From a cost standpoint the 9mm is not that much more of a savings over the .40 IMO-YMMV (I buy Walmart when it's on sale Winchester 'white-box'). I like to practice with what I carry for self defense.
There's no doubt about it .22 ammo is much cheaper than 9mm or .40. Depending on what you get in a .22 some models are 'ammo fussy' especially in semi-autos.
My Sigma .40 and my Springfield XD-45 Tactical are not ammo fussy.

Wal-mart has 9mm federal $10 for a 50 rd box. Its $17 for that many rounds for a .40 cal. So with almost splitting the cost in half I would say a 9mm's ammo cost is low enough to make a difference. That right there will save me $100 bucks a month. After a few month's there is the cost of the 9mm itself. So thats why I am thinking a 9mm would be good for the range. But I see that .22 as a baby's toy. I might just have to rent one for a session to see what I think.

My feeling is that if you burned through 500+ rounds in your first week, you obviously love shooting handguns as much as the thousands of people who visit these forums so you might as well just plan on getting BOTH a 9mm AND and a .22 like the rest of us... for starters...

Originally Posted by Kharuger

My feeling is that if you burned through 500+ rounds in your first week, you obviously love shooting handguns as much as the thousands of people who visit these forums so you might as well just plan on getting BOTH a 9mm AND and a .22 like the rest of us... for starters...

For starters, Thats so funny. I bought my gun thinking it would be atleast to six months to a year before I even thought about buying another one. It took just over a week to make me want another. I do not understand how I did not catch this bug earlier. If I get a 9mm I know it will be a glock to match my carry so I do not lose the feel for it. But what is a good .22 that is not to small or girlie looking to say.

You may want to consider a .22 double action revovler to practice trigger control as most of the .22 autos I'm familiar with have a pretty light trigger. Either way you'll can spend less money and shoot more often with a .22. Heck, even a BB pistol in the basement can be practice or just plain fun time shooting. With the cost of ammo, I just can't affort to practice as much as I'd like to with any of my large caliber handguns.

Since you're such a Glock fan, I'm just wondering if you're aware of the ISSC M-22... a glock-like
.22 made in Austria. If you just google it, you can easily see it and find out all about it.

PS: I agree about the BB gun idea... I also have a c02 type and it's a hoot... nice thing especially is that I can shoot it at home whenever I feel like it and without all the restrictions like at the range... i.e. draw and fire, fire from odd positions, etc.... Click on the link below if you want to see more about mine:

Anybody Else Like BB Pistols For Practice?

Originally Posted by LowPro313

Wal-mart has 9mm federal $10 for a 50 rd box. Its $17 for that many rounds for a .40 cal. So with almost splitting the cost in half I would say a 9mm's ammo cost is low enough to make a difference. That right there will save me $100 bucks a month. After a few month's there is the cost of the 9mm itself. So thats why I am thinking a 9mm would be good for the range. But I see that .22 as a baby's toy. I might just have to rent one for a session to see what I think.

That same $17 will get you 500 rounds of .22 LR ammo. Anyone who sees a .22 as a "baby's toy" should be kept far away from other children. I fully agree a .22 would be a very poor choice as a self defense weapon except in the most unusual of circumstances, but it is a very good choice for learning and practicing many aspects of pistol shooting. When you get to where you can put 30 rounds of .22 in a one-half inch group at 10 yards, you will find you can do some very good work with a .45 too.

Originally Posted by Couch Potato

That same $17 will get you 500 rounds of .22 LR ammo. Anyone who sees a .22 as a "baby's toy" should be kept far away from other children. I fully agree a .22 would be a very poor choice as a self defense weapon except in the most unusual of circumstances, but it is a very good choice for learning and practicing many aspects of pistol shooting. When you get to where you can put 30 rounds of .22 in a one-half inch group at 10 yards, you will find you can do some very good work with a .45 too.

I agree.

