In my shooting ‘career’, there have been several ah-ha moments when the light turned on for me.

One such moment was when I mastered the flash sight picture: I learned that there’s always time to use the sights.

Another was when I discovered the 1911: I’d used revolvers such as the M29, M19, M10, M15, Ruger Blackhawk and Colt Python but then tried a Colt Gold Cup. I’ve never looked back. The revolvers are history: the 1911 does almost everything I want and does it better. I learned that the 1911 is all it’s cracked up to be: the greatest handgun ever.

What ah...ha moments have you had, moments the light came on for you in your shooting ‘career’?

Not sure if it counts, but one possible "Ah, ha!" moment for me was when I realized how well DA triggers worked for me. I think the roll of the trigger helps me get more of a "surprise break" than the SA "wall". I'm actually more likely to drop my shots when shooting SA than DA, which is the opposite of most people, I think. When I worked as an armed guard, I qualified with a .38 revolver, my Beretta 92, and my 1911. While I shot well with all three, my lowest score was always with the 1911 (90%, so not exactly horrible), despite it being capable of match grade accuracy. When shooting quickly, though, the difference is much less significant.

I will say it's interesting that you mentioned 1911s. Over the last couple of months I've been reacquanting myself with my 1911s. Between the two of them, I've probably fired somewhere in the neighborhood of 2-3k rounds back in the 90s. I've used an instructor-supplied 1911 in one training course, and did well with it. Last month I took them shooting after a 20something-year hiatus and enjoyed it. For a few weeks now I've actually been carrying one of them around the house in a cheap Uncle Mike's holster. I gotta say, for a full-size steel Govt Model, it carries pretty easily. Probably even better in a good holster. Not a priority right now, but I've been thinking I may get some carry gear and a suitable 1911 for CC when my finances and ammo supplies allow.

Try another bulb.

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett

.....only the dimmest bulb....... my "Aha moment" came in 1989 when I left 1911s in the darkest parts of my safe for 3rd Gen Smiths and Sig P-series guns.

Cocked and locked has its place on the target range and battlefield ......not the streets of American cities.... very few are trained to the level of HRT or SWAT team members to "fight" with a 3-4 lb. SA trigger......... Just MHO




That said I have a Sig C3 custom shop '1911" CCO and two Browning HPs. but not guns I conceal carry.....................

My Aha moment was in 1978. When we first lit the 15,2.

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Expect the unexpected

152mm coastal artillery batteries near Lisbon?

Shooting, collecting and handloading for mostly handguns for two decades and loving every minute of it until the first magazine from my buddy's new to him and just as new to me Smith & Wesson Performance Center 845 Limited. Before the sun had set on that day, my brain and mind re-organized 20+ years of what I knew, experienced and loved in handguns.

For the first time ever, I had a vision and a focus that was more defined than simply "handguns." Nearly the exact same thing happened just a year and a half later with my first S&W Model 52-2. The way I have stated it before was that the first 5-round magazine was pulled from the pistol and my first thought was "ummm, these are out of production and these first five rounds from a 52 tell me that owning one single Model 52 is owning NOT ENOUGH Model 52's!"

Now I'm 32 years in and while I love and enjoy an array of handguns from all different manufacturers, everything takes a back seat in love and interest to my PC Limited guns and my Model 52's.

Revolvers are now and always will be my first choice.

The 1911 has a certain cool factor, no doubt about that and I own three.

The real ah..ha came when I quit buying $300 semi-autos and moved to things like CZ75, Sig P220 and about every Glock.

Life is just too short to buy cheap-o guns and to keep ANY that is not 100% reliable.

The second day of practice when I started shooting on the state Army Nat. Guard highpower rifle team. The team coach and team captains were trying to show me how to spot the bullet’s “ trace “ as it cut through the atmosphere on it’s way to the target at 200, 300, and 600 yards when spotting for the shooter.
When I finally happened to see one, it was like, “ WOW, so THAT’S what I’m looking for !! “.
Almost never had trouble seeing it again.

For those that don’t know, being able to catch the trace lets the spotter call the shot for the guy on the rifle immediately without seeing the actual bullet impact or hole on a paper or non paper object.

I think my first "Aha" moment came when I bought my first 1911 and realized that I'd been lying to myself about not wanting one. I've got three now, in different calibers. My second "aha" moment came after buying my M19-3, and realizing how much I missed shooting revolvers. Now I rotate between the M19 and my 10mm 1911 for CC. They hide equally well and are similar in firepower. I have no problems with remembering which one is on my hip and the differences in operating them.

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I was the other way around. I have loved and carried a Colt Commander for a long time. I discovered the early N frames (Triple Lock, Reg Mag, 44spl 3rd, HD, OD) and have not looked back. Well, for range time anyhow....I do carry a S&W more than a Colt nowadays, but the Colt's are well suited to my HD/SD needs.

