@freemo , that's pretty good for a 9mm. But shouldn't you be at 25m??

@JonKramer most people shoot handguns somewqhere between 7 yards and 15 yards, so 20 yards is already quite far for a pistol from what I'm told.

@freemo , I won't swear to it, but I think on your target it says something like "25 yard pistol target." 20 is probably pretty common for indoor ranges.

@JonKramer Im too new at shooting to really have a strong opinion. All I know is I asked two very expiernced shooters (one of them being hte owner of the range) and they all said something between 7 and 15 yards. When I told them i shot at 20yards they pointed out thats farther than most people shoot handguns.

@freemo @JonKramer Right, many ranges go out to 30+, but most proficiency tests and basic shooting with pistols are done in the 10-15 range.
Your grouping is solid for 20 yards with a handgun. Especially if that Beretta is new (I've heard some can be a bit stiff until you break them in, but mine was fine after like one cleaning).

@LouisIngenthron @JonKramer

Im not sure how the Baretta is performing in terms of accuracy, but I did get 2 jams out of about 350 rounds or so...

@freemo Yeah, that's pretty common. Once you put it through a couple cycles of usage/cleaning, that problem should go away.

@LouisIngenthron I need to learn how to properly maintain this thing before i do much more shooting...

@freemo I love the simplicity of its design. It only comes apart in 4 pieces, all of which are easy to clean/oil and assemble/disassemble.

Do you already own a cleaning kit?

@LouisIngenthron At the moment I only have the cleaning kit for my AR-15, which i never could figure out how to use (it was very hard pushing the brush in and would get stuck)... but im ready to buy a cleaning kit now for the handguns

@freemo I bought this one recently and really like it. It's got an assortment of caliber brushes, so you can use it on handguns and your AR-15. It also packs up really neatly (most kits end up as a mess), and comes with a built-in work mat.
palmettostatearmory.com/real-a

If you're having trouble with the brushes, make sure you're rotating as you push, and that you've applied enough solvent to eat through the gunpowder residue that can jam it up. If you don't already have some, you need a bottle of gun cleaning solvent and a bottle of gun oil to use any kit.

@freemo Yep. Hoppe's #9 is the gold standard solvent (and is cheap).

Once you've cleaned with solvent, then you dry it all off and lubricate moving parts (not parts exposed to the discharging cartridges, since any oil is flammable) with the oil (I use S&W's spray oil but anything labelled "gun oil" is probably fine). If you don't lubricate, the moving parts will have increased friction, causing them to heat up and expand with use, causing jams and increased wear & tear.

@LouisIngenthron i think i need to watch a video or something to figure out where to lubricate and all the steps...

@freemo Yep, I'm sure there are thousands of such videos for the models you bought; they're pretty common.
Just make sure you have those three tools and set an hour aside and you should have no problems.

@LouisIngenthron i already partially dissasembled my stuff.. so seems easy enough... just need to know where the oil goes and how to apply the solvent I guess.

How often are you expected to clean it?

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@freemo After every use. Gunpowder residue is corrosive. The longer it sits on the inside of the barrel, the more it eats away at the metal.

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@LouisIngenthron I shot one clip in my AR 2 years ago then it sat... I hope it didnt do much damage.

@freemo It's a very slow process, and 1 mag of modern ammo wouldn't leave a lot of residue. Especially if it was brand new or well-cleaned prior, I wouldn't worry too much about it. But still a good idea to get it properly cleaned when possible.

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