Thread: curious about pistol shooting

Hey team.

Im just curious what the ongoing cost for shooting pistols is? Dont have my endorsement, nor am I a part of a pistol club. I thought before I went down the rabbit hole I should take a look how far it goes haha.

I would be looking to shoot Glock 17 in stock form. Im not really interested in competing, just wanting to get more time behind the trigger to improve my shooting.

Cheers

Rock up to your local Pistol Club. They will look after you and get you steered in the right direction. You will have to do 6 months probation/12 shoots in those 6 months anyway but the Club Armourer can hold any pistols you have on his Licence until your endorsement comes through. There are many disciplines to choose from depending on your preferences. The Pistol NZ website has heaps of info too.

Once you have your B endorsement, you have to 12 shoots per year inorder to keep it. So the on going costs will be pistol club membership (Our club is $210/ year inc pistol nz affiliation fee and unlimited visits) + ammo.

If your only shooting 9mm you can stick with factory ammo so just depends on how many rounds you shoot each time. Gets expensive when you go down the rabbit hole and end up reloading for multiple pistol cal's to feed the habit.....

$204 endorsement fee plus the cost of a safe + annual club fees. Takes a good year to get set up from your first visit to getting your licence if you keep pushing things along.

Tom

Turn up and introduce your self on a club night and you will get first hand local knowledge.
Many people start and remain on Club guns for quite a while.Our local club has rimfire and centerfire guns and sell ammo on site.
Can be an advantage to go along with a club member but not required .

9mm factory ammo is about 50 cents a shot before you buy in bulk, reloading press would be around $1000 and then you start saving money on ammo, probably about $300 for a proper belt rig, bought my G17 used for $800 but that was probably a little bit less than what it was worth

Awesome thanks guys. I’ll checkout a local club. Appreciate the info.

My $0.02

Think twice before blowing $1000 on a press. A second hand Dillon 550 can be had for significantly less if you are patient and look hard. But go find someone who uses one first and see it in action. Doubly important if anyone is talking you into a Lee Pro1000. Good presses in the right hands but lots of beginners frustrated right out of reloading. On a tight budget? Pick up an old Lee 3 or 4 hole turret press for well under $200, maybe even with a set of dies. They are clunky and slower than a Dillon but have loaded many millions of Pistol (and rifle) rounds and are still going strong. And they are foolproof. Well, nearly... I have Dillons but I still hold on to and use my old Lee turrets..

A single stage press is just too slow for the quantities of Pistol ammo you will need.

In Pistol calibres, don't go buying new brass. 9mm brass will go 100 plus reloads, as will 38sp and 45 acp. While you are learning, mixed headstamps and multi-fired brass will make no difference to anything. You will get the occasional split case and loose primer pocket and you chuck those ones out. Otherwise pay as little as possible or scrounge it for free.

If cast bullets are all you can get they will shoot just fine albeit a bit smokier from the lube. Watch for leading of the barrel but this should not be an issue if you are not maxing the powder out.

Plastic coated are excellent, especially the BlackHawkes from Delta Mike which are good value. As are the copper washed Frontier projectiles from Rusa and others. Cheapest bulk buys are bestest! At the ranges your shooting at projectile choice is only a question of weight and profile. For steel round nose will give you best feeding experience in most guns. If punching paper a flat nose will cut neater and be better for scoring. Leave the wadcutters for the Olympics. Some guns are fussy about semi-wadcutters, often sorted by getting the seating depth correct for that gun. 1911A 45acp pistols in any make are known for fussy feeding of semi-wadcutters. Some more so than others.

There are many powders that can be used to load pistol ammo with published data. If there is published data for a powder and its available at a reasonable price don't be fussy. It will shoot better than you can. Plenty of time to settle on "the one powder to rule them all" when you start knocking the club top-gun offa their perch. Go with whats available and affordable and buy plenty of it.

If you want least cost pistol calibre reloading for volume shooting start scrounging lead and buy moulds and cast your own.

You're on the right track with glock.

Simple, reliable,cheap and if you put the time in you can even out the difference of you're skill with it than others who are using more expensive guns. Plus unlike a certain classic design a glock in stock form will eat up any ammo you feed it.

If you're timaru based you have a few clubs nearby.

Just a warning it's highly addictive

Originally Posted by Rock river arms hunter

You're on the right track with glock.

Simple, reliable,cheap and if you put the time in you can even out the difference of you're skill with it than others who are using more expensive guns. Plus unlike a certain classic design a glock in stock form will eat up any ammo you feed it.

If you're timaru based you have a few clubs nearby.

Just a warning it's highly addictive

I've never owned a Glock and have had a shot with one not more than a couple of times. On the range as an RO I notice that Glocks and 1911A 45s are the most prone to jam and fail-to-feed. Apart from open race guns which are another story. I don't believe it is the guns fault so much as the fact that people mess with them heaps. In recent times the really reliable guns that rarely if ever jam are factory standard. High on that list is the 9mm CZ Shadow. There are a lot of them seen in competitions for good reason. CZ pioneered bringing out a gun as factory standard many of the aftermarket mods shooters were fond of. There are other brands that are similar in popularity and reliability who have rushed to catch up with CZ - and to good effect. For legal reasons the one thing they often leave with the shooter is the trigger. Bubba messing with the trigger is probably one of the most common causes of unreliable shooters. If you go that path get a good gunsmith to do it. Do heaps of research and don't get gulled into buying something the last owner messed with and got wrong.

Thanks for your advice on different pistols. I’m going with the glock to align with what I use for work. In my mind there’s no point in training on something different. I’m reasonably proficient (6” spread), but just don’t get enough range days to improve. If I ever get put in the position to truly need it I want to know that the round will go where I put it.

Yep fair call. I am competitive by nature, so it probably would head that way. The primary reason for going would be for self improvement though

Originally Posted by Delphus

Thanks for your advice on different pistols. I’m going with the glock to align with what I use for work. In my mind there’s no point in training on something different. I’m reasonably proficient (6” spread), but just don’t get enough range days to improve. If I ever get put in the position to truly need it I want to know that the round will go where I put it.

There are a couple of clubs round Timaru I believe, and you can always pop up to Ashburton for a shot.

Nike ad! You’ll never regret it. IPSC is about as much fun as you can have (with your clothes on).

Just get into it mate. I gave up rugby ( getting old and getting injured ) to shoot and it’s the first individual sport Ive played and have never looked back. In terms of cost I would call it an expensive sport for sure, Mostly because I travel to compete in IPSC. If I didn’t compete it wouldn’t be that bad at all. I only shoot twice a month at my local club, maybe 100-150 rounds each shoot and do about 3-4 events in a calendar year, events are about 300 rounds ammo, 500 if you miss a lot, plus the entry fee, around $160 for a level 3 ( level 3 if you want to get graded ) plus travel costs, accommodation etc..
Initial Costs are Club fees, Pistol, spare mags, holster, belt, mag pouches and ammo... Once you got those your away laughing, or crying depending how much you spend! You can half your ammo costs by reloading but in reality you just end up shooting more if you reload. But if your just wanting to get into it to become more proficient with your glock for work then it shouldn’t cost too much at all.