I fired my first handgun today

[CaptainPike]

I've fired rifles and shotguns in the past, but never a handgun. I went to an indoor shooting range about 20 minutes from my home.

I fired a .22 Ruger. I think this is it:
http://www.gunmuse.com/firebase_images/263L.jpg

Nothing too fancy. Has barely any kick. The other guys around me must have been firing elephant guns because I could feel their shots.

My accuracy was pretty good. I'm not sure why, but I always hit maybe 5 inches or so higher than what I was aiming at. Horizontally my aim was much tighter. Vertically, it was always off. Maybe I was squeezing the trigger too fast?

I think I'll go back next weekend and see if they'll let me fire a more powerful gun. Right now I don't own a handgun. They loaned me all of the equipment I needed.

Total cost was 25 dollars. That was the range fee, gun earmuffs and glasses, and a box of ammo.

[Vaard]

two blinks for pull trigger?


i love how star trek was supposed to be so advanced, but all pike got was a red or green light.......

[Samm]

I've fired rifles and shotguns in the past, but never a handgun. I went to an indoor shooting range about 20 minutes from my home.

I fired a .22 Ruger. I think this is it:
http://www.gunmuse.com/firebase_images/263L.jpg

Nothing too fancy. Has barely any kick. The other guys around me must have been firing elephant guns because I could feel their shots.

My accuracy was pretty good. I'm not sure why, but I always hit maybe 5 inches or so higher than what I was aiming at. Horizontally my aim was much tighter. Vertically, it was always off. Maybe I was squeezing the trigger too fast?

I think I'll go back next weekend and see if they'll let me fire a more powerful gun. Right now I don't own a handgun. They loaned me all of the equipment I needed.

Total cost was 25 dollars. That was the range fee, gun earmuffs and glasses, and a box of ammo.

There is a natural tendency... particularly with new shooters... to pull the gun off line vertically. It comes from your trigger finger not completely "decoupling" from the rest of your hand. But shooting high is good... if you were consistently low, it would indicate pulling the gun downward as you pull the trigger... not as easy to over come. You also could be shooting high because you are holding the wrong sight picture (Most people sight in their target pistols so that the black bull will sit atop the front site. Centering the post on the center of target will result in a high shot.) or because the gun is not sighted in for the distance that you were shooting.

The fact that you are holding horizontal in line means you have the rest of the fundamentals down fairly well. Practice will soon get you into the 10 ring.

[ConstitutionHugger]

I've fired rifles and shotguns in the past, but never a handgun. I went to an indoor shooting range about 20 minutes from my home.

I fired a .22 Ruger. I think this is it:
http://www.gunmuse.com/firebase_images/263L.jpg

Nothing too fancy. Has barely any kick. The other guys around me must have been firing elephant guns because I could feel their shots.

My accuracy was pretty good. I'm not sure why, but I always hit maybe 5 inches or so higher than what I was aiming at. Horizontally my aim was much tighter. Vertically, it was always off. Maybe I was squeezing the trigger too fast?

I think I'll go back next weekend and see if they'll let me fire a more powerful gun. Right now I don't own a handgun. They loaned me all of the equipment I needed.

Total cost was 25 dollars. That was the range fee, gun earmuffs and glasses, and a box of ammo.

welcome to the club!!!
Just don't shoot a 1911, if you do you'll love it so much that you'll be buying one!! least that's how it was for me.:lol::lol::lol:
My wife gets mad at me if I don't bring her AR and my 1911 whenever we go shooting:lol:

[camarozz]

welcome to the club!!!
Just don't shoot a 1911, if you do you'll love it so much that you'll be buying one!! least that's how it was for me.:lol::lol::lol:
My wife gets mad at me if I don't bring her AR and my 1911 whenever we go shooting:lol:

As long as its balanced well, and accurate, the bigger guns are so fun to shoot.

I have shot .38spl mostly, and a couple .357 revolvers and love them; but I just recently bought a cougar .40 and that is the best gun I have ever shot.

I shot a 44 mag once, hurt my wrist and elbow and shoulder...

[CaptainPike]

As long as its balanced well, and accurate, the bigger guns are so fun to shoot.

I have shot .38spl mostly, and a couple .357 revolvers and love them; but I just recently bought a cougar .40 and that is the best gun I have ever shot.

I shot a 44 mag once, hurt my wrist and elbow and shoulder...

