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Range practice - how many practice drawing & firing?

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  • oldag

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    I don't practice fast draws. Personally, unless it's for practicing for a specific type of competition shooting, I think it's not practical, or necessary.

    I say this because, if you are practicing situational awareness, you shouldn't need a fast draw to begin with. And in the event, an attack does happen, it's going to be up close and personal and fast, and I really doubt a fast draw would be to any advantage in such a situation. Now that's simply an observation and my own opinions and nothing more.

    Personally, I practice my weak hand shooting a lot at very close ranges. I like practicing moving just a bit and shooting. I practice mostly at close ranges and in ways I think would be realistic type scenarios I might encounter.
    Could be. Thinking about the church shooting, for instance. Great to talk about situational awareness, but drawing and holding the gun in the ready position in church because something might happen is probably not optimum.

    My situational awareness is not perfect, anyhow.

    And if I can achieve some accuracy with fast draw, then my accuracy with time to aim is even better.

    Not sure I understand the logic behind this statement:
    "And in the event, an attack does happen, it's going to be up close and personal and fast, and I really doubt a fast draw would be to any advantage in such a situation. "
    Seems like that would be the one situation where it would matter. What am I missing here?
    Military Camp
     

    Axxe55

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    Could be. Thinking about the church shooting, for instance. Great to talk about situational awareness, but drawing and holding the gun in the ready position in church because something might happen is probably not optimum.

    My situational awareness is not perfect, anyhow.

    And if I can achieve some accuracy with fast draw, then my accuracy with time to aim is even better.

    Not sure I understand the logic behind this statement:
    "And in the event, an attack does happen, it's going to be up close and personal and fast, and I really doubt a fast draw would be to any advantage in such a situation. "
    Seems like that would be the one situation where it would matter. What am I missing here?

    My thing is, I'm getting older and slower! So a fast draw just isn't possible anymore, not that I ever tried anyways. I like to think that being accurate is much better and something I think I have much more control over.

    In no way do I discourage a fast draw, as long as one can be accurate as well. IMO, a fast draw by itself just isn't practical. Just because you can get the gun out of the holster and fire three or four shots in under a second, means nothing if you totally miss the intended target.
     

    oldag

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    In no way do I discourage a fast draw, as long as one can be accurate as well. IMO, a fast draw by itself just isn't practical. Just because you can get the gun out of the holster and fire three or four shots in under a second, means nothing if you totally miss the intended target.
    Agree entirely. That is why I practice (though I am sure I am not achieving anything near great times). So hopefully muscle memory will kick in should it ever be needed and I will have a better chance of hitting the target.
     

    Axxe55

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    Agree entirely. That is why I practice (though I am sure I am not achieving anything near great times). So hopefully muscle memory will kick in should it ever be needed and I will have a better chance of hitting the target.

    That's pretty much where I'm at with practice. I have set up my own pistol range at the house in the backyard. So it does make it convenient to be able to practice any time I'm inclined or in the mood to. Plus, I can vary target distance and alter variables to suit my needs or wants for practicing.
     

    V-Tach

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    Tex had just changed his holster and pistol immediately after practicing with a different style of holster and pistol......the movements he was making with his prior gun/holster combo, contributed to his accident......not the only cause, but a major contributor, imho....

    My take away from that video was to train with one gun, one holster........

    I only practice drawing with my EDC and the same holster.....


    jmho...
     

    oldag

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    That's pretty much where I'm at with practice. I have set up my own pistol range at the house in the backyard. So it does make it convenient to be able to practice any time I'm inclined or in the mood to. Plus, I can vary target distance and alter variables to suit my needs or wants for practicing.
    Would love to have the acreage to set up my own range.
     

    Axxe55

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    Would love to have the acreage to set up my own range.

    I have just a little over 7.5 acres. I have enough room for a short rifle range and plenty for a pistol range. My closest neighbor is almost a 1/4 mile away, and I'm surrounded by wood mostly around three sides.

    I'm fixing to set up an archery range pretty soon so I can get back into my archery practice again.
     

    TxArmDillo

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    During this time everyone should be practicing dry fire weekly from both the open carry and concealed from their holster as a minimum.
    Practicing combat reloads and shooting like (toddnjoyce) is a great drill. I am fortunate to be able to do this 3 and 4 times a week (at Work).
     

