Give me some ideas for a beginner's pistol please

I'm going to boil the opening post down a little first, and emphasize a few things.

CMV said:

Doing some "intro to shooting" type sessions with some church members in near future. People who have fired a gun never/once. This will be at a private range, very casual atmosphere. Goal is to cover basic safety, how handle a firearm, basic operation of the gun, basic pistol marksmanship, etc.

What I want to do when it comes to actual shooting is start them with a .22LR pistol, let them get comfortable with that, then move up to a full size (but mild shooting) 9mm pistol like a VP9 or P320.

Problem is I only have a U22 Neos & 22/45LITE for 22 pistols. While either would be fine if that's all they were going to shoot, I don't think either is a good building block to go to full size, higher caliber....

What I have to choose from in that area are:

Sig P226
Canik TP9
Beretta M9
Sig P320
Walther P99

A little smaller:
HK VP9
CZ P10C
Sig P229

A little smaller:
Taurus PT111 G2

So whatever the .22LR "starter gun" is, it should pair well with one of those.... I think something small & light like a Ruger SR22 or Walther P22 would be bad to start with if the goal is to get a larger 9mm in your hands at end of the day. Even if the controls are similar, seems it would be intimidating going from small & light to big & heavy. Last thing I want to do is scare someone off or have it be a bad experience for them. When it comes to the actual shooting I want it to be "oh that's not as scary or difficult as I thought" with the .22 so it builds confidence, then let them build up from that.

Click to expand...

First of all, kudos. Good for you for taking these folks to the range, and it sounds like you're doing your best to do it right.

I'll echo those who have said that starting with a rifle is a good idea. It's just a lot easier to inadvertently sweep someone with the muzzle with pistols.

Personally, I don't think "big and heavy" is so much the problem for new shooters as recoil is. They might be a little spooked by big and heavy, but big and heavy soaks up recoil. I suspect that the surprise of heavy recoil is what scares away new shooters. How many videos are out there where some bozo gives his 105# girlfriend a .50 Desert Eagle for her first time shooting? And how many times have we seen that girlfriend get konked in the head on the first shot? That's a pretty good way to guarantee that the girlfriend never wants to shoot again.

I recently took a brand new shooter to the range a couple of times. I started him on a Ruger American Rimfire, moved to a Ruger 10/22 and finally to an 870. The one and only thing he'd said he really wanted to shoot was a 12 gauge, so that's why the 870 was in the mix. That was the first range trip. Second time out, we shot pistols. Started him with a 22/45 Lite and then moved to a 1911 in .45 acp. The 22/45 worked very well as a first step towards a 1911. (Granted, my new shooter was a 6'2" teenager, so I didn't have to worry about small hands.) He's looking forward to Range Trip #3.