Finding the hangun you shoot best with....

[MyGreenGuns]

I have one gun I shoot extremely well with. There are a lot I do 'ok' with. I am not one that shoots everything like a pro, but I've tried.

When I first started shopping for a handgun, I went to the range with my brothers and rented every gun in the case. We did this about once a month. Everyone talked up the Glocks, and I shot every variation of them trying to find one that 'felt' right. I got pretty good with the Glock 22 (full size .40 cal).

One day the range had a Springfield XD, and I shocked myself with how well I shot with it. It just seems to 'point' better for me. I shot better with it on day one than I had after 6 sessions with the Glock. After the 3rd or 4th time I rented it, I decided to buy one.

I bought an XD 9mm 4" 16rd in OD green. To date, Im probably high in the thousands as far as round count. I've gotten lots of compliments from the range guys when I shoot it. At 10 yds I can keep them in the "X" (2"x3" oval) on a B-27E target. The range goes out to 50 yds, and I never leave without shooting at that distance. If I shoot slow I can keep the rounds in the "X" and the ring around it (isnt marked(4"x6" oval)), with the occasional round in the "9". But this is after having the gun for 3 years, and shooting it every time I go. Some day I'll shoot a 'half-dollar' hole at that range.

I can shoot my S&W 637 (.38spl) at 5 yds about as well as I can shoot my XD at 50yds. But cannot shoot as well with factory grips. I've only had this one a year and hope time/practice will let me become more proficient.

I am NOT good with the horsetail revolvers. I have to make such a consious effort to hold it correctly that I often focus less on the target and more on my hold. I dont put much faith in "it felt right", I put my faith in "it shot right". Looking at it in the gun store is one thing, shooting it is another.

If you're shopping for a 9mm, go rent every one in the range. If your place is anything like mine they swap/add new guns every now and then. Dont jump into one, it was nearly a year between 1st shopping excursion and actual purchase, for me. YMMV Good luck! Have fun!

 

[gearhead]

When I took my CWP class I had an older FNP-9 that I had bought cheap and never shot. In fact, I had only fired a half dozen rounds, total, through pistols in my life and all of those had been 35 years before. The first time I fired the FNP-9 was when I took the live fire portion of the CWP test and I shot the highest score in the class. I just couldn’t miss with that thing, I had 43 out of 50 inside the 9 ring at ranges from 5 to 25 yards. Dumbest thing I ever did was to sell it to a friend who was drooling over it and use the proceeds to buy a FNP-9M with factory night sights. I’m just not quite as accurate with the 9M and it’s not enough smaller to make any difference in carryability. I still shoot the 9M better than my striker fired handguns or my Security Sixes but nothing like I shot its bigger brother, even though the sight radius is exactly the same with both pistols.

Come to think of it, the first time I took my FNP-45 Tactical to the range I tore a ragged golf ball size hole in the target with the first three magazines at 10 yards. I can shoot all my handguns competently but those two FN pistols just seemed to suit me without having to adjust to anything. I used to drive NASCAR Stock Cars locally and I can still hustle even a very average mundane vehicle pretty quickly through the twisty parts but with some cars it’s just effortless to drive them quickly and crisply. Some mechanical devices just fit and feel right for an individual, and they provide exactly the needed feedback at the right time. That intangible feel is different for different people, and what works for me might not work for you. It’s amazing when you achieve the proper match, though.

 

[Jonah71]

I'm one of those people who have to practice a lot with any gun I buy before I can hit what I aim at. The one gun I've picked up in the past 3 years (besides the S&W target pistol), that didn't take a lot of range time to fire accurately is the old 2003 CZ 75B. It just seemed to fit my hand, my eye (and see with one of them) from the first time I pulled the trigger. It's taken me hundreds of rounds to get proficient with my Glock 23 enough to carry it. Now I really like it. I'm not counting revolvers here. For some reason they are just a lot easier for me. Maybe because I didn't touch a semi auto pistol until the mid 80's and I gave up on them until about 3 years ago.

 

[mes228]

Pistol

I buy and trade a lot of pistols. I can shoot most all pretty well. However, it's been my experience that absolutely nothing is as easy to shoot accurately as a 1911. That's why I have three 1911's that I shoot at the range. However, much of the time I carry a Glock for reasons other than accuracy.

 

[BCRider]

While I can manage to shoot just about any handgun decently to do so from a draw and under the stress of a competition is another thing. Some guns just "fold into the hand" easier than others. Those that don't require either more practice to get used to or are just the wrong size/shape for the shooter's hand. For revolvers it's all about the shape of the grips since you can totally change the feel of the gun with a switch of the grips. For semi autos, like the 9mm you're shopping for, some of the guns don't allow you to alter the grips so the gun had better fit well right from the first time.

The best thing is to get out and shoot some different guns at a rental range. If it fits into your hand easily without the need for constant adjusting then it's a suitable gun for you. You can test this without any ammo. Just pick it up and present the gun to the target. If the sights are in line with your natural grip to a reasonable degree and you can repeat that same grab and present success a number of times then it's likely, but still not certain, that you'll do decently with that gun.

For me this came down to guns with relatively oval grip/frame feels. Like the CZ's (which I bought), 1911, Jericho/Baby Eagle, M&P and a couple of others. Guns with blockly feeling grips and frames like the many Glocks, double stack 2011's and a few others just didn't seem to fit me as well.

Oddly enough a gun which I shoot well, like the feel of but is just a bit "wrong" is my much loved Beretta 92fs. I really need to get some more oval shaped grips for it as the stock grips are a bit flat and hard edged.

Speaking of flat for my own part I found thin but flat sided guns like the Ruger SR9 also did not "index" into my grip well. I find that such guns fit fine at the front and back but the flat sides make it hard to get a nice even pressure on the sides so the guns are not as secure in my grip. That's where, for ME, guns with more of an oval shape to the grips and frame really shine. Such guns as the SR9 shoot well but I can't just "grab and go" with them. I need to conciously work at getting the correct hold on the gun both when I first pick them up and as I'm shooting them. Revolvers with the relatively flat sided Pachmayr grips are the same for me.

But it's all about you. I've related what I look for in the grip feel of a gun. I look for a fairly consistent fill and pressure of the hand with an all around "full wrap" consistent contact of the gun grip in my hand. If you can achieve that sort of feel with the gun it's likely that you'll find that it is a fairly easy gun to shoot well once you master the right trigger control.

The problem is that to test this you need to already know the correct grip method. There's no point doing that if you're not using a consistently correct gripping method.

 

[Onward Allusion]

wacki
Finding the hangun you shoot best with....

Shot a lot of handguns but it wasn't until I shot an old beat-up S&W 5946 that I became what *I* would consider good. It took about 1,000 rounds to get there. On good days, I do 1" or less at 10 to 15 yards off-hand - all hitting POA. I'm sure there are a lot of other folks out there who can do much better, but for me this is good. I know the 5946 is far from a race or match gun, so that's how I know my shooting has improved dramatically. I now have probably around 10,000 rounds on that gun.

 

[BossHogg]

I had a friend offer to sale me a Glock-36. It just didn't feel right in my hand. He offered me a good price so I said I'd think it over. He was needing the money and I thought I'd buy it and sell it off if I didn't like it. It since has become my EDC. I shoot this as well if not better than any of my autos. I can't believe I almost passed it up because of the way it felt. A CCO size 45acp with mild recoil, I thought the recoil on such a light weight gun would be a lot worst.

I think with practice any gun can be shot well. I like to shoot big bore revolvers the most, but I can hit paper with all my guns at 25 yards.