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On the Oak Savannah

Those are in Setubal(mouth of the Sado river and my hometown) 35 miles to the South of Lisbon. And yes they are 152mm or 6 inch(they were English made). The battery was decomissioned in 1998.

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Expect the unexpected

I've only had two gun wise.

First, summer of 1993 in the Sonora Desert while stationed at FT. Huachuca. After deciding the new Glock pistol had to be junk, because all the 1911 bros said so, I fired my good friends G17 just so I could tell him what a piece of junk it was compared to my Colt 1911. The next day I visited the Rod & Gun Club on post and ordered one! I've had a Glock of one model or another ever since.

Second, Winter 2010 when I discovered what a wonder old school craftsmanship S&W revolvers were. Of course I thought back to the days of my Glock discovery, when you had to order/wait for a latest semi-auto to come your way because the gun shop counters were void of them and cluttered up with traded in old S&W revolvers at half the price of the coveted semi-autos. All of those cheap S&W revolvers I missed out on, who knows what could have been lurking in the pile! That was a hell of an Aha moment. I ain't got over it yet, lol.

My best Aha moment is the first time that I saw my future wife. Finally buying a Sig, a P320 Compact was a was a pretty much what have I been missing moment. Still cannot find a way to make it fire without the trigger being pulled. Been vibrated, dropped(on carpet), hit and every thing that I could think of. I like it.

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Mighty 90's,Trying 4 a 100!

I guess I'm just a gunslut. I love them all.

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No baby we aint

My best AH-AH gun moment came in Vietnam, I got assigned to an old 1938 LCU that had been sitting in Luzon Harbor, PI since the end of WWII. We had to get the three 671 GMC engines running, along with a 471 generator and gasoline ramp engine, clean, scrape, paint. The old girl had two 20mm cannons on each forecastle, we had sealed drums of ammo in lockers but no instructions, they told us to leave them alone we wouldn't we concerned about aircraft. We still had to clean them and I volunteered to mess around with them. The were basically a long barrel, reciever and two hooks to lean into on a pedestal that had foot holds all around its circumference. No charging handle like a M2 which we had mounted on the stern. I was brushing the action out and needed to raise the barrel a few inches and found that it would raise freely for about a foot before I ran into spring pressure. I cleaned that area up and gave it a light coat of battleship grey, came back and thought about raising the barrel a bit more, pushed and it kept going until finally at nearly 90 degrees there was a loud "Click" and the spring pressure released, the barrel easily setting back down to horizontal. THE LIGHT WENT ON! I just figured out how to cock this thing, I went back to the trigger which was a paddle with two thumb sets either side right and left, pushed the trigger and was rewarded with a loud "Snap" Didn't take too long before we were cleaning up the drums and looking forward to our first trip out of the harbor. BOOM, BOOM, BOOM

When I finally bought a 1911 after shooting handguns for 45 years and realized I don't particularly like 1911's. Probably shoot it better than anything I've got. Just don't particularly like it.

My "Aha!" moment was when shooting a buddy's Glock that he'd just had equipped with XS sights. He couldn't hit with it at all, too much time on three dots, I think. I picked it up, worked out what sight picture it needed and proceeded to nail the bull. I then realized that coming to shooting later in life made me way more adaptable than those with ingrained habits.

A similar moment was when I realized that all the grip guru stuff is fine and dandy only when you have the exact same size and shaped hands as the guru and shoot the same gun. "one size does not fit all" really applies when shooting handguns, despite what the Internet tells you.

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Release the Kraken

RPG,Wow!must have been a superb ah!ha!moment!Would have loved to be there with you at that moment!Sure would have volunteered to help clean the ammo drums!

my aha was at a CMP practice session... had always spotted for myself... then had one of the guys "that can out shoot you with your own gun" spotted for me.. dialed in my sights and I went from a 325/500 to 400+ in a couple of weeks... being able to just focus on me & control made a world of difference... made 600 yards a lil less scary...
1911 and BHP are amazing.. but for range time not carry anymore

Oh, lots of them in my long sorry life. But the most memorable one by far was my discovery in my late-50's that I could actually hold and shoot a long gun despite my congenital left arm disability. That revelation actually came in two steps: 1) My exploratory purchase of a Mossberg 500HS .410 shotgun in late-December of 2008 and, 2) My first successful attempt to hold and shoot an AR-15 in mid-August of 2009. The key in both cases was the utilization of a vertical foregrip, something I had no idea about until my "long arms mentor" came along and opened my eyes.

Another important revelation (IMHO) was when I finally woke up one day and swore off buying/collecting plastic guns forever in October 2015 after a mindless run that I had started two years earlier. What the Hell had I been thinking? It was also my costliest collecting mistake to date. I am still trying to recover (financially and psychologically) from the lunatic idea of collecting injection molded plastic.