    TBarTX

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    Just curious as to how many folks actually practice drawing and firing when at the range.

    I almost never see anyone doing this when at the range. Understand that some ranges don't allow this, fortunately the range I visit does.

    That is pretty much the only way I practice anymore. Drawing from under a shirt, firing pairs. Often drawing and firing pairs at two targets (if the range is not crowded).

    Seems to make shooting from the ready position seem easier.

    Clearing the shirt to get a good grip on the pistol takes some experimentation to get the technique down.
    Two other guys and I have been taking a 2 hour pistol training class monthly for the past two years. We always draw from the holster and always work down range. Our practice range normally only has 8 lanes. We have worked with set ups that imitate a house with hostages, we have shot from sitting at a desk and also sitting in a car. Many great opportunities to learn new experiences because I never know where danger will present itself.
    .
     

    ZX9RCAM

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    During this time everyone should be practicing dry fire weekly from both the open carry and concealed from their holster as a minimum.
    Practicing combat reloads and shooting like (toddnjoyce) is a great drill. I am fortunate to be able to do this 3 and 4 times a week (at Work).
    Welcome to the Forum!
     

    Dave68

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    My range allows it, so I am able to practice drawing and firing. I don’t practice drawing every range trip, but it is helpful to practice once a month at least.
     

    rmantoo

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    When I go to our range, I drive around, looking for an open bay that has a target up- hopefully with a good sized spot with no holes in it- I pull up, get out of the pickup, and immediately draw and engage the target- I try to emulate getting out of my truck and having to deal with a threat.

    I fire 2 rounds as best I can, pause, and fire twice more.

    I then reholster (pocket carry mostly), turn away from the target and randomly move several feet left or right, turn and do it again.

    If there are no bays w/target up, I go to one with clay bird fragments on the berm, and use them instead of paper targets.

    I've only been doing the exit-vehicle-engage drill for about 6 months, but compared to my first time doing it I've drastically improved.

    I have come to believe, mostly through competition and training, that emulating real world conditions as closely as possible (as well as drills and training) will greatly decrease OH CRAP! moments when experiencing an adrenaline dump in real life.
     

    TipBledsoe

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    I didn't much consider the need for it until I began participating in CAS - Then realizing the huge difference it makes I started practicing draws from concealed with my EDC too. Ive become a firm believer that one needs to establish a good muscle memory in the event a real life scenario may happan.
     

    PopPop

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    Only time I have been able to practice drawing and firing has been either on the police qualifying range or when my buddy had his own shooting range at his house. No public ranges I have used allowed drawing from a holster.
     

    rmantoo

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    Only time I have been able to practice drawing and firing has been either on the police qualifying range or when my buddy had his own shooting range at his house. No public ranges I have used allowed drawing from a holster.

    If you ever get out to San Angelo I'll be happy to take you to ours, which allows it. For $140 a year/family, it's the best bargain I've ever heard of in shooting ranges.

    Also, if anyone is ever driving through Ozona and wants to stop off for some shooting, they have a pretty nice, free, public range where pretty much anything non-explosive is allowed (it's less than a mile from the sheriffs office).
     

    gambler

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    Honestly I'm not interested in going to any kind of a public shooting range that allows it. There are so many completely unqualified people shooting at the various public ranges around here that I would not even want to consider shooting at one where those people are practicing their quick draw skills.

    Next time you go to a public range, step back and watch how many safety violations you can see happening. And more untrained and unaware shooters out there today than there was before the Chinese virus hit.
     

    Bozz10mm

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    I plan on doing some draw and live fire practice today on some acreage I own. It's about an hour and 40 minute drive one way. That's why I've only been doing draw and dry fire at home. The range I go to doesn't allow it. But I did sneak in two or three draws when I was there by myself, heh heh. My focus is more on accuracy than on speed. The Laserlyte training cartridge shows I do pretty well on a B27 target. Guessing my speed is around 1 second. Not all that great from open carry.
     
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    Honestly I'm not interested in going to any kind of a public shooting range that allows it.

    I believe that all the public ranges that allow it (like the one in my video above) are all ranges that you are able to rent an individual tactical bay where you are separate from all other shooters and surrounded on 3 sides with high sand walls.
     
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