TargetTalk

Sounds like you have interest in a couple events and just need something to get started. I was in the same position a few years ago and for the most part just had to buy something new or slightly used at a high expense and figure it out from there. I have shot 2 rifle and 2 pistol events at an IPC World Cup and did well in 3 out of the 4. Cost thousands of dollars to figure out what events to eventually compete in but I have been through it all since then with collecting a variety of guns so that other newbies can get started. Mostly rifles loaned to junior shooters. I did amass a collection of basic .22's for the kids. The Trailside is pretty good out of the box but not sure if you can do much with the trigger. I like and suggest the Ruger over the Buckmark. You can do a better trigger job on a ruger and get some good grips to go on it for around $650 new. It is more than accurate enough. I know someone who shot a 899/900 bullseye score with a Ruger. Asked why no one shoots them in international rapid fire and it was mainly due to the inferior trigger compared to the $2000 guns. However, you just want to get started and give it a try. The IZH35 for around $700 is close in performance to the $2000 guns. It is Russian and crude compared to the German and Swiss and Italian and top 1911 models in the US but it is very effective and good when you get one that works. However, all very precise guns get finicky with .22 rounds.
Nothing says you can't tryout free pistol with the Ruger. Your new and wont be competitive anyway but will have fun and let you know if you want to invest in a gun for the sport. That is the only event I haven't tried. I have shot some high scores with my rapid fire gun at the 50yd line during a bullseye match. That is basically the same target as free pistol.
I'm assuming the club you are referring to is the one in Dallas? Not sure of anywhere else doing any Intl. shooting in Tx. Match coming up in March. You can also try standard pistol or centerfire. Crosstraining in bullseye for those should be easy to find in ATX. Air Pistol is somewhat similar to free pistol and most people shoot both. I see many of the foreign teams ant Intl. events training free pistol with an air pistol. Not sure what it is all about since I don't shoot free pistol I know FP is suppose to be the most difficult and since I am horrible at airpistol I haven't tried it even though I had some good strings of 50yds with a rapid fire gun.

If you come to the matches in Dallas in March, I can loan you a Morini air pistol for Saturday, and my Morini RF, Ruger, or Trailside gun for rapid fire and standard pistol. Has been a guy shooting a .38 revolver for centerfire so you can shoot just about anything to give that a try. I have a Pardini GT9 you could use for it even though competitive shooters shoot .32.

In the long run, the American guns will shoot the $3 a box ammo but it is impossible to find at that price right now but I do have $8 a box ammo for the Ruger and Trailside and for the Morini. Morini also likes the $16 variety but the results are the same. All 3 are different brands and mfg. If you want to shoot the centerfire match bring your own ammo.

Just read the last post before mine. Good advice. Shooting conventional or Bullseye or 2700 or just the 900 of 2700 will give you the training and baby steps needed to be able to shoot a rapid fire course of fire. Also a lot more matches. I shot some for crosstraining.
However, I see nothing wrong in shooting a RF match even without going through all the baby steps. Will help you figure out the course of fire and make more sense of learning the baby steps. Standard pistol gives you a mix of NRA Bullseye and is an international event although not an olympic event. Sport Pistol is the same course of fire as Centerfire. 30 shots precision and 30 shots timed/RF at a single target. It is shot with a .22 and is a Paralympic men/women mixed event and a mixed event for men/women juniors. You would be able to shoot that event in Dallas for fun with a .22 instead of a .32 or 9mm or 38 or ???

Bemelli is one of the guns I forgot to mention that is under $1000 and is being used at the World Cup level. There are a couple people in Dallas that have those.

Not sure how good some of the older generations of the Pardini are but those can be had for $1000 or less. Someone else can chime in on that for a starter gun. Not sure when Pardini made all their changes but I think those guns are probably 10-20 years old. Also not quite clear if they just made a tweak/change to the gun for this year or if it is the same one they had last year. The one from last year is only a few years old. Maybe someone can clarify that.

As I remember Pardini hit the market in the early eighties. The earliest
didn´t have the stripes on the sides, and I can´t say if all internal parts are exactly the same in them. The ones with stripes has gone through minor changes over the years, but you can still find any sparepart for all of them if
they are mechanical. Get one.
Avoid electronics. There are different kinds of modules
in them, and no one will last. They are out of production i think.
Rebuilt .22 shorts could be hard to find spareparts for.

For some reason I thought the ones with the stripes had been around for about ten years but like you stated, had gone through several changes. Not sure what those changes are but I think the value between the different ones can be significant. The trigger is the one thing I can visually see a difference in but not sure what the actual change was to those triggers.

the newer triggers are more adjustable. they fit in the old frames.
and vice versa.
the major change is that the screw for the first stage triggerweight moved
from inside the triggerguard to a hole in the frame in front of the rearsight,
where the spring underneath it engages the sear. That is a big minus in my opinion. You don´t have the tension of that spring helping you to bring the trigger forward between shots. But there is a triggerstop screw in the triggerguard wich can be removed. The coil is m3 and the material around it is thin, so you should have a millingmachine to make it m5, in order to put in the elder adjustmentscrew with its spring. If you would like to.