Oh, definitely don't try to drop in a stock Glock 9mm barrel into a .40 gun! Buy a CONVERSION barrel designed for the .40 slide, but with a feed ramp and chamber for 9mm! A bonus feature on most of these conversion barrels is that you can now shoot lead bullets (the unique rifling on stock glock barrels can lead up and cause problems wwhen shooting lead bullets)! Might invest in the proper extractor, though I hear the .40 extractor works well with 9mm conversions.

A couple years ago I was being silly and slapped her left butt cheek at the mall a little too hard. In her rage, she turned on me, shoved me in the chest, and sent me through the air a few feet backwards. Fortunately, I stayed vertical, so I didn't go sprawling. Needless to say I don't pop her butt in public anymore <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

From a survival perspective, I much prefer to avoid putting myself in a situation where carrying a firearm is preferable. So far I've done pretty well at that, Baghdad not withstanding.

Just my opinion, but I think you should go to a range and rent a few different guns. 9 or 40 may not be what works best for you. You may also find a different manufacturer that feels better to you. I have Glocks, 9s, 40s, a .357Sig, and a 10. I like them all, but I CCW a Springfield Armory XD-45. The grip angle is a lot different than the Glocks. Grip angle is something that can be easily compensated for at the range, but if your life depends on it, I'd rather have something that is more instinctive. The 45 is pretty new to the XD line, but the can be had in 9, 40, or 357 sig as well.
Please note: I am not employed by Springfield Armory, this reply is not an advertisement for any product they make (or import). It is merely what works for me.
In trying as many guns as you can, you may find what works for you may be something completely different, a revolver perhaps.
In all, try as many as you can, buy quality, get instruction, and practice, practice , practice. Don't forget ear and eye protection!
Good luck with whatever you choose.

You clock in at 200lb?!!
I bet you have fun at the games...
I am not a sexist individual and I have been out climbed/skiied/run/swim/shot(bullseye) (I lay waste to all (so far) on my road and mtn bike) by females. I am not a bumbly at any of these. I really didn't have a problem with it. I was beat by them fairly, they were hard women... They schooled me just like the guy they schooled yeterday.... I have never had to go up against a woman in a combative sport like football. If I got my ass handed to me by a girl... Two things would happen... I would seriously take a look at my labs/diet/training plan... Hehe.. I would also try and get a date... If I ever had to up and get beat down again, I could say "Aw man, I gotta let her win or I'll really get it later"... And not have to feel so bad... Man I wouldn't know what to say otherwise...
Hard to beat that kind of genetics...

On carry... I would love to never carry for defensive purposes, unfortunatley down in southern NM where I currently reside it is better to have than not... When I lived in Santa Fe and also Taos, I never carried. It's funny but I actually feel the safest when unarmed, way up in the backcountry taking runs down the hills with a buch of friends.. I carry an Avvy beacon instead... <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Hey cowboy If you were in Bahgdad... Thanks Man.

Actually, I am pushing 260 lbs. The girl ain't no petite thing either, but she's not what I'd call butch. She's got beautiful long black horses mane hair (did I mention she's half cherokee?), curves in all the right places, and wears D cups. She's got lots of muscle, but she's properly proportioned. I like going to the gym with her because she works out with the same weights I do. What I don't like is all those young males pausing in their workout routines to watch her. Of course SHE likes it when they watch her. Thank God I am as big as I am. I can still whoop her butt wrestling her on the floor, though it is quite the workout.

I've watched her send boys running off the field crying from the beatings she gave them on the line. I've seen girls upended on the court trying to get through her after she'd planted and was standing there like a big brick wall. I had to intervene on behalf of the idiot boy who insulted her one day and caused her to slap his cheek. Spit and lips were everywhere. He's lucky he kept all his teeth. Obviously she was holding back. Surprisingly, her teammates seldom asked her out, although her sophomore year she went with the star halfback of the team to the homecoming dance. I think that was the first time an offensive lineman was invited to the dance by a back. Now that she's in colege, she keeps bringing home these big brutes that I have to feed. I always make sure that her visits coincide with my gun cleaning sessions.

As for carry, I guess for folks like us, having a pistol at times when it may not be imminently warranted is a lot like carrying a flashlight around in your pocket during the daytime. I used to think being up in the woods way out yonder was insular from the predations of man. Alas, one day I found myself heading to the hilltop of a remote radio site to do some work, only to be confronted by a group of young men carrying beer and firearms with them, and no means of egress except through their group. I got lucky, but it could've just as easily been my bleached bones on the hillside to this day. Fortunately, they'd rolled their rig off the side of the road, and I was able to pull it back up for them and send them on their way.

I will never feel safe unarmed. Just different experiences have conditioned me to different perspectives I guess.

Baghdad can make you feel mighty small.

Rules for dating Ben's daughter:

Don't make her cry, or her father won't show you any mercy. He'll just hand you right back to her. :P

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention she can bust twigs at 50 feet with an Iron sighted 22 lr daisy rifle.

BTW, her career choice is to become a US Marshall. Should be an effective intimidator when she puts her foot to someone's front door and it comes off it's hinges like Herman Munster was beating on it. She's got two years left in college, but the feds and the local LEs are already recruiting her.

I can imagine her dealing with some drunk injun on a res who's giving her a hard time. She'll pick that son of a buck up by his britches and make him kiss the steel bars of his prison cell. She's got these long, beautiful fingernails that are as tough as bear claws. Once a defensive lineman who was getting frustrated with her successful blocking thought to grope her on the line. After a couple times of this, she decided that when he brought his hands up under her chest pad, she would plant those claws in the backs of his upper arms (that tender spot between your funny bone and your armpit). He left the field bleeding a little and that was the end of the groping. Good thing, too, cuz when I found out about it I was fixing to wait out at the locker room door to discuss the situation, but figured she'd already dealt with the incident sufficiently.

I think I still got her beat though. Out at the firing line, she still flinches a little when she pulls the trigger on my super redhawk.

A good measure of a man is how he raises his children. Sounds like you measure up just fine.

And I always enjoy a good story about a woman who can take care of herself, especially when it involves an inappropriate male in pain!

Agreed!

it's amazing to me how often this debate comes up. and of course, there are those who say the 9mm is horrible, and if you don't have a .45, you might as well be throwing rocks at an attacker. some rely on the numbers approach -- amount of penetration, energy, velocity, etc.

the funniest part to me is, this has all been discussed at length over at tacticalforums ... here's a link to the topic i'm referring to: Service Pistol Calibers. please, before you make a boisterous comment to the effect of a .45 knocking a man off his feet while a 9mm is akin to barely stabbing him with some tweezers, read the posts there <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />