Bought some punches in steel and brass and a tiny hammer, because that's something I usually need. Looked at plenty of kewl and attractive guns (and lots of junque) but none of it stood out while also being a) reasonably-priced and b) a shooter rather than a display piece. Bought 500 rounds of .22.
This may sound like a lot, but in fact, it's about one-and-a-quarter practice sessions for me, and that's if I'm being lazy. I can shoot a .22 pistol pretty well, for an old lady who wears bifocals, and a lot of the reason why can be found in that statement. If you think 50 rounds is a lot, you're not shooting enough. If your targets still look like Swiss cheese, you need to slow down, line up the sights and keep your eyes open while squeezing the trigger slowly -- you can squint the eye that's not looking over the sights if you like. Do so, and a hole will appear in the target at your point of aim. Or it should. If you keep doing that consistently and the target still looks like Picasso's pegboard, take a class. Take a class on shooting, not on "Armed Urban Survival Tactics,"* because unless you can run that thing in your hand, and run it safely and well, you've got no business playing at ninja. (Later, you may find you haven't much reason to; read some of Tam's reports on her more-advanced classes and see the skill sets they're building -- and the basic ones they're built on.) Take several. Do what the instructor tells you -- and you'll find your shooting will improve. You'll also start to look on 500 rounds of .22 as "inadequate for three days of practice."
Thus endeth today's lecture.
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* As a general rule, the more lurid the title of the class, especially if it is entry-level, the less likely it is to be of any use and the more likely it is to be taught by some wannabe who has never seen that particular elephant. Learn the mechanics instead; learn not to go stupid places with stupid people and you'll do all right.
Update
4 days ago
5 comments:
I'm curious, how much was the brick of 22 if you don't mind me asking. At the last gun show here it was going from 40 to 60 dollars. I guess the days of the 19.95 bricks are long gone.
A good way to learn to actually hit something is to take up BullsEye competition shooting. That's IF you can find a club or league at a public range. Unfortunately, B.E. isn't nearly as popular as it used to be, but the emphasis is definitely on HITTING. The bullseye on a 50' target is about 3" in diameter, and you should be able to keep most of your shots within that circle. If you're buying targets, that's the B2 (slow fire) or B3 (timed & rapid fire) numbers.
If you later take up the action pistol sports such as IDPA or IPSC, you'll be that much better shooter. Ruger has a target pistol for under $500.00 MSRP, see: http://www.ruger.com/products/markIIITarget/models.html You'll also need an electronic dot sight, cost should be under $50.00.
Robert, it was $45, standard velocity. The bucket-of-bullets with (IIRC) 1500 rounds could be found as low as $120 but I'm told our corner gun shop has them for even less. Also, it was more weight than I wanted to carry any distance.
$45 for 500 rounds of standard velocity, but what what brand?
Also, I took an "Urban Defensive Tactics" class at the Friendly Local Gunstore & Range, and it was pretty good, especially the way they kept saying "You'll want to think twice or thrice before doing this..." Since I'd already taken two classes from them, and Mrs. Drang had taken one, I was fairly confident that it was not going to involve any attempts to make me think I was now qualified to grow a beard and go be an operator operating operationally under operational conditions. YMMV.
(But generally I'd concur, and especially be leery of any facility suggesting that such a class is an entry-level thing.)
CCI.
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