Looking to buy my first hand gun. XD 40 / 9mm or px4 storm 40 / 9mm. First question any recomeditions on gun? Then I keep going back and forth 9mm or 40? Any advice.

What do you want to use it for? If this is your first hand gun I would suggest getting a 22lr, so you can practice good gun handling really cheaply without any recoil.

Great advice niner, I would suggest a ruger 22/45, same grip dimensions as the 1911 .45 ACP, stay away from them itty bitty calibers when you are ready to step up. 45 ACP will drop the goblins even if you shoot them in the big toe, where the 9 won't drop a raging cracked out goblin, and I don't have a lot of faith in the 40 either, in this case bigger is better. JMHO, Les

(and yes, I am a Jeff Cooper fan!)

Welcome....

You really can't go wrong with a .22 for your first handgun. Practice, practice, and practice some more.

I'd second the Ruger 22/45. Great value....

I spent a lot of years as a shooting instructor and one observation I'll share with you is most all the folks whom became good pistol/revolver shots started with a 22 lr.

Most folks that start with a fairly high powered centerfire find that shooting enough to become a reasonable shot is very expensive and for a new shooter getting bad habits from recoil is extremly easy.

There are a bunch of reasons for this, but here are the top ones.

No recoil to contend with shooting a 22 lr.

excellent accuracy from most reasonable priced target autos and quality revolvers.

At $10.00 bucks a brick (500 rounds) at most discount stores you can afford to practice.

I guess my vote then goes with the rest of the fellas above. GET A 22 and shoot it a lot.

Im gunna have to agree with the rest of the fellas in here. .22lr is the way to go. Check out the Browning BuckMark Standards. They are very reliable and fun to shoot.

I have a comment on the whole "9 won't drop a raging cracked out goblin" One well placed shot is all you need. While I don't think the 9mm round is sufficient for military and law enforcement because of its lack of knockdown, it is plenty for home defense and as a CCW.

yeah, start with a .22 and shoot it til you break the gun...then go with a 'man stopping' caliber.

and like skeletor, I see 9mm as a perfectly capable man stopper. just go with hollow points and make sure you land your shots on the target, and they'll be stopped.
A crackhead can't do much with two perforated lungs and shrapnel in his heart.

I will share a short story with yall.

My fist handguns were a 45, 9mm, and 357. Not real accurate and needed a second job to pay for ammo. I then went and bought a Buckmark Camper 22lr and have seen nothing but imporovement will all hand guns since. If I had to do it all over again, for sure go with the 22 and save a ton of $$ practicing with 22 ammo not 45 or 357.

My first handgun was a 629 44 magnum. In the beginning that gun was so hard to shoot without flinching, but I prevaled to enjoy shooting them all now. Start with the biggest and work down from there, not exactly good advise but it worked for me!

I will share a short story with yall.

My fist handguns were a 45, 9mm, and 357. Not real accurate and needed a second job to pay for ammo. I then went and bought a Buckmark Camper 22lr and have seen nothing but imporovement will all hand guns since. If I had to do it all over again, for sure go with the 22 and save a ton of $$ practicing with 22 ammo not 45 or 357.

This is similar to my story, except my order was 357mag, 9mm, 45acp then 22lr (actually my first 45 I got about 20 minutes before the 22lr). If I was to do it over I would get the 22lr first just so I can shoot the thing and not go broke.

And here's another approach (my road) : start with a .357 - a used one will do fine - but fire .38 specials in it. Not much recoil but enough to feel something ; ammo is not as cheap as .22, but not so expensive either, especially if you use reloads.

You will get used to it, and to the feel of both a DA and an SA trigger. As a newbie, you will more easily be able to check that the gun is clear - no need to press-check etc. just look at the empty (or not) cylinder holes. Revolvers require deliberateness with each shot.

When you are used to it, load up with +P .38, then .357 ammo. Voila.

Some time down the road, expand your collection and get a semiauto. If you can shoot DA well, and that's hard, you will probably be able to shoot a semiauto well too.

Get a good .22lr revolver. My favorite .22lr revolver is the ruger Single six that is a .22lr/.22mag. Them practice a lot with it when you get good with the .22lr you can then go to bigger caliber guns.

