I recommend you watch the following videos. There is an enormous amount of information contained within these videos. They will not by themselves teach you how to shoot well however the videos can serve as a reference you can access repeatedly as you train. As your skill level improves and your understanding of what it takes to shoot well increases go back to the videos. You will understand more and more of the information being presented.
I think it really depends on where one is at on the learning curve.
For a beginner, a SIRT is a boon for ease of use and utter safety.
For a safe and fundamentally sound shooter, dry practicing with the primary arm is going to be optimal if that primary isn’t a Glock or other SIRT supported model.
For those practicing integrated skills, a SIRT becomes a boon again. It’s really easy to throw on SIRTs and roll or run a scenario with a friend and know you are safe. I feel much safer doing movement work at home with a SIRT or blue gun, and it doesn’t prompt the wife to ask if she needs to go grab a rifle if she sees me with one of those covering our rear entryway or stalking the hall.
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Hey all. I tried two new useful drills at the range I went to. Both are variations of each other.
The first was the range instructor took the pistol behind me, made some loading/cocking sounds, and then passed it to me. I didn't know whether it was loaded or not. And then I fired as usual at the target. He could then give me feedback whether I flinched or not, pulling the trigger.
The other variation of it was he would load a dud bullet into the magazine, and then I start shooting. When I reach it, again he sees whether I flinch and gives feedback.
You guessed it, I was still flinching (not all the time though). I flinch much less when I know the gun is unloaded vs. when I don't know or don't expect it to dry fire.
Also, I've tried to move away from one eyed shooting to two eyed shooting. It feels really wierd and I take longer to line up the sights. Does this improve with time? What are the advantages of two eyed shooting? You have better peripheral vision?
Thanks Duces Tecum. I checked out both www.gunsite.com and www.rangeusa.com.
My requirements as a tourist will be slightly different from a US resident...I want to maximise the range and lesson time per day regardless of working hours because I will be there on vacation.
Also, my interest for now are just pistols for self-defense purposes (including practical shooting).
Will I be ready for the intermediate and advanced pistol classes consecutively after I finish the beginner's classes (so I can do it all in one trip, their schedules permitting), or will I need to do more range time in between?
It could be because the ranges here are still clearly geared towards tourists. Tourists don't come to shoot .22s, they come to shoot full auto AKs and Dragunovs at targets 10m away. Might be fun for some but my guess is that the reality is that probably no civilian is going to be able to 1) Own/possess/carry these guns on a daily basis 2) In most civilian lawful self-defense situations a pistol with good skills to back it up are adequate. Anyone will have a hard time convincing a jury that as a civilian they felt mortally threatened against a target 500m away and thus decided to use their Dragunov they happened to be carrying.
Still, you'd expect them to have loads of .22s because as you say it is a popular sporting caliber. And for them to take 1 week to restock
Thanks JohnO, I've seen the Rob Leatham and the Jerry Miculek ones already. Just saw the CTT Solutions one, and will re-hash them again this evening/weekend.
Q1: Absolutely. Shooting slowly teaches you what you need to know to shoot quickly.
Q2: Stance varies with body type and other factors. Find what works for you then master grip and follow-through.
Q3: 15m is plenty at first. As you improve, shooting at 25m, 50m, and beyond highlights flaws in your technique and shows you where you need to improve.
Q3.1: Be VERY careful with YouTube. 99% of what you see there is dangerous and stupid. You can easily make fatal mistakes by trying to do those things without the proper instruction and experience. For instance, the turn/draw at the start of El Presidente are excellent places to kill a bystander if you get on the trigger too soon.
Q4: A little of each. You use your sights differently as distance and time vary. Using them well at speed can look like reflexive shooting but it’s not.
Q5: Dry fire won’t damage a modern center-fire pistol but it can damage older guns and will damage most rimfires.
Question you didn’t ask: Don’t focus on the typical use of a handgun. There is no such thing as a typical gunfight. Develop your shooting skill to the level of unconscious mastery but focus more on the tactical situation. This forum is an excellent place to find the resources to do that.
Okie John
“The reliability of the 30-06 on most of the world’s non-dangerous game is so well established as to be beyond intelligent dispute.” Finn Aagaard
"Don't fuck with it" seems to prevent the vast majority of reported issues." BehindBlueI's
Hey all. Thanks again for all your tips and pointers
Something strange happened today, around the ~300 round mark of the 500 rounds of 9mm ammo I bought.
It was a long day with lots of shooting and I was feeling my concentration was starting to go. All my groups were clustering towards the left of the targets, despite the instructor's best efforts to make sure I wasn't making mistakes with: 1) sight alignment, 2) trigger location on the trigger finger (on the pad of the finger tip, not too forward and not on the joint crease) and 3) flinching just before firing.
In frustration I asked if I could switch to my off-hand, and surprisingly my off-hand was even better than my dominant hand. We're talking about groups of 10/10 or 9/10 in the central ring which is about 3 inches in diameter, at 10m. The instsructor and me were laughing at how my off-hand from the get go was better than my strong hand despite practising my strong hand for about a week now on thousands of rounds of ammo.
So I finished the day shooting another ~200 rounds with my off-hand.
BTW had my first misfire with a live round today, after firing a few thousand rounds of 9mm ammo already from a Glock 17. Instructor ejected the round, inspected the primer (it was dented), reloaded it into the magazine and this time it fired.