May not be an option but just a thought.... air rifles are quite fun to shoot. Get off the ground floor a bit on "quality" rifle so you are not frustrated by inaccuracy. Surely less expense involved, although I cannot say that for certain as I have not purchased air rifle or pellets for YEARS.
Want a Handgun for Protection Plus...
- Thread starter Vaporstang
- Start date
In that case practice dryfiring. Get some snap caps, aim at the TV (or a spot on the wall) and practice holding the pistol steady and on target while you pull the trigger. I guess I should add the warning to make sure that your pistol is unloaded. I don’t even keep ammo or loaded mags in the same room when I do this. Most NRA beginner pistol classes only require 50-100 rounds. Hopefully prices will soon drop enough that you can get the training you want.
I don't think we will see that dude in here anymore.
My wife and I bought a Walther PPK .380 in the early 1980s. It wasn't the most accurate, and it tended to jam using hollow-points, but it was cheap and good enough for having fun at the range. Some 15 years ago, as we neared retirement, we bought a Kimber .45 with a .22 conversion barrel. As we got into our 70s, my wife's arthritis has made it impossible for her to chamber a round in the .380 and .45. The .22 conversion barrel is easier for her to chamber a round, but she now wishes we had gotten a .38 revolver. I tell her if she applies for a permit we'll get a .38, but she keeps putting it off. At least for now we have loads of .380, .45 and .22lr ammo.
Yes, I do do this, also the same, I unload all of them and keep the other mags and ammo in a storage desk that's in the bedroom when I do this. No snap cap though, mine resets on the first pull on an empty chamber/mag but it's then a different pull for subsequent pulls. Not sure without looking it up, I think that is dual action.
What brand, model and caliber is it?
simon1
Self Ignored by Vista
Kind of like shaving equipment.Don't be surprised, that when you make the right selection for your one gun. You find that you enjoy it soooo much, it leads to buying another gun. And then another one. And then anot... lol'd.
I'm jealous...
School. Retired English teacher.
Welcome to the shooting sports & firearms sub-forum of B&B @mrodgers.
As a former firearms trainer, I can tell you, spending hundreds of dollars on ammo and firearms training is not necessary for a beginner who wants to own a firearm for personal home defense or personal concealed carry.
Is training not necessary for this?
Yes it is. But having to spend a bunch of money getting taught from someone else, basic handling skills, shooting techniques, marksmanship and basic home defense and personal defensive tactics is not necessary. No training when it comes to firearms training, should ever be under valued. Including and especially, the training you learn to research and teach and train yourself.
What does that mean? It means, teaching yourself, the basics in firearms skills & tactics is free. Training yourself can cost anywhere from free to just the amount it costs of putting just a bit of expensive and hard to acquire ammo, frugally, intentionally and with discretion, down range.
But before I explain all this, it would be my pleasure, to help you with this question of yours, right off the bat.
The most important thing to learn when becoming comfortable with your handgun, is to try not to over think everything. Most things about firearms that have nothing to do with the actual operation and manipulation of your new handgun, is very much common sense stuff.
you don't and won't need a paid instructor to tell you, to take your pistol into the range, unloaded and in the case or box your pistol came in when you bought it. If your pistol was bought used and not in a case? Simple common sense would suggest to go to a sporting goods store and purchase a generic pistol case to carry your unloaded pistol into a gun range with.
Other than taking your unloaded pistol to the range in a case, you may want to bring safety glasses and ear protection. Or, most gun ranges will provide both of these to their paying/shooting customers. you can also bring your own ammo, or many ranges provide that also.
Now let's get back to your concerns about training and ammo costs.
First, I would agree with you 100% on the bolded portion of your post. You don't need to follow all the boutique folks on the internet with fancy and expensive gear, or fancy and expensive training.
Let me just give you a small example of some cheap, fancy training. Let's do a hypothetical training scenerio right now, just so i can make a simple point.
Let's pretend and say, you have owned your pistol for quite awhile now, and you have already, learned all the basics in carrying, shooting, handling of the firearms and any other basics concerning home or self defense. Now let's say, you are ready to take your training up a notch, and want to learn something more advanced, that will increase your knowledge and tactics a bit further, like, "Firearms Safety in a Defensive Situation."
Sound good?
