Hi,
Im new to ISSF pistol shooting, although I have been shooting timed and precision for about a year now so Im not entirely new to pistols. I have shot everything from buckmarks, to mark3's to 1911's.
Anywho, Im looking to get into ISSF and of course I need a new pistol. To cut a long story short, I have been offered a good deal on an AW by a person leaving the country next month and he cant take his firearms.
Im just wondering would it be a bad move to start with an AW? I see a lot of mixed reviews on them. Some people seem to love them, other people think lowly of them.
AW93 as first pistol?
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David Levene
- Posts: 5617
- Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2004 12:49 pm
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Re: AW93 as first pistol?
It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks about the gun.Zoe22 wrote:Im just wondering would it be a bad move to start with an AW? I see a lot of mixed reviews on them. Some people seem to love them, other people think lowly of them.
The important thing is how it feels to you when you are shooting it. You say that you are not new to pistol shooting so should be able to form an opinion.
As for quality, you see many of them being shot at world level (predominantly by women in the 25m Pistol event) so they can't be too bad.
The problem with the AW93 is the steel frame with the mag in the grip.
It limits the options for grip and hand size, if you hand is bjg enough and you have long fingers to reach the trigger with a good grip positoin, then the Aw93 is excellent.
On the other hand if you have small hands, short fingers then reaching the trigger is difficult. The steel frame does not allow very much grip adjustment or alteration.
So try the pistol if it fits great, if not look a a different pistol.
It limits the options for grip and hand size, if you hand is bjg enough and you have long fingers to reach the trigger with a good grip positoin, then the Aw93 is excellent.
On the other hand if you have small hands, short fingers then reaching the trigger is difficult. The steel frame does not allow very much grip adjustment or alteration.
So try the pistol if it fits great, if not look a a different pistol.
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Fortitudo Dei
- Posts: 256
- Joined: Tue Mar 02, 2004 8:30 pm
- Location: New Zealand
If the price is good and (as David M mentioned) you have medium to large hands, it's a great gun.
The AW93 was the first pistol I ever owned and has been the most reliable thing in my life since I purchased mine in 2002. I've only had around five malfunctions (all ammo related) out of tens of thousands of rounds fired.
The only issue I have with it is the (relatively) slow, soft recoil characteristics. I find it fine for the 10 second strings in Standard pistol, but not crisp enough for the four second strings in Olympic Rapid Fire. If you are really serious about Rapid Fire as an event, choose something else. If you are just going to dabble in it along with other ISSF events, the AW93 is great. I even use to use mine to shoot respectable scores in casual 50m free pistol matches as the last-shot lock-back and the exposed breech when open made it great for manually feeding in individual rounds.
Oh yes - never use high velocity .22; you run the risk of cracking the slide.
The AW93 was the first pistol I ever owned and has been the most reliable thing in my life since I purchased mine in 2002. I've only had around five malfunctions (all ammo related) out of tens of thousands of rounds fired.
The only issue I have with it is the (relatively) slow, soft recoil characteristics. I find it fine for the 10 second strings in Standard pistol, but not crisp enough for the four second strings in Olympic Rapid Fire. If you are really serious about Rapid Fire as an event, choose something else. If you are just going to dabble in it along with other ISSF events, the AW93 is great. I even use to use mine to shoot respectable scores in casual 50m free pistol matches as the last-shot lock-back and the exposed breech when open made it great for manually feeding in individual rounds.
Oh yes - never use high velocity .22; you run the risk of cracking the slide.
I have small/medium hands and no problems with factory grip. AW93 supposed to be offered with either S,M or L size grip as far I remember.
I have only experienced about 5 malfunctions during first 500 rounds during rapidfire but I reckon it was due to weather conditions (minus 20-25C) and too much grease. Later on no probs at all for next 5k.
It's top notch deadly accurate beast. But try it first if it suits you.
A friend of mine picked it up for the first time last weekend and he has easily scored 98/100 one hand @ 25 meters.
I have only experienced about 5 malfunctions during first 500 rounds during rapidfire but I reckon it was due to weather conditions (minus 20-25C) and too much grease. Later on no probs at all for next 5k.
It's top notch deadly accurate beast. But try it first if it suits you.
A friend of mine picked it up for the first time last weekend and he has easily scored 98/100 one hand @ 25 meters.