Training Question

[BVickery]

The wife and I have picked out our CCW weapons and plan on heading to the range at least on a weekly to bi-weekly basis. So the 'cost' of shooting now comes into play here. Given the current state of the economy I want to maximize our marksmanship with our chosen handgun. Should we try to keep it the cheapest we can find? Match the grain to grain?

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

[John_Wayne777]

The key to training on a budget is to use good drills and to hold yourself accountable to every shot. For specific drills, I suggest heading over to PistolTraining.com and looking at the drills Todd has there.

[Gutshot John]

The wife and I have picked out our CCW weapons and plan on heading to the range at least on a weekly to bi-weekly basis. So the 'cost' of shooting now comes into play here. Given the current state of the economy I want to maximize our marksmanship with our chosen handgun. Should we try to keep it the cheapest we can find? Match the grain to grain?

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

A lot of it depends on how much you're willing to spend on practice. I'm not entirely sure what you mean by matching "grain to grain." If you absolutely feel the need to go to the range that often a .22LR conversion will be the best economy.

That said IMO you don't need to go to the range that often to be proficient unless you're looking to be a competitor.

I'd recommend SAFE dry fire practice for both of you every day. You don't "need" to go to the range nearly that often and in fact it can ingrain bad habits without coaching.

You'd be amazed at how effective dry fire is. Cheap too.

[BVickery]

I actually have and one of the first drills me and the wife will do is The Wall drill. The thing for me is cost, wife lost lot of hours and some of the ammo we are looking at is about $20/20 (Speer Gold Dots) or about $20/50

[Gutshot John]

I actually have and one of the first drills me and the wife will do is The Wall drill. The thing for me is cost, wife lost lot of hours and some of the ammo we are looking at is about $20/20 (Speer Gold Dots) or about $20/50

Why do you have to use Gold Dot for practice?

[BVickery]

A lot of it depends on how much you're willing to spend on practice. I'm not entirely sure what you mean by matching "grain to grain." If you absolutely feel the need to go to the range that often a .22LR conversion will be the best economy.

That said IMO you don't need to go to the range that often to be proficient unless you're looking to be a competitor.

I'd recommend SAFE dry fire practice for both of you every day. You don't "need" to go to the range nearly that often and in fact it can ingrain bad habits without coaching.

You'd be amazed at how effective dry fire is. Cheap too.

I agree, but we also have fun and it is a thing to do out of the house. Dry fire is great to a point but she has never really shot a pistol like I have.

For us, the one thing Dry Firing can never really teach is deal with recoil. Me being big its not that big of an issue, she is tiny so it will be a bit for her til she can learn to compensate properly for it.

and gr. to gr. is basically finding some cheaper ammo that is the same weight to my carry ammo.

[Gutshot John]

For us, the one thing Dry Firing can never really teach is deal with recoil.

Actually my experience is the exact opposite. The trick to recoil is to fool yourself into believing it won't happen. It sounds weird I know but it works.

Dry fire conditions your body/mind to focus on control, rather than recoil.

If you shoot a lot/often, the recoil impulse will condition you to flinch, ingraining bad habits you don't want.

[ToddG]

You do not need to practice with JHPs.

You do not need to practice with ammo using the same bullet weight or velocity. The closer you get to your carry ammo the better it will simulate the recoil and trajectory, but odds are you're not at a point that this should be a concern.

Live fire practice should always be about quality not quantity. Yes, becoming proficient with some skills requires expending a fair amount of ammo, but it's still always quality.

If your wife is new to handgun shooting and will be CCW'ing, the first thing I would work on is simple under-stress point shooting on a single close range target. Put up any standard silhouette at 10-15 feet and have her acquire the gun from wherever it will be carried and fire a few rounds rapidly. Try to induce stress by telling her she needs to fire the shots in 1 second or something like that. She doesn't need to align her sights perfectly or any of that. Just demonstrate and build on the concept that she can point the gun at something and hit. If you have the ability to work on judgmental shooting (surprise "shoot" and "don't shoot" targets), that would also be worth doing early on. If it wasn't covered in your CCW class, I would also make sure she's familiar with not just the letter of the law regarding self-defense but actually understands how it applies to her situation. These are issues that will actually apply if she needs to pull her pistol sometime soon.

Once she is comfortable with her ability to respond to a typical threat, you can start to work on improving practical pistol skills. Make sure she knows how to draw her gun, reload it, and clear malfunctions efficiently. She doesn't need to be a speed demon or do it one-handed or any of that (yet), but before you start working on accuracy & speed she should be able to get the gun running and keep it running.

Next, focus your efforts on accuracy. My personal yardstick is a 3x5 card at seven yards. If a student can hit that every single time on demand, I think he's ready to start working on speed, cover, tactics, etc. Until someone can hit a 3x5 card under calm range conditions at seven yards, though, he still needs to spend his time working on visual reference (sight alignment) and trigger manipulation.

You cannot learn this stuff just by reading a website (mine included). Once you've both achieved a certain comfort level, the best thing you can do is find a respected instructor in your area and take a class or a few private lessons. The earlier on in the process you learn to do things right the less chance you've got of developing bad habits.

Hope that helps. Stay safe!

[ToddG]

If you shoot a lot/often, the recoil impulse will condition you to flinch, ingraining bad habits you don't want.

Not exactly. Shooting a lot can condition you to manage recoil in a way that includes a post-ignition push, which looks like a flinch to folks who don't understand the difference. For example, if I do a Ball & Dummy drill going slowly, no flinch. If someone tosses a random dummy in my mags while I'm working on speed drills, you'll see a "flinch" when I get to it. Nonetheless, that shot would have landed where I aimed it.

There are a lot of things you can practice and even come close to perfecting with dry fire. Recoil management is not one of them.

[Gutshot John]

There are a lot of things you can practice and even come close to perfecting with dry fire. Recoil management is not one of them.

You're right, but I'm not talking about managing recoil. That can only be done with grip/technique.

I'm talking about conditioning one's brain to not expect the recoil and consequently flinch before one even pulls (jerks) the trigger.

[ToddG]

You're right, but I'm not talking about managing recoil.

BVickery: "For us, the one thing Dry Firing can never really teach is deal (sic) with recoil."
GSJ: "Actually my experience is the exact opposite."

:cool:

[Gutshot John]

BVickery: "For us, the one thing Dry Firing can never really teach is deal (sic) with recoil."
GSJ: "Actually my experience is the exact opposite."

:cool:

Dealing with recoil is different than managing it but you're right I should have been more clear.

All that said give it a try. It costs NADA and it certainly isn't going to hurt.

Not everyone gets thousands of rounds sent to them for free. ;)

[RogerinTPA]

If you practice those dry fire drills on PT's website and others, practicing drawing your weapon, trigger control, etc...IMHO, you are building muscle memory, proper technique, understanding safe firearms handling, and all, everything else will fall into place. The recoil management will be less of an effect if proper technique is stressed during dry fire. AND it's free.

[Mac679]

I'm talking about conditioning one's brain to not expect the recoil and consequently flinch before one even pulls (jerks) the trigger.


Dry fire. And continue to dry fire even after you switch to live to reinforce not flinching. Any time I catch myself flinching while shooting at the range I will stop and dry fire a few times until it's gone, then dry fire more to reinforce not flinching.