Do You Actually Practice with Your Handgun Like You Plan to Use It?

My nightstand pistol (M&P9) has one. I found a good sale last summer on Crimson Trace lights.

Mounted it, and it stays put. I find that the little bit of extra weight at the muzzle helps stabilize my shooting with this gun, and it's made me more accurate with quicker strings of fire. It's not my carry piece, so I'm not concerned with drawing from a holster - and there's no impact on racking the slide or changing mags.

If it helps me ID my target in the dark right before I squeeze the trigger, I figure so much the better. I'm not going to be pointing it at things I'm not about to open fire on anyway ... after all, it's a gun light, not a simple flashlight.
 

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Most places around here don't even allow draw from holster. I practice draw at home, right and left handed shooting at combat ranges, reloading with both hands and SA/DA 2 shot "transitions" since the 6906 is that type of sidearm. At almost 67 I try to be "wallpaper." That is I ain't getting involved in other folks business, try to avoid trouble and trouble areas as much as possible and have only one condition for weapon use: Life or death of me or mine. So I guess the answer is no, I don't train like I will need to use "it." Joe
 
That's not the question.

If you're firing a handgun desperately to save your life in a short-range firefight, you'll be peeking out from behind a gas pump, crawling underneath a car while firing, shooting suppression over your shoulder as you run zig-zag, engaging four targets at once (while all four are shooting at you), shooting with your left hand, or anything else you can imagine.


Is that what you're practicing?

Well it isn't Iraq, you wont be laying down suppression fire over your shoulder in most locations??
Why I am a big fan of good IDPA competitions for practice. You will shoot from all manner of positions, while moving, at moving targets, two hand, strong hand & weak hand, all under the small stress of the timer & a dozen sets of eyes.
 
Realistic practice @ public ranges can be tough. I use this w/my EDC (340PD or LCP): Use a standard paper plate @ three, five & seven yards. Empty the gun as fast as possible, combat reload (speedloader/speedstrip or magazine) and repeat. The objective is to keep all rounds on the plate. I shoot the gun exactly the way it's carried, no oversized grips for the revolver.

Hopefully you add movement to this. Staying on the X just makes you a bullet sponge.
 
Putting all of the rounds on target in the shortest time possible seems like a good strategy to me!

Best,
Rick
The issue with the mag dump on a single target practice is you will very likely do just that in a real fight, one or 2-3 attackers. So if you mag dump on one guy & go dry in the open, you are very likely going to get smoked by his partners. Also if you do not always carry a spare reload, mag dumping & standing there with an empty gun could be a problem.
The way you practice will certainly impact you under stress of a real fight. you will likely revert to what you do on the range. I see this a lot in competitors, imagine maybe times 10 in a real fight? I am so used to reloading from my belt that reloading from a table or drawer has to be gone over in my head before the buzzer goes off or I invariably go for my mag pouch.
 
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Well it isn't Iraq, you wont be laying down suppression fire over your shoulder in most locations??
Why I am a big fan of good IDPA competitions for practice. You will shoot from all manner of positions, while moving, at moving targets, two hand, strong hand & weak hand, all under the small stress of the timer & a dozen sets of eyes.

Seems like the last time I was at an IDPA club match (it has been awhile)..... the courses had so many targets and "stuff"..... felt like Iraq........

Instructions:
"When the IED goes off engage the 34 targets closest to furthest .....shooting from inside the vehicle ......... with 6 mandatory reloads.... one handed while putting a tourniquet on your left leg............."


:D
 
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So if you mag dump on one guy & go dry in the open, you are very likely going to get smoked by his partners.

I didn't read RRat that way. My take was "If 3 guys take 8 shots to neutralize all of the threat, I'd like to do that faster than them and not miss." But I have been known to "misinterpret wildly." Ask my wife. Joe
 
I didn't read RRat that way. My take was "If 3 guys take 8 shots to neutralize all of the threat, I'd like to do that faster than them and not miss." But I have been known to "misinterpret wildly." Ask my wife. Joe

I was actually referring to old cops post. Many old revo guys will do the shoot to the ground thing, but if you have limited ammo & maybe haven't seen other attackers, could be a fatal mistake if that is how you practice.
If I had multiple attackers, the plan is everyone gets a few & I am moving way off the X before I even think about a reload, hopefully at cover or far enough away that it favors my skill level.
You & rrat are correct. Only good hits count & good hits faster counts more. Why drills like the Bill drill are very good at assessing ones ability, but it isn't a good training drill. Shooting on the move is always a good drill. This is especially true in contact distance drills.
 
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I didn't read RRat that way. My take was "If 3 guys take 8 shots to neutralize all of the threat, I'd like to do that faster than them and not miss." But I have been known to "misinterpret wildly." Ask my wife. Joe
The way I read it was that he practices emptying his gun as fast as he can while trying to stay on a plate.

How we practice is how we'll act in the real world. If you practice 6 shots as fast as you can, then that's what you'll do in the real world. If you do that in the real world, there are serious complications that could arise.

If the bad guy is stopped with the first shot, every subsequent shot is attempted murder.

If you empty your gun into the first guy, what do you use on the second guy?

A better solution is a controlled pair, move off line and then assess.
 
I go to the range every 4-6 weeks to keep up my skill with my Smith 380EZ. 66 rounds each trip.
 
Could you do the light in one hand and gun in other? How about the cross wrist hold?

I am no tactical handgun shooting expert but I think that is called the "Harries method". I have however practiced Wing Chun for a while. Any serious Wing Chun practitioner would hope that his or her opponent uses the "Harries method".
 
If the bad guy is stopped with the first shot, every subsequent shot is attempted murder.

Perhaps you could cite the relevant statutes and some actual cases to support this?

We'll wait
 
As best as possible

Depending on the range I'm shooting at best I can do is ask permission to do some rapid fire with my defense gun/ammo from port arms. From 21-50 ft
 
The ugly truth

If you really need your CCW to fend off an attack. In 90%(no real figures to back this up:D) of the cases you are doing it wrong.

If you act it right. The "fast need in action" gun scenario should not even happen.

But. Make sure if it happens. You are still able to end the threat with a minimum of shots(meaning. Hit what you want to hit. And make sure that what you want to hit has a good chance to end the threat with 2 shots).

The so called "center of mass aim, shoot as fast as you can" is a great way to waste bullets with very little pratical result.
 

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