Help me organize my practice sessions

[Jared]

Hi all, this is my first post, and I'm looking for a little basic advice. I want to become a more well rounded pistol shot, and have exactly 2 handguns to do it with. I have a Beretta 92 and a Walther P22, that's it. I've had the Beretta a long time, just got the Walther about 6 months ago since I wanted something with the same trigger action type. I know there are things I can't correctly replicate with the Walther, but I can work on the manipulation and DA to SA transition with it. Anyway...

The good news is my back yard is my shooting range, and I can shoot out to about 35 yards any day I want to. What I am needing is a bit more structure to what I do. I bought a notebook to use as a journal so I can track my progress. Now I need a training regimen that will help build a complete skill set. Anyone willing to help, I'd be very appreciative. Normally when I shoot, I shoot 100-300 rounds of 9mm, if it's a rimfire day, I normally go through a bulk pack of 500-550 rounds. Thank's to all.

[Corlissimo]

Hi all, this is my first post, and I'm looking for a little basic advice. I want to become a more well rounded pistol shot, and have exactly 2 handguns to do it with. I have a Beretta 92 and a Walther P22, that's it. I've had the Beretta a long time, just got the Walther about 6 months ago since I wanted something with the same trigger action type. I know there are things I can't correctly replicate with the Walther, but I can work on the manipulation and DA to SA transition with it. Anyway...

The good news is my back yard is my shooting range, and I can shoot out to about 35 yards any day I want to. What I am needing is a bit more structure to what I do. I bought a notebook to use as a journal so I can track my progress. Now I need a training regimen that will help build a complete skill set. Anyone willing to help, I'd be very appreciative. Normally when I shoot, I shoot 100-300 rounds of 9mm, if it's a rimfire day, I normally go through a bulk pack of 500-550 rounds. Thank's to all.

Welcome Jared!

I don't know how much reading you've done on this forum, but there is a great thread (http://pistol-forum.com/showthread.php?3592-ToddG-for-Beginners) that ford.304 put together. It contains a lot of helpful information that he pulled together from many of ToddG's posts. It's a great place to start if you're trying to figure out just what to attack in practice, and how to do it.

HTH :)

[Jared]

Welcome Jared!

I don't know how much reading you've done on this forum, but there is a great thread (http://pistol-forum.com/showthread.php?3592-ToddG-for-Beginners) that ford.304 put together. It contains a lot of helpful information that he pulled together from many of ToddG's posts. It's a great place to start if you're trying to figure out just what to attack in practice, and how to do it.

HTH :)

Thanks, I went through that and wrote the drills down, looks like a great regimen for getting started. I've read around here some, probably not as much as I should. What I am looking for is something like I used when I was in my late teens/early 20's, and used to powerlift. You'd get a lifting routine it that was designed to build your strength in the three main lifts. Then you'd go to the gym and do it. If you hit a long term sticking point in an individual lift, you adjusted something to help you get over the hurdle, at least that's how me and my lifting partner did it, and it worked well for us. An injury (unrelated to the gym) ended my powerlifting days, but I do remember how well having a set routine with set goals helped me improve. It's not a perfect analogy, but I wanted something like that for my shooting skills. This looks like it will do nicely, especially since I can increase the number of times I do certain drills if I need to work on a sticking point. Thank you much.

[Al T.]

IMHO, you are on the right track. One thing I find invaluable is a shot timer. I have a couple of drills I routinely run and my shot timer gives me feedback on how well (or not :)) I'm doing.

If you can get to a good class, it's money very worth spending as well.

[gringop]

As you mentioned re. lifting, you need to set some goals. By this, I don't mean "Someday, I'd like to shoot the FAST in 7 seconds" type goals.

I mean sit down and plan out what kind of shooting goals that you are interested in and capable of. Competition? Self defense? Both? Write that down. How much are you willing to spend in ammo and time to devote to improving and reaching your goals. Write that down. What obstacles will prevent you from reaching your goals? Write that down.

Once you have figured out the answers to the questions above, then you can work on setting realistic, short term (< 3 months) goals. Once you have these goals figured out, then you can pick out drills and tests to organize your practice sessions. Write them down in your range diary and follow the plan when you practice. Test yourself regularly and work on things that you are bad at.



