New gun owner - What helped me the most

[Drang]

Tell us where you are (state at least) and maybe someone in your area is a known good trainer.

Check out the Pistol Forum training announcements board to see if anything is going on near you.

Or, check out this site a member is running: Firearms Training Hub

[Thepig]

Tell us where you are (state at least) and maybe someone in your area is a known good trainer.

Check out the Pistol Forum training announcements board to see if anything is going on near you. If it's listed there chances are it's a good course.

Spotting a bad instructor by verbiage or technique is easy with experience (like your ability to smell BS in dog trainers) but not something easily conveyed. Do a ton of reading and research and take a class from a "known commodity to learn what good is.

Northern Commiefornia, I will check that out as well as the member site suggested on page 4.

[Dave J]

The sight images, 1 and 3 don't apply to the every day shooter correct? Sight 1 is for people to have adjusted their sights for a offset on purpose so they can see the bullseye at longer range, but from my understanding #2 is the way you should be shooting if you purchased a gun.

Adding to what HCM already posted on this, you may find that the required sight picture varies with distance to target. For example, I have several guns that typically need a #3 around 5-7 yards, closer to #2 at 25, and more like #1 at 50. The longer ranges will show more variance with different ammo as well.

[HopetonBrown]

This was my plan, although now looking back on it, it was a bit naive of me to assume how I would act in a gunfight. I did mention several times that I did not plan on doing much of anything else besides bullseye shooting for accuracy, while at the same time admitting that I got my gun purely for a CCW, which may have caused some misinterpretation of what I actually was doing.

I might have to look up and see if there are some place around me to train, first questions for you though.

1. Is there any preferred company, style or training methods that I can pick out that are more recommended over others. Last thing I want to do is spend money on a bunk course with a bad instructor, I don't have much money which is why I kinda set my goals low.

2. Any ways to knowingly spot a bad instructor by verbiage or technique? Are there specific instances of proven terrible ways to train for what you are talking about? I do dog training, or have done it I should say. It's easily recognizable when somebody has little to no idea when in conversation.

3. Will my XD be fine for this? I know that it is not really a liked gun

My friend teaches pistol classes in the Bay Area. Full disclosure, I help with the cat herding. He's a former SWAT cop and current USPSA Master. PM me if you'd like details.