Heavy vs Light

[SIGcurious]

General question ... for Prod and Carry Optics, do people generally prefer lighter guns?  I know B.J. won both divisions with a Glock, but guys like that, at that level, can really shoot anything.  Are guns like the PDP Steel frame and Shadow 2 not optimal?  If you were picking out a new gun, what would it be?

[Dr. Phil]

Speaking weight from a revolver perspective, I tried both.

My TRR8 was really light. I left the rails on for the weight. I found that I was swinging past a lot of targets. Too light for that! USPSA and plate matches it was great but I was opting for 1 gun for all.

I got a 929 and that was the ticket for me. Heavier swings smoother (for me) and settles faster.

The rimfire rifle guys are Dremeling weight away all the time! My RFRO gun is 4 1/2 lbs. Some are lighter.

A good friend bought his wife a Ruger MKIV lightweight thing. She hated it! Made him sell it and buy a full weight model.

Of course test because YMMV.

[Squirrel45]

This is very subjective. My belief again just my two cents is as follows. When starting out the gun should be relatively heavy for the shooter, again this varries with person. As the shooter becomes better the weight of the gun gets lighter. My reasoning behind this is, when starting out your shaky, lack transition skills and trigger control is not the best. When you get better speed becomes more of a factor, as you have somewhat figured out the more basic skill sets. Hence going to a lighter gun at that time. 

[Farmer]

1 hour ago, Squirrel45 said:

This is very subjective. My belief again just my two cents is as follows. When starting out the gun should be relatively heavy for the shooter, again this varries with person. As the shooter becomes better the weight of the gun gets lighter. My reasoning behind this is, when starting out your shaky, lack transition skills and trigger control is not the best. When you get better speed becomes more of a factor, as you have somewhat figured out the more basic skill sets. Hence going to a lighter gun at that time. 

^^^2X

[blackss06]

Super subjective. Some people swear by the lightest gun they can get. 
 

I personally shot CO with a p320 axg with brass grips. It was balanced well but not so light that it didn’t feel stable for me. I run brass grips on my 22 pistol and still feel like it’s too light. Eventually that will be a 6” gun with brass grips. 
 

I shot 929s only in revolver but now am looking at other options to cut some weight down to make it about the same as my CO gun. Just a lil nose heavy after not running them for a year. 
 

When I am itching for a change again I may well shoot stock Glocks just for the fun of it. Either way, it’s the Indian not the arrow. Pick a platform and practice. I personally won’t run DA/SA in steel challenge because that got annoying real quick with my S2. Other than that it was a fine SC gun. 

[SIGcurious]

37 minutes ago, blackss06 said:

 I personally won’t run DA/SA in steel challenge because that got annoying real quick with my S2.

 

I was wondering about that also.

[Reinholt]

CO I run a Glock 34 with brass plug and heavy full guide rod that was within weight limits for Steel Challenge and USPSA.  The weight helps with recoil and transitioning to the next target.  You do need to test what ammo works best for you.  Heavy bullet and slow velocity or mouse fart load that still cycles.  It's all about what works for you to transition as fast as you can on target.     

Edited February 29 by Reinholt