I would buy a good .45 1911 and get a .22 conversion for it. A friend of mine was looking to get his second pistol, his first was a S&W .460. LOL. After looking for a while he ended up with a Kimber .45 and a Kimber .22 conversion and says it was the best decision he has made.

Hitman makes a good point, there are several guns that have conversion kits available, some even come that way from the factory. If I had the cash, there's a CZ-97 in 45ACP at a store near here, that also has the 22LR conversion kit included, all for under $500. Now THAT's Practical! :p

Papajohn

my shooting instructor, retired military instructor, started me in the manner in which the military instructed him

1911 empty learning how to lift the gun. focus on front sight and move it from a low position along a verticle line, say a rooms corner, door edge etc. This giving muscle memory
2 weeks practice 20 min am and pm

them place a point on your verticle line, place a snap cap in the pistol, cocked and as your rise along the line, pull the trigger at the point when the front sight meets the point
2 weeks practice 20 min am and pm

then he started me on live fire with a colt ACE..(.22lr) on a 1911 frame. lifting the pistol and pull when it reaches the bottom of the x ring. Amazing how well this technique worked for me. we gradually moved to light .45 handloads with a downpower spring, then up to full power .45 loads

Now I not only hit center target, but I can hit a moving target just about as well. As one shoots at a moving target you lift and lead at the same time.

go figure, but I am sure I could do this well if I handn't started on rimfire first!

get a good, not fancy, 1911 and a conversion kit! practice 75% of your time with .22 and change slides at the end of your practice sessions shooting say 20 rnds of .45

keep up your verticle line practice at home continually building muscle memory. let us know how it goes



r :D

Hey gents! I'm new to the forum and the hobby of marksmanship and I'm taking some of the information on this topic to heart. I WAS planning on purchasing a .45 as first handgun but you've all made some very good points. I'm a big fan of the Polymer handguns and was wondering what your thoughts were on the Walther P22 as a first handgun.

Hey gents! I'm new to the forum and the hobby of marksmanship and I'm taking some of the information on this topic to heart. I WAS planning on purchasing a .45 as first handgun but you've all made some very good points. I'm a big fan of the Polymer handguns and was wondering what your thoughts were on the Walther P22 as a first handgun.

It is a fine shooter, but not the gun for me. It is my personnal opinion that the gun is to small. It is to small for my hand and the barrel is too short (i had trouble keeping the sights focused). It is a very popular item at the local gun shop.

The store owner has a demo model that he claims has had 1,000+ rounds shot through it and he has never cleaned it and it has never failed. I would recommend a Buckmark or a Ruger 22/45.

Hey gents! I'm new to the forum and the hobby of marksmanship and I'm taking some of the information on this topic to heart. I WAS planning on purchasing a .45 as first handgun but you've all made some very good points. I'm a big fan of the Polymer handguns and was wondering what your thoughts were on the Walther P22 as a first handgun.


If this is "an I'm going to learn to shoot well" handgun go for something larger and more accurate such as a target intro 22.

I prefer a Smith model 17 for a revolver or a Ruger target auto or the buckmark for an auto. I like a longer sight radius and good adjustable sights. Here's what I shoot and the revolver I carry in the woods.

The Ruger target auto is the most accurate, but th little Rossi double action is both accurate and a hoot to shoot. A lot of the choice between an auto and revolver is what big bore your going to end up with. If your end goal is to have a bigbore auto then go with the 22 auto, if your looking to go to a magnum hunting revolver then get a nice accurate 22 revolver.

Welcome, Weak Sauce.... I would suggest a full-sized gun even as a .22. They will be more comfortable to shoot and (likely) fit your hand better.

I have a Ruger 22/45 with the Zytel grip frame.... pretty sure they have something similar with the new Mark III guns.

Thanks guys, the info you all provided has helped me out a lot. Just wondering if It might be a better idea to purchase my first gun, which is most likely going to me the Ruger 22/45 brand new or used?

I wouldn't be afraid of a used one (mine was). Don't often find them completely worn out....

Hi guys . sorry to drop in on this post but I have just joined the forum and was about to ask the same question as addressed here. I am from N. Ireland. I have shot 9mm. .40, .38 and .357. I am inexpeienced in pistol and hope to but one next year to shoot at my club.

