Ready Gunner in Orem, UT has a series of handgun courses that build on each other. They require everyone to start with their basic course. I have been shooting for 60 years; pistols especially for the last 30. However, no one knows everything, so I went in with an open mind.
I learned a bunch of things that made the course very worthwhile. I shot my FS M&P 9 with an Apex trigger and components, and Heine Straight Eight night sights. It’s a very, very accurate pistol.
There were 10 different guns among the 11 attendees.
The lady next to me had a new Body Guard .380. She gave up on it about half way through the 50 round shooting portion. It was too small, too tight, terrible trigger, hard to press check and rack, terrible sights. As a fairly new shooter the best 5-shot group she could manage at 12’ was 15”. The safety was a definite liability, as she forgot about it a number of times. Too complex for the beginner. She shared the other lady’s 9mm Kimber Pro and immediately shrunk her groups to about 6”, and she could manipulate the slightly larger gun more easily.
There was a Sig DA/SA compact down at the other end of the line. As we shot one, safed and went to low ready for much of the course, he had to decock and go DA for most of his shots. He managed about 8” groups DA. In SA he shrunk that in half.
There was a 9mm Shield, a couple of Glock 19’s, a compact Walther, and another small .380–I think it was the Ruger.
Three of us with the bigger guns shot decent groups, two handed, slow fire, concentrating on fundamentals. The others struggled to shoot anything resembling a group.
Small guns, guns with minimal sights, crappy triggers, low prices and other disadvantages may be the rage for concealed carry, but they sure are harder and more discouraging for the beginner shooter to learn basic fundamentals.
I highly recommend new shooters try shooting and learning fundamentals on a variety of medium and even full sized guns before settling on a small gun for carry. Learning the fundamentals of administrative manipulations, proper grip, sight alignment and sight picture, and trigger control are just easier with larger guns.
My best groups with both eyes open were about 2+” at first. I was discouraged. I had Lasik on my right eye about 15 years ago to make it near sighted for reading. For pistol shooting my left eye has become dominant. Any focus on the three focal planes is especially challenging. I now use red dot sights to help with my shooting and they are definitely an answer for me.
However, I didn’t want to bring an RDS to the basic handgun class, so my gun just had the irons. After a while, I closed my right eye and shot a five string group well under an inch. Thereafter, I put five and then five more rounds through the same hole.
I mentioned this to the instructor and he suggested I “flutter” my right eye open/close while shooting. It worked, although it took some real effort to do it. I could shoot just over an inch with this method.
There’s always something to learn.
I learned a bunch of things that made the course very worthwhile. I shot my FS M&P 9 with an Apex trigger and components, and Heine Straight Eight night sights. It’s a very, very accurate pistol.
There were 10 different guns among the 11 attendees.
The lady next to me had a new Body Guard .380. She gave up on it about half way through the 50 round shooting portion. It was too small, too tight, terrible trigger, hard to press check and rack, terrible sights. As a fairly new shooter the best 5-shot group she could manage at 12’ was 15”. The safety was a definite liability, as she forgot about it a number of times. Too complex for the beginner. She shared the other lady’s 9mm Kimber Pro and immediately shrunk her groups to about 6”, and she could manipulate the slightly larger gun more easily.
There was a Sig DA/SA compact down at the other end of the line. As we shot one, safed and went to low ready for much of the course, he had to decock and go DA for most of his shots. He managed about 8” groups DA. In SA he shrunk that in half.
There was a 9mm Shield, a couple of Glock 19’s, a compact Walther, and another small .380–I think it was the Ruger.
Three of us with the bigger guns shot decent groups, two handed, slow fire, concentrating on fundamentals. The others struggled to shoot anything resembling a group.
Small guns, guns with minimal sights, crappy triggers, low prices and other disadvantages may be the rage for concealed carry, but they sure are harder and more discouraging for the beginner shooter to learn basic fundamentals.
I highly recommend new shooters try shooting and learning fundamentals on a variety of medium and even full sized guns before settling on a small gun for carry. Learning the fundamentals of administrative manipulations, proper grip, sight alignment and sight picture, and trigger control are just easier with larger guns.
My best groups with both eyes open were about 2+” at first. I was discouraged. I had Lasik on my right eye about 15 years ago to make it near sighted for reading. For pistol shooting my left eye has become dominant. Any focus on the three focal planes is especially challenging. I now use red dot sights to help with my shooting and they are definitely an answer for me.
However, I didn’t want to bring an RDS to the basic handgun class, so my gun just had the irons. After a while, I closed my right eye and shot a five string group well under an inch. Thereafter, I put five and then five more rounds through the same hole.
I mentioned this to the instructor and he suggested I “flutter” my right eye open/close while shooting. It worked, although it took some real effort to do it. I could shoot just over an inch with this method.
There’s always something to learn.