I don't know. Hopefully the extra weight of the bigger guns reduces the recoil a little. I could literally feel a shockwave coming from the other guys guns beside me, and there was even a dividing wall. But hell, I'll give it a try if they'll let me shoot a bigger gun.

The .22 ammo was dirt cheap IMO.

[Dual867PowerMac]

You didn't shoot yourself. That's a plus. :cool:

[driabyor]

44 mag does give quite a kick...
Once I reloaded some 9 mm that were a little to hot..... when testing new loads, I build 6 rounds to test. we when to our little ole shooting place, set up the target.... and proceeded .... the 1st round I fired, kicked out the empty, plus a live round to the ground and cocked the 2nd live round sideways in the slide.... it was what the moment... when back to the book.... they had about twice the powder in them, that they where supposed to have...

[driabyor]

the gun shop here has a .416 setting on the counter... really mean looking but the 4 to 5 grand keeps it out of my hands

they had some empty rounds setting beside it also.. I asked how much.. 10 bucks a pop.....

[Samm]

As long as its balanced well, and accurate, the bigger guns are so fun to shoot.

I have shot .38spl mostly, and a couple .357 revolvers and love them; but I just recently bought a cougar .40 and that is the best gun I have ever shot.

I shot a 44 mag once, hurt my wrist and elbow and shoulder...

If a 44 mag is hurting your wrist, elbow and shoulder you are doing something wrong. Probably holding it too tightly and trying to prevent the gun from rising. Hold it firmly, but not tightly and let the recoil lift your arm rotating from the shoulder. A very light weight gun, like the S&W scandium frame backpacker in .44 mag will sting your hand, but still it should not hurt upstream to your elbow and shoulder.

Now a .500 S&W or a .480 Ruger... those can hurt your wrist, elbow and shoulder after a cylider full regardless of how you hold it.

[blackcatrun]

I am not great with a hand gun. I can hit much of what I aim at if the over think thing doesnt happen. Off the cuff, I am not bad at all.

I am more to the Rifle class it's very rare to miss anything I aim at even running full tilt at deer.

My dad used to tell me it's the barrel distance VS the short barrel of a hand gun.
I over think the target instead of just lining up the sights and pounding in the rounds where they should be. He got me better in grouping, but I am not great at all.

[blackcatrun]

If a 44 mag is hurting your wrist, elbow and shoulder you are doing something wrong. Probably holding it too tightly and trying to prevent the gun from rising. Hold it firmly, but not tightly and let the recoil lift your arm rotating from the shoulder. A very light weight gun, like the S&W scandium frame backpacker in .44 mag will sting your hand, but still it should not hurt upstream to your elbow and shoulder.

Now a .500 S&W or a .480 Ruger... those can hurt your wrist, elbow and shoulder after a cylider full regardless of how you hold it.

What about amid sized .45?
Are the revolvers better or Semi for those like me who can shoot well but not great with a hand gun?
I have a 380 semi which after a clip seems harder to hit anything at all for some resoan.
Maybe I would do better with a revolver?

[Thank you Troops]

Be careful, that's a handgun. I have heard that they will attack and start killing people.

[camarozz]

If a 44 mag is hurting your wrist, elbow and shoulder you are doing something wrong. Probably holding it too tightly and trying to prevent the gun from rising. Hold it firmly, but not tightly and let the recoil lift your arm rotating from the shoulder. A very light weight gun, like the S&W scandium frame backpacker in .44 mag will sting your hand, but still it should not hurt upstream to your elbow and shoulder.

Now a .500 S&W or a .480 Ruger... those can hurt your wrist, elbow and shoulder after a cylider full regardless of how you hold it.

yeah, I realized very quickly what I did wrong. :)

I was 14, and did exactly what you say I did. It even forced me to take a couple steps back to keep from falling over. that was the first time I ever shot that big of a gun, only other one was my dads .357 mag cowboy action. That one shoots nice, just highly inaccruate; well for my limited experience. My snub nose .357 is much more accurate.

[camarozz]

What about amid sized .45?
Are the revolvers better or Semi for those like me who can shoot well but not great with a hand gun?
I have a 380 semi which after a clip seems harder to hit anything at all for some resoan.
Maybe I would do better with a revolver?

generally the longer the barrel, the more accurate the shot. Also, most fixed sights are not really usable they are more generic reference. I think that is why my dads .357 is inaccurate.

