Proficiency Training Thoughts?

If you truly want to get good, find a good instructor…preferably someone who is at a very high teaching level.

I am a "round robin" person, jack of all trades master of some. I have stuff thats easy to shoot well; however, if I want to see if my skills are still sharp, I shoot the harder stuff.

At the farm, I run the star with a revolver almost every weekend I pass by. Takes less than a minute, if I don't miss.


Just depends on what you want to stay proficient with/in.

These help a lot at home.

Are you training, gaming, or playing? By that I mean training to fight, practicing to win matches, or having fun. What is your main objective for running a handgun well?

I have been through several different disciplines of shooting in the last 50 years.
I just work on whatever is the current favorite.

As has been mentioned, developing fundamentals with one gun only is essential. Hopefully you are past that stage. If not, any decent semi auto .22 will be useful for this, and also for going back and checking your fundamentals occasionally.

Since you own more than a few handguns, and have presumably fired them all at some point, practicing with purpose is a smart way to do it.

When I actually can get out and not be
familiarizing my self with a new gun, or zeroing a new RDS on one, I like to go up the the 3 yard line, (close as we can at my club) and holding the gun down by where I'd draw from (no CCW carry or drawing there) bring the gun up, and Mozambique. ( B-27 or IDPA silhouette.) Yes, it's generally shot at longer distances, but this gives my somewhat of an idea of where I'm at and whether I need to go back and review. Lately it's been my gun hold, as this is essential for using an RDS. That and retraining myself to use both eyes with RDS sights.

Don't be afraid to watch some You Tube videos on what you want to improve on. There are many good ones, and some not so good ones. If you know what good looks like, they can speed up your advancement in good pistol shooting.

In my case I started with one gun only and mastered it until I was confident in myself, then I just started to switch more weapons and get familiarized with them. I can say that I never mastered any of them but I am now surely confident in myself when I get to use a new weapon. I understand that I will never master all of them, but I just got good enough to shoot a weapon I first time see.

Hi Mot45acp. I'm retuning to the forum after an absence. As always the diplomat, I'm going to take a firm stand on the middle of the fence
I'll start with a question: what is your goal/purpose? If it's a carry/self defense reason, I'm clearly a proponent of 1 gun/caliber most of the time. If it's a plan to enjoy different platforms and calibers may I suggest a certain (up to you) level of proficiency with a favorite, and then move the various others into the rotation until you catch up to the favorite. That may end up with a lesser proficiency overall, but a modicum of proficiency with all. That *may* satisfy your needs. After all, what good is 10 guns in the safe if you only devote to one? In my case, I start each session with my EDC, for refresher. Then a couple of other calibers, actions, and platforms to get back into the swing of them, and finish off with the EDC, again, to concentrate on the most important use. If you're a hunter, your rotation may be the the big bore revolver or the .22 small game gun. You get the idea, though.

JMNSHO

-jb

Mot45acp said:

I think that I'm at the stage where I could benefit from a shot timer. My "pretty quick pace" may not be calibrated.

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Your goals need to focus on accuracy, at speed. You cannot improve either one without accurate measurements. You cannot measure speed without a timer.

My favorite timer is the PACT Club timer. https://pact.com/product/club-timer-iii/

My favorite basic targets are 9" paper plates and 3"x5" index cards. Simple and cheap.


Start with a simple skill. For example, shoot controlled pairs at 3 yards from the low ready. Select standards for accuracy and time that you want to meet. Measure how accurately and quickly you currently perform that skill.

If you're not meeting your standard, learn how to do this skill better. Remember, no teacher, video, or course has all the answers. You'll have to experiment some. Practice. With focus. Push yourself to improve. Track improvement.

When you've met your standards on this skill, select another skill and repeat the process.


Select the skills to work on from the elements of skills tests. Like this:


or this:



Along the way, you'll likely come to realize that one or more of the fundamentals of pistol shooting is holding you back. These fundamentals are key to EVERY shot you take.

Trigger control
Sight alignment/sight picture
Grip
Stance
Recoil control

You'll likely need help to get better here. Choose your advisor wisely. The differences between good and bad fundamentals are subtle. And it is difficult to learn them in self-study.

Truly mastering these fundamentals is the quest of a lifetime. Never stop working on them. Test them every trip to the range.

I have a "rule" that I have developed over the last thirty-plus years. One Gun, One Task. What I mean by that is, you pick one platform as your defensive option and TRAIN diligently with that platform.

