range time/practice

[eells]

as a guitarist, the concept of practice is not unusual to me. however with guitar i can practice whenever i want for as long as i want, the only thing i really have to spend money on is new strings once in a while. now i need to start practicing with my rifle to be a better marksman, i need to worry about ammo. now my question is this: would it be more beneficial to me to save up money (on a very limited budget), buy some bulk ammo and take a whole day to spend at the range and send down a large ammount of ammo, or should i just spend $20 here and there and take a few hours, but do so more often? for arguments sake lets say that i belong to a range and range time is a non-issue

[reichebrown]

Its just like cramming for a test. Little bits over time is better IMO. But practice is practice if you can only get it in big chunks. If it is safe to dry fire your gun that can help and it doesn't cost anything when you pull the trigger.

[Nic]

Keep shooting as long as you are accurate, then stop when you start missing. You do not want to keep putting bad shots down range... at that point you are practicing to fail IMO. Quality over quantity. Nic

[Philbert]

Dedicate a portion of your range time to drills and dry fire. You'll spend less on ammo per hour of practice

[ar15jules]

You need to make sure you are practicing correctly. A short time shooting properly is better in my opinion than blowing through 500 rounds all willy nilly and accomplishing nothing.
Jules

[Steve in PA]

Fewer tiimes........more often.

I try and encourage the officers I train (of whom probably 95%+ do not shoot often) to get out and practice. I tell them just take a box of rounds and get in some "good" practice. Work on the basics, etc.

I shake my head when I hear someone say they went out and shot 500, 600......1000 rounds......I'm willing to bet either they are lying about the number or it was more just pulling the trigger than doing any training or working on their proficiency.

[edstephan]

Get some snap caps and you can do some dry fire drills at home.
I also use a pellet gun in the basement on occasion.

Ed

[ar15jules]

I think ANY trigger time is better than none, especially if you are working on GOOD fundamentals. Sight alignment, sight picture, grip, trigger squeeze etc.. is the same whether using a bb gun, .22 rifle or whatever it may be.
Jules

[LittleRedToyota]

fewer rounds more often.

and dry fire.

the benefits of dry firing really cannot be overstated, imho. in some ways, i think it is more beneficial than live fire. it allows you to focus on trigger control, grip, drawstroke, target acquisition, etc. without the distractions of BANG and recoil.

(for example, balance a coin on the front sight and practice pressing the trigger without disturbing the coin.)

kinda like practicing electric guitar without plugging in. (i play bass myself.) let's you focus on proper picking technique, chord fingering, developing independent finger movement (which is also very important for pressing the trigger of a gun) etc. without the distractions of amplified sound, etc.

and another great benefit dry firing is that it is free.

(caveat...dry fire is not a *replacement* for all of your range time, of course, but it is a great supplement that will make whatever range time you do get in much more beneficial.)

[DaveM55]

For me it's not the round count, it's the quality of the rounds I send down range. By that I mean shooting 500 rounds and hitting the COM 20% of the time is no good compared to shooting 50 rounds and placing 100% of those shots in COM.

But yes frequency is important as handguns skills do diminish over time if not practiced. So I guess I'll vote for fewer rounds more often.