Your first two handguns under a NSW PPL?

[jwai86]

For those of you in NSW, what were your first two handguns during your PPL period?

I recently cleared a significant bureaucratic hurdle regarding my PPL, so now I can seriously consider longer term plans.

After holding my PPL for six months, I'll be allowed to own up to two rimfire handguns OR up to two centrefire handguns.

I committed to the centrefire route when I bought a CZ 75B earlier this year and my club registered it as theirs so I could use it under supervision during club meets.

I sold the pistol to a fellow club member when the Firearms Registry initially rejected my PPL application, but he agreed to let me buy it back if I successfully appealed the decision. Now that I've succeeded in doing that, I plan to get my pistol back into club ownership so I can resume using it until I can own it outright.

I have some potential ideas for a second centrefire handgun, but I've ruled out picking a polymer handgun because my experiences with the club's Glock 17A have been disappointing.

[bladeracer]

Some considerations. Do you want a back-up so you can complete comps in case your primary is down or in for mods, etc, or do you want something that'll qualify for a secondary competition, like a race-gun, or do you want something different to increase your depth of experience, like a revolver, or a .45 for Silhouette? But primarily it'll probably come down to what sort of shooting you're doing.

For those of you in NSW, what were your first two handguns during your PPL period?

I recently cleared a significant bureaucratic hurdle regarding my PPL, so now I can seriously consider longer term plans.

After holding my PPL for six months, I'll be allowed to own up to two rimfire handguns OR up to two centrefire handguns.

I committed to the centrefire route when I bought a CZ 75B earlier this year and my club registered it as theirs so I could use it under supervision during club meets.

I sold the pistol to a fellow club member when the Firearms Registry initially rejected my PPL application, but he agreed to let me buy it back if I successfully appealed the decision. Now that I've succeeded in doing that, I plan to get my pistol back into club ownership so I can resume using it until I can own it outright.

I have some potential ideas for a second centrefire handgun, but I've ruled out picking a polymer handgun because my experiences with the club's Glock 17A have been disappointing.

[jwai86]

Some considerations. Do you want a back-up so you can complete comps in case your primary is down or in for mods, etc, or do you want something that'll qualify for a secondary competition, like a race-gun, or do you want something different to increase your depth of experience, like a revolver, or a .45 for Silhouette? But primarily it'll probably come down to what sort of shooting you're doing.

Out of the things you've mentioned, I'm mostly after something that offers a different experience. None of the matches that my club runs are so intense or high stakes that a backup is required.

I thought about a single action pistol like a 1911 or Hi-Power, but my CZ 75B already functions like one in practice. The 75B can be made to have an initial double action trigger pull if you carefully ease the hammer down while a round is chambered, but models with a decocker like the 75BD can do this far more safely.

Alternatively, I thought about a 4" revolver since the club's centrefire revolvers are all 6" models. However, the club's matches mostly have timed rounds that gradually get shorter. I'm not confident that I could run a revolver's double action trigger quickly enough to keep up with folks using semi-automatic pistols.

[dnedative]

Unless your rich, if you dont have powder and primers I would just be buying a 22 and shooting that for a while.

What exactly are you looking to shoot?

[jwai86]

Unless your rich, if you dont have powder and primers I would just be buying a 22 and shooting that for a while.

What exactly are you looking to shoot?

I have more of an idea about what rimfire pistol I would like to acquire, but I'm not sure if the club committee would give approval to purchase one given that I won't be allowed to own both a rimfire and a centrefire handgun until I have my full Category H licence. I would have to confirm that with them.

My club runs a weekly rotation of target shooting matches that are modified to account for the range facilities being only 25 metres long. It's difficult to directly compare those to standard formats.

[bladeracer]

I have more of an idea about what rimfire pistol I would like to acquire, but I'm not sure if the club committee would give approval to purchase one given that I won't be allowed to own both a rimfire and a centrefire handgun until I have my full Category H licence. I would have to confirm that with them.

My club runs a weekly rotation of target shooting matches that are modified to account for the range facilities being only 25 metres long. It's difficult to directly compare those to standard formats.

Rebels have almost 12,000rds of 9mm on hand currently, so 9mm doesn't seem too bad. Around Sixty-cents apiece but you could well pay more than that to load your own if you could find primers and powders.

[dnedative]

Rebels have almost 12,000rds of 9mm on hand currently, so 9mm doesn't seem too bad. Around Sixty-cents apiece but you could well pay more than that to load your own if you could find primers and powders.

$0.60 a round makes the sport pretty damn expensive;
For the next 7000 rounds I'm under the 20c mark, I seem to pickup more brass than I shoot these days too.

[jwai86]

My club maintains stocks of reloaded centrefire ammunition that members can pay to use with their fee per weekly meet. Members can also buy factory ammunition from the range too. One of the club officers does the reloading, but I don't have details about how it economically works out for him or the club.

[bullzeye]

For those of you in NSW, what were your first two handguns during your PPL period?

I recently cleared a significant bureaucratic hurdle regarding my PPL, so now I can seriously consider longer term plans.

After holding my PPL for six months, I'll be allowed to own up to two rimfire handguns OR up to two centrefire handguns.

I committed to the centrefire route when I bought a CZ 75B earlier this year and my club registered it as theirs so I could use it under supervision during club meets.

I sold the pistol to a fellow club member when the Firearms Registry initially rejected my PPL application, but he agreed to let me buy it back if I successfully appealed the decision. Now that I've succeeded in doing that, I plan to get my pistol back into club ownership so I can resume using it until I can own it outright.

I have some potential ideas for a second centrefire handgun, but I've ruled out picking a polymer handgun because my experiences with the club's Glock 17A have been disappointing.

I'd ask the question - why do you need 2 guns? 2 centrefire guns?

I realise everyone is excited when they first get their license and want to rush out and buy guns. But do remember 99% of the time they will be sitting in the safe.

The CZ you've got is already a good target pistol for centrefire match. I doubt it would break or you'd have any issues with it.

So the next logical question is what will you use for rimfire match? The answer would be a club gun if you own a centrefire.

So I'd wait the 6 months and then buy a rimfire of your choice.

If you really want another centrefire, I'd look for a revolver - something in 357 mag/ 38 special. Unless you are shooting a lot - having 2x 9mm pistols seems overkill for someone starting out.

Of course there will be varying opinions on here. Don't think about what you want right now, think what is the smarter choice over the longer term.

[jwai86]

I'm not saying that I must have two handguns at the first opportunity come hell or high water. Picking up a second handgun will require club approval, so they can veto any such plan.

A rimfire pistol like a S&W SW22 Victory would be great because my club predominantly does rimfire matches. However, if the club doesn't like that idea even if I leave it with them until I get my full licence, then as you say, a revolver like a Ruger GP100 would offer a sufficiently different shooting experience while remaining within my PPL conditions.