9mm noob

[novice]

it can't be news to experienced shooters but the 9mm is a lot easier to handle than a big boomin'.45. Did about twice as well hitting the ten-ring the first time out. Figuring on stepping up to a .45. What i'd like to do eventually is leave a big ragged hole where the ten ring was. Any thoughts on the basics for new shooters will be much appreciated.

[Cheeseybacon]

Practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice...

Might not be the answer you're looking for, but as far as I can tell, it's the only true way to get good. Also, I have also found that 100 rounds everyday for 1 week is better than 500 rounds in one Saturday afternoon.

[Skuggi]

I'd suggest looking into at least TonyF's one day handgun clinic. It may sound pretty basic, but it helped me nail down some issues I was having and improved my shot immensely. To boot it's only 45 bucks! Oh, and also what he said PRACTICE

[32 Magnum]

As Cheesybacon emphatically states, practice is the essence of developing ability.
However, if you are truly a newbee and haven't yet acquired and developed the basic skills, all the practice in the world will not make you better, it will only re-inforce inadequate skill sets. You need to find someone who is well experienced in pistol/handgun shooting who CAN demonstrate their ability, and then have them train you in proper hold, sighting, breath control, trigger control and SAFETY skills, so that your practice sessions reinforce proper skills. Then your practice will make you an accurate shooter. I've seen quite a few people, in my 48+ years of shooting, that pick-up a gun and start shooting and can't understand why they aren't getting any better, then lose interest and give it up out of frustration. The vast majority of those folks have never mastered the basics and therefore have never developed SKILL. Get some basic training, practice and soon enough you will be shooting accurately and precisely - and that one ragged hole will become reality - not a far off dream.

[PisnNapalm]

Take a handgun course. Better to learn the right way now than to have to break bad habit later.

[mrwildroot]

+1 on all the above advice.
While you are waiting to take a basic course, I would suggest you learn the following:

The Four Rules

1. All guns are always loaded.

2. Never point the gun at anything you are not willing to destroy.

3. Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on target (and you have made the decision to shoot).

4. Be sure of your target and what is beyond it.

Safety, training and practice will insure a fun, positive experience for you!
Good luck!!!
mrwildroot

[Xringshooter]

For someone that knows the basics (sight picture, trigger pull, hand placement, SAFETY PRACTICES, as noted above, how the shots on target will tell you what you may be doing wrong, etc.) then practice is what's needed. To reiterate, 100 rounds a day is more beneficial that many rounds once a week. If you can't get out to shoot everyday just practice consistantly (once a week, twice a week, 2times per month, but do it regularly). If you have a gun that you can dry fire (or get snap caps to protect the firing pin), do that everyday. That will help you in keeping a good sight picture. For the pure novice take a beginners class and get an experienced shooter to watch and coach you. By standing to the side and slightly behind you they can see things that you are not aware of and can correct you on the spot so that you can build muscle memory and see in the future what you are doing wrong by examining the target.

After a while (lots of practice and good coaching) you will know when you did something wrong as soon as you pull the trigger (that's why at times you will hear someone tell their shooting companions that they pushed, pulled, incorrect sight alignment, etc, even before looking at the target and can tell where the shot went (low left, high right, way down, etc.).

There is no magic way to get better other than to have sound basics and lots of practice.

By the way, if you're going to Scotia to shoot, post a thread in the Centre county section and it's a better than good possibility that other SC area members will show up also.

[novice]

Thanks everybody. oh and PRACTICE lol

[ssom003]

Lots of ammo...
On sale at BassPro $13.49 per 100

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/st...=013&storeID=3

[RandomTask]

One nice thing about 9mm is it's a helluva lot cheaper to shoot than .45, which means more practice per buck!