Firearms Training and Practice - Focusing on skills, not gear.

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Procrastinhater said:
Important thing is you had fun. It's great training but if you're not enjoying it you'll end up giving it up.
I wouldn't worry too much about dropping targets on your first runs. It can hard to keep everything in order in your head when you're starting out, you feel like you want to rush. Stick at at it, before you know it it'll be second nature.

Glad you enjoyed it.
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One of the targets was a no shoot target for the torso, but the head was brown. I didn’t even really notice the head was brown, it just registered as a no shoot to me.
 
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Boney said:
One of my resolutions is to post here more. Happy New Year gents.
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Sounds like a good goal. I’ve been continuing my dry practice and trying to shoot 2 competitions per month.

I’ve recently attended some night shooting and have been using white light to engage targets out to 120 yards or so.

On the gear side, I feel like I’m dialed in to what I actually want instead of chasing the consumerist trends. I’ve actually simplified my setups and am more satisfied.
 
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I have to learn to shoot for real.
My big problem is that I have to go to a range to shoot and that means I either buy some BS target rifle stand to drag out to the free country range, or I go pay a ridiculous amount of money to go to the indoor range.
The indoor range is too close to do serious shooting with a rifle and the outdoor range is too far to shoot handguns well.
As long as I have to pay for the indoor range I feel obligated to do a lot of shooting with a lot of guns (instead of a little).
In all, I'm lazy and I don't learn to shoot properly and go once in a blue moon. I find the AR-15 really, really easy to shoot, handguns are crappy. My varmint rifle should shoot fine but I noticed that it seems to be way off on the sights. Which means I'll have to get a punch and the other thing just to fix that. I don't remember it always having that problem.
I'm interested in cowboy action shooting, but the local club has an insane first-time initiation fee. It's only practical for someone planning to live there for many years.
 
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Ughubughughughughughghlug said:
I have to learn to shoot for real.
My big problem is that I have to go to a range to shoot and that means I either buy some BS target rifle stand to drag out to the free country range, or I go pay a ridiculous amount of money to go to the indoor range.
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Buy a bunch of gongs, set them up at different ranges (25 yards, 50, 100, 200, 300, etc), and assign them specific numbers or colors or whatever. Then have a friend call out numbers or colors at random, and you'll shoot at that specific gong. It will teach you to switch between different targets at varying distances quickly. Shuffle the gongs around after a few rounds to keep it challenging.
 
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Ughubughughughughughghlug said:
I have to learn to shoot for real.
My big problem is that I have to go to a range to shoot and that means I either buy some BS target rifle stand to drag out to the free country range, or I go pay a ridiculous amount of money to go to the indoor range.
The indoor range is too close to do serious shooting with a rifle and the outdoor range is too far to shoot handguns well.
As long as I have to pay for the indoor range I feel obligated to do a lot of shooting with a lot of guns (instead of a little).
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$30 for metal target stand that will last a decade, and $6 for some tent spikes to hold it upright. Worth it.

At first, I suggest using the USPSA or B form targets to practice some, only because the large target area lets to observe and read your misses easily. Soon as you can, switch to stick notes or index cards, the smaller target will train good habits of looking down your sights or through your optic. Also, hearts and heads are small targets, and those are the hits that count.

Doubly so regarding training marksmanship at your indoor range. Train your draw and presentation, and hold a high a standard of accuracy for yourself. Speed comes with reps. Don't try to go faster, just get enough practice in shooting accurately and the speed will come to you. 100% doable at an indoor range.

And as you will see over and over in this thread, do your dryfire drills at home as much as you can muster yourself to do.
 
I can't believe I haven't posted about this yet, but you need to know your fucking holds. Its like, all sorts of important.
 
Random info dump that I can't think of another occasion to share, some of these will make your life easier and lead to less down time on the range.

>Toothpaste is an ideal polishing material for dirty weapon mounted lights.

>Baby wipes are an ideal cleaning tool for 90% of your gun, alcohol does a great job breaking up carbon and removing grease with no side effects.

>PostIt notes are a very cheap fast option for using as targets on any kind of backer. A good size too for accuracy standards.

>A literal oven mitt is great to have for handeling a hot suppressor on the range.

>A cheap folding plastic table from walmart and a stepstool is an easier to pack and lower effort alternative to an actual VTAC barrier. You can even cut the holes in the table.

>An aimpoint T2 bikini cover fits perfectly over a surefire light lense, literally just ducktape it on.

>Electric tape is a quick solution to loose strands hanging off your pack, sling, bags etc. Just neatly roll up the straps and then a few layers of tape to hold it that way. This is also great for creating index lengths on certain slings.

>Your EDC holster's retention is loose and you need to go re-adjust it. Right now ya lazy bum.
 
