Should I buy a pistol straight away or wait?

[pushycheese]

Hi all,
As I've stated before in a previous thread I'm a complete beginner in the world of air guns, having never owned or even shot one before, But I am interested in taking up pistol shooting and am probably going to pop down to South East airgun club in Paddock wood one Sunday to meet a few members and look around. Im thinking the sensible thing to do is wait a while, Try a few pistols out and see which one feels best for me, Or do I buy one before I join a club?
Thanks

[Biker_Bob]

Definately DO NOT BUY until you've been to the club.
I guarantee if you buy one now you'll see something at the club that you'd rather have instead.
It's a very personal thing, there are so many mechanisms (CO2/pump/SSP/Spring etc) and so many styles that you really ought to have a look at what others have got and get their feedback on the ownership experience before taking the plunge.

[harvey_s]

^ ^ ^ +1

Good advice, buying one now without the benefit of having seen or tried some of whats out there will almost certainly result in the purchase of something you'd later regret.

[pushycheese]

Thanks, that's what I thought as like I said I'm a complete beginner, Just wanted to get advice from more experienced shooters.
Thanks again.

[artschool]

Thanks, that's what I thought as like I said I'm a complete beginner, Just wanted to get advice from more experienced shooters.
Thanks again.

you may well find that you end up with a rifle! try some of those at the club too.

[Biker_Bob]

you may well find that you end up with a rifle! try some of those at the club too.

No - surely you need both

[artschool]

No - surely you need both

or several of each

we all know where this hobby ends up

[pushycheese]

So do you guys tend to concentrate on 1 discipline or have a go at both rifle and pistols?

[Benelli B76]

You will need about 10 of each with different power systems to make you happy. If you get a chance try SSP powered pistols as I have 3, a FAS 604, Airmatch 600, and Baikal IZH 46M. Tempted to sell the one of the most accurate air pistols ever made, the Baikal if you get interested.

Baz

[TonyL]

or several of each

we all know where this hobby ends up

Absolutely!!

And a very warm welcome to the forum.

[harvey_s]

I might have a few more than a couple of each...unless you related to the wife, in which case I'm just kidding...ah'hem!

[oling]

So do you guys tend to concentrate on 1 discipline or have a go at both rifle and pistols?

Most people tend to focus on rifles and then some mix over them both and others (though relatively few) stay with the pistols. Definitely try as much as you can and go to the club more than once as well as get online to do some research to find out exactly what you're looking for. Signing up to this forum was a very wise move as well I might add.

[Rickenbacker]

Should I buy a pistol straight away or wait?

Being picky (and boring) for a moment, it's obviously not a good idea to rush out and buy totally the wrong type of pistol for the sort of shooting you'll end up wanting to do with it.

This club you're probably going to Looks great... Looks like they do outdoor metal plate action shooting. If you fancy that, the rules are quite specific about the type of pistol you can use.

They might also use spring, PCP, SSP pistols on the pistol ranges.

They also do rifle FT and HFT shooting.

I'd get along there and ask for a bit of a tour... many shooters are helpful to perspective new shooters joining up

[Biker_Bob]

So do you guys tend to concentrate on 1 discipline or have a go at both rifle and pistols?

Most people are rifle first, pistol second.
Some of us are the other way round but we're in the minority.
There are a few dedicated pistol clubs (Redhill Revolvers is one), but at a lot of clubs pistols can be seen as the poor relation.
If pushed many people will admit they find pistol shooting more fun, I certainly do.
In terms of disciplines the trick is to find the ones that float your boat.
I compete in pistol HFT (at Redhill) but I don't compete with rifles, even though I'm in an HFT club.
There's the paper punching side of the hobby, that's where pistols start to get serious (and costly), but the big advantage is it's indoors so it can keep you going over the winter. There are many bell target clubs popping up now up and down the country.
The other great thing about pistols is that they are better suited to practice at home, in the garden or garage. You need at least 30yds to make it worth picking a rifle up, but with a pistol you can paper punch at 6yds in the garage.
IPAS or action shooting is fun too, with a multishot CO2 revolver or semi auto it's all about speed rather than accuracy.
So it's not just the pistols you want to try out at the club, it's the shooting disciplines too.

[pushycheese]

Most people are rifle first, pistol second.
Some of us are the other way round but we're in the minority.
There are a few dedicated pistol clubs (Redhill Revolvers is one), but at a lot of clubs pistols can be seen as the poor relation.
If pushed many people will admit they find pistol shooting more fun, I certainly do.
In terms of disciplines the trick is to find the ones that float your boat.
I compete in pistol HFT (at Redhill) but I don't compete with rifles, even though I'm in an HFT club.
There's the paper punching side of the hobby, that's where pistols start to get serious (and costly), but the big advantage is it's indoors so it can keep you going over the winter. There are many bell target clubs popping up now up and down the country.
The other great thing about pistols is that they are better suited to practice at home, in the garden or garage. You need at least 30yds to make it worth picking a rifle up, but with a pistol you can paper punch at 6yds in the garage.
IPAS or action shooting is fun too, with a multishot CO2 revolver or semi auto it's all about speed rather than accuracy.
So it's not just the pistols you want to try out at the club, it's the shooting disciplines too.

Thanks for the info it's been a great help. Can't wait to get down to SEAC and hopefully start a exciting and enjoyable hobby!