Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

InspectorCallahan wrote:Diomed, yours was good advice. But I thought I was doing just that - starting with the basics.

I guess one needs some perspective to know things like that. Stuff like load data is really only useful when you're taking up reloading. If that's something you want to do, great! But you'd be better served going to a class than trying to learn it online. Mistakes in reloading can have serious consequences.

And I don't know one caliber from another, so I thought I ought to learn the differences. And I quickly got overwhelmed with confusion. Then the grain issue arose, and the +p, and the +P+. Mindboggling!

It is mindboggling. You can be in the gun community for decades and still be learning - there's that much information.

In your case, go slow. Every firearm manufactured in the last forty years has the caliber marked on it, so you can tell what your gun uses. Having a user manual will also help, which is a good reason to buy new. As long as you stay in the mainstream, this is true. If you have questions, ask - which isn't great advice if you're in a shop and can't tell if the guy behind the counter actually knows what he's talking about, but it's better than not asking and having a negative outcome because of it.

Things like grains come in to play when you're moving into more serious territory - hunting, self defense, organized competition. As for +P, etc., avoid them until you're a bit more experienced. Plain jane ammo for your particular gun is all you're needing to start with.

I'll have to check out a meet and shoot. It will have to be in the Richmond area. But first I need to get my training under my belt! I don't even want to put a bullet in the mag until then.

Are you starting with a basic class? I'd recommend the NRA's FIRST Steps program. It's designed as a familiarization class for people who have little or no experience with firearms.

If you just want to try some shooting, feel free to PM me. I'm in the Richmond area and don't mind taking folks out to one of the local clubs.

Good posts Diomed. I think most of us were assuming the OP knew more than he does based on the OP and questions.

Regarding the OP two guns, SR9C and LCP. Both are good guns. For the LCP, one of the better CC rounds is Corbon's DPX. Not cheap, but good stuff. The little pocket pistols like the LCP can be picky about ammo. I've heard DPX runs fine.

Example practice stuff:
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... =cat601233

Corbon DPX:
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... =cat601233


For 9mm, I prefer Speer Gold Dots or Winchester Range Talons (preference is for 124gr+P, then 115gr +P, than either 115gr or 124gr standard pressure), but it really is personal opinion. For practice ammo hit up Wal-mart and look for the 100 round Winchester White Box 115 FMJ. It will be labelled as 9mm Luger. You can also buy online.

Link for 9mm practice ammo (the picture is of .45auto, but the 9mm looks very similar, same stuff as Wal-Mart):
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... hasJS=true
or
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... hasJS=true

9mm CC:
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... hasJS=true

For those that don't know, you can get the LE packaged rounds if you look around. They are exactly the same thing, but they come in boxes of 50, say LE on the box, and cost a fraction of the 20 round boxes. Usually you can get a 50 round box for not much more than the 20 rounders. If you can find the Winchester white box 380 ammo, let everyone know. Been kinda hard to find lately. Also note that a lot of 9mm practice ammo is loaded light. The WWB stuff is and your defence ammo will have more recoil.