I have made occasional exceptions, but only for micro-mini-mouse pocket pistols that I actually intend to carry.

One of My aha moments was finding this forum after my father gave his Smith 19-2 which I knew nothing about.

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Life Is A Gift. Defend it!

My "Aha Moment" was when it dawned on me that I could "overpay" for a classic gun that I really wanted and still feel wonderful about my acquisition without reservation. In particular, I enjoy owning, shooting, sharing and showing this 27-2 so much that I can't remember if I paid "market value" or even $250 "too much" -- and I don't care!

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Buy American
Vote Responsibly

Right now, a 109 year old gun design is mentioned in 10 of 23 posts, not bad Mr. Browning, not bad at all.

I can relate to this quite vividly. However, a couple few weeks ago one my range buddies let me shoot his CZ Tactical Sport. After clearing 10 of 10 steel plates at 20 yds the first time that I shot it, the clouds parted, a light came on and I had to have it. After sufficient hunkering, whining and paying his exorbitant asking price (2 cases of 556 Nato, plus a little jack), it was mine. And I was back in the soup, but not in the plastic fantastic soup. It was definitely one of those "Aha Moments". They tend to be costly. -S2

If they were all positive posts that would be different but the fact that the 1911 has served for 109 years does not make it the best handgun of all time. My A-HA moment with 1911s was when I realized that you had to be somewhat overly bold (to be kind) to carry a .45 cocked and locked everywhere you went. Yes, yes, more than adequate for self defense, but less than adequate in the safety department, which explains why the US Army didn't permit them to be carried cocked and locked, not in my experience, anyway. YMMV.

On a more amusing note, I had an A-HA moment many years ago when I went deer hunting for the first time with my tack driving, iron sighted Remington 788 in .308 Winchester. After missing deer a few times at reasonable distances I shot a close up casual target, which I hit easily. That inspired the addition of a scope and spectacles.

And so it goes..........

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Come and take it!!

Are you talking about the Swiss Oerlikon? Never seen one fired, except in a WWII movie, but they are mounted along the gunwales on the USS North Carolina and many other capital WWII warships. Really cool looking guns, they came in single and double mounts.

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My aha was realizing it was stupid to sell a gun I wanted to buy another gun I wanted. Since then I haven’t sold anything.

My "AHA" (many. many, many years ago) was when I learned that Girls can really run fast and hit really hard after I pulled a Girl's pigtails and ran

Bushmaster, you got it. I had to learn that it was ok to pay up for something you really wanted and were going to keep. Particularly if it means you get to have it now instead of after five years of frustrating search.

Unfortunately, every single gun online is now priced with that in mind. :P

My ah-ha moment came this last weekend, I purchased my 15th 1911. I have to stop, enough is enough.

All my a-ha moments came to me after I already messed things up

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Jorge

Yep - Experience is what you get right after you need it.

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protocalldesign.com

Ain't that the truth...

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Jorge

I had a different kind of "a-ha" moment. I was working on my last job, and I had just received what I call an "unfavorable re-assignment." My dad was in declining health and we were wanting to spend more time together, and my own health was suffering (worse than what I thought). So I sat down and ran the numbers as to what I would put in my pocket if I kept working compared to what I would put in my pocket if I retired. I used that standard to account for the commuting costs of continuing to work. I figured out that if I kept working under the "unfavorable re-assignment" I would put the princely sum of $20 a month more in my pocket than if I retired. A-HA!!!! I figured I could squeeze $20 a month somewhere, so at the end of the year I retired and never looked back.

My first was half expecting to have a very sore hand when I fired a .357 mag the first time. I was fifteen and had listened to stories for years. What a disappointment, what a wusy cartridge. Then came the 45ACP, knock a man clear off His feet. Same again. Then came the 44 mag. Thats more like it. Next and last was My 474 linebaugh. Ruger Bisley frame, Kreiger 5.5 inch barrel. Weighs 48 oz empty, 56 loaded. Now that's recoil. Course I might be slightly brain damaged from the heavy recoiling rifles I used to shoot until My nerves started to say no more please.

I was many years into my adult shooter career before I had the aha moment when I realized that volume shooting wasn't beneficial shooting if I was allowing lazy or poor shooting habits to creep in.

[IMG]Dick's boat.pdf[/IMG]Yeah, I'm fairly certain that was the gun. I mentioned it to my father in law and he knew right away I was talking about the Oerlikon. I have a few pictures of the boat with the gunmounts visible, they have the canvas coverings on them. Try as I might I cannot get them to scan to something that Imagshack will accept to download. They keep coming up as a PGP or something. These boats were WWII vintage mine was commissioned in 1938.

