Two .22 handguns for Newbie
By MARJ LAW
Christmas is coming. What handgun is best for a new shooter?
A .22 is a great handgun for a new shooter.
“Will it have much recoil?” is the question I hear most often. Well, a .22 usually has less recoil than almost any other major handgun.
Less recoil means the shooter will be less likely to “flinch” when shooting. Flinching is: “making a quick, nervous movement as an instinctive reaction to fear, pain, or surprise.” Now, when you aim at a target, and you’re worried about the shock of recoil, you’re likely to flinch. This twitch will jerk your handgun, taking it off the target. Sometimes, anticipating recoil can even cause a person to close her eyes. Again, the muzzle of the gun will no longer face the target. This, naturally, then causes poor shooting.
And it takes you down that slippery slope of a bad habit that’s difficult to undo. If you don’t start this bad habit, you’ll be much more successful in your shooting sport.
This is why .22s are suggested for new shooters. With your .22, you’re more likely to keep your eyes on the target and you’ll avoid flinching in fear of recoil.
Even if a new shooter is able to progress quickly to a gun of higher caliber, learning on a .22 first is a good idea. So, even if you plan to let your wife choose for herself a gun for Christmas, starting with a .22 makes sense.
Joe and I took a couple of .22s to the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office range last Wednesday. We’re usually at the range around 10:00 if anyone is interested in joining us for assistance with their guns or in learning about the sport.
So, this Wednesday, we have a Ruger 22/45 Mark III and a Sig Sauer P322. The Ruger is a longer and heavier gun. Since mass absorbs recoil, (even though a .22 has very little recoil to begin with), you’re less likely to flinch with the .22. A few other examples of .22s with mass to absorb recoil are the Smith & Wesson Victory and the Browning Buckmark. I’m sure there are other reliable .22s; again, these are just a few.
Some people want a smaller gun to carry on their person or in a purse. That’s why we decided to discuss the Sig Sauer P322, and compare our shooting of both the larger, heavier Ruger with the smaller, lighter Sig.
The Ruger has an overall length of 9.75 inches and is 5.50 inches high. Its barrel length is 5.5 inches, and weight is 42 ounces.
The Sig’s overall length is 7 inches and is 5.5 inches high. It has a barrel length of 4 inches and weighs 17.1 ounces.
Right away, you can see that the Ruger is much longer and is about two and a half times the weight of the Sig. That’s a lot of weight!
You may not want to lug around the Ruger in either purse or holster (goodness, no!), but its weight and length make for an excellent learner gun and a fine target gun. When you aim this Ruger, its weight will hold the gun in place and keep any recoil to a minimum. It’s unlikely you’ll pick up the bad habit of flinching with this long, weighty gun. And, since you’re not flinching, you’re more likely to hit your target when shooting the Ruger. You might even hit the x-ring!
A longer barrel usually makes for more accurate shooting. The Ruger’s 5.5-inch barrel should guide your bullet on a straight path to your target. Accuracy is certainly great, but one negative of this gun is that it holds 10 rounds.
Of course, some may prefer the smaller and lighter Sig for carry or purse. The Sig’s lighter mass will probably result in a bit more perceived recoil, so you’ll have to be extra aware of holding your gun steady. However, an upside to this smaller gun is that it holds 20 rounds. Yes, 20 rounds!
While many people will suggest that a .22 is not a defensive gun, and that a higher caliber is better for defense, I think no Mr. Bad breaking into your house would ask to be shot at 20 times.
So, this Wednesday, Joe and I are shooting these 2 guns to see if the theory is correct: that the longer and heavier gun will shoot more easily and accurately than the smaller, less heavy gun.
We rate aspects of the guns on a 1-5 scale. When we assign a 1, it means we like it and it is easy. When we give a score of 5, this means it is difficult or hard to manage.
I give the Ruger a 2 for both trigger pull and travel. It’s not the easiest trigger I’ve ever squeezed, but it’s pretty light. Joe gives both trigger pull and trigger travel a 1. This makes sense because he has a much heavier bone structure and larger hands, so he perceives that it takes less effort to pull the trigger.
When it comes to recoil, the Ruger has about the lightest recoil I’ve found in a gun. I give it a 1.5 for recoil while Joe gives it a 1. Really, there’s almost no recoil to the Ruger.
Now, I find the Sig to have a similar easy trigger and trigger travel to the Ruger. Both get a 2 from me. Joe gives trigger and travel to have a 1.5: just a bit heavier than the Ruger.
But when it comes to recoil? I give the Ruger a 1.5 and the Sig a 2. Yes, to me, the Sig has a noticeably sturdier recoil. Not a heavy one, but certainly more than the Ruger.
Joe finds the recoil of the Sig to be as easy as he does the Ruger, and gives it a 1.
We find both guns to be easy to shoot.
Accuracy?
Well, as you can see from the photo, shots from the Ruger give a much tighter grouping on the 8-inch target. Shots from the Sig are scattered about the target. Still, most shots have hit these targets. With 10 rounds in the Ruger and 20 rounds in the Sig, these guns can be both target and defensive handguns for the new shooter.
But what about that Lady Smith that your husband suggests you may want? “It has great take-down power and fits in your purse,” he says.
True! But it is restricted to 5 rounds. Are you that good a newbie shooter if Mr. Bad breaks down your door? Only 5 rounds to save your life?
The Smith & Wesson 642LS Lady Smith is a .38 caliber handgun. Talk about recoil! At under a pound (14.5 ounces), it doesn’t have much mass to absorb recoil. Its barrel has a short (1.88 inches) distance to guide the bullet. With its light weight and short barrel… Well, you better hang on tight and hope you can hit the target!
And trigger pull? According to Shooting Times, trigger pull on the Lady Smith is 13 pounds. If you’ve not shot before, 13 pounds is a hard pull.
I have met 3 newbie women in the last 15 years who did well with a .38 caliber gun. If you’re new to shooting, don’t let your man talk you into a .38!
Yes, one day you’ll probably move up to a gun that is a higher caliber than the .22. But starting with a .22 will help you learn good handgun habits.
Christmas is coming. If your spouse wants to begin shooting, it’s immensely helpful that she first rent or borrow and then maybe buy a .22.
Remember, it’s against the law to purchase a gun for another person. Make sure your spouse finds the gun that suits her hand, ability, and needs. You might give her the money for the cost of the gun, then she can go to the store and fill out the paperwork herself.
Then, when she gets the gun, wrap it up, put it in a safe locked place so no children or others can get to it, and make her wait until Christmas to unwrap and shoot it! That’s the part Joe likes the best: knowing his Christmas gun is locked up and he has to wait until Christmas to open the wrapping. Ha!
Some guys think I’m mean to make Joe wait for Christmas or his birthday, but I know anticipation makes the new gun even more exciting.
Marj Law is the former director of Keep Wakulla County Beautiful who has become an avid shooter in retirement.
