Hey Casual User: You will get many answers from many posters on semis vs revolvers, new/stale ammo, and spring life on mags. Having said that I get first digs on an answer. Very casual and not much practice? A revolver is a lot simpler to appreciate and use with hardly any problems or complications. Just go to a gun shop and watch the counterguy go thru the operations of both kinds of guns and you will immediately appreciate what I mean. I watched as he racked the slide on a semi and took it apart with all its little pieces and then basically did nothing with the revolver. Regardless of what anyone says about a "shootout" and a semi with a 12 shot mag is more than a 5 shot revolver, statistics do not bear out more than 3 shots in a confrontation (there is always a what if). Having said the above, IMO a revolver makes more sense. In either case, semi or revolver, caliber is important--the bigger the bang, the more difficult to fire accurately due to recoil. Read up on many internet sites--if it is your house gun, it should be at least a 38 for a revolver and a 9mm for a semi--again from what articles say, that is about the minimum for effective protection. People will disagree but you must decide. Another interesting example of a house gun would be something like the recent Taurus Judge, which is a big gun chambered with 45 AND 410 shotgun shells. You now sort of combine a revolver with a shotgun. Ammo does not go stale and loaded mags do not have a spring problem (springs tend to fail when being used a lot as they are continually compressed and decompressed). If you are considering concealed carry, things change--smaller, lighter guns mean smaller caliber and if you are a "casual user" this sounds more like your cup of tea than say a big gun strapped to your waist. You've got to do your homework--listen to the comments you get, prowl the internet, go to a good gun shop and try various types and calibers of weapons etc etc--it is daunting but interesting. I started out knowing nothing and not even ever having handled a gun and FYI, Inow have a 38 revolver and a 12g shotgun in my home, a very smalll light 380 semi for concealed carry (only wanted something in my pocket with no weight or size) and a 22 for target shooting and "honing" my shooting. I shoot them all on some sort of regular basis but I consider myself very much a casual user like yourself. Good luck