I appreciate your informed suggestion.
And, please advise if you know of a range in Austin, Texas that offers a similar “sampler pack.”
John
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4 inch or the standard 3.3? I’m in the Shield 45 buying mood. Summertime carry is just around the corner.
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Here’s my load out. Flashlight is in my jacket pocket.
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UGH! This is not always a good fit for women. I had one woman all but demand it this weekend and she’d never fired a handgun before. She rented that and two other handguns… she didn’t like the snub nose.
The range where I work offers a second, third, forth… however many they can rotate through in an hour… for an addition $5 per handgun. So I could check out 5 guns in 60 minutes for $35 plus ammo. I think it’s a pretty smart way to do it.
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We start out new shooters with a .22 and slowly work their way up. The most popular so far has been the Walther PPS (m2) and the Smith & Wesson Shield EZ. Alot of people like the EZ for obvious reasons.
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I always start students off with 9mm because the recoil is manageable with proper technique. I just don’t pick a .22 because I wouldn’t recommend that round for self defense, but all my students have been doing great with 9mm and I show them a variety of handguns so they can pick which feels best in their hands, and a lot of women love the Glock 48
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We don’t classify or tout the .22 as a self defense round. We use it to teach fundamentals and build confidence. Once a person is on target, it’s quite easy to transition to other calibers.
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A 38 special was my first personal gun but i carried in the military, so no problem. I do wonder why anyone would push the 38 when the 380 is smaller easier to fire and easier to conceal?
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A .38 snub takes effort to master, and new shooters are always well served by successful range trips so I agree that a .38 snub isn’t a desirable first gun.
However I think an accurate .22 lr target pistol, or SA revolver, is.
In an ideal world, this makes a lot of sense however these aren’t appropriate for CCW and marginal for HD, which is what most new shooters are interested in and are willing to invest their time and treasure.
That’s unfortunate.
I’d want a new shooter to invest in learning basic marksmanship then apply what can be applied to defensive shooting with better suited defensive handguns.
This takes an investment in time(usually not a lot of time—a lot can be accomplished in 1 or 2 range days with a .22 ) just as maintaining proficiency with any firearm requires an investment in time.
Maybe it’s not worth it to buy a .22 pistol when you can rent one—that makes sense—however a .22 in anyone’s quiver can be mighty worthwhile given the past history of ammo shortages and then there’s ammo licensing regulations in some states (like CA.)
A couple or three brick of .22lr is cheap, takes up little space and will allow you some range “trigger” time, preserving your center fire ammo inventory should, or when, the stuff next disappears from dealer’s shelves, gets Walmart-ed or is subjected to a hefty “sin” tax.
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@John292–right on.
I think a .22 pistol was the second or third pistol I bought. I don’t use it much, but I do use it regularly when taking out a newbie.
I have found that the 1911 conversion kit I bought for my Kimber is really handy, especially given the ability to use the same trigger/safety/grip/sights with a less expensive caliber.
That said–honestly, I don’t use it much; but at the end of the day, it’s the only caliber I can’t reload, and it’s inherent value (from the perspective of reliance on others for it) says I should own one.
Couple that with it’s utility in starting out a new shooter the right way–it’s a no brainer for me.
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I bought my first gun three years ago, at 70. I spent a lot of time researching magazine articles and online videos and concluded that a snub nose 38 was just small enough to conceal easily, just powerful enough to stop a threat, and a reliable aim-and-shoot weapon, with no need to fiddle with safeties, de-cockers, or to worry about how old the ammo is, how much pocket lint is in the mechanism, or how easily it can be drawn out without snagging on anything. The DAO revolver can be loaded and placed in a bedside drawer, then ten years later, perform flawlessly in an emergency situation. But there are some things to consider.
Cunningham (author of at least two revolver books that I know of) says, a snub nose revolver is easy to shoot but difficult to shoot well. He also distinguishes between accurate shooting: a tight group in the ten ring, and effective shooting: all rounds in the center-of-mass region. While I am quite a ways from a tight group, I believe I am an effective shooter at seven yards.
