[Vicegrip]

Having just sold a P-226 I had owned for many years I fell the need to chime in with my unasked for opinion. I would not consider the 226 a good pistol for target. It has a busy action, is large and heavy for the caliber and has a large grip. It is one of the more complicated actions, having a de-cocker and being single / double. It is not considered all that accurate as well. Plenty accurate for personal defense for sure but I found it lacking for target. Might do well to stat with a more straight forward pistol or even a revolver. For range time target with a pistol the Ruger in .22 are hard to beat. for an accurate shooting right out of the box big caliber pistol I found the Glocks to be tops. My Glock model 21 .45 cal. has been a dead reliable machine over the 8000+ rounds I have fired. I t is as accurate as my target grade Colt .45 and has never ever stove piped or failed to feed. One time it failed to fire was from a copper jacket flaking back and causing the slide to not close. A quick cycle of the slide and it cleared. I have had other brands of pistols and the Glock has proven to be a far better pistol in every aspect except history and soul. It is not a warm gun, it is a no nonsense tool built to do what it is intended to do.

Totally off topic. I recently discovered the world of adult air pistols and rifles. I have found there is a world highly accurate and very powerful air guns from .177 all the way to .50 cal. In the .177 and .22 cal you can get air rifles that have higher FPS than .22 LR. I have a nice silenced .177 rifle with iron sights, good scope and target grade ammo. Built a target/trap in the backyard and I can settle in and take some shots whenever I feel like it. No $$$ cartridges and no freaking out the locals. Keep the speeds under supersonic and the loudest sound is the pellet smacking the paper. Jack it to 1200 fps and it cracks like a powder powered rifle. I play some nice classical music in the yard while shooting to mask the sounds.