What range to practice the most at with handgun?

What range to practice the most at with handgun?

  • 3 yards

    Votes: 2 1.9%

  • 7 yards

    Votes: 43 40.6%

  • 10 yards

    Votes: 29 27.4%

  • 15 yards

    Votes: 16 15.1%

  • 20 yards

    Votes: 3 2.8%

  • 25 yards

    Votes: 13 12.3%
  • Total voters
    106
  • Poll closed .
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The OP stated that his main purpose was self defense. Self defense distances are typically 7 yards or less so that's how I voted.

At some point his skills may increase and target shooting and hunting may become desireable, which at that point target distances of 25 or 50 yards, or more will be adequate.

I usually practice at about 7 yards and 25 yards for handguns, and usually 100 yards for centerfire rifles, 25 to 50 yards for .22 rifles.
 
The vast majority of SD shootings are up close and personal. As a civilian, you are about as likely to need to defend against an attacker 50 yards away as you are to be struck by lightning on your birthday. Even LE don't get into such situations often, and when they do, they wisely grab the long gun.
 
With my Ruger Elsiepea I plan to practice at 7 yards. Anything farther away than that isn't self defense.

With my full-size 9's I practice at 15 and 25 yards. At 15 years I'm like a laser. At 25 yards I am rubbish. Beyond 25 yards,... foget bout' it.

My nasty little Nagant 1895 never gets shot past 10 yards - would be an utter waste of time.
 
As a civilian, you are about as likely to need to defend against an attacker 50 yards away as you are to be struck by lightning on your birthday.
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Not really about odds it's the stakes, I don't play golf in a thunder storm and I push my limits shooting.
I can easily keep shots on a sheet of notebook paper at 25 yards with my LCP.
 
I can easily keep shots on a sheet of notebook paper at 25 yards with my LCP.
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Anyone who can't ought to choose a different hobby. But that's not to the point. If I am training for a defensive situation, I am training at distances realistic to the range at which the vast majority of SD shootings occur: from the end of my nose to maybe 15 yards out. Any time I am placing handgun targets farther than that, I am training for my next bear hunt or shooting for fun.
 
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For HD/SD, one would be hard-pressed to ever have to use their weapon at ranges more than 7 yards. Problem with always practicing at that distance and shorter is one gets used to just pointing and not aiming. Hard to miss a life sized target @ 3 yards at the range. For a new handgun shooter, 25 yards is a good long range target. Once you get proficient at that distance, you should continue to increase it if you can. For many folks that have no options other than an indoor range, 25 yards will be the max they probably will see. I also hunt with handguns so I regularly practice at 40, 70 and 100 yards. I do so with my HD/SD handguns also. Being able to hit the paper plate @ 40 yards with my 637 makes it relatively easy to hit it at 10. Practicing at the same distance and the same target gets boring after a while and one can lose their focus. That's why changing distances and using different targets(reactive ones are more fun than just paper) one continues to focus.
 
The vast majority of defensive shootings occur at a range of feet, not yards.
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Vast majority, maybe, but Murphy will always put you in the queue for the one thing you trained for and/or expect least.

To put some perspective on things here, next time youre in Walmart, the grocery store, other public places, etc., pace off the length of an isle, across the front of the store, across the floor at the mall, across the isle in the parking lot, etc, and see what real world distances are all about.

Self defense, is self defense, regardless of distance, and you may well need to deal with things beyond those scenarios some people will tell you you will only encounter, or those you always win in your mind.

The "baby" guns are meant to be back up/last ditch guns, for use at close range, that part Ill agree with. They are not the primary weapon so many seem to deem them though.
 
To put some perspective on things here, next time youre in Walmart, the grocery store, other public places, etc., pace off the length of an isle, across the front of the store, across the floor at the mall, across the isle in the parking lot, etc, and see what real world distances are all about.

Self defense, is self defense, regardless of distance
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Odds are, there is little or no reason for any civilian to shoot the complete length of a Wal-Mart isle, across the commons in a mall, or across the length of a parking lot in SD. Those scenarios are the dreams of Mall Ninja's. Most civilians in those scenarios and firing their weapons are endangering more innocent folks than they are protecting. While I agree one should practice at those distances, thinking that firing a firearm in those scenarios is the thing to do, for the most part, is not practical or responsible.
 
Self defense, is self defense, regardless of distance, and you may well need to deal with things beyond those scenarios some people will tell you you will only encounter, or those you always win in your mind.
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Self defense is self defense only when it is self defense.

If you are in a 7/11 during a holdup, should you draw your CCW just because you can? Why escalate the situation? Now to your Walmart scenario. Would you be standing in sporting goods having a shootout with someone in women's underwear? In a Hollywood movie, perhaps. Sounds to me like a situation where retreat is not only possible, but wise and more responsible than trying to prove your long range handgun prowess.
 
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Anyone who can't ought to choose a different hobby.
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Really lol

I am training at distances realistic to the range at which the vast majority of SD shootings occur:
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If your skill is only good enough for the average gunfight, you'll only be good enough 1/2 of the time.


That sounds to me like a situation where retreat is not only possible, but the wiser and more responsible choice....
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And if you don't have the skill to make the shot, it's your only option. I like having more options;)
 
If your skill is only good enough for the average gunfight, you'll only be good enough 1/2 of the time.
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Sorry Mav but I can't let you get away with so grossly misrepresenting the premise: I did not say average; I said vast majority. A world of difference there.
 
