Very new to pistols

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jon1985

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I am taking my RPAL course at the end of november and have started looking at pistols. When I stated looking for NR rifles when I first got my PAL the resounding suggestion was buy a quality .22 to learn the fundamentals. Does this stand true with pistols aswell?

Im not sure where my end goal is yet, IDPA, IPSC, or just recreational target shooting, but it all has to start with a purchase of some sort.

Thanks
 
I personally recommend a 9mm to start, get used to recoil, and ammo is cheaper than most

If you get into competition, you will most like want to reload also
 
From what I can tell, yes 9mm is the minimum to compete. But a .22 is way cheaper to shoot in the mean time. We all know you never stop at just one toy.....

9mm is where I would like to end up as I also have a jrc in 9mm
 
jon1985 said:
I am taking my RPAL course at the end of november and have started looking at pistols. When I stated looking for NR rifles when I first got my PAL the resounding suggestion was buy a quality .22 to learn the fundamentals. Does this stand true with pistols aswell?

Im not sure where my end goal is yet, IDPA, IPSC, or just recreational target shooting, but it all has to start with a purchase of some sort.

Thanks
Click to expand...

If you want to learn to shoot well and develop good habits starting with rimfire is an excellent idea. You will learn without any recoil related issues and the lack of recoil will expose any bad habits you may develop along the way. The low(ish) cost of .22LR is also conducive to lots of practising, which is what you need to develop skill.


Mark
 
Borrow the .22 to start your training if you can. Then own a 9mm, .45 in semi auto and a .38/.357 for a revolver.
The .22 is definitely cheaper to run and practice on but gets boring to shoot after a while. The 9mm is my minimum to avoid boredom.
.44 mag and .460/.500 are for really experienced shooters who have a good grasp of fundamentals and can hit what they are aiming at.
It ain't fun to spend a lot of coin on a gun and ammo and hit nothing!
 
I have only been shooting for a year now, everyone told me the same and still do tell me to buy a .22
I didn't listen my first gun I bought was a Glock 17 9mm pistol, one years later I own 5 Glock pistols (4-9mm and 1-.45) And 4 rifles (2-.223 1-7.62x39 and 1-.45)

I totally get the fact that .22 is cheap and easy to shoot, but it just does nothing for me personally besides the rapid fire with large capacity magazines. Id rather struggle with a larger caliber personally, but I dont think 9mm is that big anyways, so I dont see anyone having a problem starting with a 9mm like I did....I think you will end up shooting it longer, because as I move up into rifles and larger calibers I still find myself shooting just as much 9mm as when I started. And I think there is more to learn with a 9mm compared to a .22

So yeah being in your position a year ago, Id suggest a 9mm to start. If you can afford the ammo, if you cant afford 9mm Id just stop right now because that is the cheapest ammo I shoot lol
 
+1. I went a bit further with my first gun as I know I am in this for the long run. so, I started with MP40 range kit which is great value with the extra mags and accessories, with the 9mm conversion barrel in mind. Now a year passed since the purchase, I am happy with my decision. upgraded mp40 with apex flat faced trigger, with 2 barrels(9 & 40), it's cheap way to play with 2 different calibers. If you are not sure, go get the 9mm range kit which is the same great value with relatively cheap ammo cost. You can thank me later for saving you from hurting the thumb with the quick loader that comes with the kit. :)

And while it bears the truth that the light recoil on .22 helps with the initial training, it's not necessarily a big problem to everyone. In my case, the trigger control is much bigger factor. when I did my club probation shoot, I failed with P320 9mm, but passed with Glock 21 45ACP simply because that P320 was brand new with stiff trigger vs G21 was with a well used smooth trigger. So, as long as you can hold the gun tight, recoil should not a big fact for beginner to learn because you will shoot one at a time anyway. Only when you start to shoot double-tap or multiple follow-up shots, the recoil does matter.

JohnnyP636 said:
I have only been shooting for a year now, everyone told me the same and still do tell me to buy a .22
I didn't listen my first gun I bought was a Glock 17 9mm pistol, one years later I own 5 Glock pistols (4-9mm and 1-.45) And 4 rifles (2-.223 1-7.62x39 and 1-.45)

I totally get the fact that .22 is cheap and easy to shoot, but it just does nothing for me personally besides the rapid fire with large capacity magazines. Id rather struggle with a larger caliber personally, but I dont think 9mm is that big anyways, so I dont see anyone having a problem starting with a 9mm like I did....I think you will end up shooting it longer, because as I move up into rifles and larger calibers I still find myself shooting just as much 9mm as when I started. And I think there is more to learn with a 9mm compared to a .22