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Boney said:
>Toothpaste is an ideal polishing material for dirty weapon mounted lights.
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Pencil eraser or apple cider vinegar work too.
Boney said:
Your EDC holster's retention is loose and you need to go re-adjust it. Right now ya lazy
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Nooooo stalker child it is your holster that has loose hardware, this is why your life is already over. Enjoy prison.
 
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I attended a night match recently and shot PCC. Did really well in that match somehow.

Also shot an “action steel” match with PCC and CO. My CO gun is a new Glock 45 COA, and I did decent with it even though it’s the first time I even shot it, and don’t have a well developed index for it like I do with the VP9 with SRO. Going forward I’m switching back to Glock, so I just need to work on the index with the one gun. Also shot my carry gun (Glock 19 w irons and TLR 7HLX) and did well with it. It’s amazing how well I can shoot target focused with irons now after training with a dot.
 
Pretend To Imagine said:
I attended a night match recently and shot PCC. Did really well in that match somehow.

Also shot an “action steel” match with PCC and CO.
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PCCs intuitively (for me) seem like solid match guns where their short comings and compromises (lethality, size factor) are irrelavent. Well done, it sounds like a blast.

Pretend To Imagine said:
It’s amazing how well I can shoot target focused with irons now after training with a dot.
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I struggle so badly with target focused irons, despite having a high degree of confidence and relatively advanced ability with a red dot or front sight focused irons. Is it autism? Halp me.
 
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Boney said:
PCCs intuitively (for me) seem like solid match guns where their short comings and compromises (lethality, size factor) are irrelavent. Well done, it sounds like a blast.
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The PCC is useful for training close stuff without expensive ammo. It’s a Cmmg delayed blowback 9mm. I recently got a ported barrel for it to turn basically all factory ammo subsonic.
Boney said:
struggle so badly with target focused irons, despite having a high degree of confidence and relatively advanced ability with a red dot or front sight focused irons. Is it autism? Halp me.
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I’m probably the wrong person to help you with this. I never fell victim to “front site focus” for very long. Before about 2015 I wasn’t super interested in pistol shooting and even after that I wasn’t seriously training it. I was an early adopter of red dots.
 
Shot 3 matches last week and hopefully another three this coming week. Still need to work on my index from switching pistols. I’ve been doing decent with PCC, but I shot a rifle match and didn’t do as well as I’d like on the 150-200 yard targets. I need to work on getting in position and controlling my breathing.
 
Pretend To Imagine said:
For those of you using an optic on your pistol, what has been useful for proper indexing and maintaining target focus? It was a difficult switch for me after 20+ years of shooting irons.
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Sorry not sorry for necro-replying but I recently had a trainer give me an exercise for this.

Pick whatever shooting drill you like, then work incrementally backwards with your gun presentation. Start fully aimed, shoot your drill. Then bring your gun back just barely enough that you lose LOS with your dot. Then go a little bit further back each cycle, eventually starting from the holster.

I felt like it helped me immediately - I have recently swapped to a PMO (on a new pistol as well) and I was finding my presentation was consistently high. I'm not always right on target but I am also not searching for my dot anymore.

The reasoning is that if you have crystalized neural pathways it can be difficult to change them but doing a task in reverse can circumvent that muscle memory rut.

The tape-over-optic thing is a good one too but you were already doing that.
 
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Polock said:
Sorry not sorry for necro-replying but I recently had a trainer give me an exercise for this.

Pick whatever shooting drill you like, then work incrementally backwards with your gun presentation. Start fully aimed, shoot your drill. Then bring your gun back just barely enough that you lose LOS with your dot. Then go a little bit further back each cycle, eventually starting from the holster.

I felt like it helped me immediately - I have recently swapped to a PMO (on a new pistol as well) and I was finding my presentation was consistently high. I'm not always right on target but I am also not searching for my dot anymore.

The reasoning is that if you have crystalized neural pathways it can be difficult to change them but doing a task in reverse can circumvent that muscle memory rut.

The tape-over-optic thing is a good one too but you were already doing that.
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I want to piggyback off this. I was taught in a class the value of having a witnessed front sight is still a useful aid driving the optic dot on target as you draw and present. By using that front sight on target you get yourself on the right vector to the target and you can transition to the red dot by the time you finish presenting. You don't have to slave your dot to the iron but the front post sight is a reliable aid.

As such, I personally don't recommend not having at least a lower 1/3 witnessed iron sights on your pistol but if you can make it work with no witness and are proficient at drawing then stick with it since swapping irons can be an pain.

Edit: when I originally wrote "co-witnessed", I mean "witnessed." I also want to elaborate that you should be using your dot before you're finished presenting. Other posters have elaborated on what I was trying to convey.
 
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