Another Range Trip

[tlcwrites]

Back from another range trip with my friends, and I just had to share my experience. This is only my fourth trip, I think, but I'm trying to shoot as much as I can - and as many different guns as I can - so that when I buy my first gun I'll know what I like and what works well for me.

Today, the weather was clear and a bit hot at the outdoor range. Two of my friends each brought .38 revolvers, and my other friend brought two new guns I'd never handled before: A Ruger Blackhawk single action revolver in (I think) .45 Long Colt, and a 9mm Beretta. I got to put almost two boxes of ammo through the Beretta, and fired a few shots from the Blackhawk (which kicked all over the place). But today was mainly about the Beretta for me, and since I'm shooting my first IDPA match next month, I decided to try some new skills, so I shot one magazine each strong-hand-only and weak-hand-only.

The good: Once I got the hang of the Beretta, it shot amazingly well despite feeling a bit big in my hand. We started at 25 yards, where I managed to hit almost nothing, then moved to 10 yards or so. At 10 yards, almost all my shots hit the target (a cardboard 18x30 IDPA target) and I got more and more accurate as we went on. The group clustered around and to the right of the red dot was my final string:



The not-so-good: Weak-hand-only shooting is HARD! I shot one full magazine that way, and missed with about half my shots at 10 yards. Even on the shots I hit, I did not feel that I had good control over the Beretta that way.

The other not-so-good: I don't know if this is typical of Berettas, but the spent shell casings we're ALL OVER the place. I got one on my arm, three in my hair, and one right down the front of my T-shirt. (!) To my credit, I think. I managed to calmly safe the gun, pull out my shirt, and shake the casing onto the ground without either doing anything dangerous or embarrassing myself too much. And I wasn't even wearing a low-cut top or anything. Oh well.

Still and all, a good day for me - and I do feel like my shooting is improving. I'm hoping to shoot one IDPA match and do one range trip per month, starting next month, but we'll see how that goes. Oh, and if anyone has tips for controlling the gun better one-handed, I'd love to hear them.

Tammy

[Atekhed]

Yes the Beretta is big gripped pistol so you might look for something else when you choose your own gun. Also the DA/SA trigger transition requires in general, more practice than say with a SA pistol like a 1911 or striker fired gun like a Glock or M&P for example.

Shooting one handed, strong or weak, is basically just going to require more practice to get better. If you are able to, practice dry firing at home. This will help build your trigger control and grip familiarity. You can pretty much practice most aspects of shooting (grip, trigger control, stance, load/unload for example) with dry fire practice.

You might look at to getting some handgun fundamentals training to make sure you are working on proper techniques and not building bad habits later.

Good luck and most of have fun!

[tlcwrites]

Yes the Beretta is big gripped pistol so you might look for something else when you choose your own gun.

Yup, for sure. Based on my experiences to date, I'm leaning toward a Glock 23 or an M&P 40c...but I have a list of other guns to rent/borrow/try before I make my decision, since I have some time.

Also the DA/SA trigger transition requires in general, more practice than say with a SA pistol like a 1911 or striker fired gun like a Glock or M&P for example.

This wasn't so much of an issue for me on the range because I was loading a magazine and racking the slide before shooting, so that first shot was still SA for me. If Santa Barbara County ever gets its head out of its you-know-where about CCW permits, I doubt I'd carry a Beretta for exactly this reason.

Hoping to get some training in addition to what I'm learning on my own, but it's a challenge right now to do that...if you haven't seen my other posts, I have an anti-gun spouse who hasn't (yet) said "it's me or a gun" but who's trying to achieve the same result by starving my shooting of money. That situation is going to resolve itself, one way or another, in the next year or so, though.

[raddogz]

The Beretta 92FS/M9 are nice guns. It was a little too big for my hands the first time I handled it. Compared to my CZ 75 it's now a light-weight

Not bad shot at 10 yards. The Glocks are nice-sized pistols for sure and they fit my hand pretty good, the recoil/snapiness is a little disconcerting coming from an all metal gun.

The Beretta PX4 Storms fit nicely as well so that may be something you can take a look at as well.

[movie zombie]

i bought a used .45acp Colt Mark IV Series 80 from another calgunner a few years ago. it fits my hand, is metal, and doesn't kill my hand with recoil. i find that "fit" and "metal" are the magic words for me.

i fired some other .45acp's that were not metal and they killed my hand. i too did not appreciate the casing landing in my hair. the kahr was the worst for me.