Should beginners start with .22 or a major caliber?

Should beginners start out with a .22LR pistol to learn fundamentals?

  • Yes - start with .22 and move to a major later

    Votes: 105 80.2%

  • No - start with whatever major caliber and learn on that pistol

    Votes: 26 19.8%
  • Total voters
    131
  • Poll closed .
C

C0untZer0

Moderator
Should beginners start learning shooting fundamentals with a .22 pistol, does it make a difference if a beginner starts with larger calibers or any caliber for that matter ?

Some people say that you should start with a .22 pistol and eventually move up to the caliber that you will use for SD/HD/ competition or whatever. Others say that it doesn't matter if a beginner starts with a smaller caliber like .22 - just buy whatever handgun you are going to purchase in the caliber that you will use and learn on that.
 
You can learn either way, but you're much less likely to develop bad habits, like anticipating recoil/flinching, if you start with something that doesn't have much recoil or muzzle blast. When you begin shooting you're trying to form good habits by doing things right. You don't want to start out with something that makes it easy to learn bad habits by creating enough recoil & blast to exploit the natural tendency to flinch.

It's probably less of an issue if you start with something reasonably easy to shoot. For example, if someone were getting ready to buy a full-size .38sp steel revolver I probably wouldn't be too concerned. On the other hand, if someone came to me and said they were buying their first gun and wanted it to be a micro-pistol with a polymer frame, chambered in .40S&W, I might recommend that they get something a little easier to shoot while they were learning the ropes.

In other words, the gun in the picture below, is not a great choice for a beginner.
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+1 As an NRA instructor for Basic Pistol we always started the new shooters out with a Ruger .22 until they understood the basics of aiming and hitting with a handgun. But within the hour they would start shooting .38 revolvers and (as an option) .45 1911s and most had no problem with the transition. If we saw anyone starting to flinch or dip the muzzle we would put them back on the .22 before they started developing bad habits. Even if you're an experienced handgun shooter it's a very good practice to spend some time occasionally with the .22 just so you can concentrate on shooting without any distractions from the gun. Even when I shot IPSC for years I would still always take my Ruger .22 for some quality shooting time and to check to see if I was steering the gun off target when shooting quickly.
 
The shooter.

It would also depend on the shooter. I have a friend whose wife doesn’t even like the sound of a balloon popping. He started with a BB pistol and slowly worked his way up. If he had tried to start with a 45ACP I think that would have been the end of his family range time.
 
I started with an air rifle and an air pistol myself and I also recomend that... but I moved from the pellet pistol to the .22 and from there to major calibers, but my transition time was more like years. I was firing pellet rifles and pistols very young and did that for a few years before firing a .22
 
I was trained by my father when I was 10 years old with a .22LR Ruger MK 1 that I still have. I had a BB gun aorund 7 years old. But them were different times.
 
There is no law that says you "have" to learn on with a .22. Lot's of men and women learned with a .45acp and more recently a 9mm.

But the advantages of the .22 are so great that it just makes sense. That's especially true if you don't have a rich uncle buying your practice ammo.
 
.22 rules

I can toss 200 rounds down range with my HS for virtually nothing

WildanditsaccuratebesidesAlaska ™©2002-2011
 
Whenever I take a first-time shooter to the range I start them on a .22LR revolver first, then a .22LR pistol. Then we work our war way up, at their pace, to and thru mild .38 Spl, 9mm, .45acp...however far they want to go.

Without a first time shooter, my shooting sessions still start with a .22LR handgun. :)
 
A .22 has many advantages. Low recoil and blast make it easier to learn fundamentals which I believe are the most important part of learning to shoot a handgun. A .22 will not distract a newbie when learning that even a lightly loaded .38 will.
I loaded some very light loads for my daughter that were the equivalent of a lightly loaded .38 and could tell it bothered her enough that it affected her ability to concentrate. She's spent plenty of time with a .22 and has learned quickly because she enjoys it.
 
