I’ve been to a couple classes at gun school, many years ago, and I have had forays into competitive shooting also many years ago. But any acquired skill can be easily unacquired by lack of usage or lack of repetition. And as I’ve gotten older, instead of having no money but lotsa time, it’s gone the other way. I can afford the toys, I just don’t have the time to shoot them. Thats gotta change.
A friend of mine reminded me that the difference between an amateur and a professional is that an amateur practices until they get it right, a professional practices until he can’t get it wrong. I have no desire to be a ‘professional’, whatever that means, in terms of pistolero. But what I do want is a heightened/sharpened skillset that will help me when things are in a panic and rational thought has left the room. What’s that expression about how ‘you will default to your level of training’?
The world is not getting to be a brighter, warmer, friendlier place. I would prefer, given my druthers, that if it ever comes down to some brief-but-intense moment where a pistol is what stands between the safety of those I care about and the violent intentions of some whacko, I have the muscle memory and presence of mind to perform up to the task. I don’t need to be the fastest, I don’t need the briefest split times, I don’t need to be Best In Overall finish. I just need to be able to draw my pistol and get bullets on the target in the most expeditious and efficient way possible without shooting myself or anyone else. The only person I need to compete against is me. I do not want to rely on luck.
So, I’m working on adopting the habit of getting out to the range once a week to work on my pistol and carbine skills. Not to plink, not to target shoot, not to screw around, but to actually practice repeatable drills, get metrics on performance, track those metrics, and instill some habits and behaviors that will, ideally, work in my favor if that need ever arises.
How to do that? Well, as Flannel Daddy says “Talk is cheap and ammo is expensive”. First thing is dry fire practice. Drawing a pistol from the holster smoothly, getting a clear sight picture, and keeping the gun on target as the trigger is pulled. That’s an easy enough thing to practice at home…I spent the money for the Mantis laser dry fire and I can’t say enough good things about it. I get to use my carry pistol, the holster I normally wear, the light I normally use, etc, etc. And I can do this sort of practice whenever I want and not have to leave my living room. Can’t recommend it enough.
So, part of my intended practice plan is a healthy dose of dry fire. At some point, it’s time to head to the range and put some actual metal into the air. Still, 9mm isnt as cheap as I’d like it to be, so there’s also a good bit of .22 practice going on. A while back I bought a Glock 44 specifically for this sort of thing. While dry firing absolutely has merit and utility, the feedback of a bullet hitting the metal plate sure gives some nice positive reinforcement. Yeah, there are conversion kits out there for the Glock but I have a bit of experience with them and was never all that impressed with them. I have more confidence in a .22 trainer built by the guys who also built the real thing. Your mileage may vary, of course…and I know there will be posts in the comments about how someone’s conversion kit has functioned flawlessly blah, blah, blah. Great, man, I’m happy for you…Im just telling you what my experience has been and what it’s led me to do. You do you.
And, of course, from there its another step forward and time to shoot actual 9mm. Cheap ball is around $0.25 per round today and if you think you can reload it for less than that, then you havent bought primers lately:
At eight cents per primer, youre still looking at about four or five cents for powder, and at least a dime for a bullet. I’m assuming you’re using scrounged (‘free’) brass. That puts you at around $0.23 per round. Screw that, I’ll pay the extra $20 for 1000 rounds I didnt spend all weekend reloading.
If you have to use a carbine for self-defense, things really have kinda gone off the rails but thats the world we’re living in today. As a result, I have a CMMG .22 conversion kit and I don’t really have a bad thing to say about it. As I type this, Arms Unlimited is selling the CCMG kit and 13 magazines for $205. You’re missing out if you don’t jump on that deal. I’ve bought three of those packages as gifts for friends of mine so they can join me in some casual competition. My experience has been that the Federal bulk box .22 is the preferred ammo. When youre done using the kit, fire a round or two of.223 out of it to clean the .22 gunk outta your gas system.
Next up is a shot timer. Not because I’m interested in being the fastest gun out there, but because I want to measure my own progress. There are apps you can download for your phone that provide very good shot timer functions, but I really don’t want to half-ass any of this process and I can afford a purpose-built shot timer. On Tam‘s recommendation* I purchased a shot timer off Amazon. I must say, last time I did anything that required a shot timer we did not have the fancy Bluetooth connection that you kids have today. And if you go waaaaaay back, Cooper and his gang started this whole trend with just a stopwatch and a fast thumb.
