Lack of Gun Focus....I want them all!

[inkballedtarget]

Lots of shooters love to buy, try, and sell guns. Nothing wrong with it. It is straight up fun to get a new gun and try it out.

As far as financial sense ... very few hobbies make financial sense! Thankfully, that is not what hobbies are about.

You are doing you. Nothing wrong with it. Carry on!

The above has certainly been true of me. I enjoy seeing what's out there. To some level all guns are interesting.

[Rob D]

In my opinion, If you want to get better at shooting, you should pick a gun and focus on improving your shooting.

If you're more interested in the guns than in the shooting, by all means shoot all the guns you want to, but you will usually pay a penalty in the form of delayed progress when it comes to your shooting skills.

There are plenty of guys that just want to come out and shoot guns with their buddies on the weekends and aren't concerned about their match performance, and there's nothing wrong with that. However, if you really want to to improve and master the skill set, pick a gun and learn to shoot it really well. Like someone else already said, after you get the skills, they will transfer to almost any gun with very little adjustment.

As shooters, we're all interested in guns. I think one of the main differences between competitive shooters and typical gun owners is the fact that we're generally MORE interested in the shooting than in the guns. Most gun owners I know own lots of guns but might shoot 50-200rds a year. Competitive shooters, in contrast, might only own a handful of guns, but we shoot the crap out of them and then re-barrel.

Edited March 4, 2015 by Rob D

[shws]

If you are not looking to go pro and have the money, who cares!

[leeb10]

There are two resources that are taxed when one switches from gun to gun, money and time.

The former may or may not be an issue depending on one's personal financial situation. The more one has, the more they can afford to "play" around and try different guns. However if money is tight, and you are focused on performance, then invest in the expenses that are guaranteed to help contribute to performance (shot timer, reloader, bullets, range time, etc).

The latter, time is relevant to everyone. For every minute that you spend handling, training, and competing with one gun incurs an opportunity cost.

IMO, if you are dire set on performance. Pick a competitive platform that has a track record of success (from glocks to 2011's and everything in between), and run it to the ground.

[vixty]

I'm in the same boat as to what I want to shoot. I've started with production just because I like the challenge of planning a stage with 10 round mags, but once I get a rating I think I will dabble in limited to see how I do with a packed magazine. Being new I feel its better to have less bullets so if I get flustered on those stupid 4in steel plates I can regroup after dumping 10 rounds rather than 18 but that's just me. I do plan on keeping the same gun but its very tempting when seeing others running around with all these different types of guns. I will be shooting limited minor, but the interesting thing is that the last three matches i've shot in the top 5 finishers in limited have shot minor, so is major really that big of an advantage.

[vixty]

"Kneelingatlas" that's one heck of a collection!!!!!

[Ocrrhbow]

I have recently come to the same conclusion. As I was thinking of buying a new gun to enter carry optic division shooting and had to do the mental justification of sending the money for the gun and gear that goes with it to compete I realized that I had several guns that have never been out of their boxes. I bought these guns on shims but, frankly, have never thought about shooting them. All of a sudden I felt a little crazy. Who wastes money like that? So I have decided to sell the ones I don't use and narrow my focus. Maybe I can use the money I save on a sporting clays Citori or something.

[ecolyer325]

I have two guns that I compete with and train with, both are Brazos customs, one is the limited pro and the other is the HP edge. Other than the slide lightening cuts these guns are set up the same. These are also the guns that I train with and they are the only guns I train with. I find it very beneficial to train with one particular gun just so you learn that particular gun and you are making the most out of your practice session being able to develop skill and not working on handling an unfamiliar gun.

Now on the flip side of this I really like going out and buying new guns and shooting them. I just like guns in general and don't think I can have too many. Do I shoot all the guns I own, no not on a regular basis but I still enjoy owning them. Also to me a gun is always worth something, it is a tool when it comes down to it and tools are always worth having.

[quaker]

I'm embarrass to say that in the last 13 months, I have only 1 rifle, and 1 pistol with 2 same slides, which I used in all sanctioned match I've joined last year and all 2-3 local matches each month. Reason is I still got a lot to learn in the physical and mental aspect of the game that I haven't fully optimized the capability of my gun , and of course my financial limitation of instead of buying a new gun, I spent it on bullets, powders, and replacement parts for all the upgrade that I did to keep my equipemnt concsistent, and also keeping the cost of the hobby manageable with my meager income (aka spending won't go pass wife's set limit).

[Fredlegentil]

In the past 6 months I bought a glock 34, an STI Edge and build a rifle ... I wan't a shotgun and an open gun now ... go figure ... it's called GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome)

[fbzero]

This was my first season that I really got involved in a lot of matches and tried to improve my shooting.  The prior year was my first year competing and I really only did one match every month or two.  After having performances all over the map, I did make the decision to stick with something for a while and started running my GP X-Calibur in Limited Minor consistently.  Like you, I could shoot similarly with most of what I went back and forth between, but I did start making more noticeable progress when I finally picked one and stuck with it.

Unfortunately, they don't make that gun in 40 S&W, so for next season I'll be switching to the RIA Pro Match 40 and doing my best to stick with it all season.  The problem is that I'm a collector/gear whore and enjoy competitive shooting...those things sometimes work against each other lol!

[davidb72]

I'm going to stick with my 1911's for single stack and my 2011 for limited and not change beyond that for the foreseeable future.

I bought a PSA AR9 for PCC but think I need to focus on pistol shooting first.