Put about 200 rounds through my EDC, a no-lock 442 using a combination of standard pressure and +P. The drill was a standard paper plate at three, five and seven yards. Empty the gun as fast as possible, reload w/a speed strip and repeat. Slow down a bit as distance increases out to seven yards. The objective is to keep all 10 rounds on the plate at each distance point. Practice w/speed strips is also a must, they can be kind of clumsy at first.

I was able to achieve my objective shooting the gun the way it is carried daily, magna stocks w/a T-grip. My hand is a bit sore from the 50 +P rounds but my confidence is way up.

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Old Cop
LEO (Ret.)

Old cop

I shoot 100 rounds every other week, and work on something like you do. I've been lax in not remembering to bring my speed strips all the time. Thanks for the reminder.

I also have a couple of speed loaders for my J frame but only keep them in the truck as a just-in-case kind of thing. Next range trip I'll practice w/them too, but generally find it's easier to carry the strips in a pocket or belt pouch.

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Old Cop
LEO (Ret.)

How often do you go and practice those drills?

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Stay protected my friends.

As to how often I practice these drills; it's about 4 X a year.

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Old Cop
LEO (Ret.)

Good for you! There are too many people who rarely fire their carry weapon and ammo.

As my Old Man used to always say...........

"Previous Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance."

Way to go! Having a guitar doesn't make you a musician and just having a pistol doesn't mean you are a pistolero. That kind of practice goes a long way to keeping you effective.

Fantastic! I wish more would do this.

Did you practice from the holster or from the ready? If you didn't practice from the holster, I'd highly suggest you do. That's how the gun will be used so, that's how we should practice; at least a little.

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Freedom isn't free.

One more twist is to shoot a couple of strings with the weak hand. We just finished qualifications a couple of days ago and a very small segment was weak hand shooting.

I usually shoot weak hand at least 10 to 15 rounds during range sessions.

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I am a sheep dog!
1601 (ret)

My EDC is pocket carried in a Galco soft leather holster and my range allows me to practice that way, but I have to give the range officer a heads-up first. Pocket carry can be awkward and practice is necessary.

As to weak hand shooting, right for me, I do send about 15 rounds down range each practice session.

Thanks for the input.

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Old Cop
LEO (Ret.)

Old Cop:

Sounds like a good training routine you have there. As they used to tell us in the Army: "the more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in battle".

Regards,

Dave

I shoot paper plate targets a good bit as well, and I must admit I got that idea from this very Forum by reading some of the posts of the "old school" LEOs who have been training that way for a long time.

Besides, the cost of the targets couldn't be much better.

I do get a bit embarrassed using the leftover Easter Egg design plates, but that's the back side, of course!

It's harder to keep 10 shots on a paper plate than one would think, when shooting quickly is involved. Good training and discipline, though. I like it.

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Ukraine -- now more than ever

I shoot every week at least once. Take the EDC rotation every other trip. A Model 36 J frame is part of it. The Ergo Delta grips are ugly as sin, but they make the J much easier to handle which equates to much better groups. I don't practice with speed loaders and strips nearly as often as I should since a Shield's my EDC 95%+ of the time, but with the onset of winter, I'll have plenty of indoor time for it.

Yep, making sure the rust keeps knocked off the ingrained skills is a good thing.

BTW, it might be prudent to check the speedstrips every now and again. I have a bunch from over the years, myself.

I had some of the "tabs" start to break off a few of them, and then one day I had one of them break apart (3-rd & 2-rd sections) while just being carried in a rather loose jacket pocket with a couple other speedstrips.

Guess it's time for new ones after so many years.

I have a bunch of speedloaders I've used for many years, too, but they don't fit so easily in some pockets. The strips are handier for some carry roles ... but much slower to use than the speedloaders, of course.

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Ret LE Firearms inst & armorer

I had the range to myself the other day, and was working on drawing, firing, reloading, etc. I found that while I can reload a J from a strip pretty fast at home in my bedroom, it's a far cry from doing it during live fire and moving for cover. It was an eye-opener to see how long it took. Maybe my 3913 is worth the extra weight, after all.

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Because of the metric system?

Have your considered trying a HKS or Safariland speedloader?

However, the primary issue I've seen cause many revolver users to stumble has to do with clearing the empty cases from the little 5-shot J's. The short stroke of the ejector rod on the shorter barreled snubs needs help from a solid shooter technique.

I generally have J-shooters make sure they've got the cylinder fully swung out, transferring the gun to the off-hand ... tipping the muzzle totally upright (vertical) ... and then using the palm of the dominant hand to give the ejector rod a couple brisk downward "pumps", so the empty cases can fall straight down.

I've seen any number of folks just partially tip the subs, lightly thumb (or even "forefinger") the ejector, and then have to take extra critical moments to try and pick empty cases from one or more of the cylinder charge holes.

Naturally, whatever grip stocks are being used need to be checked to confirm they work with speedloaders.

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Ret LE Firearms inst & armorer

I use the Stressfire method with speedloaders.

Demonstrated here by Massad Ayoob.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oXUwI_d8JlA

I have, but they're harder for me to conceal. They take a little more work to clear the grip, as well.

It's a useful thing to practice, but I mostly carry a reload to make sure I'm not left with an empty revolver after the shootin's done.

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Because of the metric system?

Good reminder, and since I had rotator cuff surgery - I definitely need to get to the range and rework ALL my skills.

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Live to Ride

i too practice regular with the edc stuff. mostly i carry a (gasp!) G17 gen 4. bug is an lcp or my old faithful 442. the G17 is a breeze to run. the lcp and 442 however, are NOT fun to practice with. it is a bummer but needs to be done. 100 rounds with each of the bugs, 200-300 on the G17. i go at least once a month. i shoot 2 hands, 1 handed with dominant and off hand, malfunctions and re-loads. my hands are a bit sore for a day or 2 after, but i want to be pre-paired. get out there and practice folks, your life may/will depend on it...

I second that! My rotator cuff surgery will be two years ago in February. It took several months to heal the nerve damage to the point that my left arm (non dominant) feels like it belongs to me again. At this point, my grip is about as strong as it was before, but weak-hand shooting still feels very, well...weak. I need to get to the range and do the hard stuff, train something other than my ego!