First match pistol!

[Lasselee]

Hello,

I've been shooting since January and have shot about 1500 rounds.. In the last couple of months I have concentrated mostly about ISSF 25m Standard Pistol. Our club have a few old Walther GSPs that I use. My results are usually in the 490-520 range. How does this compare to what others shoot for not being active for that long?

I'm going to get my first match pistol now. I have tried a Walther LP 400 a few times, and I really like the grip and grip angle on it. Is there any similar grip / grip angles in .22?

I have looked at Hammerli SP20, Walther SSP and Pardini SP. A used (1000 rounds) Walther SSP will set me back about $2100, and a new one $3100.. Used SP20 about $1250. I think the SSP grip looks abit more like the LP400 grips, although I haven't compared them yet.

[SamEEE]

Hello,

I've been shooting since January and have shot about 1500 rounds.. In the last couple of months I have concentrated mostly about ISSF 25m Standard Pistol. Our club have a few old Walther GSPs that I use. My results are usually in the 490-520 range. How does this compare to what others shoot for not being active for that long?

Hi first of all welcome to the Forum.

What pistol is kind of a personal question. I'll throw in my 2c.

I would stay away from the SSP or SP20. I don't really like Walther products. The LP400 that I had a decent look at (circa late 2012, early 2013) had a weird sear angle and the break/overlap couldn't really be adjusted meaningfully.
I think you would probably be better served in the long run with a Steyr LP10, or Morini 162.

As far as standard pistols. Hammerli 208, 215, or 280 are ones to consider, too - made back when Hammerli was still made in Lenzberg. Pardini SP are very popular and a great gun in my books.

Bonus mentions:
Unique DES-69u for being stupidly reliable and quite a forgiving shooter.
FWB AW93 - finely made and a lot of adjustments.

TL;DR: Pardini SP.

[rmca]

Welcome!

Although this is a very personal thing, for me the best guns are:

10m - Steyr LP10. It`s one of the most common used guns by top athletes for a reason. It has a great balance, lots of adjustments (grip angle, sight distance, trigger, etc.), and its a joy to shot.

25m - Pardini SP. No doubt. I wound even waist time trying others! (insert angry comments here...) It has a great trigger, a wonderful grip with an angle more or less like the walther lp400, and it performs very well under recoil, with a nice and very controllable jump. A very distant cry from the walther gsp!

Hope this helps

[crankythunder]

hey lassaleee:

After having the opportunity to shoot all the available top shelf pistols, and considering everything from the SW 41 on up, I purchased the Pardini SP New bullseye edition.

I had the opportunity to carefully examine, clean, and shoot the FWB, the two walthers, the new hammerli, a couple hammerli 208s, the two different benelli's, and the S&W. Excellent pistols all of them. I could live with any one of them.

I selected the pardini primarily from the "feel". The user adjustable trigger and the forward adjustable internal weight system goes a long way to easily tune this pistol to the shooter. supplemented it with Dick Horton Grips and a aimpoint 9000 L red dot. So far, with a year and a half of constant use, I have had zero malfunctions that were not attributable to ammo. (Eley sport and Eley Target do not have the horsepower required to reliably cycle this pistol-CCI SV, Wolf MT, SK Pistol Match, and SK pistol match special function flawlessly irregardless of temperature) I clean it before every match and try and clean it every 300 rounds if I practice a lot between matches. One time, I missed a couple matches and went over 1000 rounds between cleaning without a malfunction.

Regards,
CRanky

[pardinisp22]

Welcome to the forum! I purchase a Pardini SP22 four years ago and never regretted it. It has been very reliable and I do not hesitate recommending it. The fit and finish of a FW in the same category was not up to the Pardini + the FW was more expensive. Well, that's my 2c worth. Best Regards....

[Spencer]

don't forget the CM22M

[conradin]

Hello,

I'm going to get my first match pistol now. I have tried a Walther LP 400 a few times, and I really like the grip and grip angle on it. Is there any similar grip / grip angles in .22?

I have looked at Hammerli SP20, Walther SSP and Pardini SP. A used (1000 rounds) Walther SSP will set me back about $2100, and a new one $3100.. Used SP20 about $1250. I think the SSP grip looks abit more like the LP400 grips, although I haven't compared them yet.

