Basic Handgun Class

The day finally arrived and I took the Basic Handgun Class offered by Greg Block at Burro Canyon Shooting Park in Azusa, CA.



The class was roughly 6 hours in length:

• 2 hours of lecture - Fundamentals of Firearms Safety, along with the skills necessary to properly handle a revolver and semi-automatic pistol; understanding of what a handgun will do, what it won't do, and why it works the way it works.
  
• 4 hours of shooting - Proper Stance and Grip, Sight Alignment, Sight Picture and Trigger Control; rapid fire/combat shooting with multi-target drills on life-size paper silhouette targets. Every student is required to shoot 250 rounds with their handgun.

I had the smallest caliber gun in the class with my Walther P22 shooting .22lr. Everyone else either had a 38 revolver (as provided by the instructor) or brought their own semi-automatics which were either .45's or .40's. In fact, when one of the instructors (there were 4 instructors for 9 students) pulled out my P22 to inspect it, his exact comment to me was, "Oh, how cute!"

Anyways, my Walther P22 was a champ. It ate up all 250 rounds (200 rounds of CCI Mini Mags and 50 rounds of CCI Stingers). All rounds fired flawlessly - no jams, no FTF, no FTE, etc. I couldn't say the same about the other students' semi-auto handguns: a few jammed, some needed lube half way through, one even got a squib. The cute Walther P22 was just fine....thank you very much!

All in all, it was a very good class. I learned a lot and corrected a lot of things that will help my shooting. The biggest thing for me was my sight alignment (I had a tendency to focus on the target immediately after having acquired the target via the sights) and trigger pull (where I tended to pull the gun slightly to the left when pulling the trigger). As the class progressed, I was able to slowly correct these issues and my shot placement improved to where I was either hitting the target or within an inch of the target.

If you're in Los Angeles and looking for a basic handgun class, I would highly recommend this class. It's well worth the money to pickup these fundamentals and I'm looking forward to my next range session to further hone what I learned from Greg.

PS - If you have never been to Burro Canyon, it's located in the San Gabriel Canyon of the Angeles National Forest. There is absolutely no cell phone signal/reception up there, so be prepared to be away from it all the entire time you are there. Restrooms are just porta potties; and according to the schedule on the doors, they are serviced once per week.

Walther P22 in My Possession!

Well, the 10-day waiting period is finally over and look at what I finally picked up!



That's right - the Walther P22 and all its goodies are finally in my possession! Here's what I got:

• A 'like new' Walther P22
• Walther Lasersight
• Walther Red Dot Scope Sight
• 4 magazines (each holding 10 rounds)
• Walther P22 Case
• Gun lock (not shown)

Here's a close-up of the P22.



As I stated before, this is my first handgun and hopefully not my last. I have my eye on the Walther P99 and figured the P22 would be a great first "training" gun. It feels good in my hand - not too big and not too small; the one magazine with the finger rest makes it even better. I'll have to see if I can get the finger rest plates for the other 3 magazines.

I plan to take a "Basic Handgun" course within the next few weeks to get the fundamentals down. Right now, I'm sitting on 450 rounds of .22lr for the P22 - 400 rounds of CCI Mini-Mag (for shooting at the range) and 50 rounds of CCI Stingers (for self defense). Of course, .22lr caliber doesn't have the "stopping power" that the bigger calibers do, but it will do...for now.

Future NRA Member (with a Walther P22)

As some of you may have read, I recently took the CA Handgun Safety Certification test in preparation of purchasing my first handgun. Well, I finally did it and purchased a Walther P22.

I decided on a .22LR semi-automatic pistol (rather than a bigger caliber, such as 9mm or .40 cal) as I wanted a smaller caliber pistol to learn the basics of safe shooting and marksmanship. The P22 felt good in my hand and would be something I could comfortably handle for long periods of time at the shooting range. It also helps that .22LR ammunition is less expensive than the other calibers; for example, a box of 100 high quality rounds of .22LR is approximately $6, while a box of 50 rounds of 9mm runs $13. This affords me more practice rounds to develop my shooting skills before moving up to the next level.

Here's a little preview of the P22:


I don't have the P22 yet as CA requires a 10-day waiting period before you can take any handgun home after purchase. However, I'm anxiously awaiting the pick-up date and have been busy looking at accessories for it. I'll definitely be getting extra magazines for the pistol, good ammo, a lockable gun case, and a cleaning kit.

I bought the P22 from a private party for $300 (plus $35 in transfer fees). It's basically a brand new gun and it came with the Walther laser and Walther scope. I got quite the deal as this entire package is over $540 new from the store.

I'll be sure to post pics when I finally get the P22 home.

Republik of Kalifornia's Handgun Safety Certificate

To those of you interested in purchasing a handgun in the Republik of Kalifornia, you are required by the Republik to obtain a Handgun Safety Certificate. You get the certificate by taking and passing a test at any licensed firearms dealer.

I took this test this weekend in preparation of owning my first handgun. With the Legislative and Executive branches of the US Gov't in firm Liberal hands, I thought it would be a good idea to secure my firearm before the Feds take that right away. :-) Alright, alright...I don't really think the Dems would be dumb enough to try that (and galvanize the Conservatives on the right), but an opportune time nonetheless as my wife finally agreed to let me buy a handgun! Woohoo! :-)

The test consists of 30 questions - True/False and Multiple Choice - and costs $25. I missed 2 questions on the test, but still passed. In fact, the Republik lets you miss up to 7 questions - 23 correct answers gets you a Certificate! Honestly, you would have to try really hard (or have NO common sense whatsoever) to fail the test. The only questions that would trip anyone up are those asking about the state's gun laws, such as how long a convicted felon is barred from owning a handgun.

I hope the Republik puts my $25 to good use. This test is more of an inconvenience and 'tax' than anything else. If you want to buy a handgun, make sure you're ready to pay $25 on top of the cost of the handgun you want to purchase. Oh...and if the test happens to stop a law-abiding resident from buying a handgun, I'm sure the Republik isn't crying over that.

PS - To get more information on the test (including a study guide), visit the California Office of the Attorney General's page on the Handgun Safety Certificate Program.