My first...an SP-01 Tactical. Now what??

[DAB]

After a lot a research, I settled on the SP-01 Tactical for home defense.   I have an older .38 special revolver, but this is my first handgun that is actually right out of the box.  I plan to take a handgun gun safety course, but until then I would like to take it to the range and shoot a few rounds.  I have a few "getting started" questions.

1)  Is it important to do a thorough cleaning before taking it to the range?
2)  What are some of the better 9mm ammo manufactures that would be good to start with?  Or stay away from?
3)  What is considered a good 9mm home defense round?
4)  Any other considerations?

Thanks.
dab

[tremiles]

Your SP-01 will be have all kinds of preservative oil/grease (not lube, it's to protect against corrosion) out of the box. You should clean it and lube it before firing. Follow the operating manual for proper cleaning and lube points.

For range ammo, it will shoot pretty much anything. I like Winchester white box, Speer Lawman, CCI Blazer Brass, American Eagle, or Fiocchi Shooting Dynamics brass cased ammunition depending on whichever I can get the lowest price on.

For defense ammo, I carry Federal LE HST 147gr or Speer Gold Dot 147gr. For other defense ammo recommendations you can check out a great article HERE that has scientific repeatable tests of defensive pistol ammo in ballistic gelatin and through 4 layers of denim.

I normally purchase my defense ammo from ammunitiontogo.com, but with the run on ammo over the last couple of months, they are out of 9mm defense ammo except Corbon DPX which is pretty much the most expensive 9mm ammo (although effective).

Before you consider protecting your family with a pistol, I recommend putting at least 200 rounds without a failure of your chosen defense ammo.

[RandyP]

If you enjoy your Tactical at the range as much as I do mine, best start considering reloading -lol - I did. You can empty those two 18 round mags in no time at all. 

That said any name brand ammo should work well. Mine has digested Blazer, WWB, S&B and the like with no complaints or hiccups. My home-brewed reduced load target rounds also feed and fire just fine.

If the bad guy can absorb a magazine full of FMJ and still keep coming at you, best carry a shotgun too.

[PTGT_Neon]

Wonderful article Tremiles!

[southpaw.parallaxscurioa...]

Well, since I have one for the same purposes, let me chime in:

- Get some extra MecGar mags, they are inexpensive but just as good as OEM (in fact, they ARE OEM!), they come now in 17 and 19rd versions!

- Utilize that rail and consider a light/laser attatchment, you want to be able to positively identify targets by illuminating them.  Dont rely on the laser to do anything other than to help you bring your sights to bear on target.

- My ammo of choice is Speer Gold Dot 124Gr standard pressure (with Federal 9BP and Fiocchi 124gr HPs in reserve).  Your CZ can handle +P loads, but I prefer to stick to standard, since thats what I practice with.  You should be okay with just about anything HP wise as long as its from a well known name, decide if you want to go with light, medium or heavy bullets and whether or not to do the +P thing but prepare to drop some coin on good HP ammo though.

- Now as far as practice ammo, these things will eat anything, I use Walmart/*&%$s bulk packs, Wolf, Barnaul, Bear etc... not one hickup.

ETA: one last thing, get a Kadet .22 adapter!  With 9mm prices what they are, its nice to get some practice in on much cheaper .22lr, plus its a good way to learn to shoot a handgun!