What I do is point the barrel like I was pointing my finger, seems to work for me.

[RickRhetoric]

Maybe I was squeezing the trigger too fast?

Probably. The trick is to practice and learn to pull the trigger so smoothly and gently that it's a surprise or unexpected when the gun fires. If you know exactly when the gun is going to fire, you'll flinch. Be cool!

Shooting a handgun is enjoyable and more challenging than a rifle. Indoor ranges are okay if there's nothing else available (better than nothing). But what's fun is find a safe place in the country (rural area) to shoot at bottles, tin cans, abandoned cars and stuff.

Children, particularly toddlers, love it! Take ear protection.

[Samm]

What about amid sized .45?
Are the revolvers better or Semi for those like me who can shoot well but not great with a hand gun?
I have a 380 semi which after a clip seems harder to hit anything at all for some resoan.
Maybe I would do better with a revolver?

What about mid-sized .45s do you want to know? :eh:

Accuracy shooting is not particularly dependent on revolver vs. semi-auto. Top-of-the-line target pistols are semi-auto, but I have seen people (not me) drive tacks with revolvers. What counts is quality of the gun, technique and practice. Revolvers though are very simple. Operational failures are extremely rare, whereas there are a number of things that can cause operational failure with semi-autos.

I cannot think of any good reason for your decline of accuracy with the .380 after one magazine... My best guess is that you are subconsciously afraid of it and are flinching, although I cannot imagine why.

[Samm]

yeah, I realized very quickly what I did wrong. :)

I was 14, and did exactly what you say I did. It even forced me to take a couple steps back to keep from falling over. that was the first time I ever shot that big of a gun, only other one was my dads .357 mag cowboy action. That one shoots nice, just highly inaccruate; well for my limited experience. My snub nose .357 is much more accurate.

I have been shooting .44 mags since I was 14... Ruger Blackhawk... not the best grip for such a powerful cartridge. I developed the technique of holding it loosely then "catching" it as it recoiled. I hold it more firmly now (slower reactions?), but I am so used to that gun that I can shoot it like it was a .22 and can hit what I point it at without aiming. Great gun.

[Samm]

generally the longer the barrel, the more accurate the shot. Also, most fixed sights are not really usable they are more generic reference. I think that is why my dads .357 is inaccurate.

What I do is point the barrel like I was pointing my finger, seems to work for me.

Barrel length affects bullet velocity and trajectory. At pistol target ranges the barrel length is no so important as the sight radius. Shorter sight radius makes it more difficult to line up the shot. There are some target pistols that extend the front sight beyond the muzzle to improve accuracy. The Smith 41 for instance: http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=134987332

[camarozz]

I have been shooting .44 mags since I was 14... Ruger Blackhawk... not the best grip for such a powerful cartridge. I developed the technique of holding it loosely then "catching" it as it recoiled. I hold it more firmly now (slower reactions?), but I am so used to that gun that I can shoot it like it was a .22 and can hit what I point it at without aiming. Great gun.

I do gotta say, that when I hit the target (a large gallon paint can with ? in it), it made for a big mess. Loved that part.

I got to shoot it mostly as a fluke, I have not gotten another chance to shoot one again.

I have shot .22, .38, .357, .45acp, and now .40, I find all of those enjoyable to shoot and would not give up a chance to go .44 mag or .50 but I would probably not own one. (unless I got an unbelievable deal)

[camarozz]

Barrel length affects bullet velocity and trajectory. At pistol target ranges the barrel length is no so important as the sight radius. Shorter sight radius makes it more difficult to line up the shot. There are some target pistols that extend the front sight beyond the muzzle to improve accuracy. The Smith 41 for instance: http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=134987332

I have not heard of "sight radius" before; what is that?

[Samm]

I have not heard of "sight radius" before; what is that?

Sight radius is the distance between the front sight; the fixed point -the center of the circle - that you hold on target, and the rear sight which rotates about that point as you set up your sight picture. The longer the radius (within reason) the easier it is to line up and hold your shot, thus improving accuracy.

[ConstitutionHugger]

As long as its balanced well, and accurate, the bigger guns are so fun to shoot.

I have shot .38spl mostly, and a couple .357 revolvers and love them; but I just recently bought a cougar .40 and that is the best gun I have ever shot.