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My "Aha Moment" came with the very first shot I ever fired. It was with my Ruger Standard, and my reaction was, "Holy 'Smokes', this is great!". So I fired another, and another, and a whole bunch more. I became a member of the range, started purchasing more guns, got my License to Carry, worked hard to improve my shooting skills, and was soon shooting 8,000 - 10,000 rounds a year. My addiction to shooting was sealed after I joined the Forum. There's no turning back now...

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What, me worry?

My moment came after I groveled for ten minutes on my hands and knees to find 7 hulls when I could have dropped 6 in my pocket while still standing

My aha moment came when shooting some of my 44 Magnum reloads. Prior range trips were not showing the accuracy that I expected. I'm no Jerry Miculek but am a good shooter. My 44 Magnum targets showed little to no signs of grouping.

I started thinking about it and thought maybe I was pushing the plated bullets above their limits. I started reloading around 2013 so powders were in scarce supply. I was able to pick up 8lbs of Herco and had developed some good accurate 38 Special loads. But my 44 Magnum loads of 12 grains of Herco were nowhere near as accurate.

So my next batch I worked up 10 rounds of 9 gr, 10 of 9.5 gr, 10 of 10 gr, 10 of 11 and finally 10 of 11.5 gr. My next range trip showed the results of tailoring my loads and suddenly my inaccurate loads were tearing out the bullseye! I settled on 11 gr and realized just how much I could effect my accuracy by tailoring my reloading recipes.

In fifty plus years of shooting, I've had a few. My first was with my dad's 6" Ruger Standard. We used to plink at pop cans at 100 yards with it, and I was amazed at how well it shot at long range.

My most recent, however, was just last year.

Prior to the last election, I bought a couple of Anderson AR15 lowers, you know, just because.

I kept them tucked away until last year, when I decided to turn them into shootin' irons. I set one up with a 16" PSA upper and Magpul butt, and the other with a 10" AeroPrecision upper/barrel, with a brace. I stuck with 5.56 for both, because I have loaded this round before, and have always liked it. I went with Magpul flip-up sights on both, plus an old Bausch and Lomb 3X9X40 on the rifle. I bought a stack of magazines and a bunch of ammo when it went on sale at Walmart.

My first time to the range I totally understood why these are so popular! I had shot a couple AR's before but had no real experience with one. These, even though entry-level, were both reasonably accurate and completely free of any kind of malfunction. The pistol will group under 2" at 50, and the rifle about 2" at 100. This is with Federal .223 ammo. And the brass all lands in the same little area.

It took a while, but I finally joined the club!

Aha moment....

When I began to truly feel trigger reset....

Much as I hate to agree with anything the cool kids on the You Tube gun channels endorse, they're right about the best EDC choice. A poly framed, striker fired auto loader. Took a while to get there. Lots of trigger time with a 1911, (still my sentimental favorite), as well as revolvers. But, when it came down to crunch time, the ease of concealment, dependability, and simple manual of arms carried the day. I do differ with the cool kids in one respect. They're all about 9mm, my Shield's a 45acp. YMMV.

Mine was 6 years ago when I got my Lipsey Ruger BH 4 1/2" in 44 Special, and worked up some loads for it that were astonishingly accurate by my standards. i just had not realized a big bore single action was that accurate.

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My first real pistol was a .44Spec. in 1960. I tried .38Spec., 9m/m, .45Colt and .45ACP. I was not impressed. My caliber "ah ha" moment came in 1965 when I bought a .357M. It took me 5 yrs. to find it but 55 yrs. later I still think I done good. Larry

This was my moment, but I couldn't figure out how to word it, which you did very nicely.
I have a lot of nice pistols that would work well for CCW, and that I like to shoot better. Hard to beat the weight and size of a plastic fantastic, though.

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Because of the metric system?

Learning to shoot .22 rifles at summer camp when I was 12, a former marine sargent instructor taught me about Natural Point of Aim slung up from the prone position, 50 foot NRA bullseye targets. Once learned, I progressed quickly through the levels of the NRA JR Marksman program to Expert.

I have found NPOA applies to every type of gun, including handguns. Some guns point naturally for me; others I have to adjust and force to get on target. My favorite rifles, shotguns and handguns point into the target naturally for me and I am quick and accurate with them. It is now so ingrained I hardly notice it any more as I do it.

I have taught this strategy to many dozens of others, including at Appleseed shoots. About half get it, and when they do, they have their own “AHA!” moment. NPOA plus dry firing have cured more shooting problems than anything else I know.

When my older brother gave me a couple Jim Beam highballs in rapid succession back when I was around 12 or 13.
Made me realize why folks drank that gawd-awful tasting stuff.

First Las Vegas become more family friendly, then Bourbon Street lost more and more of its seedy attractions, then the S&W Forum followed suit. Eventually, I may have to grow up.