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This post was written to help those people who are new to pistol shooting to select a firearm, considering several criteria. It is based on practical knowledge gained in pistol shooting competition, and on time spent instructing new shooters on the firing line.
We will start with one basic assumption before making recommendations, and that is that the pistol to be chosen will be a semi-automatic, centerfire pistol with a removable magazine. If you prefer starting with a .22 rimfire pistol, some of the following advice may still apply, but I recommend a centerfire pistol because it can be used for self-defense, whereas a rimfire pistol is not a great choice for that purpose.
In order for this type of pistol to function properly, it must be held firmly in the hands of the shooter. That firmness comes from developing a good grip on the gun, a topic that we have covered in other posts in this forum. A good grip and control of the gun are absolutely essential elements in shooting safely and accurately.
The firearm selection criteria are:
1. Frame circumference fit: The shooter's hands must fit the frame of the gun reasonably well, meaning that the shooter's "strong hand" (the one with the trigger finger) must be able to enclose the grip as shown in this photo. The fingertips of the strong hand should be able to touch the textured surface of the grip as shown. The gap between the base ("meat") of the thumb and the fingertips is important to the ability to complete the grip with the other ("support") hand.
![Air gun Trigger Finger Gun barrel Gun accessory]()
Several manufacturers are now offering polymer-framed pistols that include replaceable back straps, allowing a degree of fitting of the frame size to the shooter. For example, the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] Generation Glock G17 (shown above) can effectively have three frame grip circumference sizes, achieved by installing one of two option back straps. Just leaving the two optional back straps in the box produces the smallest frame size.
2. Frame length fit: Modern handguns are typically available in three frame sizes: Standard or Full Size, Compact, and Subcompact. Frame size describes both the length of the frame from front to back as well as the length of the grips. The grip should be long (or tall) enough for the shooter's fingers to contact the frame firmly: the little ("pinkie") finger should not be out of touch with the bottom of the frame. An adjustment can be made for smaller guns in this case, by the use of a magazine extension that provides additional grip area, as shown in this photo of a shooter holding a compact pistol.
![Gesture Trigger Air gun Finger Gun barrel]()
3. Trigger Reach: With the grip established with your "strong" hand, your trigger finger should be able to pull the trigger when the middle of the fingertip is centered on the trigger face. If you can't reach the trigger when you have your grip established, don't buy the gun. If your trigger finger is too long for the gun, you might be able to adjust trigger reach by adjusting grip circumference using replaceable backstraps, if they come with the gun
4. Magazine Catch operation: You should be able to operate the magazine catch (release button) effectively with the thumb of your strong hand, ideally. If you can't do this without breaking your grip, you are going to find the gun difficult to reload fast, and that might become a real serious problem.
There are two ways around this fitting problem. First, you can always push the magazine catch with the thumb of your support hand, because you've got to take the support hand off the gun to reload it anyway. Installing an alternative magazine catch on the gun might be a possibility worth exploring, too.
The second alternative is only available if your gun has either an ambidextrous magazine catch, or one that can be reversed. The "fix" is to move the magazine catch to the other side of the gun, and to operate it with your trigger finger.
I should mention that I'm left-handed, so my choice regarding the magazine catch has become to operate it with my trigger finger. This doesn't require any extra grip or finger strength (I have neither), and it removes the requirement for ambidextrous or reversible magazine catches for any new guns that might come my way.
5. Caliber: If you are new to shooting, you should choose a caliber that will enable you to afford a good deal of practice ammunition, and that will not be too powerful for you to control. We commonly see new shooters arriving for training class with a compact or subcompact pistol that does not fit their hands well, in a caliber that is too powerful for them to be able to control.
Having to deal with an overpowered pistol while trying to learn the fundamentals of shooting puts the new shooter at an immediate disadvantage, one that can often only be overcome by buying the right pistol in the right caliber.
With all that said, I will make a simple recommendation for new shooters: buy a pistol that fits your hands in caliber 9x19mm, also known as 9mm Luger, 9mm Parabellum, or just plain 9mm.
6. Ammunition: Now that I've ventured far enough to recommend a caliber, it seems fair to follow up with ammunition choices. I will avoid making any brand name recommendations, but I will say that you should start with what is usually called "ball" or "round nose" ammunition because it's usually less expensive and it is less prone to feeding problems. Here is what this ammunition looks like.
![Grey Household hardware Gas Cylinder Font]()
For bullet weight, I would choose 115-grain if I couldn't find 124- or 147-grain bullets. The 115s are far more common, but heavier bullets loaded to target velocities typically shoot a little "softer".
7. Sights: For a new shooter, learning to establish a proper sight picture and then to align the sights consistently is often a challenge. For this reason, I recommend starting with the standard "combat" sights, either solid black or some combination of white or fiber optic dots and black sights for the new shooter. These are the type of sights that are normally installed on new guns. I would avoid night sights for a new shooter because I think they complicate the process of getting a sight picture, putting too many things in front of you to try to focus on.
