About to buy a gun

[iluvstrats2]

Sweet! Kinda miss the .40 shield I had. For as small as it is it fit my big hands really well. Walmarts seem to be a decen't place to find 9mm when most shops are out.

[Onion]

Walmart was out, I'm really hoping a shop has some 9mm here.

[Onion]

Found some 9mm ammo at Wally world! Its crap, but only cost me $33 for 3 boxes, after tax. 

 

 

I don't have a ccwp yet, but I can legally car carry. I keep it in a zippered laptop pouch, which is enough to satisfy the requirement that the gun can't be "readily accessible". It is a whole lot easier to whip it out from that pouch than unlocking my glovebox, though. 

 

Also, yesterday morning I found a shop with some 9mm, picked up a box of 50 for $23, then went to a range and put them all through it. It feels really nice. It shoots a little low and to the left, but I didn't expect dead on accuracy from a subcompact with low quality ammo and it being my first time shooting in about a year. I did have one jam, a casing got caught in the slide halfway through the ejection process. Might have been a bad load, might have been me limp wristing, idk. We'll see when I put some more through it. What I really did like was that even though it shot low and left, it was really consistent. Also, the recoil was really low, definitely not something I expected from a tiny handgun. Overall, very happy with my purchase. Now I just need to find a holster. Any recommendations?

[Andrewr05]

I did have one jam, a casing got caught in the slide halfway through the ejection process.

For future reference that's called 'stovepiping'.

 

I did have one jam, a casing got caught in the slide halfway through the ejection process. Might have been a bad load...

Out of curiosity how many grains are the ammo that you got, perhaps a lighter load (explains the 'low recoil') coupled with limp wristing []i(may explain the stovepipe)[/i] as you said might be the issue?

 

Also, for those that don't know, limp-wristing is when you guessed it - your wrist is limp when you're shooting.

This mean that instead of keeping their wrist locked and the handgun inline with the arm, the shooter allows the gun to rotate with their wrist as they fire.

A handgun needs a certain amount of force as its firing so that the slide can eject the previous round, fully rebound off of the recoil spring and cycle the next round into the chamber.

 

 

Practice makes perfect, it just goes to show you that guns are not 'point and click', they take quite a bit of practice to get right.

Edited December 12, 2013 by Andrewr05

[ccokeman]

 

For future reference that's called 'stovepiping'.

 

Out of curiosity how many grains are the ammo that you got, perhaps a lighter load (explains the 'low recoil') coupled with limp wristing []i(may explain the stovepipe)[/i] as you said might be the issue?

 

Also, for those that don't know, limp-wristing is when you guessed it - your wrist is limp when you're shooting.

This mean that instead of keeping their wrist locked and the handgun inline with the arm, the shooter allows the gun to rotate with their wrist as they fire.

A handgun needs a certain amount of force as its firing so that the slide can eject the previous round, fully rebound off of the recoil spring and cycle the next round into the chamber.

 

 

Practice makes perfect, it just goes to show you that guns are not 'point and click', they take quite a bit of practice to get right.

 

From Wallys world it most likely is 115 grain. Good cheap ammo for practicing the basics. 

[Onion]

 

 

For future reference that's called 'stovepiping'.

 

Out of curiosity how many grains are the ammo that you got, perhaps a lighter load (explains the 'low recoil') coupled with limp wristing []i(may explain the stovepipe)[/i] as you said might be the issue?

 

Also, for those that don't know, limp-wristing is when you guessed it - your wrist is limp when you're shooting.

This mean that instead of keeping their wrist locked and the handgun inline with the arm, the shooter allows the gun to rotate with their wrist as they fire.

A handgun needs a certain amount of force as its firing so that the slide can eject the previous round, fully rebound off of the recoil spring and cycle the next round into the chamber.

 

 

Practice makes perfect, it just goes to show you that guns are not 'point and click', they take quite a bit of practice to get right.

 

From Wallys world it most likely is 115 grain. Good cheap ammo for practicing the basics. 

 

 

The ammo I shot was from a gun store, but it wasn't one of the name brand kinds, just a cheap $23 box of 115 grain. The wally world ammo is also 115 grain. I'm going to find some nice +p hollow points and carry those for self defense, but in the meantime, the 115 grain 9mm will have to do. Its better than nothing.

 

 

I did have one jam, a casing got caught in the slide halfway through the ejection process.

For future reference that's called 'stovepiping'.

 

I did have one jam, a casing got caught in the slide halfway through the ejection process. Might have been a bad load...

Out of curiosity how many grains are the ammo that you got, perhaps a lighter load (explains the 'low recoil') coupled with limp wristing []i(may explain the stovepipe)[/i] as you said might be the issue?