I think the .22lr conversion apleels to me. Do any of you guys use .32?? I have seen a conversion with this mix I think it was a Kilman????

Is .32 a good calibre??

Thanks

The .32 H&R Magnum is going to be similar to a .38Special as far as energy and velocity. I dont have the magnum, but I have an old Smith in .32Long which by todays standards is very anemic. I wouldnt shy away from a 32 Mag but ammo might be harder to find for it than lets say a .22lr or .22mag. Plus, its nice to just leave your brass at the range after shooting rimfire. With any centerfire cartridge, I always save for the possibility that I might buy a set of dies in that caliber. With the .32 H&R Mag not being all that prevelent, I would probably want to reload for it.

Thanks brushedchrome. I was unaware of a .22 Mag version in pistol, that may be nice too!!

www.advantagearms.com sells a .22 LR conversion kit for glocks which is nice to practice with.. I own one and all you have to do is field strip your gun and replace the slide and magazine with the parts in the kit and you're good to go. I'm not sure exactly what models it works with but I own a G17 and a G22 and it works with both of those. I got mine for about $300 after tax and a second magazine; so for about $800-900 or so you could have a new glock that shoots .9mm/.40 cal and .22 lr, if you're a glock fan.

If you like 1911's I'd go with a 22/45 for practice though personally.. I own one and it's a really nice little gun. Pain in the *** to take apart for cleaning though...

Hi guys . sorry to drop in on this post but I have just joined the forum and was about to ask the same question as addressed here. I am from N. Ireland. I have shot 9mm. .40, .38 and .357. I am inexpeienced in pistol and hope to but one next year to shoot at my club.

I think the .22lr conversion apleels to me. Do any of you guys use .32?? I have seen a conversion with this mix I think it was a Kilman????

Is .32 a good calibre??

Thanks

Big Dog: Welcome to the forum.
Since you are in Ireland the .32 may be a wise choice.
.32 ACP is not as popular in the states as it is in the UK and Europe. It was a common police and military issue and duty weapon in Your part of the world, much the same as the .38 Special and 45acp was in the U.S. So availability should be good.
I would reccomend that you attend some shoots at the club and talk to some of the better shooters there.
Listen closely and take their advice.
They will have a solid handle on the intricacies of procurement and availability of ammo in your immediate area.
Ammo availability is a real issue, a handgun without ammo is just an expensive club.

www.advantagearms.com sells a .22 LR conversion kit for glocks which is nice to practice with.. I own one and all you have to do is field strip your gun and replace the slide and magazine with the parts in the kit and you're good to go. I'm not sure exactly what models it works with but I own a G17 and a G22 and it works with both of those. I got mine for about $300 after tax and a second magazine; so for about $800-900 or so you could have a new glock that shoots .9mm/.40 cal and .22 lr, if you're a glock fan.

If you like 1911's I'd go with a 22/45 for practice though personally.. I own one and it's a really nice little gun. Pain in the *** to take apart for cleaning though...

New to the site, also. I was wonder the same thing. I was looking at the Glock 23C and the XD-9102 as my first pistol until I heard that it's best to start off shooting a .22. This .22 LR conversion seems like a good compromise. Would I get used to the feel/size of the Glock using the conversion? What about the ammo, do I still need to buy the jacketed ammo thta I believe the Glocks require? Would it make adifference if I got the compensated Glock for the conversion? Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Welcome... there aren't any .22 LR loadings that are truely 'jacketed,' that I am aware of.

Shoot regular .22 LR ammo through the conversions, like you would any other .22 handgun.

Haven't seen any compensated .22 LR conversions.... they might exist, but don't see the point.

I have to agree with Mike. A compensated .22 is useless. No recoil to reduce. The .22 conversions will shoot any 22LR ammo, other than shot shells. Those are for single shots only. Also like Mike said, there are no real jacketed .22 rounds, other than some of the .22 magnums. Nothing that is like high power bullets anyway. I have a Kimber 1911 with a conversion kit and it shoots anything.

