noob

[R/T Performance]

Welcome buying some snap caps{fake bullets avalible ay most sporting goods stores} to practice loading and rackingat home start shooting a a close range[7 yardsor15feet] with a body size target this will help you under stand sights sqeeze trigger if your from MI. I'm always looking for shooting buddy's

[pilar]

thanks for all the good advice... i'm not totally new to guns, just handguns, so i'm familiar with the 10 rules and muzzle awareness etc. i guess my inquiry was more along the lines of, what exactly do i do at the range? when i go shotgunning, the routine is pretty straightforward... say "pull," and hope for broken clay. do i dump a whole mag into a target and hope for the best when i retrieve it? do i shoot 1, 3, 5 at a time? what's a good practice routine for someone starting out? btw, i'm at school in charlottesville, va (but richmond, harrisonburg, and metro dc arent too far) in case someone wants to take me under their wing at least for the first time out. also, i discovered a first steps pistol course near me which wasnt nearly as expensive as my shotgun course, so i might be willing to shell out the dollars and give that a try again, but its not til the end of february, so who knows if i'll give in to the urge to take the xd to the range sooner than that. thanks again ~eric

[[TASF]Overkill]

Pillar... I live 2 hours from you, give or take.

Lynchburg or Bath County, take your pick.

[garyk]

Pilar,
If you go shooting with Overkill, Please try to resist the temptation to wear underwear on your head. One shirthead is enough!

[retired]

My dept. uses Berettas 92f 9mm (15+1). We are trained to shoot (when the target turns facing us at 25 yards) 3 shots. We do that until we shoot 30 rounds. The reason they went to that is pretty simple. When we first went to semi-autos in late 89 after using revolvers since 1850, the dept. discovered it wasn't abnormal for deputies involved in an on duty shooting to empty their mags, reload and shoot somemore, usually putting most of the rounds off target.

The 3 shot training resulted in a drastic change for the better, since when one is trained repeatedly to shoot a certain way, instinct takes over when the actual shooting occurs (or so we are told), even with adrenalin flowing.

Just my .02 cents.

[cjangel310]

Originally Posted by pilar

picking up my xd9 tomorrow. its my first handgun, and i've only fired a few rounds through a friend's. many would recommend an NRA first steps or something, but i wasnt really pleased with my first steps shotgun course. half of it was the instructor regurgitating generic instructions from a shotgun owners manual, and when it came time to shoot clay, the instructor basically loaded the chamber and said, "off you go." so i think this time around, after familiarizing myself with the xd in and out and dry firing for a bit, i'm just gonna go to the range and wing it. and i'll use a gym analogy since that's mainly how i bide my time. there are people in the gym who arent in shape, but who look like, if they stick with it, they'll get there in no time. proper form, proper workout routine, obeying all the gym rules. and then there's the guy who comes in wearing slippers and whose 1-hr in the gym consists of 5 actual sets of lifting weight that is way too light and with grossly improper form. both guys are bad, but the former will get better. what do i need to know to be the first guy? i dont care if i'm shooting 10" groups; i can handle people thinking i'm a bad shooter. of course. i'm new at it. i just dont wanna be the guy that some expert walks up to out of pity and embarrasment for me to show me what i should be doing. so, i get to the range, familiarize myself with the range rules, get my gear straight, then what? what's a good "workout plan" for me to follow? should i first browse border's books for a training guide? thanks alot for the advice.

My husband is getting an XD9SC this weekend and boy I can't wait to try it out too!

[hobocircus]

pilar

do i dump a whole mag into a target and hope for the best when i retrieve it? do i shoot 1, 3, 5 at a time? what's a good practice routine for someone starting out?

This isn't a golf tournament or a ice skating championship. Shooting at the range is your time and no one else. Don't sweat the little details. Shoot your paper targets, punch some holes in it. Change your target and do it again. You don't need to shoot, 5 and then 8 and then shoot 2. Have some fun and do what you want. Be safe and learn some basics as you go along.

Relax