Not having access to any club guns, and not being able to find the mythical "Cheap second hand" gun, I bought a S&W Victory. Perhaps not the best in the world, but it got me all the first club badges (the SFC RTS program). Grip is certainly too small, but I can still pick it up and shoot it as well as my FAS.40xguy wrote:re thoughts about buying a S&W victory... the one I bought was a total piece of junk. cheap parts, assembled poorly, and was an overall mess. spent a bunch of money on trigger mod and some other stuff, none of which really improved it. moral: if you start with junk, then junk it will always be !! conclusion: spend the money to begin with and get something quality, because if you don't, you'll regret it later.
In the case of the OP who had access to much better guns through the club I'd have found it difficult to think of purchasing the SW or a Ruger as a first personal gun. I really would have held out for a good price on a used competition gun.