I just went through similar personal angst last year but I did follow the advice of the wizened members of my club and bought a nice old High Standard in 22LR to get my feet wet but my interest was in action shooting and an opportunity at a black badge course came up so I quickly jumped to a 1911 in .45 ACP. I had only been shooting a couple months and only about 4 sessions with the .45 but already my marksmenship was miles ahead of some of the others in my class who had skipped the "beginner" .22LR calibre. I can sell my .22 any time for what I paid for it and its 40 years old, but I still shoot it a lot to work on technique.
I should add, I don't have alot of interest in .22 either, I shoot it because it lets me work on trigger problems.
Guns are cheap, bullets, except for the good ol .22, are expensive! Even reloaded ones!!
Learning how to shoot pistol well is like learning how to shoot Skeet or Trap well, it takes thousands and thousands of rounds. You can always sell a gun you don't like.
Pretty much any factory centre fire load has a strong kick to it and unless you have nerves of steel is quite likely to induce some sort of trigger reflex problem. When these guys are recomending reloading .38sp, they are talking about downloading way down from factory loads to the point where they don't kick a whole lot more than a .22 magnum pistol, which by the way is still a lot more than a .22 rifle.
The best advice I've seen so far was to try before you buy. Most of the folks at the clubs are more than happy to let you fire a few rounds. They will probably all suggest that you start with a used Ruger or High Standard .22LR and work with that for a little while. You will at least get a chance to learn just how much influence push, pull, flinch, wrist break, and poor wrist alignment will have on your shot. Thats much harder to do when you are dealing with a lot of recoil.
The older, well maintained .22LR autos like the Ruger and High Standard just never wear out and are a pretty safe investment, even if you sell it after a month, that few weeks shooting could be a few thousand rounds of cheap .22 vs. a few hundred rounds of expensive centre fire.
You can buy an old High Standard, shoot the heck out of it, and buy a nice S&W Model 19 for about $400 and shoot a few hundred rounds of factory .38, and get more shooting in for less overall cost and be a better shooter than if you tried shooting the thousands of rounds of reloaded .38.
So basically my advice is a to do both! Buy a nice used S&W Model 19 or similar for fun, check out Armco or Elwood, but get a High Standard .22LR for the majority of your practice.
Also, don't forget you have to buy the reloading equipment and learn how to reload...all stuff you will do eventually as you get into the sport but one thing at a time eh!
Martin
I should add, I don't have alot of interest in .22 either, I shoot it because it lets me work on trigger problems.
Guns are cheap, bullets, except for the good ol .22, are expensive! Even reloaded ones!!
Learning how to shoot pistol well is like learning how to shoot Skeet or Trap well, it takes thousands and thousands of rounds. You can always sell a gun you don't like.
Pretty much any factory centre fire load has a strong kick to it and unless you have nerves of steel is quite likely to induce some sort of trigger reflex problem. When these guys are recomending reloading .38sp, they are talking about downloading way down from factory loads to the point where they don't kick a whole lot more than a .22 magnum pistol, which by the way is still a lot more than a .22 rifle.
The best advice I've seen so far was to try before you buy. Most of the folks at the clubs are more than happy to let you fire a few rounds. They will probably all suggest that you start with a used Ruger or High Standard .22LR and work with that for a little while. You will at least get a chance to learn just how much influence push, pull, flinch, wrist break, and poor wrist alignment will have on your shot. Thats much harder to do when you are dealing with a lot of recoil.
The older, well maintained .22LR autos like the Ruger and High Standard just never wear out and are a pretty safe investment, even if you sell it after a month, that few weeks shooting could be a few thousand rounds of cheap .22 vs. a few hundred rounds of expensive centre fire.
You can buy an old High Standard, shoot the heck out of it, and buy a nice S&W Model 19 for about $400 and shoot a few hundred rounds of factory .38, and get more shooting in for less overall cost and be a better shooter than if you tried shooting the thousands of rounds of reloaded .38.
So basically my advice is a to do both! Buy a nice used S&W Model 19 or similar for fun, check out Armco or Elwood, but get a High Standard .22LR for the majority of your practice.
Also, don't forget you have to buy the reloading equipment and learn how to reload...all stuff you will do eventually as you get into the sport but one thing at a time eh!
Martin
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Single shot pistol? That would be sure way to turn somebody off handguns altogether. Fun factor is a big thing for beginner and what you people recommend is single shots and revolvers, loaded light too. Remeber you being beginner? Everyone around you keep shooting SIGs and 1911's and you will be practicing with single shot 22?! No frigging way! Gimme that thing NOW!
Actually I can of like the Scottish duelling pistol idea...that would be a hoot! Fill em up with paint balls or wax....
and be happy
