Shield. My opinion, observations, and some specs.

 

[casey97]

...The only other thing I noticed is that the Nano's are sitting on the shelf and the Shield's are flying off the shelf...

I like the shield as well. I was pricing it and the Nano today in Monroe, Louisiana at two shops and my local Academy Sports. First off my Academy does not even give you a price on what they do not have in stock because they do not "special order" guns. They had 2 Shields in the cabinet and no Nanos. One of my local shops had at least one Shield in the cabinet and no Nanos, and gave me a price, but said their distributor had none in stock. My favorite local shop had two Shields and no Nanos. They also said they were out of stock. I left dejected.

The reason this is my favorite shop is not because they are the cheapest, or even because my friend used to work there. The reason I have bought 5 firearms from them is because of personal service. An hour afterwords they called my cell and said they found only one. They ordered it and will let me be the first to look at it Friday or Saturday when it comes in. Normally if a firearm dealer will not allow a popular firearms to be put on layaway because they fear the sale will be canceled and they will miss out on money. They will allow me to put it back two-weeks until my money comes in from the sale of my other pistol. They held a Ruger 10/22 Takedown the day it came out for me. Other people were marking up the 10/22 TD and selling them to the highest bidder.

 

[Blackmagic02]

I was talking to the GM over at my local range about that a little while ago. Nobody is even looking at his Nanos but the few Shields he's gotten are gone the same day. Neither one of us understand it. We haven't heard anything bad about the Nano.

 

[casey97]

He can ship them to Monroe, Louisiana people here are finding them hard to come by. Still don't know what I want. I am leaning towards the Nano unless it feels crappy to me. The shield or the Kahr CM9 are second runner ups.

 

[casey97]

Put the Nano on layaway. Will pay it out as soon as friend pays for my LCP.

 

[Blackmagic02]

Good deal. Congrats. I'll be interested in hearing what you think once you shoot it.

 

[casey97]

Good news everybody. My friend bought my LCP a little early. Just went and bought my Nano. Even more good news is it fits perfectly in my Galco Tuck-n-Go holster I have for my Glock 27. I just ordered a Desantis Super Fly holster for it. It has been raining a good bit in my area, so I may have to wait to shoot it. I will update everyone on how it performs as soon as I get to shoot it.

 

[Blackmagic02]

Awesome. Always nice bringing a new gun into the fold.

 

[casey97]

Finally got to the range with the Nano. Shoots good and very reliable. Many times I have read about this or that pistol claiming Glock reliability, but to me this comes close. Here is what I shot and the order in which I shot it:

Remington UMC 50/50
Tulammo 50/50
WWB 102/103
Tulammo 50/50

Surprised it shot 100 for 100 with the Tulammo. The Winchester White Box had 103 rounds in it. It shot 102 with no problem. The one failure to eject was during a long series of off hand shooting and could have been a (tired) limp wrist issue or the usual crappy WWB. The Remington was 50 for 50.

Interesting note: when using ammo with a shinny slick finish (non Tulammo) the magazines will hold 7. However, if the slide is closed you can not seat the magazine. If the slide is open you can slap 7 in and have the normal 6 + 1. The result is I could shoot 7 and the slide would lock back, then slap another 7 in. This is pretty much 6 + 1 followed by another 6 + 1. I think this is ok for the range, but I won't do it while carrying, in case I ever had to reload mid-magazine.

 

[Nyckid211]

Good news everybody. My friend bought my LCP a little early. Just went and bought my Nano.

Just curious, how much did you pay for your Nano?

 

[casey97]

My local shop sold it to me with an extra (third) magazine, and a box of Hornady Critical Duty 9mm +P all for $500 out the door.

 

[Blackmagic02]

Sounds like a pretty good price for everything. I've been seeing them for $440 here with no extras or tax. One Dealer has them on sale for $420 right now. I may want to put that on my wish list. WWB not a surprise.

 

[Nyckid211]

Sounds like a pretty good price for everything. I've been seeing them for $440 here with no extras or tax. One Dealer has them on sale for $420 right now. I may want to put that on my wish list. WWB not a surprise.

My local gun store has them for $350, but then again, they are known for NOT trying to make an insane profit like most gun stores. link to the same gun I believe: http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=296127211
Definitely some price searching before I pull the trigger...(no pun intended)

 

[casey97]

Wow, that's a great deal. Other than having to live in Pennsylvania I am very envious. I would have a ton of guns (not that I don't already).

 

[Nyckid211]

His used gun prices are insane too. I'm sure there is someone similar in your area. It was just easy for me to find because I live in PA and there is a website with everything PA gun related I can think of. Good luck with your future searches, and congrats on your nano again!

 

[casey97]

Got my Desantis Superfly holster. It has a large flap Velcroed on the side which keeps it from printing in the back pocket. Don't know who is back pocket carrying this but they must be huge. I am 6'2" and 3X (lost 34 pounds in 5 weeks and still going). When attempting to back pocket carry this setup, it sticks out the top of jeans, shorts, and slacks. However once the flap is removed it is great for front pocket carry. Save some money and just buy a regular front pocket holster and not the Superfly, unless you have giant back pockets and want a dual function holster.