My view is that it will
absolutely help. A 2" sp-101 is not an easy gun to shoot. You are facing a
bunch of challenges trying to shoot it well - holding the gun on target, aligning the sights and target, pulling the trigger straight to the rear, managing a long, heavy, crunchy pull, dealing with fairly vigorous recoil.... you've got a lot on your plate. A Ruger Mk X will take several of those off your plate, and let you focus better on the remaining ones. Here are some ways that a .22lr semi-auto (such as a MK --) will help someone trying to get better with an SP-101:
- The longer sight radius and easier trigger and reduced recoil will let you see your current level of accuracy skill very clearly. Shooting an easy, accurate gun will help you recallibrate what is achievable in terms of accuracy.
- The reduced recoil will make it easier to practice without developing a flinch/blink. If you've already got one of those, it will help you cure it.
- A small revolver's sights move a LOT in recoil. It will be much easier to learn to track the sights in recoil on a target-oriented .22 - and then you can bring that back over. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then that just illustrates my point.
I think
everyone should
begin their handgun journey with a .22lr semi-auto, and only after becoming proficient with it move on to other things. I did
not do this... and I wasted a few years at the beginning of my handgunning growth because of it. I picked up a lot of bad habits that I then used the .22 to un-learn.
Don't worry about "grip angle." That is a big deal when it comes to indexing (i.e., rapidly drawing or otherwise presenting the gun, and having the sights
immediately aligned on the target with
no conscious process at all). It has little or nothing to do with basic marksmanship or shooting on a square range.
Also: We have all heard the old adage about "beware the man who has only one gun... he probably knows how to shoot it." I have yet to find a single instance of that being true. Getting good at shooting takes a lot of time and effort (particularly when it comes to handguns). People who like to shoot generally like guns enough to have at least a couple of them.