I shot a 44 mag once, hurt my wrist and elbow and shoulder...

without a doubt. I would love to have one of those 500S&W snubbys for CC.
Be dang good for snakes either the slithering or 2 legged kind

[VCaddy05]

Congrats!!! you have taken another step in gaining your mancard! lol, a 22 is a good one to start off with, once you upgrade to 9mm, and .40's it will take a bit more practice. The first handgun i shot was an old colt 1911 .45 when i was like 12! i remember grazing the outside of the target and knicking off about 1/4 of the size of the bullet off the edge after about 5 rounds. good times! now i have all kinds of firearms and love em, just havent had the time to get out and use em much lately

[Dragon1963]

My first handgun firing was with three different calibers. I rented a .22 Ruger, a 9mm Berreta, and a Colt 1911. I fell in love with the 1911. Unforetunatly I couldn't afford any of the weapons at that time, and I eventually bought a S&W 3913 from a friend.

[ALBOB2]

I don't know. Hopefully the extra weight of the bigger guns reduces the recoil a little. I could literally feel a shockwave coming from the other guys guns beside me, and there was even a dividing wall. But hell, I'll give it a try if they'll let me shoot a bigger gun.

The .22 ammo was dirt cheap IMO.

Don't be in a big hurry to jump into shooting hand cannons. HUGE congrats to your gun range staff. They usually try to immediately turn every newby that walks in the door into Dirty Harry. They started you off right, you should thank them immensly.

Stick with the .22 until you learn proper sight picture and trigger control, then you can move up the caliber ladder slowly. The worst thing you can possibly do is go straight for the big bore option and develop a flinch like Rick mentioned. Once you develop a bad habit, it's VERY difficult to unlearn it. And besides, you already learned that .22 ammo is dirt cheap. have fun without breaking the bank.

Something else you mentioned; the bigger the handgun, the more it absorbes recoil. That's true, so when it's time to move up to a larger caliber, choose a gun with a longer barrel. .38 Special loads out of a 6" .357 magnum will feel about the same as the .22 you're shooting now. On the other hand, you take those same .38 Specials and put them in a snub nose revolver and it's going to kick much more. Not to the point of being painful, but definitely noticable.

Welcome to the wonderful world of handgunning. You realize all those liberal gun grabbers hate you now, right? :D

P.S. If you're not already a member of the NRA, JOIN!!!

[blackcatrun]

What about mid-sized .45s do you want to know? :eh:

Accuracy shooting is not particularly dependent on revolver vs. semi-auto. Top-of-the-line target pistols are semi-auto, but I have seen people (not me) drive tacks with revolvers. What counts is quality of the gun, technique and practice. Revolvers though are very simple. Operational failures are extremely rare, whereas there are a number of things that can cause operational failure with semi-autos.

I cannot think of any good reason for your decline of accuracy with the .380 after one magazine... My best guess is that you are subconsciously afraid of it and are flinching, although I cannot imagine why.

I found out why yesterday.
There was a loose screw under the rear sights that moved off center while firing,my brother told me to check on it because he had fired it last and tightened it down once. It was a tiny bit loose under this little plate thing over the ajustment for the rear sights, I got some lock tight on it and realined the sights and painted the front sight orange. I am going to fire it later on today to see if that was my problem.
I would still like to get a revolver in the .45 calibor. I just dont know which company, maybe S&W? I hear good things about them.

[blackcatrun]

generally the longer the barrel, the more accurate the shot. Also, most fixed sights are not really usable they are more generic reference. I think that is why my dads .357 is inaccurate.

What I do is point the barrel like I was pointing my finger, seems to work for me.

Thats sorta what I resorted to which worked better than trying to be pin point.
However it helps if there isnt a lose windage sight to get it into the ball park. First left then right...Geeze nothing like the looks of you stink.

I had to put lock tight on my Marlin 30/30 rifle sights {front} because the screws loosened after a few shots. The rear sight I broke one day in the bush. I fretted something awful over the wounding of my beloved hunting rifle. They put on a one piece fixed sight instead of the flip sight.
This worked great. They gave me five rounds to go out and fire at some targets to sight it in. I pegged every can at diffrent distances with no problem. I was sooo relieved.

[Samm]

I found out why yesterday.
There was a loose screw under the rear sights that moved off center while firing,my brother told me to check on it because he had fired it last and tightened it down once. It was a tiny bit loose under this little plate thing over the ajustment for the rear sights, I got some lock tight on it and realined the sights and painted the front sight orange. I am going to fire it later on today to see if that was my problem.
I would still like to get a revolver in the .45 calibor. I just dont know which company, maybe S&W? I hear good things about them.