While it would be awesome, to have and spend a few hundred bucks on say a 4 hour class to go to a highly acclaimed Gun Training Academy like a Gunsite Ranch? Wouldn't it? I personally have been to Gunsite twice in my life and career in law enforcement and spent two different weeks there. But if my department wouldn't have spent the several thousand dollars for myself and a few other officers to go at that time, I probably or might not would have, ever paid for that type of advanced training myself out of my own pocket?Why? Because I couldn't afford it? No, I could afford it, but i also had kids to raise at the time and had plenty more reasons to spend that kinda dough elsewhere. But to be honest, I probably wouldn't, just because I'm a cheap bastage. I'm thankful I got to go. I think I was a better firearms instructor for our department's academy for going.
But my question is, could I or you, find a cheaper way to learn and train and practice the same things I learned in 05' and 08' at Gunsite? Or my weekend at Thunder Ranch in 10'? Or my anti-terrorism training in West Germany? Maybe? Maybe not?
The point i am trying to make is this. I enjoyed that training very much. I am and was, better for it. However, it didn't turn me into some type of combat studmuffin. And any and all training. whether it's free, or cost a bunch of money. Or you spent a weekend at some famous ranch with a self proclaimed gun guru and got the t-shirt to prove it, or whether you spent years of your own effort and time training yourself and honing the skill on a daily basis that we call 'combat pistolcraft.'
All training. And I mean all training, has the shelf life of banana's. If you don't eat those banana's soon, they are going to turn black and go bad. My complete training resume could be a page long, but any skill i learned back in 05' and 08' at a ranch in the Arizona desert doesn't help me now, if I haven't spent the time and ammo, to keep practice what I learned.
In today's current time and events, unless you are independently wealthy, have no others to be responsible for, or can train on someone else's dime other than your own, does visiting a Gunsite or Thunder Ranch 10-20 years ago, help keep my edges sharp and honed right now, in this current time? No.
Then what does? I'm retired. I'm old. But I'm healthy, my mind is sharp, and I enjoy keeping my personal edges as sharp as I possibly can, doing what i can when i can. I have the same ammo concerns about replacing what I shoot as you do. So when I train, I research and map out exactly and specifically what I want to train about and I have become an expert in getting the most out of my training with expending as little ammo as I possibly can.
Adequate and exceptional training doesn't have to mean, putting 500-1000 rounds down range. or spending money on beginning classes, that with some of your own personal time and research you can seek out and teach and train and practice yourself.
Now, back to our "hypothetical" advanced carry class of: Firearms Safety in a Defensive Situation.
You might not ever spend the money, to go to Gunsite Ranch and listen to a firearms expert and trainer like a 'Bob Whaley' teach you what to do in a defensive situation and how to keep your firearm safety.
But lookey here! Here he is teaching it on YouTube! And he's at Gunsite Ranch!
But that's just a hypothetical, if you were looking for the next advanced class. you said you are a beginner, so, here you go.
How to Train When There is No Ammo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYJk_ioERK8
Front Sight Focus - How To Instantly Shoot Like a Navy SEAL - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lMYzJpD4n8
Every single one of these videos, will and can teach you something, just like you were sitting in a class paying someone to teach you. And there are literally, hundreds more. Hundreds. You are going to see stuff, that bares witness with your mind and you're going to say, "man, that looks like somethintg I want to learn." Then map out a training plan for yourself from watching some videos that you liked on the basics, go to a gun range and simply implement it into your visit.
Read the owners manual that came with your Taurus G3C. It will show you proper gun safety. because proper gun safety is common sense and you don't need anyone to be paid to teach you that. I helped my older brother who is a long time dyed in the wool revolver guy, pick out his first semi which was also a Taurus G3C. He had no trouble learning to operate it other then by reading it's manual.
It's not rocket science. And you don't have to be a combat, pistolcraft, studmuffin, or take those classes to learn how to simply operate, manipulate, use, shoot and carry your handgun for home or self defense. Would it hurt, to learn how to be a pistolcraft studmuffin? No, not at all. But don't let those, who WANT to be all that, tell you, that you HAVE to be that, just to simply carry a pistol for your own sense of security, safety and protection of self.
