Regular practice:


Regular practice:

How often should you practice a skill to consider it regular practice?
In Illinois we have an interesting system where every five years you are required to re-qualify for your concealed carry permit. The amount of people who have not shot for the last five years is amazing. Typically I have around ten percent of any given class that has not practiced at all. If you received your driving license five years ago and have not driven since would you believe you were a safe driver? At the end of each class I give a renewal survey that analyzes a number of different factors including how often do they do live fire training and how often they do dry fire training. The survey is totally anonymous and it is an easy correlation between the practiced vs. unpracticed shooters.  

Looking at the shooters that make the statement they get in practice a few times a year. They are typically fairly good shooters and have some small shooting errors but nothing major and they pass the qualification with ease.

Similarly the shooters that practice monthly or more pass with no problem at all and infrequently 
have issues with their shooting. These shooters nail the qualification and tend to have everything grouped very small and do the qualification quickly.

One interesting observation is that there is nearly never a shooter that does dry fire and practices less than once a month live fire.

Dry fire practice is one of the techniques that is disregarded by most average shooters. Ask a high level competitive shooter how much they dry fire. Typically the answer is more than they live fire. Think about that. They are working fundamentals over and over again to stay at the high level.

The shooting skill is a diminishing one and needs honed. Just going shooting is not enough. You need to challenge your skills to something that takes work. One great drill would be the 5x5 drill. It is a simple drill that can be done at nearly any range and takes less than a box of ammo. Shoot a 5” circle 5 times with 5 shots. This is one of my favorite drills to shoot and keeps skills up. If you want a challenge move the target back to seven or ten yards. If you can, do each stage of the drill within 5 seconds. If you can work from holster at your range try doing it from the holster. It will reveal any issues with your shooting quickly.

What is your practice regimen?
J

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