# 1st time @ range in 10yrs+



## lamrith (Apr 23, 2012)

The search, research and fun continues. Working toward my 1st personal handgun, CPL is turned in and waiting for approval. I have been researching my 1st purchase and settled on 9mm full size. I am not going to carry this 1st gun, it is going to be my all around home/range gun so I want comfortable and cheap to feed. I will follow it up with a compact/sub for ccw later once I am more comfortable. I have narrowed it down to 10 pistols, many are submodels and clones of each other so really 6 unique.

Had the chance to go to my local shop & range today and test fired 5 of them, and scratched a 6th off the list just based on feel in hand at the counter. Being my 1st time @ the range with a pistol in so long I was more nervous than I thought I would be. I actually put the 1st gun down and and took a step back because I could feel I was too wound up and starting to not pay attention.

Anyway, the nervousness and jitters show on guns 1&2 which should have been the smoothest shooting of the bunch based on being full steel highly regarded models. All 9mm @ 25ft
Beretta 92
CZ75B full steel version
Ruger SR9 full size
S&W M&P full size
Springfield XD Full size








I tell you I was very pleasantly surprised by the 3 Poly framed guns. I was expecting them to jerk/kick much more, but they actually felt smoother than the full steel frames. I plan to go back next week on free rental day and fire them all again in reverse order to get my jitters out on the poly frames and give the two steel's a fair showing. I did however like the M&P very much and it is probably my top pick at this time..


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## chessail77 (Mar 15, 2011)

Congrats...sounds like you have done this right, you'll get a ton of opinions but do what works best for you, I admit to being biased toward the S&W because they offer a lifetime warranty and also pay to ship it back to them, and their customer service is excellent, all are good choices, enjoy and safe shooting.....JJ


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## lamrith (Apr 23, 2012)

Well I went back for the range's free rental day. I fired the same pistols in reverse order and added a few at the end. In total I shot 100rounds. 1st gun out (M&P) I was all very low, I asked a range worker that was walking by and he looked at my grouping and the gun and said it looked like I was anticipating.:smt076
He gave me a tip and I loaded an extra 5 rounds and tried again and was all in the black.

25ft - 10 rounds each
S&W M&P FS with safety (+5rnds as I was jerking the gun anticipating the shots and pulled low)
Ruger SR9 FS
CZ75B Steel
Beretta 92FS
H&K PPQ
Springfield 1911-a1
M&P9c (5 shots)










At this point my mind was pretty much made up, so I went back to the M&P9 FS and put up the silohette for the remaining 30 rounds. I chose a firing rate of about 1 a second using a basic one-one thousand, two-one thousand cadence in my head. The few times I tried to "double tap" fire I got strays so I stayed with the cadence.










I walked out smiling ear to ear and knew I had chosen my 1st gun. It shoots much better than I do, but more importantly it feels natural in my hand and makes this new shooter look decent. Little did I know my CPL was already waiting at home! I went back to the store yesterday and ordered in my new M&P9 with Ambi safety, I should have it next Friday!:watching:

I am planning to take a home defense course next weekend as well.


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