In saying all this. You do, still, have the responsibility, to take on learning your weapon of choice and knowing and having the confidence, that you can research, teach, learn and practice under your own initiation and effort. Remember, it's just like bananas. if you teach yourself something and practice getting good at it. If you stop doing it and/or incorporating any and all that you learn? You will lose it over time.
no one ever forgets to learn how to ride a bike. But if we don't get on one after 20 years, we will look like crap on it and be a danger to ourselves and others until we get used to it again. Same with firearms skills.
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Welcome to the shooting sports & firearms sub-forum of B&B @mrodgers.
As a former firearms trainer, I can tell you, spending hundreds of dollars on ammo and firearms training is not necessary for a beginner who wants to own a firearm for personal home defense or personal concealed carry.
Is training not necessary for this?
Yes it is. But having to spend a bunch of money getting taught from someone else, basic handling skills, shooting techniques, marksmanship and basic home defense and personal defensive tactics is not necessary. No training when it comes to firearms training, should ever be under valued. Including and especially, the training you learn to research and teach and train yourself.
What does that mean? It means, teaching yourself, the basics in firearms skills & tactics is free. Training yourself can cost anywhere from free to just the amount it costs of putting just a bit of expensive and hard to acquire ammo, frugally, intentionally and with discretion, down range.
But before I explain all this, it would be my pleasure, to help you with this question of yours, right off the bat.
The most important thing to learn when becoming comfortable with your handgun, is to try not to over think everything. Most things about firearms that have nothing to do with the actual operation and manipulation of your new handgun, is very much common sense stuff.
you don't and won't need a paid instructor to tell you, to take your pistol into the range, unloaded and in the case or box your pistol came in when you bought it. If your pistol was bought used and not in a case? Simple common sense would suggest to go to a sporting goods store and purchase a generic pistol case to carry your unloaded pistol into a gun range with.
Other than taking your unloaded pistol to the range in a case, you may want to bring safety glasses and ear protection. Or, most gun ranges will provide both of these to their paying/shooting customers. you can also bring your own ammo, or many ranges provide that also.
Now let's get back to your concerns about training and ammo costs.
First, I would agree with you 100% on the bolded portion of your post. You don't need to follow all the boutique folks on the internet with fancy and expensive gear, or fancy and expensive training.
Let me just give you a small example of some cheap, fancy training. Let's do a hypothetical training scenerio right now, just so i can make a simple point.
Let's pretend and say, you have owned your pistol for quite awhile now, and you have already, learned all the basics in carrying, shooting, handling of the firearms and any other basics concerning home or self defense. Now let's say, you are ready to take your training up a notch, and want to learn something more advanced, that will increase your knowledge and tactics a bit further, like, "Firearms Safety in a Defensive Situation."
Sound good?
Why? Because I couldn't afford it? No, I could afford it, but i also had kids to raise at the time and had plenty more reasons to spend that kinda dough elsewhere. But to be honest, I probably wouldn't, just because I'm a cheap bastage. I'm thankful I got to go. I think I was a better firearms instructor for our department's academy for going.
But my question is, could I or you, find a cheaper way to learn and train and practice the same things I learned in 05' and 08' at Gunsite? Or my weekend at Thunder Ranch in 10'? Or my anti-terrorism training in West Germany? Maybe? Maybe not?
The point i am trying to make is this. I enjoyed that training very much. I am and was, better for it. However, it didn't turn me into some type of combat studmuffin. And any and all training. whether it's free, or cost a bunch of money. Or you spent a weekend at some famous ranch with a self proclaimed gun guru and got the t-shirt to prove it, or whether you spent years of your own effort and time training yourself and honing the skill on a daily basis that we call 'combat pistolcraft.'
All training. And I mean all training, has the shelf life of banana's. If you don't eat those banana's soon, they are going to turn black and go bad. My complete training resume could be a page long, but any skill i learned back in 05' and 08' at a ranch in the Arizona desert doesn't help me now, if I haven't spent the time and ammo, to keep practice what I learned.
In today's current time and events, unless you are independently wealthy, have no others to be responsible for, or can train on someone else's dime other than your own, does visiting a Gunsite or Thunder Ranch 10-20 years ago, help keep my edges sharp and honed right now, in this current time? No.
Then what does? I'm retired. I'm old. But I'm healthy, my mind is sharp, and I enjoy keeping my personal edges as sharp as I possibly can, doing what i can when i can. I have the same ammo concerns about replacing what I shoot as you do. So when I train, I research and map out exactly and specifically what I want to train about and I have become an expert in getting the most out of my training with expending as little ammo as I possibly can.
