Learn to shoot a handgun

[lal]

I was told by a friend who has lots of experience that learning to shoot a handgun is easier when a starting with a .22 . I have also been told that if you're going to carry, to learn with your carry weapon. I can see both sides of the argument, and am just wondering what the thoughts are of others on this site, any comments ?

[PisnNapalm]

Learn the basics and good technique with a .22 and then move onto your carry weapon. Just my 2 cents.

[rwilson452]

Concur, If you were to take the NRA Basic Pistol course or equivalent you would understand the answer.

Learn the basics and good technique with a .22 and then move onto your carry weapon. Just my 2 cents.

[PisnNapalm]

I made the mistake of buying and shooting a .45 before I was ready. I developed a bad flinch that was tough to get rid of.

[TaePo]

Just to add...

A flinch response (a singularity) causes about a dozen other things to be out of whack BTW!

Not necessarily all occur but one could develop several bad habits from it!

Flinching from the thread responses is acceptable, however!

[awkx]

Going with a .22 makes sense to reduce recoil during training, but avoid
the lighter (less massive) .22 guns. By conservation of momentum,*

mass_bullet * speed_bullet = mass_gun * speed_gun

so to reduce the speed at which the gun recoils back at you, you can go
for a bullet with less mass and/or go for a gun with more mass.

*(Of course, this is a simplistic analysis; it doesn't account for the ejected gases, etc.)

[TRB]

We use our centerfire handguns to confirm what we learn from .22 practice.

We use our .22 handguns to confirm what we learn from dry fire practice.

We dry fire as much as possible.


Dry fire practice is the most economical of the three.

[Brown-Bear]

Makes sense to me. Having less recoil will encourage more practice, will increase accuracy ina new shooter will increase confidence when moving to a larger caliber. IMHO that is anyway.

BB

[BerksCountyDave]

Any time I'm at the range and not getting the groups I'd like with my .45, I pull out the .22 and work on basics and reinforce them. Then I go back to the .45 and everything is good again.

[PisnNapalm]

Any time I'm at the range and not getting the groups I'd like with my .45, I pull out the .22 and work on basics and reinforce them. Then I go back to the .45 and everything is good again.

Me too... My Ruger 22/45 gets far more work than my Taurus .45acp. It's cheaper and more enjoyable to shoot. I shoot my .45 just to remind myself what true recoil feels like and for practice. I shoot my .22 just for fun.

I don't find high recoil firearms to be fun. I don't like being beat up when I shoot.