Yes S&W are good, as are Rugers and several others. Which .45 caliber round are you meaning? .45 ACP; .45 Colt; 454 Casull? And what is your primary purpose for the gun? Defense, target shooting, cowboy shooting, hunting? There are so many choices in specific models, you must have some idea what you want before you go out looking.

[ConstitutionHugger]

Yes S&W are good, as are Rugers and several others. Which .45 caliber round are you meaning? .45 ACP; .45 Colt; 454 Casull? And what is your primary purpose for the gun? Defense, target shooting, cowboy shooting, hunting? There are so many choices in specific models, you must have some idea what you want before you go out looking.

Unless i am mistaken he can get a gun that is chambered for 454 Casul and use 45lc for practice with light loads.

Charter arms also seems to have some decent quality revolvers that won't break the bank.

[Samm]

Unless i am mistaken he can get a gun that is chambered for 454 Casul and use 45lc for practice with light loads.

Charter arms also seems to have some decent quality revolvers that won't break the bank.

That is correct, but if he plans to shoot 454s he must buy a gun that chambers them; if that is not his desire, he does not need to buy such a cannon.

My point is, that before he goes to a gun store and says "I want to buy a .45 revolver" he needs to know what he is asking for.

[ConstitutionHugger]

That is correct, but if he plans to shoot 454s he must buy a gun that chambers them; if that is not his desire, he does not need to buy such a cannon.

My point is, that before he goes to a gun store and says "I want to buy a .45 revolver" he needs to know what he is asking for.

Right, Just pointing out a multi pourpose 45 revolver.

[CaptainPike]

I made it back to the shooting range today. Shot a 9mm. Way more power than a 22. And the ammo was a lot higher too. My aim was all over the place, but I think it also has something to do with other people speed shooting beside me and breaking my concentration.

I think a 22 might be good enough for home defense. My only question is, how does it look to a judge when you have to shoot someone multiple times when you could have maybe dropped him with one shot if you used a more powerful gun?

[Samm]

I made it back to the shooting range today. Shot a 9mm. Way more power than a 22. And the ammo was a lot higher too. My aim was all over the place, but I think it also has something to do with other people speed shooting beside me and breaking my concentration.

I think a 22 might be good enough for home defense. My only question is, how does it look to a judge when you have to shoot someone multiple times when you could have maybe dropped him with one shot if you used a more powerful gun?

A 22 is good enough for home defense if you want to make the invader mad. If you want to stop him, use a real gun.

Don't know about a judge... probably depends entirely on the individual. Some judges I know would chew you out for taking multiple shots with a .22... instead of using one shot from a 12 gauge.

[jeepers]

I made it back to the shooting range today. Shot a 9mm. Way more power than a 22. And the ammo was a lot higher too. My aim was all over the place, but I think it also has something to do with other people speed shooting beside me and breaking my concentration.

I think a 22 might be good enough for home defense. My only question is, how does it look to a judge when you have to shoot someone multiple times when you could have maybe dropped him with one shot if you used a more powerful gun?

No advance experience here and speaking as a woman with a different level of arm and upper body strength, you might want to try a revolver and see what you think.

I tried my husband's Glock, and kept jacking up the slide. Scared me because of being inexperienced as to what to do when it jammed. Don't know if it was me or the gun, but it did nothing to advance my confidence. I'd get off a few shots, and then jam. I didn't enjoy it.

However, I next tried my mother's police issue .357 revolver and it shot like a dream. Suprised at the kick but it was smooth like butter. Bam, bam, bam.

If I was getting a handgun, that is what I would be initially looking at. I would also take a class. What I wouldn't do is get a 22 for home protection. I don't think that I woudl hold my own in hand to hand combat, so if I thought I would need to truly pull a gun on someone, I'd be doing it to drop him, not to **** him off.

[ConstitutionHugger]

I made it back to the shooting range today. Shot a 9mm. Way more power than a 22. And the ammo was a lot higher too. My aim was all over the place, but I think it also has something to do with other people speed shooting beside me and breaking my concentration.

I think a 22 might be good enough for home defense. My only question is, how does it look to a judge when you have to shoot someone multiple times when you could have maybe dropped him with one shot if you used a more powerful gun?