The .22 will not give you the feel of the recoil, but will let you practice sight picture and hand steadiness.

A air gun will allow you to practice the same in your own basement--and advantage. Good air guns are as expensive (or much more expensive) than standard pistols. The ammo is not that cheap either for quality pellets.

For information about air guns (rifle and pistol) see: http://www.targettalk.org/index.php

Why not learn to reload your empties?
As long as you stick to jacketed bullets, your reloads will be OK in your Glock. (But don't use lead-alloy bullets. Gotta be jacketed.)
If you buy a decent press and dies, the payback begins at about 1,500 rounds of reloads. Of course, that's not counting your time, which you contribute "free." But the simplest Dillon machine will give you 300-to-500 reloads an hour, once you have learned to do the job, so payback comes quickly if you continue to enjoy shooting.

In my personal philosophy, it's better to practice with reloads which closely approximate your daily-carry cartridges, than it is to practice with a .22 or an air-pistol.

(Jean and I will be away in Noo Yawk, gawking at our new granddaughter, from Sept. 15th through the 29th. See you when we get back...)

I started out like you, two years ago, buying a Glock G-32 as my first sidearm. I took the advice of many of the more experienced shooters on this forum as well as others and my second handgun purchase was a Browning Buck Mark.
Although today I am fairly competent with all of my handguns (I'm up to 10 so far) it took a lot of practice and hundreds of rounds sent down the range. The Buck Mark is still one of my favorite pistols to shoot. Shooting this gun, I was able to develop my stance, grip, sight picture, breathing and trigger squeeze. I spent hours at the range shooting Federal Bulk ammo (550 packs) at a fraction of the cost of the 357 SIG ammo my Glock eats.
To date I have pistols and revolvers in .22, .32, 9mm Luger, 9mm Makarov, 357 SIG, .40 S&W, .45 ACP, .45 Colt and .410 shotgun. Regardless of the caliber the basics of what I learned shooting my .22 apply.

Originally Posted by LowPro313

Is a .22 worth it for practice?

Yes.

The more you can practice with any firearm, the better shooter you will be. Get a .22 and fire as many rounds as you can afford. The aim, trigger, fire exercise is invaluable.

No. A .22 can get boring and you'll end up spending more time loading mags than shooting. You don't grip a .22 like you do a 9mm/.40 or higher. You don't even have to grip it. Just hold the gun and it stays put. All that practice goes out the door when you shoot your .40 since you'll be holding onto that gun with a lot more effort. It's a different ball game. Practice with a 9mm.

It never stops amazing me how there can be so divergent opinions from people who do or think they do know alot about anything. Most of the time their opinion is presented as gospel.

On this subject my opinion is a .22 is a good practice tool If you don't grip the gun the same you are doing it wrong, in my opinion. It may be better to practice with a different caliber closer to your daily carry but it is better to practice with a .22 then to not practice. I think.

RCG

Originally Posted by propellerhead

No. A .22 can get boring and you'll end up spending more time loading mags than shooting. You don't grip a .22 like you do a 9mm/.40 or higher. You don't even have to grip it. Just hold the gun and it stays put. All that practice goes out the door when you shoot your .40 since you'll be holding onto that gun with a lot more effort. It's a different ball game. Practice with a 9mm.

Given that it takes less than 5 seconds to load a .22 magazine I don't see how one would spend more time loading than shooting.

Originally Posted by propellerhead

No. A .22 can get boring and you'll end up spending more time loading mags than shooting. You don't grip a .22 like you do a 9mm/.40 or higher. You don't even have to grip it. Just hold the gun and it stays put. All that practice goes out the door when you shoot your .40 since you'll be holding onto that gun with a lot more effort. It's a different ball game. Practice with a 9mm.

I have to disagree with the gist of this statement. To benefit from practice with a .22, it helps a lot if you get one that resembles your self-defense gun as closely as possible, so that you can use the proper grip. It takes the same discipline to fire a .22 accurately as it does with a center fire handgun, so how can you not benefit by the extra repetitions?