 

Also, for those that don't know, limp-wristing is when you guessed it - your wrist is limp when you're shooting.

This mean that instead of keeping their wrist locked and the handgun inline with the arm, the shooter allows the gun to rotate with their wrist as they fire.

A handgun needs a certain amount of force as its firing so that the slide can eject the previous round, fully rebound off of the recoil spring and cycle the next round into the chamber.

 

 

Practice makes perfect, it just goes to show you that guns are not 'point and click', they take quite a bit of practice to get right.

 

 

I'm actually aware of the term, I just completely forgot what it was called. Some guy on youtube has a channel called demolition ranch. He stuck a huge 50 call casing in his glock and started the video off with "another damn stovepipe!"

 

I looked at some youtube reviews of the S&W shield, they all say that it handles recoil really well. It may be partly due to the 115 grain ammo, but its also because its a high quality design.

[iluvstrats2]

Low left shots are flinching/anticipating recoil/pulling trigger with first bend of finger. Happens to a lot of people. Here is a nifty chart to show what you are doing if you're shots are not hitting point of aim. If you can, pull with the center pad of the finger over the trigger. Pulling with the first bend will cause low left, and tip will pull right. If you can find 124gr and 147gr ammo you'll get your best accuracy with it. Shooting handguns accurately really isn't easy and it does take a lot of practice. As long as you practice things correctly. Don't get discouraged at any point.
http://77301.inspyred.com/images/left%20handed%20shooter%20mistakes%20graphic.jpg

Here are a few tips that will help you out a lot. Instead of typing up a long post here is everything all summed up in videos.

 

Grip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDZDttBfock

 

Stance. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GewbIC2P8Hw

 

Here is the limp wrist malfunction andrew mentioned

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh9JhCyFFxA

[RHKCommander959]

Good pick on the Shield Heard plenty of good things on them.

 

Take a look at the different kinds of ammunition available: Hollow points can cause a lot of damage but don't penetrate as well as solid bullets - wad cutters smash through bone whereas FMJ/rounded bullets can slide past them, some brands have hollow points with plastic tips to give them FMJ properties in flight but hollow-point wounding. Frangible rounds can help prevent collateral damage - solid bulelts can richochet or fly through their target - frangible is intended to fall apart instead (and is full of little BBs). Plus there is pest shot - little shotgun shells but they aren't good except for really-upclose. Don't use it unless you've gotta worry about gators or snakes.

 

Plus theres different pressures - standard, +P, and +P+. Each one shoots harder and faster given the same other statistics.

 

Some people load hollows first into the mag following it up with wads or FMJ  - that way the first out of the barrel is FMJ/wad for penetrating barriers - car windshields for example (9mm standard hollows don't always penetrate so I've heard) with hollows for follow up since they do the most tissue damage.

 

Learning to properly hold and fire the gun will come with time, looking into it helps too. If your sites are adjusted properly then the chart below can help you figure out why its shooting the way it is. If its hitting reliably-off and is zero'd then it could be how you hold it.

 

 

+1  Guns ain't like puters where moar power is better. A bullet traveling at 100fps will hurt just as much as one traveling at 1000fps. Besides, a slower moving bullet has less chance of passing through generating less damage.

 

Would you rather carry .25 acp or a 9mm? Carry the gun you can shoot best - both accurate and with decent power. Quick follow ups with decent power behind it is better than breaking your wrist with a single shot. Porting the barrel (v-porting is better than top-barrel porting for night-time shooting [less flash directly where you'd be looking]) helps compensate for barrel lifting too..

 

----------------------------------

 

Theres a long debate across the internet of carrying revolvers versus autoloaders - reliability vs capacity is the main argument. Or you could just carry a backup . For a low recoil 357 snubby, the chiappa rhino 2" gun has less recoil than others due to the barrel being on the bottom of the cylinder (pushes more into the hand versus leveraging up against it).

[wevsspot]

Remember to clean your pistol regularly when shooting that steel cased Tulammo from Wal-Mart.

 

Those are my wife's practice rounds in her Ruger LCP .380

 

It's cheap ammo to practice with, but like I said very dirty from every box that she has shot.  

 

If you have problems with FTF, jamming or FTL assume it's that ammo and not the gun.  Her .380 will FTL every time on the last round in the clip if she is using the steel cased Tul.  Any other brass cased round works fine for the entire clip.

[Onion]

Low left shots are flinching/anticipating recoil/pulling trigger with first bend of finger. Happens to a lot of people. Here is a nifty chart to show what you are doing if you're shots are not hitting point of aim. If you can, pull with the center pad of the finger over the trigger. Pulling with the first bend will cause low left, and tip will pull right. If you can find 124gr and 147gr ammo you'll get your best accuracy with it. Shooting handguns accurately really isn't easy and it does take a lot of practice. As long as you practice things correctly. Don't get discouraged at any point.

http://77301.inspyred.com/images/left%20handed%20shooter%20mistakes%20graphic.jpg

Here are a few tips that will help you out a lot. Instead of typing up a long post here is everything all summed up in videos.