My Ruger SP101 is chambered in 357 Magnum, and it’s built like a tank, as they say in the reviews. There is hardly any recoil from a .38 Special round, even a +P. I shoot ordinary 38s for practice and keep it ready for emergencies loaded with Speer Gold Dot 38 +P hollow point rounds. An SP101 DAO revolver can be easily concealed (Galco “concealable” OWB holster) and I am confidant that it will be ready if and when I need it.
The comments above about how a 22 semi-auto ought to be the first gun a newbie shoots are valid. I have no argument with that idea. I just want anyone who may be sorry, after reading all these posts, that they bought that 357 zombie buster. My neighbor hated going to the range because those 357 rounds hurt her hand. Nobody told her that 38s will work just fine, and that a +P round has plenty of threat stopping power. She had already sold it by the time I heard her complaints, probably at a big loss.
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IMO…
I was terrible with revolvers when I first started shooting. It wasn’t until many years later that I found out that the trigger technique I was using passed with single action and striker autoloaders, but didn’t work well with the long, heavy trigger, and long reset on revolvers. It wasn’t until many years later that I learned flaws in my DA and gripping technique. Adding in the significantly smaller handles, reduced sight radius, and light weights on many of today’s snub noses, and you have many obstacles for a newer shooter.
I will add, that the first snub nose I ever fired was a heavier steel frame 5 shot with 38spl wadcutters and old style thicker grips. I didn’t find it bad with that combination… trigger technique aside. I think learning to use an 11+lbs trigger on my revolver has helped me with my striker fired trigger technique, as well as with my DA/SA performance.
One more anecdote… I had a very capable and independent lady friend many years ago. She wanted to go with me to the shooting range, but had never shot before. She was very interested in the Beretta 92. I was going to start her off with a 22lr to get the basics down and then move to the Beretta once she was comfortable (same range session). When we got to the range, the woman behind the rental counter convinced her to start with the 45, and suggested that I shouldn’t consult her on what caliber to shoot… so she did. She lost interest in shooting thereafter.
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Sad, but happens a fair bit. If someone gets scared by recoil/ blast they’re not likely to keep shooting. Even if they do, a painfully recoiling handguns is a great way to teach someone HOW to flinch, making it very difficult for them to ever learn to shoot well. That’s my primary gripe with folks handing a first time shooter an airweight snub:smirk:. ( wanna learn to shoot? Here, try my 329…
). You get the idea. A .22 you can hit with will beat anything you cant:+1:
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Revolvers hurt my hands. Something about the shape of the grip makes them hit me wrong when I shoot them. Not sure what I’m doing wrong.
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Right on. And shot placement preempts stopping power every time.
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Maybe you’re not doing anything wrong at all - maybe you just need to change the grips!
Think about getting smooth vs. checkered wood, G10 vs. rubber(ish), with vs. without finger grooves, or fully wrap around vs. just the panels. I remember my neighbor complaining about how checkered wood made her hands hurt after about 50 rounds. I never had that problem, but maybe you do. Next time you are at your local gun store and they aren’t very busy, mention the problem and see if they can let you try holding a couple of alternatives to whatever grips you have now - not actually switch out what you’ve got, but pick up and hold a gun similar to yours that has different grips.
People who are good shooters actually enjoy going to the range, and vice versa. It would be too bad if you to drop the sport because you didn’t try this simple solution.
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Some revolver grips are different by nature. Smiths, Colts, RedHawks, and some Taurus have a “backstrap.” GP100’s, SP101s, LCR’S and Super RedHawks have a peg, that the grips slides over. May just need a different style of revolver.
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What model and caliber are you shooting when this happens?
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To tell you the truth, I don’t know. I shot a J frame modified to accept 45 acp for the revolver part of my ccw qualification. My hand never hurt that much after any other gun.
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That explains that. JFrames are good guns for concealing, and come in some serious calibers, but, a small gun in a big caliber is a handful.
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