If you are in a 7/11 during a holdup, should you draw your CCW just because you can? Why escalate the situation? Now to your Walmart scenario. Would you be standing in sporting goods having a shootout with someone in women's underwear? In a Hollywood movie, perhaps. Sounds to me like a situation where retreat is not only possible, but wise and more responsible than trying to prove your long range handgun prowess.
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Well, lets look at it in another way...youre at the back of the church, and at the other end, is a nut job shooting people, what do you do? Run away, or deal? Maybe your wife and kids are up there in the front of the church, maybe its mine across the store at the Walmart. Would you want me to at least take the attention off those being shot, and preferably, end it outright (some of us do carry handguns that can, practice regularly, and have the skills to accomplish it), or should I just do as suggested, and run away, call 911, because Im "x" number of feet away, and because I can slip away?

Sometimes you need to man up and deal with things that need dealt with, whether or not you want to. Hopefully, youre at least somewhat prepared and capable to do so.

These days, is seems everyone on the internet and in the gun shops, is a self defense expert, and "knows" exactly when and what they can do, right down to the millisecond and millimeter. Run away seems to be a favorite response, because youre...to far away, it doesnt concern you, yada, yada, yada. Self defense is self defense. It may be in defense of you, it may be in defense of others who cant defend themselves, and youre the only game in town. You brought that gun along...what?.... right now youre not to sure?...Uhh... let me get my SD rule book out and see what I should do. :rolleyes:

What I dont understand is, if you really feel the need to carry a gun, why dont you carry a gun that will allow you to cover the broadest possible range of what you might encounter? Instead of a gun thats the equivalent of a Hail Mary. I swear half the people I know, carry them as a badge of authority ("I just got my permit! I just got my permit!") or a fashion statement("This gun doesnt go with my tightie whities!"). Those same people are the ones you rarely see at the range practicing too.


Carry what you want, and practice how you want. When it all goes down, youre the one what has to deal with what you do, or dont do. No whining if what you get, isnt the gunfight you always win in your head.

I just hope if its my wife and kids at the end of the isle in Walmart, its mavracer, or one of the others who understand, who happens to be there. ;)
 
I did not say average; I said vast majority. A world of difference there.
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Maybe, maybe not since "vast majority" really doesn't have a definition.
Even so the premise stays the same why not prepare for "all" possibilities.
 
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Even so the premise stays the same why not prepare for "all" possibilities.
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That's not the premise; that's your conclusion. You've distorted the premise to make your conclusion seem inarguable.

Let's use numbers, and these are purely for the sake of illustration, not asserted as statistically accurate. Let's say 999 out of 1,000 civilian self defense shootings occur at a distance of less than 15 yards. Now let's say I am well practiced at 15 yards. That would suggest my training has not just the "average" but the vast majority of defensive shooting scenarios covered in terms of distance (which of course is only part of the equation anyway). Does my emphasis on SD training only out to 15 yards mean I can't hit the broad side of a barn at 16 yards? 17? 25? 50? Not at all. But I don't conflate reality with the Hollywood stereotype of a "good guy" emptying mag after mag at a getaway car that's speeding away in a densely populated urban neighborhood. When I'm shooting gongs 50-100 yards away, I'm under no illusion that I'm training for even the most unlikely real life scenario. I'm just having a whole lotta fun.
 
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For close encounters--ambushes, if you will, around a gas pump or near the door or trunk of your car, or near a parked van, alley opening, or dumpster, the most likely range, after you have drawn, is very probably less than five yards, and probably more like three.

If your attacker is moving, and you have to expect that he will be, you will have very little time to shoot, and you had better plan on trying to hit him in an effective area several times in rapid succession. Think at least four shots in one second, for starters.

It would be a good idea to move while drawing. You may have to move while shooting.

It would be a mistake to assume that if you can accomplish that simply because you can hit a target at the square range at ten to twenty five yards.

You should probably be doing much of your practice at three to five yards.

Of course, the need for more precision at a longer range may arise.

I would not ignore the latter possibility, but I would spend much more time on the former.
 
I would not ignore the latter possibility, but I would spend much more time on the former.
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Succinct. And I am glad you pointed out that you should be on the move, and your assailant most likely will not be standing flat-footed in front of you wearing a "shoot me" sign... SD training is not punching holes in a distant object that's neither moving nor shooting back.
 
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My handgun practice is always at random ranges, and at random targets.
There have been 2 times when I have shot back. In both of those, I was using a Ruger P-85 at 100 yards or more. People were shooting at me.
It's absolutely impossible to predict the conditions of a SD incident.
As for being a new shooter, the only advice I have is to shoot as much as you possibly can, in as many different settings as practicable. I have the luxury of BLM land, where the only rule is to keep from endangering anyone else.
If there is a place where you can go, some of the best fun I've had with defensive practice is to lay out a little "action course". Get some 4 foot grade stakes, and staple paper plates to them. Stick them in the ground over a course where you'll have different cover and distances. Try to put 2 holes in each plate as fast as you can, then run, crawl, tumble and scurry to the next one. Include some cover fire between plates. Make it as "real" as possible.
If you can get some buddies to come along, it's more fun, but if not, don't let it keep you from your practice.
 
All distances, but I live in a more rural environment. The last bad thing I wacked was a rabid skunk at about 45 yards. I still usually play with a new pistol at 15 yards and being an old bullseye shooter I generally only shoot with one hand. An example is this 2006 XSE LW Commander. I shot 6 rounds through it to see where to adjust the rear sight when new. They had an allen screw on the rear so get it set before you put Locktite on it.

 
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