First Handgun, Practice with 22LR version

[aarondhgraham]

I'm somewhat biased in my opinion,,,

I am a true fan of rimfire/centerfire pairs,,,
I currently own seven pairs of guns,,,
4 in semi-auto and 3 in revolver.

One of my pairs consists of a S&W Model 36 in .38 Special,,,
The other gun is a S&W Model 34 in .22 LR,,,
Both are S&W J-frame revolvers.



I believe I'm a pretty darned good shot with the Model 36,,,
I attribute that fact to a lot of cheap practice with the Model 34,,,
I would never have been able to practice as much as I did with .38 Special ammo.

The downside to this plan is the cost of a second handgun,,,
Take for example the Ruger LCR that you mentioned,,,
The .22 and the .38 versions list for $529.00,,,
That's a whopping $1,058.00 in cash outlay.

Range fodder .38 Special runs about (a conservative estimate) $25.00 for 50 rounds,,,
Let's say it takes 1,000 rounds to gain some proficiency with a new handgun,,,
That's about $500.00 for .38 Special ammo,,,
That's less than $50.00 for .22 LR ammo.

Shoot the .38 LCR very much and you would have paid for the second handgun in ammo costs.

Now don't get me wrong here,,,
You can't learn to shoot the .38 by shooting the .22 exclusively,,,
But you can gain proficiency faster and cheaper by shooting a combination of the two.

My personal routine is to shoot a 50 round box of .22,,,
And immediately follow it with 5 rounds of .38,,,
Lather-rinse-repeat as often as necessary.

I don't always ration my ammunition so precisely,,,
But I usually shoot 3-4 boxes of .22,,,
and a half a box of .38.

My point is that my experience has been that owning two identical guns as a rimfire/centerfire pair allows me to shoot more and shoot more often.

I do this with my Bersa Thunder 22/Thunder 380 and my CZ-75B/CZ-75B Kadet,,,
I'm pretty darned good with each of the platforms,,,
I attribute it to the cheap .22 practice time.

Just for the heck of it I am attaching a .pdf file for you,,,
As well as anyone else who might be interested,,,
It's a list that I and many others compiled,,,
Of rimfire/centerfire pairs of guns.

Some are not made anymore and hard to find,,,
Many are not made anymore but can be readily found,,,
But a whole lot are in current production and easily found for purchase.

Good luck whatever you decide,,,
But know your original thoughts do have merit.

Aarond

.

 

[Doc7]

So from the last several replies, believe I am reading that a .22LR, even as a snubnose version (identical to my "main" 38 spl gun IF that's what I pick after some rental time) will be a good first handgun and I should be able to train appropriately, as opposed to getting a longer barreled 22 to learn on before a snubnose and then eventually a snubby carry piece in a bigger caliber.

 

[foghornl]

I only have 1 DA revolver, a snubby RG-38Spl, so no matching rimfire for cheap practice.

On the other hand, I have a .357 Vaquero, a .357 Blackhawk, and a Single-Six so, I DO have a rimfire for cheap SA practice, or when I want to "Cowboy Shoot"

 

[rswartsell]

First foghorn, no offense intended. But an RG? Don't you mean you don't have ANY double action revolvers?

 

[BCRider]

Doc, ANY trigger time is good time. And if you want to carry a snub nose at some point practicing with a snub nose .22 isn't a bad thing at all.

You obviously can't duplicate the recoil but there's a lot of stuff you CAN do for valid practice. For example, if you're able to draw from your usual concealment and shoot at your usual range then doing so with the .22 even for that all important first draw and shot is still fully valid practice for your center fire gun.

What WILL be missing is the follow up shot practice. But even there I would want to practice with two shots. Just space them a hair with the .22 to better simulate the center fire shot timing.