Targets are, for me , the steel plates hanging at the range, so I bring along a can of spraypaint to clean them up. I’ll probably sign up for the Big Sky Practical Pistol Club membership so I can use their stands and plates. But I’ll also swing by Scheels and pick up some target stands and go online and order up a pile of the IPSC/USPSA torso targets to use.
About the only thing left to do, logistics-wise, is research what shooting drills I want to incorporate into a routine and which ones i think will provide me the skills I foresee needing. Obviously I want something that does a draw-from-concealment, some weak-hand stuff, some close-in drill, and then whatever else looks like it may lead to a useful skillset to have tucked away for that Bad Day. The odds of ever needing those sorts of skills are pretty strong against it…but I’ve had the odds thrown out the window before.
But, for now, I’ve got most of the gear details ironed out. Now its time to draw up the schedule and regimen and get to it…which is, as we all know, the toughest part. Talking is easy, doing…not so much.
* = I should point out that when I have a question regarding gun schools and competition, Tam has been very generous in taking the time to answer my dumb questions with patience and promptness. So…h/t.
Following. Solid information and you are on a good course of action. There has to be an acceptable amount of live ammunition expended in as a close to real world training exercises on a hot range in order to take one’s training to a final form that fully benefits in improved performance. Ammunition costs and stockpile consumption is the price of the “dope” to get there. Must pay to play as such. Other things you are doing and kit acquired is just dress rehearsals like snapping in or grass week before going to .mil rifle ranges. Beyond the trigger is your having a personal risk management department that wargames out all those details and elements that got you to, or brought to your feet the cause for pulling your smoke wagon out in hostilities in the first instance. I lament locations often, but awareness and avoidance of potential threats is as important. Having an advanced Intel department in your head and layered multi faceted defenses in your zone or personal a.o. goes in hand with shot timer speed and target scores. As per Remus: avoid crowds. Stay equipped and well trained so as to stay frosty.
I know that it can get expensive, but, train with the ammo that you carry for defense.
That is a fine idea, providing that you are independently wealthy, or work for a dept that supplies all your practice ammo.
However, in the real world, you will end up not shooting much at all due to the high cost. A better ideal would be to find, or build, a cartridge that closely approximates your carry ammo. If possible, a similar hollow point slug, with the same weight, and a powder charge that gives the same velocity. You will need to buy or borrow the equipment to measure both of the rounds. Don’t expect it to match the published specs, you must use your own gun for this. Also, do this test at the same time for both. You need to match environmental conditions to get accurate results.
“The world is not getting to be a brighter, warmer, friendlier place.” If we don’t stop poking the Bear it just might get warmer and brighter, but it sure as hell won’t be a friendlier place. Been wondering if Cresson Kearny books are still valid. I lost mine in a move and might be time to buy another.
Yes, very much still valid as ever. Western Rifle Shooters, as others, had pdf version posted for public consumption. The Bear is less of a threat than an agent provocateur insider job. The subject matter will be on our final exams. The animal instincts to dig a very deep sheltering hole is hard to ignore in current climates. Stay frosty.
I remember the ‘salad days’ when ammunition was being sold below the cost of production. 308, 556, 9mm and 5.45×39 could all be had for less than $100 per 1,000 rounds delivered. 7.62×39 could be had at any show for around $50-$60 per 1,000 and Walmart was selling 22lr for less than one cent per round. You all stocked-up right…
That being said, I can keep my edge by firing less than 20 rounds per month per platform with plenty of dryfire practice in between.
An old timer told me long ago that if you want to get good at something, just go do it. Reading, speaking and studying are good to a point but nothing replaces actual experience. Want to learn to box? Go to a gym and start boxing with people that know the sport. Want to learn how to climb trees like a lumberjack? Buy a set of tree gaffs (and you better have some good boots) and get with it!
When I competed in IPSC, combat rifle/shotgun I did above average against LEO’s and others that trained way more than most of us and had high end guns. A bone stock Ruger P90 got me 5th place in a match against Border Patrol, local PD, FBI and the US Marshall service.
I used to think it was because I was a ‘natural’ and just was blessed with a gift for shooting. Then I realized that all that shooting with toy dart guns, BB/pellet guns, .22’s, shotguns and rifles nearly every weekend to dispatch lizards, rabbits, squirrels, quail, dove, wild pigs, deer, elk, etc. All this real life work was imprinting the skill and muscle memory needed for someone to excel. The thing about shooting all those innocent creatures was they all didn’t want to be shot and made every effort to get away without being punctured which made it even harder over a stationary target.
