How long before shooting skills degrade?

[secondstoryguy]

I was just curious about others experiences with skill degradation over time. How long without practice before your shooting skills start going south? What's the minimum, not counting dry fire, that one should practice to maintain a given skill level?

[orionz06]

I think this is quite broad. You would also be limited to how the shooter determines their proficiency. Some focus too much on accuracy, others speed. Personally I find that I can maintain a satisfactory skill level shooting every 6-8 weeks with a minimum of a few intensive dryfire/dry manipulation nights in between. Others will say 2 weeks max. I like to be able to shoot "The Test" and score a 95+, have a sub 7.00 FAST, clean the Hackathorn headshot standards, and be able to work up to a 1.5 second draw from concealment within the first few minutes. How these goals stack up to others I do not know, but they have been easily maintainable standards for me.

[98z28]

Really depends on what kind of proficiency you want to maintain and where you are at now.

I like to keep a sub-6 second FAST, a sub-2 second draw and reload, and 280+ "300" score. Since that is at the bleeding edge of what I can do, I will loose it within a week without dry fire in between weekly range sessions.

If your maintenance goals are a little further from your current abilities, then you could probably get away with less practice.

[DocGKR]

If I want to qualify with a high score and be able to consistently hit the target, I need to shoot at least once every 2 or 3 months or so--say 2000-2500 rds a year or thereabout.

If I want to stay at a consistent level, score above 450 on the 500 pt aggregate, shoot a sub 7 sec FAST, and pass the Defoor drills more often than not, I need to shoot 150-200 rds per week--about 7500-10,000 rounds per year.

Were I tasked with needing to rescue your family or mine in an in extremis setting, I think I would want to be shooting at least 500 rds per week--at the 25,000+ rds per year level.

[Al T.]

From a slightly different perspective, I had a break in shooting for over a year. No dry fire, no rounds down range, nada, zero, zilch.

When I was able to shoot again, I found that my long gun skills were least effected, my 1911 and Glock shooting skills next and double action revolver shooting atrophied the most.

Thanks for asking the question, I'm interested in seeing other's thoughts. :)

[jkm]

When I was as good as I've ever been, it took about 200 rds each month to keep me sharp.

[Ptrlcop]

I've noticed that if I go more than 10 days without shooting my speed starts to go. More than a month and my accuracy suffers.

[ToddG]

You'll find no consistent answer to your question.

The finer the edge, the more often it must be honed. If I go two weeks without practice of any kind, it is extremely noticeable when I shoot my next cold drill. It's easy to get warmed up and back on track, but in terms of what I can do on demand there is noticeable loss after relatively little time out.

Someone who practices once a year will not notice any difference if he skips three years.

[John Hearne]

I'm working from memory but IIRC, Pat Rogers related that his MEUSOC guys lost 20% of their edge after 10 days of no practice. This is based on scores on the MEUSOC course which is fairly demanding so we're talking guys with a pretty sharp edge.

[markp]

I was just curious about others experiences with skill degradation over time. How long without practice before your shooting skills start going south?
Define " going south?"
Dropping a few points (outside the usual baseline) from a Dot torture drill?




What's the minimum, not counting dry fire, that one should practice to maintain a given skill level?
I try to get in some range time every 2 weeks at a minimum, if only for a 50-100 rds.

[gtmtnbiker98]

For me, as soon as ToddG walks on the range.:D

[barstoolguru]

I was just curious about others experiences with skill degradation over time. How long without practice before your shooting skills start going south?

Alcohol & firearms don't mix.

*Edited by FredM*

[JMS]

I'm working from memory but IIRC, Pat Rogers related that his MEUSOC guys lost 20% of their edge after 10 days of no practice. This is based on scores on the MEUSOC course which is fairly demanding so we're talking guys with a pretty sharp edge.

Yeah, that's pretty consistent with shooters at that level, more or less. Number I keep hearing from my co-workers is 8 days, but that fits.

That also presupposes NO practice, bear in mind. Dry-fire and similar, cold practice can keep the edge from blunting, and can even allow for some net improvement, if it's handled the right way.

Phys conditioning types, please sharpshoot this if I mess it up: "Elite" athletes that train in cycles have breaks between certain cycles or portions within a cycle, where they may reach a plateau, and they stop doing all the high-intensity type-specific stuff for, say, a week. They let their body rebuild itself, and limit themselves to simple exercise (running, swimming, etc) of varying intensity instead of the type-specific stuff. It's not out of the ordinary for them to see a bump in specific parts of their performance when they get back from that break, having sort of "rebooted" themselves.

I've seen it happen with my own shooting, where I end up on travel for work. I did a particular trip where I couldn't shoot for a solid two weeks, but I did at least 15min of regimented dry-fire practice a day. When I got back, I cleaned the first Dot Torture I did (a first) and was solidly hitting 48s afterward....which prompted me to add a yard of distance to the drill....and put myself right back into the shitter....:D

Point being, there's things that can be done to at least slow the atrophy, regardless of skill level.

[Joseph B.]

I agree with most that it will vary depending on skill level and the individual person. I had almost 2 years off due to some medical problems, it took me a long time to get back (not really back 100%) but getting back to a proficient comfort zone. I find that as little as two weeks off the range and I will see reduced times and poor shot placement on my personal performance goals. Around 30 days off, I am bringing a buddy to observe/coach me as I know I am going to be jacked up. Anything longer than 3 months and I am looking for a course to take as I am in need of a good tune up and requiring some professional instruction.

I have done it both ways, set up a training regime to get back on track, and taken courses to get lined out. I prefer to take a course when it is reasonable, I feel it allows me to relax more and focus on meeting someone else’s standard or performance requirements. Allow them to tweak me and give me advice as they see fit. Then I will go back and work on meeting my personal performance goals.

That’s just me though, different strokes for different folks.