When I was not satisfied with my marksmanship with compact type pistols, I went out and purchased a Walther P-22 so I could spend more time and less money practicing with a small pistol. It took me approximately three range sessions to improve my abilities enough to put full magazines from a 9mm compact (CZ RAMI) into a paper plate at 25 yards, at a fairly brisk firing rate. That may not be one of the goals for a purely self defense shooter, but if you can do it, it's only a small step to scoot up to seven yards and practice rapid fire, using the same marksmanship principles, but simply shooting much faster.

A lot of the new shooters that I see at the range seem completely content to just spray a silhouette at 7 yards. But for those who really want to learn to bear down and hit their targets more precisely, a .22 can only help.

Time v.s. money. If you have the time to shoot the .22 and the Glock, then go ahead and get the .22 and work on your hand steadiness, sight picture and trigger pull. But if you only have time to shoot one gun each week, practice with your primary weapon.

I know your feeling man! I did the same thing with my 45 acp. Shot till i just didnt want to spend no more on ammo! So i bought a 9mm, and shot it to a point it was the same way even though ammo was cheaper for the 9mm. I then bought a smith and wesson 22a 22 caliber pistol. I paid 281 out the door with it and have over 1,000 rounds through it in the last 6 months. Super accurate, and will eat anything i put in it.

Originally Posted by propellerhead

No. A .22 can get boring and you'll end up spending more time loading mags than shooting. You don't grip a .22 like you do a 9mm/.40 or higher. You don't even have to grip it. Just hold the gun and it stays put. All that practice goes out the door when you shoot your .40 since you'll be holding onto that gun with a lot more effort. It's a different ball game. Practice with a 9mm.

You can buy a 22 pistol in the exact same shape and form as a 9, 40, or 45. They have several of them out that are identical to the 1911 frame

Originally Posted by charger5579

You can buy a 22 pistol in the exact same shape and form as a 9, 40, or 45. They have several of them out that are identical to the 1911 frame

I know. I have a 22 conversion kit for my Sig P220 and I've owned and sold a Walther in 22. The point of my post was to say that I don't apply the same grip strength when I'm shooting 22 or 45. Sure you can learn how to aim with a 22 but when you go to a 40 or 45 after that, it's a different ball game because now you're squeezing the pistol much harder and the mechanics of your trigger finger change. That's why I still recommend practicing with a 9mm instead of a 22.

Originally Posted by propellerhead

I know. I have a 22 conversion kit for my Sig P220 and I've owned and sold a Walther in 22. The point of my post was to say that I don't apply the same grip strength when I'm shooting 22 or 45. Sure you can learn how to aim with a 22 but when you go to a 40 or 45 after that, it's a different ball game because now you're squeezing the pistol much harder and the mechanics of your trigger finger change. That's why I still recommend practicing with a 9mm instead of a 22.

Thats a good point for sure!!

I have an Olympic-style airgun (Baikal 46M) that I use on a regulation 10 meter range (33 feet) that I have in my basement and using that gun has helped my shooting significantly. If you have access to a basement where you can set up the range (it makes no noise), then I would rather go with the airgun than a .22; you will have more opportunity to shoot (it's in your basement) and it is vastly more cost-effective (500 rounds costs less than $10.00).

Originally Posted by propellerhead

I know. I have a 22 conversion kit for my Sig P220 and I've owned and sold a Walther in 22. The point of my post was to say that I don't apply the same grip strength when I'm shooting 22 or 45. Sure you can learn how to aim with a 22 but when you go to a 40 or 45 after that, it's a different ball game because now you're squeezing the pistol much harder and the mechanics of your trigger finger change. That's why I still recommend practicing with a 9mm instead of a 22.

The grip should be the same, firm and consistent. Sounds like you may be gripping your .45 too much or your .22 too little.