I've bought my first handgun.

[Bill Douglas]

After all the hangun threads I got interested and joined a pistol club, and have now bought this. It's a Belgain made Browning .22 match pistol. I used it today and really like it

[legion]

I was going to say "good luck getting ammo", but I see you bought a .22.

[HardDrive]

Excellent gun. In the US one can buy whatever one likes, so folks typically go out and buy the biggest piece of iron their hands can tolerate for their first handgun. Then after a while they add.....wait for it......a .22 to their collection.

Fun to shoot, inexpensive ammo, whats not to love?

Good choice.

EDIT: That wood grip is a piece of art. Love how both the grain of the wood and texture of the grip flow together. Beautiful.

[Bill Douglas]

Thanks guys Yeah, I really like it. It's quite old but some pistol club guys were at the auction and gave it a clean bill of health for me, and said it hasn't fired many rounds. I liked the idea of a Sig 226 but I thought learn to walk before you run etc.

[pwd72s]

You made a great choice. Those are the same grips used on my Challenger...the made in Belgium guns are finer machining that the ones made in Japan.

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

After all the hangun threads I got interested and joined a pistol club, and have now bought this. It's a Belgain made Browning .22 match pistol. I used it today and really like it

Outstanding firearm. Legendary really.

Congratulations man. Best of luck to you, and remember, safety first!

[Normy]

Welcome to the club!

You won't believe what you have to go through to fire it at the local firing range.

-I've fired rifles and shotguns all my life, but I think my late Sturm & Ruger is WEAK compared even to the .410 side-by-side Boito [K-mart] shot gun that I own, not to mention my Sturm & Ruger .40 S&W handgun. Fireing this last at the local Bass Pro Shop is a *****, and fairly expensive. I'm looking for a new range.

N!

[URY914]

Cost?

[Seahawk]

Beautiful pistol...excellent choice, Bill.

Of all the guns I own, I shoot my Ruger MKII .22 target pistol the most.

[slakjaw]

Those are so much fun! congrats!

[Rick V]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

Of all the guns I own, I shoot my Ruger MKII .22 target pistol the most.

Yup, same here. Shoot till your trigger finger hurts for $8.

[VincentVega]

x3

Nice piece. I really enjoy the .40, 9mm... but always get back to my Ruger. A nice .22 is a excellent firearm.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Very cool - I hope to add either a .22 or .25 to my collection one of these days. That one in particular is very nice.

What kind of craziness do they make you go through to own a pistol in NZ, just out of curiousity?

[Az911]

Originally Posted by legion

I was going to say "good luck getting ammo", but I see you bought a .22.

.22 has been hard to find in AZ for weeks now

[Porsche-O-Phile]

You can still buy .22LR by the 5,000-round block on gunbroker.com right now. It's going up in price though.

[Drdogface]

For your first handgun you really picked a winner !

Congrats...you will love it

[jyl]

Lovely, classic, top-quality firearm. A Belgian-made Browning - sweet. Great choice.

[targa911S]

Excellent choice. Now don't shoot yer eye out.

[Bill Douglas]

Thanks for the kind words guys. Yep it's been quite good fun and acurate too - so it's up to me to shoot well with it, no excuses like the gun glub rentals sights are off

Ummm, Jeff. It's not easy.

Go to a pistol club a few times.

If they think you are OK they will ask you to join (no ganstas, druggies...)

Attend at least 12 club days (Sundays) in a 6 month perid.

Shoot in at least 6 competions (pretty friendly easy sort of stuff)

The club decides if you are suitable to get a B category gun license (Everyone has an A license for rifles/shotguns which is only about a 1 hour process).

You get a document to procure and take it to the Police and they give you a document to give to the gun seller.

Phew. The idea is to make it too hard or frustrating for gansta dudes get handguns.

Ury914, I bought it at a guns and Militaria auction. I could have gone mad there buying lots of stuff. Bren guns, Naxi SS officers daggers and medals, mortar launchers... see http://www.militaria.co.nz/ I paid New Zealand $430 plus commission $470 which in US Dollars works out to be $263

Normy, a 410, I've still got the one my Dad bought me when I was a lil' fella. A light single barrell thing - awful kick to it. My Dad was national champ at skeet shooting and used to take me along with the 410 when I was 8 LOL.

[tabs]

Looks like I missed an auction...there were only a coupla really good things in the auction...Lots of militaria...which I just glanced at breifly.