Adequate and exceptional training doesn't have to mean, putting 500-1000 rounds down range. or spending money on beginning classes, that with some of your own personal time and research you can seek out and teach and train and practice yourself.
Now, back to our "hypothetical" advanced carry class of: Firearms Safety in a Defensive Situation.
You might not ever spend the money, to go to Gunsite Ranch and listen to a firearms expert and trainer like a 'Bob Whaley' teach you what to do in a defensive situation and how to keep your firearm safety.
But lookey here! Here he is teaching it on YouTube! And he's at Gunsite Ranch!
But that's just a hypothetical, if you were looking for the next advanced class. you said you are a beginner, so, here you go.
How to Train When There is No Ammo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYJk_ioERK8
Front Sight Focus - How To Instantly Shoot Like a Navy SEAL - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lMYzJpD4n8
Every single one of these videos, will and can teach you something, just like you were sitting in a class paying someone to teach you. And there are literally, hundreds more. Hundreds. You are going to see stuff, that bares witness with your mind and you're going to say, "man, that looks like somethintg I want to learn." Then map out a training plan for yourself from watching some videos that you liked on the basics, go to a gun range and simply implement it into your visit.
Read the owners manual that came with your Taurus G3C. It will show you proper gun safety. because proper gun safety is common sense and you don't need anyone to be paid to teach you that. I helped my older brother who is a long time dyed in the wool revolver guy, pick out his first semi which was also a Taurus G3C. He had no trouble learning to operate it other then by reading it's manual.
It's not rocket science. And you don't have to be a combat, pistolcraft, studmuffin, or take those classes to learn how to simply operate, manipulate, use, shoot and carry your handgun for home or self defense. Would it hurt, to learn how to be a pistolcraft studmuffin? No, not at all. But don't let those, who WANT to be all that, tell you, that you HAVE to be that, just to simply carry a pistol for your own sense of security, safety and protection of self.
In saying all this. You do, still, have the responsibility, to take on learning your weapon of choice and knowing and having the confidence, that you can research, teach, learn and practice under your own initiation and effort. Remember, it's just like bananas. if you teach yourself something and practice getting good at it. If you stop doing it and/or incorporating any and all that you learn? You will lose it over time.
no one ever forgets to learn how to ride a bike. But don't get on one after 20 years and you will look like crap on it and be a danger to yourself until you get used to it again. Same with firearms skills.
This may be the best post on firearms ever. I am reserved with my range time due to the availability of ammo, but I try to go every once in a while to keep my skills sharp, or sharper than they would be otherwise. I was trained as an Infantry Soldier, but without continued range time, it does nothing for me. I went from Infantry to signal, but range time is still critical. And despite the training, I would never say I am a not a "combat studmuffin" nor do I know anyone who would say that regardless of how many deployments they have been on.
Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
Exactly!
All training is good. Whether it was paid for or self taught. But I find, those that insist beginners, pay for expensive classes for instructors to teach them, simple, and basic firearms manipulation and use, is something they can research and teach themselves.
I would argue, the largest percentage of gun owners here, never really took their first advanced training class, until they were pretty far into gun ownership and had their own personal fascination with firearms or at least were on the road to being an enthusiast.
Why pay for a class as a beginner if you can't afford it, or don't want to replace the ammo amount that the paid instructor will dictate how much you bring, when a beginner, can simply read and learn this
Total beginners guide to guns
Our one page, non-political beginners guide to guns explains all the basics you need to know, from laws and lingo to the best calibers for self defense.
theprepared.com
Then go to a range on their own and shoot the amount of ammo they can afford and desire to shoot themselves, following what they learned about the mechanics and manipulation from the link above or their guns owner's manual. I think many attempt to push all this advanced training and classes, because they are about that within themselves, so they assume that every gun owner should be about that also.
I call it, doctrinal dodoo...
No one gun owner, can or should dictate their personal preference for their own training, as if it is a standard for all other people who carry a gun for self protection. My wife, who carries a Ruger LCP II and Glock 43 on her person sometimes and in a specifically designed zippored pocket on her purse sometimes for self protection, doesn't have to be able to draw it out and hit a 3x5 index card with 3 shots in 1.5 seconds or someone will say, she shouldn't be carrying?Would it be great if she could? Yes. Do I want her not to carry when she is making bank deposit drops for her job after dark because she can't? Hell no, I want her to carry and still do the best she can to protect herself. Do I want or should the standards in and for adequate and acceptable training for people who want to carry for self defense, be made up by and enforced by those who want and choose to run and gun and play gunfighter?
