Question: Standard set up for pistol practice

[Zepoll]

So I'm picking up my first M&P9 next week.

I've just recently discovered that I love guns, and this is my first SA pistol. I qualified in the military years ago, and I have a few rifles and a 10-22, but never had a SA Handgun before.

When I pick it up I want to put a few hundred round through her and I was just curious.

What is the standard setup to determine one's proficiency with a hand gun? Is it.. 5 rounds at 7 yards, or 10 rounds at 7 yards... or what?

I'm not very good at explaining myself, so I'll put it another way. We measure muscle cars with the 1/4 mile. Someone might say, "She'll do a 10 second quarter" and we instantly have a measure of the cars ability. Or in golf we relate our abililty in relation to par. "I shot 10 over". Everyone knows what that means. It's a unit of measure. If someone said, "I shot 2 under par today", then we might say, "Wow, he's very good".

So when it comes to pistol shooting, and my practicing, I know that I'm going to be 100 over par in the beginning. But I want to practice to get better. Obviously I'm not going to shoot at a target 100 yards away. Also... I really shouldn't be bragging about making a tight group at a target 12" from my gun.

So my question is... what's the standard regarding distance to the target, size of groups, number of shots in a group, and speed between shots? Or do any of those even matter? Does it matter if I take 90 seconds between each shot, or are you graded on a 10 second delay, or a rapid fire succession.

If/when I do well.. I want to know that I'm grading myself according to the "industry standard".

I hope that make sense, and if so then you probably understand what I'm saying now, and so I'll stop rambling.

Thanks you for your input.

I can't wait to go and pick her up!!!

 

[Dragon88]

It really depends on what type of pistol shooting you are doing. I think 15 yards, which covers most common self-defense distances, is a good maximum distance to start with. If you can keep all your shots in a small 5" or 8" bullseye at that distance then you are doing fine. For new shooters, I think 7 yards is better because it's more confidence-building.

The standard distance to test a pistol or load for accuracy is 25 yards. Most people will have trouble keeping their shots in a small bullseye at this distance without a rest. Hence, it's not as fun. But definitely a good range to test yourself, your gun and your ammunition. As for group size, again this varies depending on how much you spent on your gun. Good shooters with superlative 1911s will be looking for 1" groups or so. Common, good-quality pistols should print about 2" or 3".

Several people on this forum I'm sure have shot to 50 yards in competition. Again, this takes a good gun and a darn good shooter.

 

[chuck s]

Zero the pistol at 7 yards, then at 25 yards to magnify your sight errors.

Two (2) seconds from the holster to a bullet on target at 7 yards is reasonable. Second shot in another second. Call that par. Anywhere in an 8" circle center of mass.

Tight groups? Second morning of one of the courses I took a few years ago had us draw from the holster and fire two shots center of mass as fast as we were comfortable of doing. A warm up and refresher from Day 1. After we were all holstered the (Gunsite) instructor walked down the line making constructive comments about each of our targets. Until he got to mine (I was at the end of the line.) He looked at the target and gathered the entire class around my target.

"What's wrong with this target?" was his question. We were all stunned. I had two touching bullet holes exactly in the center of the target and had been feeling my hat fitting tighter on my head by the second -- until then.

The instructor spread his hand over the center area of the target and reminded us the target was that big. Two holes exact center meant I was not shooting fast enough!

This ain't golf where all you need to do is get in the hole -- whenever. Here you have to make a hole or two in the shortest possible time. Second place in a gunfight has severe consequences.

Not sure where you live, but there are good, professional training courses available all over the country. If you can get to Adams County in SW Ohio for a three day weekend, go. Tactical Defense Institute runs a first class school on their own facilities and their "pistol of choice" is the M&P. Your biannual military qualification counts for little (as I learned several years ago). Don't be put off by a "basic tactical pistol" course. Gunfights are more about gun handling than absolute marksmanship.

Practice without expert training just reinforces bad or inefficient habits.

-- Chuck

 

[Titegroups]

As said above a good range to start at would be 15yds. Don't concern yourself with speed until you can shoot with reasonable accuracy. Look for sub 4" groups at that range and you'll be doing well. Another trick is to load only 5 or 6rds at a time instead of filling the mag, it will allow you to focus on each fired. Once you can shoot sub 2" groups at that range you are doing quite well. My best are just over an inch. Shoot at least a hundred rds a week if not more. Learn to reload if you can.

 

[scooter123]

IMO for slow fire (1 second per round) I consider grouping 1 inch for every 10 feet of distance an acceptable result. Not brag worthy but certainly acceptable.

For rapid fire, make it 2 inches for every 10 feet of distance. As for firing rate in rapid fire, my personal goal is in the range of .4 to .5 seconds per shot. I have also been told that it's not really diesirable to group your shots really tight in a defensive shooting, if you spread them out a bit you spread the damage over a wider area and stop the aggressor a bit faster. Now, never having been forced into actually using my pistol for defense I don't know firsthand if this has any truth behind it but it does seem to have a bit of logic to it.

Now, that is as it applies to practice for defense. That slow fire goal will yield a solid COM hit at 75 feet, well beyond the normal range for defensive use of a handgun but not out of the question. As for the rapid fire goal, that translates to 9 inches at 45 feet, not great but effective against a target facing you directly.

I also like to do a bit of "transition" shooting at each range session. That is to put up multiple stickers and transition between the stickers. BTW, depending on the range being used you need to consider where your bullets passing through those stickers will impact downrange. Quite simply, make sure you place those stickers so you'll be hitting the bullet traps or you may have a RO escorting you from the range. At close range this means you keep the stickers close together and can spread them out a bit at longer ranges. While it's not ideal, I think that you'll find that it requires a fair bit of concentration and is a bit of a challenge. As for the goal, keep them in the stickers and try and improve your rate of fire at each outing. As for what's ideal, that is actual multiple targets but this type of shooting is normally only available in formal training sessions or in competition settings.

Finally, I also like to engage in "fun" shooting. Which for me is shooting for precision without any consideration for it's usefulness for Defense. For me that means shooting from a bench rest at long range. Frankly, I think that this is a skill that is ignored by way to many handgun shooters and I've found it to be a superb way to refine my trigger release skills. I've also found it to be a very relaxing break from the routine of running defense drills.

 

[Houdini1953]

Qualifiying in Tennessee

In the state of Tennessee in order to get a carry permit you fire 48 rounds total at three different distances. You fire 16 rounds at 3 yards (or 9 feet) 16 rounds at 7 yards (or 21 feet) and 16 rounds at 15 yards (or 45 feet) out of all 48 rounds you must hit the paper 33 times they do not have to be bulls eyes you just need to hit the silhouette paper! It is pretty easy to qualify unless you are the world worst shooter and possibly also blind as a bat!

 

[Bicky Robby]

First of all, congrats on your purchase. My guess is since you do have firearms experience and training, your learning curve may be quicker than most.

When I work with a new shooter, I start at 3 yards. The purpose is to stay focused on proper sight alignment, grip and trigger control. Speed and accuracy will come but only when shooting fundamentals are learned.

My best advice is start at 5 yards shooting 8" paper plates. Once you can keep all of your shots (1 magazine) inside the plate, push back to 7 yards and repeat using the 8"plates. Push back to 10, 12 and 15 yards shooting the 8" plates.

You will be surprised how tight your groups will be on targets when you practice using the plates. In terms of industry standard, I will say this. I train to shoot inside the 0 ring on an IDPA target which is 8". Good luck and safe shooting.