I think the NFA has a category for >.50 caliber weapons that’s seperate from destructive devices, although I’m not positive.
Yeah, maybe the long barrel is 90% of my problem, jams, twists and all. But it has caused me enough frustration that an ordinary gun is what I’m looking for. I haven’t seen 22/45’s here, only MkII’s. Although I am thinking of getting a CZ .22 (! Imagine that!), but for some reason they are just as expensive as the competition. Thanks for the tip.
Back to the OP-
Here is a North American Arms .380 that a friend got and likes. He got the clip grip extensions too for his larger hand, but you might not need that. These people also sell an ultra-concealable line of revolvers (even in the new .17HMR) that I want to get one day. 5-shot single action revolvers that you can have with you anywhere. As posted earlier, I’d rather have a .22mag than nothing at all. My brother has had one for 10+ years now and loves it. It even fits into the small key-pocket in Levi’s! And yes, it has saved him from being mugged twice in Miami. Even though it is small, people recognize what it is when it is a foot from their nose. I’ve shot it twice and found it very accurate at 25 ft.
But for a larger ccw, I am thinking about something like this hammerless S&W .357.
-Tcat
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- You can still buy 10-gauge ammo “pre-loaded” in the US. It’s used for goose guns, if I remember right–long-barreled bolt-action shotguns, usually a 3-shot magazine. Maybe not exactly “off the shelf”, but it is still sold… 8 gauge, I dunno. I have never seen any new in regular gunshops.
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- You can still buy 10-gauge ammo “pre-loaded” in the US. It’s used for goose guns, if I remember right–long-barreled bolt-action shotguns, usually a 3-shot magazine. Maybe not exactly “off the shelf”, but it is still sold… 8 gauge, I dunno. I have never seen any new in regular gunshops.
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Oh, it’s off the shelf all right. The 10-gauge got a big boost a few years ago when shooters were forced to switch to steel shot in a lot of places, since you need bigger shot sizes in steel to get equivalent effectiveness to lead. I see 10-gauge shells for sale in Wal-Mart all the time now.
Dang, I guess I mis-stated myself again. I should have said, “the largest modern centerfire rifle cartridge chambering”. Again, I apologize for the confusion I may have caused.
GusNSpot: You raise a good point about the older, heavy-caliber “elephant guns.” I’m not sure where we stand on those. Perhaps they are in the category of “curio and relics”? I am sure one of the more knowledgeable members can help us out on this one.
Anthracite, thank you so much. I’ve bookmarked this thread, and am definitely going to follow your advice.
radar ralf, oops. Guess I should read a little more closely next time. 
As a female who disliked–nay, hated–guns for a long time, I can honestly say that I love to shoot now. I have several, both handguns and long guns but as Echo23tc said earlier, I truly adore my Browning Hi-power 9mm. It’s fun to shoot, it’s accurate, it’s reliable and when echo loads my shells, he gives most of them lighter loads so the infrequent times that I get to go shooting, my hand doesn’t hurt.
Take it slow with the girlfriend. I liken target shooting to flyfishing–it’s such intense concentration that when I’m done, I feel very relaxed. As I say to the folks at work after a day of target shooting, “I had a blast”. Pun intended!
And I should also mention (since the OP specifically mentioned a smaller caliber due to recoil) that my 9mm really doesn’t recoil much at all. I was shooting last weekend and in comparing a Ruger .45, a Blackhawk .45 and my hi-power, the hi-power was more like shooting a .22. It’s awesome!
Because of this and several other threads here in SDMB-land, I have decided to start a thread in MPSIMS about info that shooters/reloaders might be interested in having. Please join me there to share any interesting info you have.
Seems like we are about the only SIG fans…like I said in the original OP, I don’t own any, but my dad does. I asked him and he said he has no Beretta auto’s any more. But he has a few SIG’s now. He mainly collects pre-WWI autos, and shoots mostly revolvers (15K rounds/yr) but he has several current autos for his ccw stuff. ANd SIG is his current favorite. And he has the Kel-Tek .32 and thinks it’s a great little gun, bought the Kel-Tek 9mm and didn’t like it (it might have been a .380, a lot larger frame than the .32 whatever it was…it was sold.)