For home defense (or defense in general) I don't think anything less than a 38 caliber handgun projectile would be sufficent. Most hunting rifle calibers are plenty sufficient, but you run the risk of overpenetration.
The best defense weapon in my opinion is a 12ga loades with 00 or larger buckshot which generally has 9-13 .357 (38cal) projectiles and spread out to have a larger area of lethality than a single projectile

[ConstitutionHugger]

No advance experience here and speaking as a woman with a different level of arm and upper body strength, you might want to try a revolver and see what you think.

I tried my husband's Glock, and kept jacking up the slide. Scared me because of being inexperienced as to what to do when it jammed. Don't know if it was me or the gun, but it did nothing to advance my confidence. I'd get off a few shots, and then jam. I didn't enjoy it.

However, I next tried my mother's police issue .357 revolver and it shot like a dream. Suprised at the kick but it was smooth like butter. Bam, bam, bam.

If I was getting a handgun, that is what I would be initially looking at. I would also take a class. What I wouldn't do is get a 22 for home protection. I don't think that I woudl hold my own in hand to hand combat, so if I thought I would need to truly pull a gun on someone, I'd be doing it to drop him, not to **** him off.
Another advantage of a 357mad is that you can shoot 38spcl loads for light practice

[Mountain Soldier]

I was supposed to shoot my friend's .380 yesterday, but he didn't bring his ammo with him and we tried to buy some... it's sold out everywhere.

I guess I should go buy a new pistol while I still can.

[Samm]

I was supposed to shoot my friend's .380 yesterday, but he didn't bring his ammo with him and we tried to buy some... it's sold out everywhere.

I guess I should go buy a new pistol while I still can.

.380 seems to be rare as hens teeth everywhere. It is made on the same production lines as 9 mm and there is a very high demand and large backlog for that ammo.

Availability of ammo is a key factor when selecting a self defense gun (or a gun for any purpose other than collecting). That is another reason why a shotgun is a good choice... the ammo is still readily available in a wide selection of types. Even if you cannot find 00 buck, in a pinch you can still do the job even with target loads.

[ALBOB2]

I made it back to the shooting range today. Shot a 9mm. Way more power than a 22. And the ammo was a lot higher too. My aim was all over the place, but I think it also has something to do with other people speed shooting beside me and breaking my concentration.

I think a 22 might be good enough for home defense. My only question is, how does it look to a judge when you have to shoot someone multiple times when you could have maybe dropped him with one shot if you used a more powerful gun?

The best caliber for self defense is the one you can reliably hit your target with. One hit with a .22 beats six misses with a .44.

That being said, don't base your final decision on one bad experience. Go back and practice with the .22. Learn sight alignment, trigger control and apparently you need to concentrate on your concentration. Remember, in a self defense situation, you'll have more distractions than at any other time in your life. You need to prepare for that.

Bottom line, once you get good with the .22 THEN try and move up to a larger caliber. I agree with others who have recommended a .357 handgun loaded with .38 Special bullets. The recoil will be much milder than the 9mm. You also won't have to deal with the extra "stuff" of a semi-auto. A revolver is the ultimate point and shoot. You'll be able to continue your sight/trigger/concentration training.

AFTER you're comfortable with a revolver THEN give a semi-auto another try and see what you think. Remember; crawl before you walk, walk before you run.

[Samm]

The best caliber for self defense is the one you can reliably hit your target with. One hit with a .22 beats six misses with a .44.

That being said, don't base your final decision on one bad experience. Go back and practice with the .22. Learn sight alignment, trigger control and apparently you need to concentrate on your concentration. Remember, in a self defense situation, you'll have more distractions than at any other time in your life. You need to prepare for that.

Bottom line, once you get good with the .22 THEN try and move up to a larger caliber. I agree with others who have recommended a .357 handgun loaded with .38 Special bullets. The recoil will be much milder than the 9mm. You also won't have to deal with the extra "stuff" of a semi-auto. A revolver is the ultimate point and shoot. You'll be able to continue your sight/trigger/concentration training.

AFTER you're comfortable with a revolver THEN give a semi-auto another try and see what you think. Remember; crawl before you walk, walk before you run.

People have been known to become enraged when shot with a .22.

No person has been known to not run away as fast as they can when fired upon six times with a .44 mag. Something about needing a change of underwear...