By nature, I am not a goal setting/planning type of person. I'm a pretty Laissez-faire, "Whatever, Dude" kind of guy. And my shooting skills reflected that for many years. But once I got off my duff and did the hard mental work to evaluate and formulate my shooting goals, and structure my practice sessions, my progression was swift. Yours can be too.

None of this came out of my head, it's all from Lanny Bassham's book, With Wining In Mind.

In addition to the great drills found here, look at the handgun drills and handgun standards at http://www.handgunlaw.us.
Pick and choose the ones that will help with your goals.

Gringop

[Jared]

As you mentioned re. lifting, you need to set some goals. By this, I don't mean "Someday, I'd like to shoot the FAST in 7 seconds" type goals.

I mean sit down and plan out what kind of shooting goals that you are interested in and capable of. Competition? Self defense? Both? Write that down. How much are you willing to spend in ammo and time to devote to improving and reaching your goals. Write that down. What obstacles will prevent you from reaching your goals? Write that down.

Once you have figured out the answers to the questions above, then you can work on setting realistic, short term (< 3 months) goals. Once you have these goals figured out, then you can pick out drills and tests to organize your practice sessions. Write them down in your range diary and follow the plan when you practice. Test yourself regularly and work on things that you are bad at.



By nature, I am not a goal setting/planning type of person. I'm a pretty Laissez-faire, "Whatever, Dude" kind of guy. And my shooting skills reflected that for many years. But once I got off my duff and did the hard mental work to evaluate and formulate my shooting goals, and structure my practice sessions, my progression was swift. Yours can be too.

None of this came out of my head, it's all from Lanny Bassham's book, With Wining In Mind.

In addition to the great drills found here, look at the handgun drills and handgun standards at http://www.handgunlaw.us.
Pick and choose the ones that will help with your goals.

Gringop


As for goals, right now, I just want a very solid foundation that I can build from in any direction I need/want to. I'm not .mil or LE, and I haven't found a place within a 2 hour drive that has any competitive shooting besides Cowboy Action or Trap/Skeet. I want/need a foundation for self-defense most now. The real limiting factors that I can see in my progression are

1: I'm also working on doing the same thing with a carbine. Some skills should transfer, but some won't. Practice for one isn't mutually exclusive, but not completely inclusive, so practice time with one takes range time from the other. Since the handgun is the harder to master, I have already began to expend more time on it.

2. My work schedule can be, and usually is, a bear.

3. I like to have fun. I can't turn my shooting into a job or I will lose interest. What this means is that if my dad calls up and asks if I wanna come over and spend an afternoon plinking with 22's, I'll probably do it. I'll find a way to incorporate some drills, as I have in the past, but I still have enough kid in me that I like to shoot steel swingers with dad, even now that I'm over 30.

Realistically, I can get 3-5 practice sessions in a week at 1-2 hours per session. I reload, and keep an eye out for local sales to keep ammo costs down. I think I can do it.

Also, I really need to buy that book, this is the third site I've seen it mentioned on.

[37th Mass]

Jared, I hesitate to give advice since there are so many other more experienced shooters here, but I will share some points that have helped me with the DA/SA transition on my Berettas. Todd just posted a great article on DA/SA Pistols, so read that and the acompanying thread too. Also be sure to read Earnest Langdon's article, "Fear Not, the Double Action Shot!" which is in the "Articles" section of pistol-training.com.

A big help for me is to just shoot a lot of double action, especially at the beginning of each session. When I go to the range I start out with 15 rounds DA from the ready in slow fire, decocking between each shot. Concentrate on a smooth trigger stroke. Then I shoot 15 rounds DA from the holster (i.e., draw, fire, decock, reholster). Then I load the pistol with a 20 round Mec-Gar magazine and draw and shoot two rounds (first round DA) ten times, decocking and reholstering between each pair.

After that little ritual I am ready to start regular training, which I usually lead off with Dot Torture.

Be safe, have fun, and learn from Todd and the other experienced folks on this site.