"I haven't fired a pistol since I was about 12."
44Fred nailed it. One of the worst things you can do when shooting is to get bad habits. Start off with the .22 (I also prefer the Buckmark), get comfortable, get confident, get good habits, and shoot, shoot, shoot. When you compare the cost of shooting 500 rounds of .22 ammo to 500 rounds of .9mm/40/.357 you'll see a huge price differential too.
Then move up to the firearm of choice.
Even today, after shooting hundreds of thousands of rounds in the last 40+ years, I like to fire a few hundred rounds of .22 to get into the grove before loading up the Taurus .357 revolver or the Glock 17.
When I was shooting competively in the Army, we must have dry fired at least a thousand times for every live round sent down range. But dryfiring is boring, boring, boring and most people (without a coach/pro) are very poor at identifying what they may be doing wrong. But using a .22 in place of dry firing gives you a visual representation of problems with mechanics, if you know what to look for. If you don't, hire a pro. HIRE A PRO!
One way to look at it is you'll spend several hundreds of dollars on a firearm, and hundreds more on ammo, so why balk on another couple hundred for a good coach/pro?
