A rented gun should be about as accurate as it can be depending on how well the rental gun has been maintained. If the range is worth going to at all they should be taking care of the guns they rent. It's just good business. Now guns with an adjustable site might fall out of true a little easier than some with fixed sights but you should still be able to get a good idea of how well it works. Most all range rentals I've seen have fixed sights so it shouldn't me much of an issue keeping them sighted in.

The biggest thing you are going to want to look at with a rental is how it fits, how the felt recoil feels to you and weather or not you can deal with it. Sights can be replaces or set to be best for you later. some guns liek different ammo so you might not get the best idea how something shoots until you put a few different rounds brands through it. It might shoots pretty straight but you might not like the sights the gun has but if you actually bought one and put a set of sights you liked more it may get a lot more accurate. So take shooting rentals with a grain of salt but you should get a pretty good idea shooting a rental if it is one that you would have a good time shooting well.

Originally Posted by Chunter135

should i just be looking at the feel of the gun and how comfortable i am with it?

Yes

If you are new to handguns, chances are you won't be a very good judge of how accurate one is, for quite some time yet. It takes a lot of quality practice to be any good at all with a handgun, past about 7 yards.

If you want to be a good shooter, as opposed to just being 'good enough' to defend yourself at close range, look for the gun that fits your hand, has a smooth trigger, the correct trigger-finger reach, a crisp sight picture, and whose level of recoil brings a smile to your face, rather than a grimace.

I have fired a lot of rentals, and have never noticed poor accuracy in any of them, although there were lots of them that I could not shoot very well. They are just used guns, and it's just good business to rotate them out before they get completely 'shot out,' especially if they are trying to sell guns.

At the range I am a member of rental guns may be used at no charge by members as long as the range ammo is used. The .22lr autos are about 1/2 and 1/2 fixed or adjustable sights. The balance of the weapons for rent include Glocks (f/s), Springfield Armory (f/s), Kimbers (f/s and 1 adj.) various revolvers with fixed sights including J-frame S&W's w/ Crimson Trace grip laser sights and a Model 29 w/ adj sights. They have a ton of .22lr for rentals and the autos are predominently 9mm with .45 ACP in the Kimbers. The only thing I don't get is that all the semi-autos are kept on the shelf with the slide locked open. I tried a Ruger 9x19mm just for kicks and it would lock open every third round. Don't know if that was from it's storage mode or not. Don't want to damn a weapon based on a rental performance that I don't maintain.

Locking open had to do with it not cycling right or your grip on the gun was causing the slide lock to catch. Storing them like that wont hurt them.