Why Choose a Glock As Your First Handgun?
Since this is posted in a Glock.pro forum, I think it's fair to make a case for the selection of a Glock as your first pistol. I decided to add this comment after spending another day training people using a variety of handguns, watching the students deal with unnecessary complexity and extra features as they were trying to learn how to shoot.
Glocks make excellent training guns, because:
1. Glock safety features are all incorporated into the trigger mechanism. As the trigger is pulled, the three safeties are unlocked in succession and the gun will fire. This means that there is no extra safety manipulation needed when handling a Glock. When the gun is loaded, it is ready to go into the holster safely. In a shooting course where the students will "Make Ready" perhaps 75 times, the additional work needed to deal with a decocker or external manual safety is noticed. A notable exception here, other than Glock, is the Springfield XDm, which has a very nice, unobtrusive but effective grip safety.
2. Glock does not have a magazine safety, so the trigger can be pulled without a magazine being present in the gun. When, at the completion of a string of fire, the students are told to clear their weapons and pull the triggers, those with Glocks (and many others) have no problems. Those with new guns with the magazine safety have to endure the instructors' eagle eyes as they perform the extra step of emptying and inserting an empty magazine after the slide is forward (on an empty chamber), in order to confirm that the gun is empty by pulling the trigger on an empty chamber.
3. Glocks are simple and reliable. They are not sensitive to being dirty, and they will feed virtually any ammunition made in the caliber of the particular Glock you are shooting.
4. Glocks, and I believe all other striker-fired guns, have a single trigger pull. This differs from guns with a DA/SA (Double-Action, Single-Action), which will have a heavier pull for the first shot because you are cocking the hammer. After that shot, the gun becomes a Single-Action until you de-cock the hammer. So, a nice new SIG, for example, will pull about 8 pounds on the DA and about 4-5 pounds on the SA. Contrast that with the Glock (and its striker-fired kin) that pull about 5.5 pounds on every trigger pull. For trainees, having a single trigger pull weight just removes one more obstacle to confidence and competence.
5. Glocks need to be handled correctly. A student can often get away with a faulty grip using a heavy, steel-framed pistol. With the lighter Glock, the shooter really needs to develop and use a proper grip in order to get the most from the gun, so a Glock tends to reveal faults in the new shooter which can be corrected by the instructors.
In summary, if you choose a gun that really fits your hands in a caliber that will make it easy to learn how to shoot, you will remove obstacles in the path to becoming a safe, competent pistol shooter.
Chris
We will start with one basic assumption before making recommendations, and that is that the pistol to be chosen will be a semi-automatic, centerfire pistol with a removable magazine. If you prefer starting with a .22 rimfire pistol, some of the following advice may still apply, but I recommend a centerfire pistol because it can be used for self-defense, whereas a rimfire pistol is not a great choice for that purpose.
In order for this type of pistol to function properly, it must be held firmly in the hands of the shooter. That firmness comes from developing a good grip on the gun, a topic that we have covered in other posts in this forum. A good grip and control of the gun are absolutely essential elements in shooting safely and accurately.
The firearm selection criteria are:
1. Frame circumference fit: The shooter's hands must fit the frame of the gun reasonably well, meaning that the shooter's "strong hand" (the one with the trigger finger) must be able to enclose the grip as shown in this photo. The fingertips of the strong hand should be able to touch the textured surface of the grip as shown. The gap between the base ("meat") of the thumb and the fingertips is important to the ability to complete the grip with the other ("support") hand.
Several manufacturers are now offering polymer-framed pistols that include replaceable back straps, allowing a degree of fitting of the frame size to the shooter. For example, the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] Generation Glock G17 (shown above) can effectively have three frame grip circumference sizes, achieved by installing one of two option back straps. Just leaving the two optional back straps in the box produces the smallest frame size.
2. Frame length fit: Modern handguns are typically available in three frame sizes: Standard or Full Size, Compact, and Subcompact. Frame size describes both the length of the frame from front to back as well as the length of the grips. The grip should be long (or tall) enough for the shooter's fingers to contact the frame firmly: the little ("pinkie") finger should not be out of touch with the bottom of the frame. An adjustment can be made for smaller guns in this case, by the use of a magazine extension that provides additional grip area, as shown in this photo of a shooter holding a compact pistol.
3. Trigger Reach: With the grip established with your "strong" hand, your trigger finger should be able to pull the trigger when the middle of the fingertip is centered on the trigger face. If you can't reach the trigger when you have your grip established, don't buy the gun. If your trigger finger is too long for the gun, you might be able to adjust trigger reach by adjusting grip circumference using replaceable backstraps, if they come with the gun
4. Magazine Catch operation: You should be able to operate the magazine catch (release button) effectively with the thumb of your strong hand, ideally. If you can't do this without breaking your grip, you are going to find the gun difficult to reload fast, and that might become a real serious problem.