As JohnKSa pointed out, there are variations between a .22 and a hand canon that can be useful. If we are talking solely about the learning process, there is little doubt that .22 is an excellent learning/teaching tool and for most people the best first step. But if we are discussing a first pistol purchase by an adult, we need to remember once again that a first gun will be, at least for a time and permanently for some people, an only gun. If they want it to serve as a defensive weapon, a lightly recoiling center fire (9mm pistol or .38 revolver) is a better choice. Everyone with two or more handguns should have a .22, though, in my opinion.
 
Both Elmer Keith and George Nonte reccomend starting with a .22 rimfire. While not being in that class of pistoleros, I heartily agree.
 
Can you afford lots of centerfire ammunition?,,,

For me the issue is all about ammunition costs,,,
I wouldn't be anywhere near as good as I am,,,
Without lots of range time and trigger pulls.

Now I'm not saying I'm an Annie Oakley,,,
But I do just fine at the target range.

Inexpensive .22 ammunition and quality .22 handguns made that possible.

Yesterday I went out shooting,,,
I shot 25 magazines through my Beretta NEOS for $8.00,,,
That same amount of practice with 9mm ammunition would have cost $70.00.

There may or may not be a benefit to learning with a lighter recoiling handgun,,,
There certainly is a benefit to shooting your handgun lots and often,,,
The only caliber handguns I can afford like that are my .22's.

It's all about the cash flow for me.

Aarond
 
I actually started out in the opposite direction- a need based situation.

I was involved, for a time, in a photo/research project investigating and photographing archaeological sites related to ancient Native American sites in Florida- in an area filled with all kinds of four-legged large animals ( and the occasional two-legged nasty beast ). And the guy I was working with suggested it would be best to go minimum with a .357 Magnum. So, that's how I started. Took a little time to work out the flinches, and all that, but by starting out heavy, I can now handle light calibers better ( but I do prefer having a heavier gun as a result of shooting Magnum, I think ). And it is amusing to me, as I grew up in New York, in a somewhat anti-gun environment. I didn't quite know how much of that "ooooooh, I LIKE this" feeling would sink in after shooting powerful Buffalo Bore loads from a S&W 686.
 
I'm coming from years of owning .22 cal air pistols and high-powered hunting air rifles, and jumped right into a 9mm as my first firearm. While I like the price of the .22 LR ammo for range practice, I just don't see the point if you own air guns - you can't shoot in your backyard, or basement, need to pay range fees, and worst of all, you have to clean the soot out.

Don't know you if you guys consider air guns as a .22 LR substitute since it is only 1/4 the muzzle energy of the .22 LR.
 
I started with a 9mm instead of a 22 and it worked great for me. But when I look back that was a ruger p89 9mm (a big gun for a 9 with very low recoil). So in my opinion I would suggest anyone first starting should try a 22 or a large frame 9mm.
 
I am a proponent of getting a .22 first but!

Practice is practice, major or minor caliber, but .22s are a great way to do it.

I'll be honest, while I feel competent with a rifle and a shotgun (I dont do trap so I guess not really) I feel like I need an ungodly amount of handgun practice before I'll feel stable with it. I can group it well enough at 21 feet and hit a pie plate when I walk it out. However I feel that handgunning with it's eccentricities deserves that much more practice. Am I right in this conclusion?
 
It depends on the shooter ....but in general, they should learn to shoot on something with very little recoil ...and no bigger than a caliber like a 9mm or
.38 spl so you can keep the ammo cost down.

But it depends a lot on the gun they'd like to shoot .../ and if its too small or the controls are so far out of the norm ...then I try to steer them toward something more basic ( like a good K frame revoler / shoot .38 spl's ...or something that has a little bit of weight - a single stack semi-auto like a Sig 239 in 9mm )....

No matter what - the range trip has to be fun ...and you want them to be sucessful - and hit some targets.
 
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