Help Give Me Some Advice On New Pistol Purchase

[HopetonBrown]

and enrolled in some more advanced classes.

Cool. Which ones?

[LockedBreech]

I spent literally years having every gun under the sun, but the boring advice of this forum works. When I narrowed down to 9mm only, then striker triggers only, then finally the Smith M2.0 series guns in 9mm for all serious work, I got profoundly better. I forget what poster here gave me this advice, but I spend 80% of my range time on the M2.0s (my "core" guns) and the other 20% on a fun gun, sometimes a 1911, sometimes a Beretta 92. That way you get all the variety but you continue to hone your core strengths. I denied it for a long time, but unless you're a 99th-percentile shooter, you can only truly recognize your greatest skill level by sticking to one caliber and platform.

[plotinus]

Cool. Which ones?

I enrolled in a tactical shooting course ran by some local ex special forces guys, unfortunately it doesn’t start until April as it is at an outdoor shooting area and the weather here is rather nasty at the moment. The other is just an advanced pistol technique course at my local range, I don’t know if I’ll get much out of it, I was told it’d cover principles useful for aspiring competitive shooters; it’s not much of a risk at the price and I know some of the guys there are pretty good marksmen. I’ve been on the lookout for other classes, but there don’t seem to be a ton of other options in my area at the moment.

[RJ]

Update: Thanks to the stellar advice on this thread, I’ve made some changes to my approach to shooting. I now own only two pistols, a VP9L and VP9 standard. I sold the P30 and CZ I had, was able to pay for the HK long slide kit, buy a new VP9 frame on which to put the left over standard slide after converting, bought a few thousand rounds to bolster my stockpile, and enrolled in some more advanced classes. I also will be trying my hand at competition, and fully expect to get slaughtered.

Outstanding. I am very interested to hear how it goes. Good luck!!

[plotinus]

I spent literally years having every gun under the sun, but the boring advice of this forum works. When I narrowed down to 9mm only, then striker triggers only, then finally the Smith M2.0 series guns in 9mm for all serious work, I got profoundly better. I forget what poster here gave me this advice, but I spend 80% of my range time on the M2.0s (my "core" guns) and the other 20% on a fun gun, sometimes a 1911, sometimes a Beretta 92. That way you get all the variety but you continue to hone your core strengths. I denied it for a long time, but unless you're a 99th-percentile shooter, you can only truly recognize your greatest skill level by sticking to one caliber and platform.

I was starting to go down that route of constantly collecting and cycling through several different types of guns. I’ve only been shooting and dry firing with my chosen platform for the past several days, and I feel like I’m already benefiting from the consistency (maybe that’s just psychological). I like the idea of spending a bit of time on a fun gun— I like shooting 1911 so I will probably go that route too eventually.

[plotinus]

Another update: thanks to the advice I received, I’m in the process of joining a local USPSA club. In other news, I did deviate from the advice a little bit. I got a pretty good tax return and thus picked up an HK P30L V1 and CZ Shadow 2. So I now have four pistols (along with some long guns I’m retaining if I ever decide to do 3 gun).

I’m primarily training with the VP9L and standard still, but I used one of the other poster’s advice of shooting a “fun gun” for a more minor portion of range time, and I have to say I think my Shadow 2 has a good chance of becoming my primary shooter. I conceal carry my standard VP9 though and that’s unlikely to change. I know everyone said I should minimize my inventory, and I intend to only focus on one platform, I just happened to get some great deals on the aforementioned new acquisitions. I also kind of figured that the Shadow 2 and P30L are both guns that retain their value fairly well, so if I did decide to part with them down the line, I likely wouldn’t take too much of a loss.

The one thing I don’t like, and I’m a newbie still to all this, is that I can’t run the Shadow 2 cocked and locked in production competition, it has to be manually decocked. I’m sure everyone else knows this, but I was slightly disappointed because I hate switching from da to sa, for this reason the VP9 will likely remain my platform of choice, though I have one more minor gripe about that... not enough VP9L editions exist to qualify for certain competition criteria, so until HK decides to crank them out in greater numbers I likely will not be able to use it in competition.

Just an update for everyone who gave me stellar advice. I know I deviated a bit by obtaining new guns, but my training regime is heavily influenced by your advice: 3 days live fire at the range primarily focused on the same platform, four days dry fire. We will see how much the additional training I’ve sought out helps in the long run.

[olstyn]

The one thing I don’t like, and I’m a newbie still to all this, is that I can’t run the Shadow 2 cocked and locked in production competition, it has to be manually decocked. I’m sure everyone else knows this, but I was slightly disappointed because I hate switching from da to sa

If you hate the Shadow 2's DA/SA transition, I shudder to think about how you'd feel about shooting a more normal DA/SA gun. The Shadow 2 had a buttery smooth, very light DA pull, and the SA is like a mouse click. What more do you want? I mean, I personally don't like the idea of that particular gun because I dislike the manual decocking dance, but there is literal nothing to complain about in regard to the trigger.

[GlockenSpiel]

I also kind of figured that the Shadow 2 and P30L are both guns that retain their value fairly well, so if I did decide to part with them down the line, I likely wouldn’t take too much of a loss.

Both are widely-available current production pistols that you bought new, which isn't the formula for retaining resale value. You clearly have the income to play around with new guns and more power to you! But I know I've played the it'll-retain-value games to justify fun purchases before, and it's best to just be realistic about why and where you're spending your discretionary funds.

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[plotinus]

Both are widely-available current production pistols that you bought new, which isn't the formula for retaining resale value. You clearly have the income to play around with new guns and more power to you! But I know I've played the it'll-retain-value games to justify fun purchases before, and it's best to just be realistic about why and where you're spending your discretionary funds.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

There may be a bit of unnecessary internal justification occurring, this is true.

[Jim Watson]

The one thing I don’t like, and I’m a newbie still to all this, is that I can’t run the Shadow 2 cocked and locked in production competition, it has to be manually decocked. I’m sure everyone else knows this, but I was slightly disappointed because I hate switching from da to sa, for this reason the VP9 will likely remain my platform of choice, though I have one more minor gripe about that... not enough VP9L editions exist to qualify for certain competition criteria, so until HK decides to crank them out in greater numbers I likely will not be able to use it in competition.

So check the box for Limited Minor, shoot cocked and locked and fill the magazine up, too.
Production seems to have shifted from an entry level Division to a specialists' game.
Beginners are being encouraged to shoot Limited Minor so as to not have to plan reloads so often.