5 Awesome “Truck Gun” Pistols
Thing about “truck guns” is that not all of the suggested candidates are easy to hide, nor access in a hurry. Obviously, a car gun can be any firearm that’s concealed in a vehicle in case one or more persons who drive or ride in that vehicle need to access a firearm.
Some people hold that a car gun should be some sort of long gun; a CCW pistol is meant to shoot your way out to the car to get the major firepower in this scenario.
Or, a truck gun can be a larger pistol that holds more rounds/packs more punch than a CCW gun. The benefit here is easier concealment, and with a vehicle-mounted gun holster or car safe or other concealment, an auxiliary handgun is going to be a lot easier to access than a rifle or shotgun that’s hidden under the seats or in the trunk.
Here are 5 fantastic truck gun pistols that are perfectly suited to laying down more fire than a subcompact is able to.
Glock 17
Though a good number of people conceal and carry a Glock 17, it’s a touch too big for most to do so. It’s also an ideal implement of personal defense. The 17 is in almost every gun store nationwide for reasonable rates. Tons of aftermarket support is out there for it. It’s also easy to learn how to use and fast to get into a fight.
It also holds 17+1 rounds of 9mm, and runs +P ammunition easily. It’s everything you need and nothing you don’t, which is why it’s one of the most popular police and military service pistols in the world.
Rather have a bit more punch? Similar service-size Glocks are offered in .45 ACP, .45 GAP, . 40 S&W, .357 Sig and 10mm.
Canik TP9
Take everything that’s great about the Glock 17, add a few more features and ask a few hundred dollars less – and you have the Canik TP9. The TP9 is a poly striker pistol made in Turkey, imported by Century Arms, and it has caused quite a sensation in the past few years for being the best budget shooter available.
It holds 18+1 of 9mm and is starting to become ridiculously available.
Thing about the TP9 is that it’s closer to a clone of the Walther P99 rather than the Glock. It has ergonomics closer to the P99 and also has a similar DA/SA firing system. The TP9 can be decocked via a slide-mounted button for a double-action first shot, though the TP9SA and TP9SF have no double-action mode. In any case, it’s a sub-$400 pistol that holds a lot of bullets and works as well, if not better, than pistols commanding double in sticker.
Any Decent .357 Magnum Revolver
If you want firepower, it’s tough to improve on a .357 Magnum revolver of decent repute, of which there are a number on the market. The .357 Magnum was THE standard for handgun rounds for many years and many consider it still to be.
Magnum revolver rounds fly faster and straighter, and hit harder than autoloading rounds. However, the larger magnums – such as .41 Magnum, .44 Magnum, modern full-power .45 Colt loads, .454 Casull, and .460 and .500 S&W Magnums – are difficult for some shooters to handle and do not lend themselves to easy follow-up shots.
.357 on the other hand, is much easier on most shooters, and you can always download to .38 Special +P or even +P+ without issue, as these loads are “softer” than full-house .357 Magnum loads despite the projectile being the same size.
There are a number of decent .357 Magnum pistols on the market at a variety of price points. Ruger and Smith and Wesson revolvers are among the most highly regarded.
CZ-75 and Clones
The CZ-75 was one of the Wonder Nines of the 70s and 80s and a lot of people would argue it was (and still is) the best. It holds 16+1 rounds of 9mm or 10+1 of .40 S&W, one of the few such pistols to be offered in something other than 9mm. It’s a DA/SA service pistol, available with a manual safety for Condition One carry or storage or the user can manually let down the hammer for a DA first shot. However, it can also be had with a decocker.
The ergonomics are second to none, and with the low bore axis and frame design – the slide rides inside the frame – the CZ-75 points more naturally than almost any other pistol available and recoils far more lightly than similar guns. However, it is a bit rarer to find in stores but is also quite competitively priced.
That said, given that the pistol was designed prior to the fall of the Soviet Union, no patent was ever filed for it – and a number of companies produce clones or derivative designs of the ’75. Many such clones, such as the IWI Jericho/Magnum Research Baby Eagle, Tanfoglio Witness, Canik S-120 and SAR B6 to name a few, are hailed for all the same qualities, though many are available at an even more reasonable price point.
Beretta 92
The Beretta 92 is another icon of the Wonder Nine era, and is the current standard issue sidearm for many police departments and militaries (including ours…until the Sig P320 replaces it) so it’s got the pedigree. It holds 15+1 of 9mm and uses a Walther-derived double-action system, with a slide-mounted decocking safety allowing the user to decock for carry or storage. Whether the safety is left on or off is up to the user.
The 92 is a classic but it is an enormous pistol. The grip is as big around as a tree. The pistol itself is the size of a battleship. It weighs as much as some semi-trucks. However, it also is very ergonomic to shoot with the fat grip and the big steel frame soaks up recoil like a sponge, so shooting is soft.
That said, there are a few clones on the market (the Taurus PT92, for instance, is actually made using machines and tooling Beretta left in Brazilian factory that Taurus bought) but also a good number of surplus pistols that have been retired from police and military service but are otherwise in good order. In any case, the 92 would be an excellent truck gun should you have to deploy one.
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