I devised a simple “skill continuum” that has proven very accurate.
Beginner and novice shooters mostly discuss which guns and ammo are “best.” Ironically, at this level, choice of guns and ammo have little discernable effect.
Intermediates mostly discuss which shooting standards (courses, classes, matches, the targets used, etc.) are best.
Experts define the standards.
We would be better off discussing what shooting skill levels are best to hunt game, defend yourself, train police and military, etc., and how to convince 80 million plus gun owners to aspire to those levels.
KR
Aug 04, 2010 @ 09:18:44
Getting beginners to start with good equipment that facilitates success makes a BIG difference. In my Basic Pistol 1 class we have students fire handguns with a variety of features (trigger pull length, weight, gun weight, caliber, etc.). Certain firearm characteristics – barrel length, trigger pull length and weight, caliber – directly affect the end result. 12 lb double action triggers on balsawood pocket guns with no sights are hard to shoot. 3 to 5 lb triggers on striker fired guns with good sights are much easier. By the end of their first 50 rounds of live fire, my beginner students are hitting 10″ plates at 15 yards with the easy-to-shoot guns.
There are lots of untrained gun owners that make terrible equipment choices initially, usually based on using the wrong search criteria. That’s because they are not asking “what level of speed and accuracy and power do I need for self-defense? or recreational shooting?”. They ask “what is the smallest lightest cheapest gun you have in a really big caliber that holds a lot of bullets, because I want a lot of ‘stopping power’”. The average gun shop employee, who has never taught anyone to shoot, or if he has, didn’t teach that person to be a very good shot, promptly recommends a $300 microcompact .40 with an 8-12 lb trigger that the user will never be able to shoot very well.
Get a beginner a gun they can shoot and they will have success and be motivated to shoot more, because hitting is fun. Missing wastes ammo, time and money and eventually those that have no success shooting give up and more onto something else.