If you plan to get into this sport for life, and be competitive (and fun of course), then spare nothing and go for the best. Choose the one that the top shooters use, and in reality there are only around half a dozen legitimate choices. Anything else either has to suit you totally, or you decide to experiment to make your pistol unique and only suits perfectly you.

If the Pardini feels OK to you, take it. You can adjust and learn to get used to it later. If you feel it is not going to work, then go for Morini, then Match Guns, then Walther, then FWB, then the Norinco. Of course if by luck you find a custom made Izh-Khr (not the 35), take it and run like you steal a million dollars. Otherwise start with the Pardini and go down the list.

[Muffo]

I tend to fill in a bit of time watching the finalls of world cups. Before the lp10 e came out there would usually be 6 out of 8 in a ap finall that were morinis and the other 2 would be lp10s. Every so often somthing else might be there but very rarely. The other day I watched 4 finalls and out of the 4 there were 3 morinis 2 pardinis. (The same shooter 2 times) 1 lp10 and every other pistol was a lo10e

Read into this what you may

[Dipnet]

Lasselee,
I am a bullseye shooter and my introduction to europistols was with a GSP, which I thought was the cat's meow at the time. The pistol was tolerant of a wide variety of ammunition and was reliable ca 98% of the time, but when problems happened, they seemed to be at the worst time. In addition, I was never happy with the accuracy of the 32 S&W L at 50 yards.

I've since moved to the Pardini SP Bullseye 22/32 ACP, which I love. I was torn between the Feinwerkbau and Pardini, but dual caliber capability of the latter caused me to go that way with no regrets. I suspect that if I were only shooting rimfire, the Feinwerkbau would have been a great choice. However, I am so impressed with Pardini products that have just decided to buy their 45. Dipnet

[tenx9]

Best pistol I ever bought was a Hammerli 215S. Unfortunately, life smacked me around a little bit and I sold it. Worst mistake I ever made. Bought it around 1989. Off sandbags with a pistol scope it grouped 6/10ths of and inch @ 50yards, 10 shot group with Eley Tenex. Trigger was superb. I understand that they no longer make the 208-215 line and I'm not sure, they no longer service them. So, its up to you to find a used one and take the chance. Now, I shoot a Walther GSP. Not nearly, or close to as accurate. But, for 25 meter shooting more than accurate and you can get a .32 conversion for it.

[deadeyedick]

My results are usually in the 490-520 range. How does this compare to what others shoot for not being active for that long?

Most people would surely agree that achieving up to 520 in Standard Pistol with only six months experience would be considered as VERY good indeed.

[topclass52]

I shot a number of different pistols trying to answer the same question until I lucked into a used Hammerli 208. Best decision I've made! I purchased a second one as a back-up, and after not needing it for two years I sold it for what I paid. I have shot over 10,000 rounds with it, and the only FTF I ever had was due to a dirty magazine. Otherwise it's performance has been flawless. They can be serviced (Larry's Guns is once source...) -- I had my serviced a few years back "just because".

[Rover]

I always wished I had one.

[conradin]

Look at some World Cup finals and see what the athletes use (male and female) and eventually you will come up to a solution of which brands you should try. It basically will narrow down the many many different brands and models out there to a few. Then the next thing is to go to your club or another club and ask if you can try them out.

[Lasselee]

Thanks everyone! ~
I finally got to test a Hammerli 208, SP20, and a Walther SSP.
They all felt very good, and the recoil on the SP20 and SSP was very controllable in rapid fire.
However, the 208 impressed me the most. It grouped like nothing I have ever seen before.
Therefore I just bought myself a mint condition, very little used 208 that I am very pleased with.
I'm also considering getting a SP20.

[himart]

Hi folks. I am new here. Iv'e been a bullseye shooter for most of my life. presently shoot a Hammerli SP20 RRS with .22LR and .32S&W Long barrels. This gun replaced my High Standard Olympic. I installed an Ultra Dot on both barrels so once sighted in no sight change is needed when I change barrels. I reload the .32's. The only draw back for me is the grip is not quite right, so if any one reading this knows someone who can make custom grips for this gun, let me hear from you.

[conradin]

Rink makes multiple types of grips for your SP20