Practice People, Practice!

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Onward Allusion

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So, between minor health annoyances, life, & the weather, I hadn't shot a gun in about 1.5 months. This is a very long time for me. I typically go at least once a week.

First couple of few mags at 10 yards out of my favorite piece (5946)......4" to 6" patterns and pulling to the left!!! :( This is the same gun I shoot 1" or less groups with at POA at that kind of distance!!!!! Seriously, I wanted to cry.

At the end of the range trip, I was back to 2" groupings at 10 yards. Still not close to my "regular" performance with this piece but better than the start. Freakin' amazes me how quickly skills depreciate...
 
Shooting is a perishable skill. As is flying and riding a motorcycle.
My flying career ended in Jan 2000.
I ride every day.
I shoot once per week.

I'm sure there are others, but those are the ones I have significant experience with.
 
And, in my experience (limited as it is) weekly practice with a .22LR pistol helps to retain/re-inforce a fair degree of those skills.

During the Great Ammo Shortage of 2008/2009, I shot weekly with my MkII and continued to improve my shooting, although my centerfire practice was limited.
 
Groupings won't help in a SD situation. Need to do some draw/fire drills if you can, preferably without aiming. Get everything in a pie plate at 7 yards or less, fast as you can.
 
Groupings won't help in a SD situation. Need to do some draw/fire drills if you can, preferably without aiming. Get everything in a pie plate at 7 yards or less, fast as you can.
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Chris that is sage advise indeed ;)
 
"Groupings won't help in a SD situation. Need to do some draw/fire drills if you can, preferably without aiming. Get everything in a pie plate at 7 yards or less, fast as you can."

Maybe, maybe not.

I believe in muscle memory. I can only get a chance to shoot about once, maybe sometimes twice a month. So the days I do shoot, I make it count shooting for at least 3-4 hours. Most people come in, shoot for an hour, put 100-150 rounds through the middle of one target, and leave. I call them the Swiss cheese shooter's. I do 5 shot's, bring it in, and mark my shot's, repeat for 3-4 hours starting with my 22lr to my 44.
 
Groupings won't help in a SD situation. Need to do some draw/fire drills if you can, preferably without aiming. Get everything in a pie plate at 7 yards or less, fast as you can.
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There's always room for the fundamentals, and getting "everything in a pie plate at 7 yards or less, fast as you can" does require aiming.

As the great practical shooter, Brian Enos, once noted, "you never get beyond the fundamentals; you just apply them faster." I'd expect a good handgunner to be able to shoot a respectable El Prez (cleanly, of course), and a 25 yard unsupported 5-shot group.

The ol' "groupings won't help in a SD situation" mantra is a popular one. While there's some good advice there (speed and accuracy makes for a balanced shooter), too many seem to use it to justify poor shooting.
 
Onward Allusion:

When you can't shoot for weeks practice dry firing. It is as valuable as live fire. Dry fire against a blank white wall. Practice getting a uniform grip, practice trigger finger placement and practice proper trigger release with out the sights moving. Any movement of the sights will be apperant on the white wall. Notice I didn't say trigger pull, I used the term trigger release. This dry fire will carry over to live firing. Don't expect major improvement over night: dry firing is an ongoing endevor.


Semper Fi.
Gunnery sergeant
Clifford L. Hughes
USMC Retired
 
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MSgt. Howe (delta) wrote extensively about dry firing. He mentioned being on deployment for months where he couldn't shoot so he did dry fired drills. He would then come home and win matches even though he hadn't shot in months.
 
Clifford L. Hughes

Onward Allusion:

When you can't shoot for weeks practice dry firing. It is as valuable as live fire. Dry fire against a blank white wall. Practice getting a uniform grip, practice trigger finger placement and practice proper trigger release with out the sights moving. Any movement of the sights will be apperant on the white wall. Notice I didn't say trigger pull, I used the term trigger release. This dry fire will carry over to live firing. Don't expect major improvement over night: dry firing is an ongoing endevor.
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This is going to sound way stupid on my part, but I'd never considered drying firing practice for iron sights. The only times I'd dry-fired practice was with a laser and that was for practice for point shooting.

With a spring loaded snap-cap and a 5906 I can simulate my 5946 all day long w/o having to reset the trigger! Who woulda thunk... So dang obvious that I missed it. :o
 
This is going to sound way stupid on my part, but I'd never considered drying firing practice for iron sights. The only times I'd dry-fired practice was with a laser and that was for practice for point shooting.
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My feeling is that plain black iron sights are actually the best for dry-fire. That way you focus on the sight blades themselves and there aren't any dots or anything else to draw your attention.

I do the wall-drill often, but what I like to most is dry-fire from across the room while aiming out a window. I use a tree outside the house as a focal point. I like this because sighting against a lighted background allows me to really see all of the sight blades and the spaces between them in fine detail. At night you can do this against a lighted lamp shade and have the same effect.
 
Onward Allusion:

When you can't shoot for weeks practice dry firing. It is as valuable as live fire. Dry fire against a blank white wall. Practice getting a uniform grip, practice trigger finger placement and practice proper trigger release with out the sights moving. Any movement of the sights will be apperant on the white wall. Notice I didn't say trigger pull, I used the term trigger release. This dry fire will carry over to live firing. Don't expect major improvement over night: dry firing is an ongoing endevor.
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This is from my standpoint the best advice you can get. Also incredibly handy for when you get a new gun, and want to get in sync with it before shooting. I usually do some dry firing at the range before taking my first shots, every time I go even with my oldest guns, and it makes a noticable difference. Dry firing is just as important as actual shooting, if not more so.
 
Clifford L. Hughes

Onward Allusion:

When you can't shoot for weeks practice dry firing. It is as valuable as live fire. Dry fire against a blank white wall. Practice getting a uniform grip, practice trigger finger placement and practice proper trigger release with out the sights moving. Any movement of the sights will be apperant on the white wall. Notice I didn't say trigger pull, I used the term trigger release. This dry fire will carry over to live firing. Don't expect major improvement over night: dry firing is an ongoing endevor.
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A big +1 on this. In May, I took a course which greatly improved my shooting. 4 months later, I was in another class having had NO live practice in between, just dry firing. In that class, I was shooting even better than I had in the previous course.
 
How many times have you heard somthing like this?

I 'aint' gonna go shootin' unless they pay me overtime and a half and they have to say, 'pretty-please', and provide all the ammo, and clean my gun afterwards, and, and, and...

Don't worry, Pal. Your local gang creeps appreciate your hard work ethic.
 
How do you hit a pie plate with a handgun without aiming? Really. Do tell, please. All shots are aimed. Period. That is why the manufacture put sights on the gun.

I can hear it now: Officers, that completes the 25 yard stage. The next course of fire will be Panic Firing Only. Just load up as many rounds as you want and hose down the area at will. Blindfolds are optional during this portion of your qualification.
 
I think everyone is on the same page.

Identify your target, center your sights on the target, release the hammer without disturbing your sight picture too much, follow thru. Tight groupings near the maximun scoring area is a plus.

Alvin York said basic shooting skills worked on Turkeys as well as it did on Germans. It is good advice.
 
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