I have to agree with Mike. A compensated .22 is useless. No recoil to reduce. The .22 conversions will shoot any 22LR ammo, other than shot shells. Those are for single shots only. Also like Mike said, there are no real jacketed .22 rounds, other than some of the .22 magnums. Nothing that is like high power bullets anyway. I have a Kimber 1911 with a conversion kit and it shoots anything.

Thanks for the responses. I was asking about the ammo because I heard that the Glocks require jacketed ammo. And, it's not that I want a compensated .22 LR conversion, I was asking if there was a specific conversion for the compensated Glocks or could I use any conversion as long as it was for the Glock I want. For example. are there 2 different conversions for the Glock 23 and the Glock 23C? Sorry, should been more specific.

As far as Glocks needing to be fed Jacketed ammo, that only concerns a standard Glock. Not one that has a .22 conversion on it. You can shoot any .22LR ammo in it. Have you found a .22 conversion kit for a Glock? I don't see that Glock makes one.

As far as Glocks needing to be fed Jacketed ammo, that only concerns a standard Glock. Not one that has a .22 conversion on it. You can shoot any .22LR ammo in it. Have you found a .22 conversion kit for a Glock? I don't see that Glock makes one.


Allglock.com sells them. I believe they are made by another manufacturer. I can't remember the name aright now. But they do sell them. Is there a problem with putting a non-Glock conversion on a Glock?

Advantage Arms manufactures the only .22 conversion for glocks that I know of.. I own one. It works great in my G17 and G22, and it's literally like 5 seconds to switch between 9mm/.40 and .22 assuming you know how to field strip a glock.

I don't have experience with any other conversion kits (are there others?) but I can say that I'm very happy with mine.

Yesterday I took it to the range and put it on the G22 frame for a friend of mine who doesn't shoot much.... Had the first FTF! And a whole lot of them too.. Couldn't figure out what was wrong until I looked at the magazine... He had the bullets as far forward as they would go while still feeding down into the magazine haha. Guess he wanted them up and ready to go to the chamber at a moment's notice....

Told him to push the bullets to the rear of the magazine until they stopped, and it worked fine from there on out, like always :)

Oh, and as far as I know, in the compensated factory glocks the only parts that are different would be in the slide assembly.... couldn't imagine it being otherwise. To put on the advantage arms .22 conv. kit, you take the entire stock slide assembly off and replace it with the one from the kit. That includes barrel, recoil spring, firing pin, etc... Still, I'd recommend checking with advantage arms to make sure before you buy one.

I like it; personally it has made it easier for me to detect and correct mistakes in my technique myself than shooting .40 or even 9mm all the time. Plus with the savings on ammunition you'll get to shoot your glock a **** of a lot more, even if you are using .22 to do it.

I also looked around at their website a little bit more... Apparently you need a different kit for different models, but some kits work for multiple models... IE I have the 17-22 kit, which will work for G17,18,19,20,21 and 22s. I happen to only have a 17 and a 22, so this works great for me. If you want one you just have to figure out which one you want.

I hate to sound like a salesperson, but honestly I'm really satisfied with mine. I think it's a great buy, because for about $250 you basically have a glock chambered in .22 lr. Cheap, fun and easy to shoot... If you own a glock and are looking for a good .22 pistol I'd say check this out first.

Advantage Arms manufactures the only .22 conversion for glocks that I know of.. I own one. It works great in my G17 and G22, and it's literally like 5 seconds to switch between 9mm/.40 and .22 assuming you know how to field strip a glock.

I don't have experience with any other conversion kits (are there others?) but I can say that I'm very happy with mine.

Yesterday I took it to the range and put it on the G22 frame for a friend of mine who doesn't shoot much.... Had the first FTF! And a whole lot of them too.. Couldn't figure out what was wrong until I looked at the magazine... He had the bullets as far forward as they would go while still feeding down into the magazine haha. Guess he wanted them up and ready to go to the chamber at a moment's notice....

Told him to push the bullets to the rear of the magazine until they stopped, and it worked fine from there on out, like always :)

Oh, and as far as I know, in the compensated factory glocks the only parts that are different would be in the slide assembly.... couldn't imagine it being otherwise. To put on the advantage arms .22 conv. kit, you take the entire stock slide assembly off and replace it with the one from the kit. That includes barrel, recoil spring, firing pin, etc... Still, I'd recommend checking with advantage arms to make sure before you buy one.