Even though the Hi Power, the 1911, and the Smith Revolver are my favorite gun designs....For dozens of reasons, I don't consider any of the three of them to be optimal defensive platforms since the High Capacity Polymer Revolution. So, ALL of my training (not dirt shooting, plinking, or range play) is done with ONE platform. I choose Glock as that is the platform I have been institutionalized to as a duty gun for nearly 30 years. Smith, Ruger, Hk, ad nauseum all make fine, journeyman pistols so it's not a "fan boy" thing, it's just that is what I use based on decades of use, literally dozens of hundreds of thousands of rounds in training, practice, teaching, and competition, along with documented qualification scores with two agencies that can be used in court if needs be.

I carry the "same gun" though it may be a different caliber or size...it is a Glock 26/27 through 17/22, set up the same with the same stippling done on each, the same 3.5 Ghost connector with extra power striker spring (4.5lb mean trigger weight), carried in the same style holster in the same spot on my belt, and the holster-position rule goes for competition as well. I do NOT use Gamer Gear. I compete with carry gear.

The big determiner for what I am carrying is task. If I am just goobering around my little fart of a desert town there's a 99.97325% chance I am toting a Glock 23. 14 rounds of premium JHP on tap and a pair of spare mags will get me home. If I have to go into Tucson or Phoenix, I will usually carry a Glock 22 with a pair of spares just for the extra two rounds in the magazines.

Blah blah blah, I don't care what anyone says, but I look at forays into cities as "hazardous duty" and like having a nominal extra 6 rounds on my belt. With the proliferation of mob style attacks by urban yoots, and the generally destabilized urban social environment, that's my choice.

In my home, as I am now blessedly single, I have Glocks stashed all over the place, within an arms length. My daughter is in college, and a shooter in her own right, and I have no other or younger kids, and in fact, don't even allow friends with kids to bring them into my house because other people's children are smelly, sticky, loud, unruly goblins. They are welcome to bring them out to shoot on my property, but not to come INTO my house, so I don't worry about them getting into goblin mitts.

One Gun-One Task.

All that brings me to this....when I shoot, I am shooting one platform, refining the muscle memory of hundreds of thousands of repetitions of draw-move-reload-shoot-etc...etc...etc... and I do it until I sweat, and in low to absent light with gun mounted and hand-held illumination. I drill on the suck, and things I hate more than the things I enjoy and that don't suck.

The time I shoot "other guns" is actually in competition, never during training and practice. Yes, I shoot a Glock 90% of the time in competition, but once or twice a month I will haul out a revolver, or 1911, or most recently a Sig P229 that I just bought on a whim and shoot IT in competition so that I am shooting "cold" with a different platform, that's NOT set up like my preferred defensive gun. I have to adapt, on the spot. This keeps me able to "pick up any gun and fight with it". Something as minor as the position of the slide stop, or safety having to be disengaged, or the push-pull difference on a cylinder latch on a revo can throw a monkey wrench into your software unless you are an actual skilled shooter.

Not having my familiar-comfy-like-a-banky Glock on my belt adds extra pressure and stressors that I have to deal with "right now". I compete to keep skills sharp, and to challenge myself in an arena with, at least simulated pressure.

Creaky_Old_Cop said:

I have a "rule" that I have developed over the last thirty-plus years. One Gun, One Task. What I mean by that is, you pick one platform as your defensive option and TRAIN diligently with that platform.

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Can you define "TRAIN"?

I've said it before but this is my entire "Carry Rotation" a 19 and a 26. I decide which to carry based on what I'm wearing.

I carried the 19 the last 3(ish) years I worked.

I chose the 26 for those times when concealment was the most important factor to consider. I chose the 26 over other guns based on its compatibility with the 19.

I was able to get some professional training as a part of my job and the first thing I learned was how much I didn't know.


I carry 2 magazines out here because help is hours away if I even have cell service.

Around town I carry an extra 19 magazine more because I've been taught to reload immediately after any notional gun fight I might be in than because I think I'm going to run out of ammunition before I run out of time.

The Night Rider said:

Can you define "TRAIN"?

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The way I define TRAIN/TRAINING is acquisition of new skills, and or techniques. I define TEACHING as me imparting new skills and or techniques to a student. Practice is the honing and sharpening of new skills until they are built-in.

Anything else is just dirt-shooting or plinking as far as I am concerned. There's not a thing wrong with dirt shooting and plinking. I still get a kick out of hauling out my old Ruger MkII and my 10/22 and busting Necco wafers and Ritz crackers (the Necco and Ritz feed the critters and don't junk up my property like clay pigeons). The key is discipline, even when plinking and paying attention to basic, fundamental marksmanship because those skills translate into good shooting habits when you're actually training and practicing.