So yeah being in your position a year ago, Id suggest a 9mm to start. If you can afford the ammo, if you cant afford 9mm Id just stop right now because that is the cheapest ammo I shoot lol
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Get a good 9mm and get some experienced shooters to give you some tips. 9mm isn't hard to get used to as far as recoil and I think it's a great caliber to start working on trigger control and the fundamentals. . I bought a 22 first but don't think it helped me much with the center fire calibers. The shooting experience is too different. I hardly ever shoot my 22 now. Too boring. Join a club and try as many pistols as you can. Then buy a CZ75 ;)
 
I know the standard answer is always go with the 22. Personally I am not convinced. While it does teach you good trigger control and basics it also lets you get away with sloppy grip of the gun. Firm grip is a very fundamental part of any centre fire handgun. No significant recoil means you can hold a gun weakly and get away with it. You will have trouble even with a 9mm if you don't grip it properly. The heavier the calibre the worse the problem gets. I believe that a 9mm is a good training gun. Less adjustment for heavier calibres. At the prices of 22 these days 7-10c a round and 9mm 25 -30c if bought in bulk the 9mm is a reasonable option. The satisfaction with 22 is all in doing tight groups. Not something you will typically be able to do as a beginner. No nice thump from a 22. I have a couple of 22's which I use regularly but nowhere near as often as my centre fire guns.
 
Being back asswards, I started with a .44 magnum (RIP) and then bought a 9mm. I'll probably pick up a .22 pistol of some type someday (election gods willing) just 'cause.
Starting over, I'd probably go with a 9mm first. American Eagle, CCI Blazer and factory reloads are only 2 or 3 times more expensive than good .22LR but several times more fun.
.22 rifles have their place to be sure but for pistols because the difference in cost of guns between the two calibres is minimal while the necessary hoops to be jumped are the same, why bother.
My 2 centavos.
 
Get a shadow and the Kadet conversion. Shoot the living daylights out of the Kadet and when you are ready to go to the 9mm top end, you have a nicely smoothed out trigger and a gun you are comfortable with and the transition to centerfires will be easier.
Just an option.
 
Do you want to lean to shoot or learn to shoot well? Get a .22 and and learn to shoot well. Some very basic coaching will go a long way too. When I did small arms training in the Air Force, there were countless times I wish I had even a cheap .22 to work with. Even experienced shooters could benefit.
 
I shoot 9mm, 357 mag and have used several other calibers trough the years. Still .22lr is never boring to me. If you want to do precision target, it is a very good caliber. If you want to get more into action shooting (ipsc etc.) , then don't bother with the .22

Gilbert
 
trebor2880 said:
A .22 may be boring after shooting a 9mm. But a 9mm is boring after shooting a 45ACP. See where I'm going with this?
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I see where you are going, but no matter how much I love .45 at roughly .65 per round it will never replace 9mm at roughly 35 per round

When I win the lottery I will only shoot .45 and bigger, untill then 9mm is still really fun. I am actually in the process of ordering a 9mm AR15 setup. So its not boring yet
 
A lot of folks find that they develop a nasty flinch. And it's hard to beat that when shooting a snappy and fairly hard recoil kicking round. And apparently 9mm qualifies for that. A nice .22 is a great gun to work out the flinch issues and learn to focus on the basics.

And all the big boom lovers aside a lot of us actually enjoy some good target shooting or plinking away at a little flip and and hold Caldwell rimfire target with a rimfire pistol. So it's not automatic that you'll soon be bored with rimfire guns.

I'd base it on how you found you enjoyed or didn't enjoy rimfire rifles. If you shoot your rimfire rifles a lot then you'll almost certainly "get it" and enjoy a rimfire handgun or two. If you quickly got away from the rimfire rifle then you won't like a rimfire handgun any more that you did the rifles.
 
okay well a few have waded in with some great ideas .. I have another take on this. How about a nice revolver in .357, you can shoot 38 special rounds all day long, if you want a little more oomph you can shoot .357. you can handload them for cheap. If you can master the double action trigger you can pretty much shoot anything after that. My service pistol was a SIG because I had tons of time on a revolver I can pretty much shoot any double action pistol better than most guys can shoot single action.

As far as I am concerned the biggest mistake new pistol/revolver shooters make is trying to shoot at too far distances. Lots of great rifle shooters move to handguns only to get discouraged because they are not as good and the targets look like shotgun patterns. Don't be embarassed to shoot at 3 or 5 yards. Once you can put a mag in one hole move the targets back to 10 yards and so on. With such short sight radius on handguns any mistake made with sight alignment or trigger control is amplified the farther back your target is. When I taught I used to give a demo with a laser pointer. Place a laser on the front desk mark the wall place a post it note under the laser and the laser point at 2 yards was 1- 1 1/2" higher move the laser to the back of the class so say 10 yards and the same experiment showed a change of at least 6 inches. So the width of a piece of paper in sight alignment make a big difference.
 
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