There are two ways around this fitting problem. First, you can always push the magazine catch with the thumb of your support hand, because you've got to take the support hand off the gun to reload it anyway. Installing an alternative magazine catch on the gun might be a possibility worth exploring, too.
The second alternative is only available if your gun has either an ambidextrous magazine catch, or one that can be reversed. The "fix" is to move the magazine catch to the other side of the gun, and to operate it with your trigger finger.
I should mention that I'm left-handed, so my choice regarding the magazine catch has become to operate it with my trigger finger. This doesn't require any extra grip or finger strength (I have neither), and it removes the requirement for ambidextrous or reversible magazine catches for any new guns that might come my way.
5. Caliber: If you are new to shooting, you should choose a caliber that will enable you to afford a good deal of practice ammunition, and that will not be too powerful for you to control. We commonly see new shooters arriving for training class with a compact or subcompact pistol that does not fit their hands well, in a caliber that is too powerful for them to be able to control.
Having to deal with an overpowered pistol while trying to learn the fundamentals of shooting puts the new shooter at an immediate disadvantage, one that can often only be overcome by buying the right pistol in the right caliber.
With all that said, I will make a simple recommendation for new shooters: buy a pistol that fits your hands in caliber 9x19mm, also known as 9mm Luger, 9mm Parabellum, or just plain 9mm.
6. Ammunition: Now that I've ventured far enough to recommend a caliber, it seems fair to follow up with ammunition choices. I will avoid making any brand name recommendations, but I will say that you should start with what is usually called "ball" or "round nose" ammunition because it's usually less expensive and it is less prone to feeding problems. Here is what this ammunition looks like.
For bullet weight, I would choose 115-grain if I couldn't find 124- or 147-grain bullets. The 115s are far more common, but heavier bullets loaded to target velocities typically shoot a little "softer".
7. Sights: For a new shooter, learning to establish a proper sight picture and then to align the sights consistently is often a challenge. For this reason, I recommend starting with the standard "combat" sights, either solid black or some combination of white or fiber optic dots and black sights for the new shooter. These are the type of sights that are normally installed on new guns. I would avoid night sights for a new shooter because I think they complicate the process of getting a sight picture, putting too many things in front of you to try to focus on.
Why Choose a Glock As Your First Handgun?
Since this is posted in a Glock.pro forum, I think it's fair to make a case for the selection of a Glock as your first pistol. I decided to add this comment after spending another day training people using a variety of handguns, watching the students deal with unnecessary complexity and extra features as they were trying to learn how to shoot.
Glocks make excellent training guns, because:
1. Glock safety features are all incorporated into the trigger mechanism. As the trigger is pulled, the three safeties are unlocked in succession and the gun will fire. This means that there is no extra safety manipulation needed when handling a Glock. When the gun is loaded, it is ready to go into the holster safely. In a shooting course where the students will "Make Ready" perhaps 75 times, the additional work needed to deal with a decocker or external manual safety is noticed. A notable exception here, other than Glock, is the Springfield XDm, which has a very nice, unobtrusive but effective grip safety.
2. Glock does not have a magazine safety, so the trigger can be pulled without a magazine being present in the gun. When, at the completion of a string of fire, the students are told to clear their weapons and pull the triggers, those with Glocks (and many others) have no problems. Those with new guns with the magazine safety have to endure the instructors' eagle eyes as they perform the extra step of emptying and inserting an empty magazine after the slide is forward (on an empty chamber), in order to confirm that the gun is empty by pulling the trigger on an empty chamber.
3. Glocks are simple and reliable. They are not sensitive to being dirty, and they will feed virtually any ammunition made in the caliber of the particular Glock you are shooting.
4. Glocks, and I believe all other striker-fired guns, have a single trigger pull. This differs from guns with a DA/SA (Double-Action, Single-Action), which will have a heavier pull for the first shot because you are cocking the hammer. After that shot, the gun becomes a Single-Action until you de-cock the hammer. So, a nice new SIG, for example, will pull about 8 pounds on the DA and about 4-5 pounds on the SA. Contrast that with the Glock (and its striker-fired kin) that pull about 5.5 pounds on every trigger pull. For trainees, having a single trigger pull weight just removes one more obstacle to confidence and competence.
5. Glocks need to be handled correctly. A student can often get away with a faulty grip using a heavy, steel-framed pistol. With the lighter Glock, the shooter really needs to develop and use a proper grip in order to get the most from the gun, so a Glock tends to reveal faults in the new shooter which can be corrected by the instructors.
In summary, if you choose a gun that really fits your hands in a caliber that will make it easy to learn how to shoot, you will remove obstacles in the path to becoming a safe, competent pistol shooter.
Chris