No, I do not. Because they don't have realistic standards for everyday, normal people, who carry for self defense.
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“I call it, doctrinal dodoo... No one gun owner, can or should dictate their personal preference for their own training, as if it is a standard for all other people who carry a gun for self protection. My wife, who carries a Ruger LCP II and Glock 43 on her person sometimes and in a specifically designed zippored pocket on her purse sometimes for self protection, doesn't have to be able to draw it out and hit a 3x5 index card with 3 shots in 1.5 seconds or someone will say, she shouldn't be carrying?
Would it be great if she could? Yes. Do I want her not to carry when she is making bank deposit drops for her job after dark because she can't? Hell no, I want her to carry and still do the best she can to protect herself. Do I want or should the standards in and for adequate and acceptable training for people who want to carry for self defense, be made up by and enforced by those who want and choose to run and gun and play gunfighter?
No, I do not. Because they don't have realistic standards for everyday, normal people, who carry for self defense.”
Damn…wish I had said that!!
No one gun owner, can or should dictate their personal preference for their own training, as if it is a standard for all other people who carry a gun for self protection. My wife, who carries a Ruger LCP II and Glock 43 on her person sometimes and in a specifically designed zippored pocket on her purse sometimes for self protection, doesn't have to be able to draw it out and hit a 3x5 index card with 3 shots in 1.5 seconds or someone will say, she shouldn't be carrying?Would it be great if she could? Yes. Do I want her not to carry when she is making bank deposit drops for her job after dark because she can't? Hell no, I want her to carry and still do the best she can to protect herself. Do I want or should the standards in and for adequate and acceptable training for people who want to carry for self defense, be made up by and enforced by those who want and choose to run and gun and play gunfighter?
No, I do not. Because they don't have realistic standards for everyday, normal people, who carry for self defense.”
Damn…wish I had said that!!
Lol’d.
.I get more practice and better acclimated with my personal defense weapon; at speed, when I am simply standing in front of my bedroom mirror, with my empty weapon, a handful of snap caps and a holster on my hip, then trying to do the same sending hundreds of dollars worth of ammo down the throat of a static range.
I’m not saying don’t go to the range. I’m saying, a beginner, can easily get really good with their guns operation and familiarity, before ever firing a shot. No need of an expensive class or expert firearms instructor, or hundreds of dollars in ammo. And it don’t take long either. Then go to the range and save money, simply by making every shot you now throw down range... Count.
Am I crazy thinking this, or can I get a witness? (doing my best Holy Ghost jig...).
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I still think the glock 19 is the best do all handgun.
I carry a Colt 1911 Gold Cup and my brides weapon of choice is a Beretta 92FS. Both will drive tacks.
AMEN! PREACH IT BROTHER PASTOR!Lol’d.
I get more practice and better acclimated with my personal defense weapon; at speed, when I am simply standing in front of my bedroom mirror, with my empty weapon, a handful of snap caps and a holster on my hip, then trying to do the same sending hundreds of dollars worth of ammo down the throat of a static range.
I’m not saying don’t go to the range. I’m saying, a beginner, can easily get really good with their guns operation and familiarity, before ever firing a shot. No need of an expensive class or expert firearms instructor, or hundreds of dollars in ammo. And it don’t take long either. Then go to the range and save money, simply by making every shot you now throw down range... Count.
Am I crazy thinking this, or can I get a witness? (doing my best Holy Ghost jig...).
@OkieStubble , and any other "expert" (lol, could NOT resist: have you (or anyone else?) ever shoot those laser thingies out of your EDC gun that make spring loaded plasticy like tin cans that pop up in the air if you hit it? I think that those could be a REAL cheap training/just for fun tool, especially with the cost of ammo.
And if any of you like/love those danged things my wife will be mad AT YOU for me buying one!
I'm da king of deflection, Baby!
And if any of you like/love those danged things my wife will be mad AT YOU for me buying one!
I'm da king of deflection, Baby!
I have made the wife mad on a few occasions when lining up several rolls of toilet paper to use as target practice with the BB gun inside the house.
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