I am a pistol shooter, I own a couple of rifles and three shotguns, but I haven’t shot any of them in years.
Because then I can assume I’m using it for zombies.
Pistols, partly because I can get to the pistol range in about 10 minutes, but also because it takes more skill (for me) than shooting rifles or shotguns, and shotguns hurt my arthritic old body.
I’m not a fan of shotguns for the same reasons as Airman Doors.
I have very limited experience with rifles. I haven’t shot one since I was a teenager.
Handguns, however, are a challenge to shoot well. I’ve been getting to the target range a bit more often than I had for a while and am getting back into the groove. I just shot my grandfather’s .32 that he carried as a sidearm when he was a constable back in the forties for the first time last weekend. Dad gave it to me Thanksgiving, but I waited until I had it checked out by the gunsmith before firing it. I like the size, but the grip is for someone with bigger hands than mine. 
Not to mention that we will learn that chainsaws are better than shotguns :eek:
I have more fun with rifles, but I’m far better with shotguns. (Last four trips to the gallery has been all 23-25/25 in skeet shooting.) With rifles it’s all about setting yourself challenges and then overcoming them, but with a shotgun it’s more like a natural process of pullaimshootreload.
When I get into a groove, the courtmaster usually lets me off a 5-series in less than 10 seconds and getting them all feels great. But once you’ve done that and a perfect 25/25 day, that’s pretty much it.
I am much better with a rifle than with the other choices, but doing well with a pistol is more satisfying, for most of the reasons Airman Doors cites. I need to go get a .22 LR, but air rifles are very inexpensive to run, and with the right pellet trap, require no travelling to the range.
I’ve owned several of each, I voted handgun.
Give the 870 a close look, especially if it’s well worn in…
I voted pistol, although the 10-22 probably gets shot more than any of the other firearms. Individually, of course. The various pistols together get shot more than the various rifles do.
If your shotgun isn’t already chambered and on safe then it’s not ready to be used for home defense. Waking up from a dead sleep in a panic isn’t the time to try and chamber a shell, there’s just too much risk of a short stroke jam that renders your shotgun into a very expensive baseball bat.
Anyway, to the poll I like shooting anything but I probably shoot my pistols the most. Rifles are easy to shoot as long as you’re not doing more than 100 yards and while I can enjoy long distance shooting it’s not my favorite. Shotguns are awesome as hell and busting clays is a great way to spend an afternoon, but again at least for me it’s pretty easy. Handguns at 25 yards takes intense focus and muscle memory, even when you’re good it’s easy to miss. I like the challenge more. And the cheaper (usually) ammo.
I have all three. For a relaxing and enjoyable day at the range, nothing beats time with the rifles. Ringing steel gongs with the autoloaders is a particular favorite.
For what purpose?
I do a fair bit with all three and each offers a different experience and challenge. Pistols are probably the least ‘practical’ in that I’m not using them to hunt with but they are a blast to shoot and require skill and experience to shoot well. They also offer potentially great diversity in that it’s easy to aquire a wide range of calibers and models, all of which can easily be taken to and employed in your shooting session. I might start off with a .22, switch to a .38, reload with a 357, switch to a .40, a .45 and top 'er off with a .44. Not a bad day’s work.
Rifles are awesome in that they can be such a precision instrument. You can meter in allowances to compensate for distance, wind, elevation, etc, all combining to make for remarkable shots. You can run across a field, drop to a knee and hit at a hundred yards a fleeing turkey through the neck. Line up and kill two pigs with one bullet, etc. Spend hours from a single vantage making long distance shots to rid a cattle pasture of prarie dogs or coyotes. Drop a Pronghorn from so far it didn’t even know you were there.
Shotguns are probably though the most ‘communal’, ‘social’ of weapons. Dove, duck, quail, pheasant and goose hunts frequently are done with from one to a dozen other friends. While volume is certainly a possibility (500 Argentinian dove in one morning) it’s not the quantity but, instead, the quality of that one single, skillful shot that remains most endearing. Some of the best times I can remember are from such gatherings.
I’ve never shot a rifle.
I shot a hand-gun once – at a firing range with a cop friend.
I shot a shotgun once – at a skeet thing (company outing).
I sucked at the hand-gun – I couldn’t have hit water if I was shooting from a boat – but I was pretty good with the shotgun. And it sounded cooler.
Agree.
I shoot my CC/OC handgun on occasion just to maintain some proficiency with it. But generally speaking, I really don’t enjoy shooting handguns, for a variety of reasons:
- IMO, there is a greater chance of a ND with a handgun vs. a long gun (i.e. rifle of shotgun). Simply put, they’re not as safe to shoot. Long guns are inherently safer.
- You have to get up close to your target, which increases the chance you’ll be hit by a ricochet.
- You tend to go through a lot more ammo with a handgun vs. a long gun.
- For most people, it takes an enormous amount of range time and ammo to get good with a handgun (verses a rifle).
- It’s not something you can share with young children. In other words, I don’t have any problem teaching an 8 year old how to shoot a .22. But I would never attempt to teach an 8 year old how to shoot a handgun. As mentioned in #1, a handgun is inherently less safe to shoot vs. a long gun.
By contrast, I ***love ***shooting rifles. 
There’s just something about hitting a target at 200 yards that nothing else can compare to.
Yup. I own all three but prefer to target shoot with my old .22LR (Remington Nylon 66).
A definate possibility. A SWAT trainer was showing me ‘close in’ tactics for defense using a .45 and 3/4 steel gongs as targets. I shot and he screamed as part of the shrapnel ricoche’d into his calf. He bandaged it, said that couldn’t happen again in a thousand years, I shot again and he screamed as it ricoche’d into his tit. We quit so I could run him up to the hospital. Apparently someone had hit the pistol range gong with a high powered rifle, leaving a concave dimple. I just happened to hit that spot twice.
These days I enjoy handguns the most, pistols are the most challenging thing I shoot. I’m a pretty good shot with most anything but I feel like I get a lot out of practicing with my 1911.
The terrain 'round these parts isn’t good for long shooting, most of my hunting shots are inside 100yds. I wish we had a good long range place to practice.
The wife of a friend of mine got hit by a 9 mm round that ricocheted from a metal target her husband was shooting at. It lodged in her arm. She had it surgically removed a few years later.
I love shooting at swinging metal targets, but am always fearful of ricochets. As a result, two rules on my home shooting rage are as follows: 1) You must wear eye protection, regardless of the range you’re shooting at. 2) Do not shoot at metal targets if you’re closer than 25 yards to the target.
25 yards is closer than I care to be to a metal target. I prefer for them to be a minimum of 200 yards away. Steel targets aren’t cheap and gun clubs tend to keep them in use past their safe useful life. Richochets are a real hazard, particularly if you belong to a club that has yahoos among the membership and does things like chew up pistol targets with rifle fire.
So far I haven’t had a problem shooting metal targets at 25 yards. But maybe I’ve just been lucky. I should probably make the rule 50 yards, i.e. no shooting at metal targets if you’re closer than 50 yards. Or something like that. Is there a rule-of-thumb that people use?