 

Grip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDZDttBfock

 

Stance. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GewbIC2P8Hw

 

Here is the limp wrist malfunction andrew mentioned

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh9JhCyFFxA

 

I'm lucky to have learned that lesson about how to properly pull the trigger the first time I started shooting, rather than form a bad habit and have to break it later on. I took a lesson at a range, the guy was extremely helpful. I managed to get a decent grouping on my first try at 7 yards with a Glock 17 (or 19, can't remember). I'll watch those videos just to make sure I'm still doing everything right. 

 

Good pick on the Shield Heard plenty of good things on them.

 

Take a look at the different kinds of ammunition available: Hollow points can cause a lot of damage but don't penetrate as well as solid bullets - wad cutters smash through bone whereas FMJ/rounded bullets can slide past them, some brands have hollow points with plastic tips to give them FMJ properties in flight but hollow-point wounding. Frangible rounds can help prevent collateral damage - solid bulelts can richochet or fly through their target - frangible is intended to fall apart instead (and is full of little BBs). Plus there is pest shot - little shotgun shells but they aren't good except for really-upclose. Don't use it unless you've gotta worry about gators or snakes.

 

Plus theres different pressures - standard, +P, and +P+. Each one shoots harder and faster given the same other statistics.

 

Some people load hollows first into the mag following it up with wads or FMJ  - that way the first out of the barrel is FMJ/wad for penetrating barriers - car windshields for example (9mm standard hollows don't always penetrate so I've heard) with hollows for follow up since they do the most tissue damage.

 

Learning to properly hold and fire the gun will come with time, looking into it helps too. If your sites are adjusted properly then the chart below can help you figure out why its shooting the way it is. If its hitting reliably-off and is zero'd then it could be how you hold it.

 

 

+1  Guns ain't like puters where moar power is better. A bullet traveling at 100fps will hurt just as much as one traveling at 1000fps. Besides, a slower moving bullet has less chance of passing through generating less damage.

 

Would you rather carry .25 acp or a 9mm? Carry the gun you can shoot best - both accurate and with decent power. Quick follow ups with decent power behind it is better than breaking your wrist with a single shot. Porting the barrel (v-porting is better than top-barrel porting for night-time shooting [less flash directly where you'd be looking]) helps compensate for barrel lifting too..

 

----------------------------------

 

Theres a long debate across the internet of carrying revolvers versus autoloaders - reliability vs capacity is the main argument. Or you could just carry a backup . For a low recoil 357 snubby, the chiappa rhino 2" gun has less recoil than others due to the barrel being on the bottom of the cylinder (pushes more into the hand versus leveraging up against it).

 

The +p+ is useless in my gun, the barrel is too short to handle the extra pressure. It ends up firing at the same velocities as the +p rounds. I'm not too sure if I need wadcutters or hollow points, but I definitely will do some reading and see what people recommend most. I like the hollow points just because I've hunted with .22 hollow points with my air rifle and they do some serious damage. I also had wadcutters and they were nice but the hollow points definitely took the cake as far as damage to the flesh goes. 

 

That rhino is really an extremely interesting gun. I don't really take sides as far as revolvers vs semi-autos, I just think people should carry what works best for them. Personally, I'd rather a dual action revolver just because it can be fired from a pocket, its a lot more reliable, and (although it won't help me in a self defense situation) they look incredible. 

 

Remember to clean your pistol regularly when shooting that steel cased Tulammo from Wal-Mart.

 

Those are my wife's practice rounds in her Ruger LCP .380

 

It's cheap ammo to practice with, but like I said very dirty from every box that she has shot.  

 

If you have problems with FTF, jamming or FTL assume it's that ammo and not the gun.  Her .380 will FTL every time on the last round in the clip if she is using the steel cased Tul.  Any other brass cased round works fine for the entire clip.

 

I've read online that as long as your gun is properly lubed, there shouldn't be too many issues with the TulAmmo rounds. The stainless steel casings are noticeably more grippy, though. I loaded my mags and then unloaded them and they were noticeably harder to push out than the brass casings. Side note, I just picked up 150 Federal 115 grain rounds at Walmart for $14.50 each. Probably not even going to shoot the TulAmmo stuff, I might just return it. 

[IVIYTH0S]

$14.50 for 150 rounds damn!

[Onion]

$14.50 for 150 rounds damn!

Per box of 50, sorry, I wasn't very clear.