I love shooting at Friday Night Steel with my 10/22, and I'm going to start at Atlanta CC, but I'm starting to think about trying with a pistol, and maybe eventually try some USPSA. I've been researching different pistols to use for competition and and range work, and i guess for defense, but to be honest, that's not really a priority for me atm. I have not shot many handguns, just bro-in-law's Beretta PX-4 Storm regularly, and a smattering of others.
I took my cousin and brother-in-law to Pop Guns as planned today, after hitting Yen Ching on E. Washington St. (if you've never been, you're a silly, silly person who must not like Chinese food.) The plan was to rent a lane and as many of the autos as I could:
Sig Sauer P226 .40 - This is the gun I'd done most of my research on, as I liked the look of it and a lot of people said it was a good one. It was by far and away the heaviest of the guns we shot today. It was also the first .40 ive ever shot, and i was not prepared for the recoil. (bear in mind, i'm mostly used to my 10/22
It's a high quality pistol, and I still want to try one in 9mm, but i walked away liking some of the others better.
Springfield 40SE Stainless (i think) - Holy lightweight gun! And in .40, it kicked quite a bit. It shot well, but to be honest, it was not for me and it was obvious from the get go, so i switched.
Springfield XD subcompact 9mm - THAT'S better! 9mm so the punch was less, and the gun just fit in my hand nicely. It was the sub compact so it was small, and it had an extended magazine that extended the grip about 1 inch, so it worked well. I also feel like the grip safety and the trigger safety work pretty well. It instantly left me wanting to try a bigger XD, but its the only XD that Pop Guns had for rental. More on that later.
Beretta 92 9mm - Very nice, pointed well, heavy, metal, fit my hand well, longer sight radius was easy to aim and shoot well. Most of my carefully shot groups at 20 feet were about 2-3 inches, give or take, with all of these guns. The Beretta shot great, felt good, but i don't know if i'd consider owning one. I know they're proven from military use, but still...
Glock 17 9mm - Oh, here we go: Ok, i do not GET what you glock people like about these guns! Sure, it shoots ok, but it just feels cheaper and grittier, especially when working the slide. I... just felt dirty inside **runs for cover**
Walther P22 .22LR - Holy crap, this one's fun. Light gun, light trigger, safety that's ... unintelligible and cheap-feeling. can't figure out how to decock it, but lol, lots of fun to shoot, and very cool looking. I think my brother-in-law might end up buying one to plink at the range. Good stuff. It's probably worth noting that the P22 had the only malfunction of the day: I loaded a magazine, racked the slide, and went to fire the first shot, and got a *click* and no bang. I wrongly assumed that I failed to chamber a round, so i racked the slide again, and got a nice little double feed, which sort of cleared itself, and then i went on firing.
Other stuff: Shot B.I.L.'s Beretta PX-4 Storm in 9mm. I love that gun, and its kind of what i compare most handguns to, because i like it so much. Its got the rotating barrel that takes some recoil energy to operate, so its a mild gun to shoot. Its got a wonderful, mechanical feel to it, and twin safety/decockers on the slide. It's also a little top heavy unloaded, but with a full magazine in it, its perfect.
We shot my Tapco'd 10/22 some after removing my Nikon Prostaff and re-affixing my NCStar reflex sight for steel on friday. It preformed as expected, reliably throwing federal .22LR down range in nice little quick-fired groups. Good, quick gun.
After we got done shooting (finally), I really wanted to feel a bigger XD, so we paid up and then I had the guys show me a Springfield XDm 3.8. THAT gun just might follow your's truely home some day. It felt great in my hand, pointed really well, had good weight to it without being heavy. MMMmmm.
Then he pulled out a S&W M&P 9mm (is that the model, the 9mm?) That gun also felt great, lighter than the Sig P226, and pointed nicely in my hand. I really liked these two guns and i'd kind of like any feedback from you guys that own one or both of those two, or if you'd like to add your
about any of the others that i've commented on!
Overall, we had a blast, good food, good noise, learned a lot, which was my goal.
I took my cousin and brother-in-law to Pop Guns as planned today, after hitting Yen Ching on E. Washington St. (if you've never been, you're a silly, silly person who must not like Chinese food.) The plan was to rent a lane and as many of the autos as I could:
Sig Sauer P226 .40 - This is the gun I'd done most of my research on, as I liked the look of it and a lot of people said it was a good one. It was by far and away the heaviest of the guns we shot today. It was also the first .40 ive ever shot, and i was not prepared for the recoil. (bear in mind, i'm mostly used to my 10/22
It's a high quality pistol, and I still want to try one in 9mm, but i walked away liking some of the others better.Springfield 40SE Stainless (i think) - Holy lightweight gun! And in .40, it kicked quite a bit. It shot well, but to be honest, it was not for me and it was obvious from the get go, so i switched.
Springfield XD subcompact 9mm - THAT'S better! 9mm so the punch was less, and the gun just fit in my hand nicely. It was the sub compact so it was small, and it had an extended magazine that extended the grip about 1 inch, so it worked well. I also feel like the grip safety and the trigger safety work pretty well. It instantly left me wanting to try a bigger XD, but its the only XD that Pop Guns had for rental. More on that later.
Beretta 92 9mm - Very nice, pointed well, heavy, metal, fit my hand well, longer sight radius was easy to aim and shoot well. Most of my carefully shot groups at 20 feet were about 2-3 inches, give or take, with all of these guns. The Beretta shot great, felt good, but i don't know if i'd consider owning one. I know they're proven from military use, but still...
Glock 17 9mm - Oh, here we go: Ok, i do not GET what you glock people like about these guns! Sure, it shoots ok, but it just feels cheaper and grittier, especially when working the slide. I... just felt dirty inside
**runs for cover**Walther P22 .22LR - Holy crap, this one's fun. Light gun, light trigger, safety that's ... unintelligible and cheap-feeling. can't figure out how to decock it, but lol, lots of fun to shoot, and very cool looking. I think my brother-in-law might end up buying one to plink at the range. Good stuff. It's probably worth noting that the P22 had the only malfunction of the day: I loaded a magazine, racked the slide, and went to fire the first shot, and got a *click* and no bang. I wrongly assumed that I failed to chamber a round, so i racked the slide again, and got a nice little double feed, which sort of cleared itself, and then i went on firing.
Other stuff: Shot B.I.L.'s Beretta PX-4 Storm in 9mm. I love that gun, and its kind of what i compare most handguns to, because i like it so much. Its got the rotating barrel that takes some recoil energy to operate, so its a mild gun to shoot. Its got a wonderful, mechanical feel to it, and twin safety/decockers on the slide. It's also a little top heavy unloaded, but with a full magazine in it, its perfect.
We shot my Tapco'd 10/22 some after removing my Nikon Prostaff and re-affixing my NCStar reflex sight for steel on friday. It preformed as expected, reliably throwing federal .22LR down range in nice little quick-fired groups. Good, quick gun.
After we got done shooting (finally), I really wanted to feel a bigger XD, so we paid up and then I had the guys show me a Springfield XDm 3.8. THAT gun just might follow your's truely home some day. It felt great in my hand, pointed really well, had good weight to it without being heavy. MMMmmm.
Then he pulled out a S&W M&P 9mm (is that the model, the 9mm?) That gun also felt great, lighter than the Sig P226, and pointed nicely in my hand. I really liked these two guns and i'd kind of like any feedback from you guys that own one or both of those two, or if you'd like to add your
about any of the others that i've commented on!Overall, we had a blast, good food, good noise, learned a lot, which was my goal.