You and I are in agreement on the whole "carry rotation" thing. My carry rotation is as described. Glock, Glock, Glock, and oh yeah....Glock. I dress casually, and live in Arizona so it's either cargo pants/cargo shorts, cotton t-shirt, with a long sleeve cotton button down shirt over top. It's comfortable, airy, and keeps the brutal desert sun off my old, tender, yet still dead sexy self. I might be a fashion disaster, but I am a comfortable fashion disaster.

I always carry two spares on my off side, not because I expect to get into a long, drawn out gun battle....though I do allow for the possibility. I carry "TWO ALWAYS" because the weight of two spares balances the load of the pistol on the other side and keeps my back from getting sore or from getting that subtle "heavy gun limp" after 12 to 16 hours carrying. Plus, you will never be in a gun fight and wish you had a smaller gun, and less ammo.

I am an Arizona native. I am lucky enough to live two hours away from Gunsite, and have been there many times....though since Ed Head passed, I doubt I will go again unless it's a weekend get-together, memorial shoot for him. I trained with Louis Awerbuck, and called him friend for many years before HE passed, I can literally, shoot 5 to 6 matches a week within 45 to 90 minutes of my house. So, trigger time, and shooting with a purpose isn't an issue. Plus...my wife is gone (yay), and I don't have to listen to her piss and moan about what I spend on shooting.

Creaky_Old_Cop said:

IThe way I define TRAIN/TRAINING is acquisition of new skills, and or techniques. I define TEACHING as me imparting new skills and or techniques to a student. Practice is the honing and sharpening of new skills until they are built-in.

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I am 100% in agreement on this.
I define "Training" as me going to a reputable instructor to learn new skills.

"Practice" is just that. Me practicing those skills on the range on my time.

Creaky_Old_Cop said:

I dress casually, and live in Arizona so it's either cargo pants/cargo shorts, cotton t-shirt, with a long sleeve cotton button down shirt over top. It's comfortable, airy, and keeps the brutal desert sun off my old, tender, yet still dead sexy self. I might be a fashion disaster, but I am a comfortable fashion disaster.

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We dress alike.

Creaky_Old_Cop said:

I always carry two spares on my off side, not because I expect to get into a long, drawn out gun battle....though I do allow for the possibility.

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I carry a Buck 110 and a Gerber Multi-tool on my off side which also balances the weight.

I carry my reload just to the right of my belt buckle where I can reach it with either hand. Same way I carried it at work.

Creaky_Old_Cop said:

I am an Arizona native. I am lucky enough to live two hours away from Gunsite, and have been there many times....though since Ed Head passed, I doubt I will go again unless it's a weekend get-together, memorial shoot for him. I trained with Louis Awerbuck, and called him friend for many years before HE passed, I can literally, shoot 5 to 6 matches a week within 45 to 90 minutes of my house. So, trigger time, and shooting with a purpose isn't an issue. Plus...my wife is gone (yay), and I don't have to listen to her piss and moan about what I spend on shooting.

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The Night Rider said:

I am 100% in agreement on this.
I define "Training" as me going to a reputable instructor to learn new skills.

"Practice" is just that. Me practicing those skills on the range on my time.

We dress alike.

I carry a Buck 110 and a Gerber Multi-tool on my off side which also balances the weight.

I carry my reload just to the right of my belt buckle where I can reach it with either hand. Same way I carried it at work.

View attachment 1202392

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We also seem to have similar taste in chronometers. I see the Jubilee bracelet...GMT or Oyster. I wear a black or white Explorer II.

Creaky_Old_Cop said:

We also seem to have similar taste in chronometers. I see the Jubilee bracelet...GMT or Oyster. I wear a black or white Explorer II.

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That's a stock photo.

I don't like putting photos of my guns on the internet and I quit wearing a watch the day retired.

we shoot .22 and also some higher recoil pisols just for practice/training. I've seen both having a role in overall performance, just from trigga trigger time and experience. The .22s have little recoil and are good practice that does not induce flinching, and a heavier recoil makes a 9mm carry firearm seem like shooting a .22, nimble and easy to handle in comparison to say a Taurus Judge. so, sure - you need to train for whatever you'll have on you if you are practicing to carry, but the role training firarms have is real and valid IMHO. for moving targets, we like to throw a rope up over a tree branch and tie off a two liter bottle filled with water. Put a couple of those up, swing them randomly. and give yourself 3 shots to hit both. Not easy to hit multiple moving targets quicky, but a little practice and a moving target, or moving from one to another that is not moving the same way, it is kind of like skeet shooting, which is good practice on target aquisition IMHO, picking up a target, getting a good sight picture, and a feel for when to fire is all relevant to overall shooting skill IMHO. we don't spend much time shooting groups at paper targets other than to confirm basic sight alignment.