Shooting squirrels out of trees with an old Ruger Mark I was excellent pistol training.
The dry fire and Mantis style systems are great and would help improve all the skill sets. The best real-life example is an incident with BJ Baldwin, who had to dispatch a cretin who was bent on shooting his girlfriend just for kicks. BJ trained and competed a bunch and all the bad guy saw before going to hell was probably a blur.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEVWo9n5eKU
Timers are an asset at times, but makes folks want speed more than other things like accurate shot placement,because somehow the best split time makes you a winner vs smooth draw and accurate shot that makes you a survivor in a gun fight. Many folks get trained to waiting for them before making the draw and fire decision. I have a friend that’s a retired military arms trainer and he does get together’s mostly for friends and friends of friends at a local range. He uses more of a military system with verbal commands and real life threat sounds like screaming and gunfire to increase confusion, No Timers. That’s due to his seeing more and more people weren’t drawing on threat but were waiting for that BEEP to go off or a instructors command. He does some real life simulations that you have to react to as in real life, he tells everyone at start of class once you are in the firing area position, its real life actions and reactions ( completely safe guns for parts of it) of threats like a real bad guy 20ft in front of you and closing while berating you as a hater and demanding money or your wife or a couple meth heads coming at you that goes for a gun in belt or a live fire with spinning targets with you in the middle of them that turns and has various threats or victims on them along with real screams and sudden gunfire. I’ve watched people who knew what was coming still didn’t draw and said they were waiting for the timer or waiting for instructor to say start firing. Ingrained mandatory formalities can make you hesitate.
Slow is smooth and smooth is fast, still rings true.
LOL “IcyReaper”
How old are you? Fucking twelve?
IcyReaper?
Lighten up, Francis.
Jesus H Christ. “IcyReaper” did the dead guys have brass in their pockets because their training had programmed them to keep their revolver brass on every reload? This is a 70’s kid calling you a BoomerFud.
And I was raised and trained by Boomers. With 1911s, as God intended back then. We know better now, but growth is a thing. Consider it.
When I lived alone, I used to wear my holstered unloaded w/ magazine removed handgun around the apartment all the time. Just to become accustomed to feeling it while seated and clearing door ways / seat cushions. Learned that a horizontal carry shoulder felt more natural in EDC carry. Much easier to get to when seated especially. But was harder to conceal, requiring a garment over the straps and that was a hassle in a climate where wearing a jacket isdone much less (humid hot mainly the climate here).
Try that where you live and find out your prefrences. Likely going to be to be necessary some timein the future.
some good drills here CZ…can also print out targets on plain paper…
https://pistol-training.com/
Those look pretty interesting, Thx.
“Hackathorne standards” easy to follow and benchmark yourself.
Ken Hackathorn has a great drill for your carry gun. Called the Wizard drill. Only takes 5 rounds of your carry ammo in your common carry pistol/revolver. Check it out on YouTube. It has humbled me a few times.
I’ll throw it out there as my shooting has improved with minimal ammunition usage. Check out John “Sheriff of Baghdad” McPhee at SOBTactical dot com. He uses video to show you where you can improve that 1%.
If you use a.22 conversion kit, I recommend you dedicate one AR to it.
Once while using mine, I had a piece of .22LR brass make its way into the lower and didn’t know it until it got jammed the trigger group later while shooting 5.56 rounds. That’s a jam that no tap-rack-bang exercise is going to fix. I had to remove the upper and fish out the piece of bent brass. No idea how it happened and, it’s probably a rare occurrence, but better safe than sorry.
Commander:
It doesn’t matter what type of skill you are talking about – dancing, tying fishing flies, off-road driving, cooking or chatting to the ladies –
Use it or lose it!
Ceejay
At the risk of being redundant. Muscle memory is critical, thus the dry fire, 22 substitutes, clearing jams (I always randomly load a dummy of three for that reason) and failure to fire drills. Under stress you’re on muscle memory.
All that said, cowboy action shooting drills. Those cardboard, paint and fishing line popup SHOOT, NO SHOOT, targets, Pop up window-door targets and Hostage drills are for real life.
You learn quickly just how high your AR sights (scopes etc.) are above bore at close range doing hostage drills on cardboard instead of your wife.
I humbly recommend Ben Stoeger’s “DryFire Reloaded” book. He qualified for the highest level of USPSA by dry firing and only 3000 rounds of live fire practice and has since won a number of national championships. Worth a look.