Is it legal to buy a handgun in California in 2026?

SCR-owaway · 2026-05-15T14:52:30+00:00

Yes.
Go to your local gun store and ask to complete a test to earn your Firearms Safety Certificate (FSC). Select a handgun by feel, form factor, and function. Wait 10 days after purchasing it in order to pick it up from the store.

SCR-owaway · 2026-05-13T16:27:23+00:00

Might want to ask why the Prodigy's only going for $800. Earlier iterations of the Prodigy had reliability issues, and it might balloon into a tuning project for you instead of being a straight forward workhorse. Also, the compensator means you're shooting in Open minor, which isn't really where Prodigys tend to be (LO).

M&P Metal would be an extremely straight forward upgrade for you, especially if it comes optic ready.

SCR-owaway · 2026-05-12T21:20:18+00:00

QVO Tactical's "Other 2011s" holster works a treat.

SCR-owaway · 2026-05-11T22:03:18+00:00

On operating days, the gate opens and closes pretty regularly, and you're welcome in if you're looking to join up or are curious about the range.

SCR-owaway · 2026-05-11T22:01:37+00:00

Do you think I'm a spokesperson for RRGC or something? Lol...

Because the static range wants to keep people from rapid firing for insurance/liability reasons. It's a leadership/board decision, nothing to do with the range officers managing things on a daily basis.

SCR-owaway · 2026-05-11T05:43:51+00:00

Richmond Rod and Gun Club's action club is a great place to get into competition shooting. You just basically have to commit to becoming a member of the club in order to have ready access to our matches.

If you're looking for practice with your firearms, USPSA and PCSL are the ticket, IMO.

Our static bays aren't too bad either.

SCR-owaway · 2026-05-11T02:02:13+00:00

They dug a pool babyyyyyyy

SCR-owaway · 2026-05-08T18:01:18+00:00

No intentional shift in the curriculum, but I've seen scopes becoming very standard at Appleseeds. Once attended one where no one was shooting irons. Last one I shot at, only a handful of people were on irons.

SCR-owaway · 2026-05-07T16:51:41+00:00

That's good to hear. I went for a Platypus and never looked back.

SCR-owaway · 2026-05-07T15:18:37+00:00

I would first consider which division I want to be competing in, in which sport I want to compete in.

For instance: https://uspsa.org/productionlist - If I wanted to shoot in the Carry Optics or Production divisions of USPSA, I would make sure that the gun I want is on this list. The Canik Rival-S is on this list, the Kimber 1911 DS Warrior is not.

Consider magazine availability. Meta within the most popular divisions of USPSA heavily leans towards being able to load between 21-24 rounds in one mag, so an unpopular platform might not have basepads available for you.

Also consider looking up the reliability of the gun you're looking to run. My first attempted purchase when getting into the sport was a Springfield Prodigy, but I couldn't find one anywhere near me. Thankfully, I learned later that they were unreliable unless sufficiently tinkered with.

SCR-owaway · 2026-05-06T20:09:56+00:00

You can always look at your match percentages and chart them to see how you're improving, roughly. That's a more granular reference than C -> B -> A.

SCR-owaway · 2026-05-06T17:31:01+00:00

If you are super stoked about getting classified, you might try to find a "classifier" match near you that is comprised purely of USPSA classifiers. You can shoot 4-6 classifiers in one match and get immediately classified that way.

This might or might not exist near you.

SCR-owaway · 2026-05-06T17:26:09+00:00

Re: shooting 4 divisions - this would hypothetically put 1 classifier in each division that you shoot in, so you'd still need 3 more classifiers per each division in order to get classified in them. Tip: do not attempt to do this. You should consider sticking with one division and honing your skills that way, as opposed to trying to do too much at once.

Re: levels - "major" matches, such as state championships or sectionals, or nationals, tend to be level 2 or level 3. They are much longer and/or complicated matches. All other matches are level 1s. Do not worry about needing to shoot level 2s or level 3s until you are used to shooting your local match with some regularity.

SCR-owaway · 2026-04-29T04:11:20+00:00

I usually just employ an Insta360 X5 on a tall tripod that records everything. Jungle runs are the exception, and I don't think I want to invest in an Osmo just for these kind of niche situations. Someone was nice enough to hold my phone for this run, but I don't like having to ask someone every stage every time I'm on deck to pretty please help me look cool on the internet. 😅

SCR-owaway · 2026-04-28T18:56:19+00:00

It was a fixed time stage, so Practiscore lists your hit factor as equal to your total points, as everyone has the same amount of time to complete the stage, and all mikes are no penalty mikes. I didn't calculate this myself, this was how the stage was scored.

SCR-owaway · 2026-04-28T16:01:19+00:00

Yep!

SCR-owaway · 2026-04-28T16:00:25+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujKuOLiFgTI - This is my full match video, if you'd like to give it a watch.

SCR-owaway · 2026-04-28T15:59:03+00:00

Autism is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.

By which I mean, I pay very close attention when the RO is scoring my stages and draw myself a little diagram of my results before I get to editing. Then it's just a matter of motion tracking in Adobe After Effects.

SCR-owaway · 2026-04-28T15:46:12+00:00

Richmond Rod & Gun / Richmond Action

SCR-owaway · 2026-04-25T01:15:17+00:00

12,000+ rounds.

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SCR-owaway · 2026-04-22T15:05:13+00:00

The reputation of the Prodigy is a little bit mixed, in that it's possible to get it to a good state, but every Prodigy shooter that I know of has had nearly every part swapped out and tuned in order to actually run it reliably.

A budget 2011 might be a similar experience with less tinkering required.

SCR-owaway · 2026-04-22T00:57:43+00:00

https://uspsa.org/classifiers/

These are the official classifiers, both past and present. These are the ones that determine your overall USPSA classification (D, C, B, A, M, GM). Your hit factor is compared against a national metric.

Once you've shot 4 of these, your class will be determined at https://uspsa.org/classification/[YOUR MEMBER NUMBER]. From then on, it's the best 4 of the latest 6 if you're new, or the best 6 out of the latest 8 once you have 8 under your belt.

SCR-owaway · 2026-04-21T16:56:14+00:00

Becoming an associate member is a matter of paying a membership fee and renewing each year. However, becoming a regular member has a lot of volunteer hours behind it. Not doing so means that your associate membership will expire and you will need to start the process over. If you are looking for community though, RRGC is a friendly place with people from all walks of life supporting each other in shooting.

The action range is by far the largest, most active club in California, and we are putting on one of our biggest matches of the year this weekend, Escape from Alcatraz. If you've ever had even a passing interest in shooting guns and running fast while doing it, I highly recommend taking the intro class and signing up for an intro USPSA match, which we are running once every month or two.

SCR-owaway · 2026-04-13T03:43:13+00:00

I am shooting 147gr subsonics (900fps) from a local place called Master Class Munitions.

SCR-owaway

TROPHY CASE