I like it; personally it has made it easier for me to detect and correct mistakes in my technique myself than shooting .40 or even 9mm all the time. Plus with the savings on ammunition you'll get to shoot your glock a **** of a lot more, even if you are using .22 to do it.

I also looked around at their website a little bit more... Apparently you need a different kit for different models, but some kits work for multiple models... IE I have the 17-22 kit, which will work for G17,18,19,20,21 and 22s. I happen to only have a 17 and a 22, so this works great for me. If you want one you just have to figure out which one you want.

I hate to sound like a salesperson, but honestly I'm really satisfied with mine. I think it's a great buy, because for about $250 you basically have a glock chambered in .22 lr. Cheap, fun and easy to shoot... If you own a glock and are looking for a good .22 pistol I'd say check this out first.

Sounds good to me. That is the particular brand that I found for GLock, Advantage Arms. I will definately consider doing that when I finally go ahead and buy my pistol. Seems to me to be the sensible thing to do. Thanks for the info. What is the difference between firing with the .22 conversion and firing the 9mm/.40? A lot more recoil? Heavier? Louder? Thanks.

Sounds good to me. That is the particular brand that I found for GLock, Advantage Arms. I will definately consider doing that when I finally go ahead and buy my pistol. Seems to me to be the sensible thing to do. Thanks for the info. What is the difference between firing with the .22 conversion and firing the 9mm/.40? A lot more recoil? Heavier? Louder? Thanks.

Yup.. all of the above. A glock in 9mm or .40 is going to be heavier, louder, and have much more recoil than with a .22 conversion kit. Not sure if anybody else makes them besides advantage arms, but theirs is extremely light... I'd go so far as to say that a glock with an advantage arms .22 conversion kit is probably the lightest full sized pistol at an affordable price (I could be wrong). It's a heck of a lot of fun to shoot...

The main advantage I see in your situation is that it's easier to afford to shoot the thousands of rounds needed to be comfortable with a pistol if you're shooting a .22. I like it because I can shoot it all day long for less than the cost of 100 rounds of .40 S&W.

I like glocks, and I like shooting.... so having a glock that I can afford to shoot is a no-brainer to me. :)

Yup.. all of the above. A glock in 9mm or .40 is going to be heavier, louder, and have much more recoil than with a .22 conversion kit. Not sure if anybody else makes them besides advantage arms, but theirs is extremely light... I'd go so far as to say that a glock with an advantage arms .22 conversion kit is probably the lightest full sized pistol at an affordable price (I could be wrong). It's a heck of a lot of fun to shoot...

The main advantage I see in your situation is that it's easier to afford to shoot the thousands of rounds needed to be comfortable with a pistol if you're shooting a .22. I like it because I can shoot it all day long for less than the cost of 100 rounds of .40 S&W.

I like glocks, and I like shooting.... so having a glock that I can afford to shoot is a no-brainer to me. :)

Well, if I still decide to go with the Glock, that will definately be my course of action. I'm looking into something similar though, like the XD or whatever else might be out there. Any suggestions?

Looking to buy my first hand gun. XD 40 / 9mm or px4 storm 40 / 9mm. First question any recomeditions on gun? Then I keep going back and forth 9mm or 40? Any advice.

Like it or not one day ammunition will be in short supply. 9mm will be way more available than .40.
If this gun is to be used for personal security I would say the 40 probably has an advantage. However if you intend to conceal carry you can get lighter and smaller, probably more rounds as well with a 9mm. Not knowing much about your intentions thats the best I can do. I personally prefer 9mm.

Like it or not one day ammunition will be in short supply. 9mm will be way more available than .40.
If this gun is to be used for personal security I would say the 40 probably has an advantage. However if you intend to conceal carry you can get lighter and smaller, probably more rounds as well with a 9mm. Not knowing much about your intentions thats the best I can do. I personally prefer 9mm.


Remind me again why there will be a shortage of Ammo? It sounds like some kinda dooms day theory to me. I can't see why there would be a shortage. But it is for home/personal protection with a .22 conversion for fun and practice.