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Post by rramom on Apr 5, 2013 21:01:51 GMT -5
Once I started carrying daily, it dawned on me that I really ought to learn how to use that tool. We’re blessed in that we can shoot on our land, so I don’t even have to drive somewhere to practice.
With advice from people on forums, I decided that I needed to learn how to keep both eyes open while shooting. That actually wasn’t too difficult to do for me, I don’t know how difficult it is for others. The idea behind it is even if you’re focusing with your dominant eye, if your non-dominant eye is open, it will pick up movement in your peripheral vision. Helps with situational awareness, whether just for range safety or in an actual defensive situation. Since I’ve got such large hands, I found I was more comfortable shooting one-handed. (Might have something to do with squeezing those cushions between my arms, too.) Yes, I’m more accurate if I slow down, support my right hand while I aim and shoot.
However, I can easily hit an 8 ½” x 12” paper at about 10’ with one hand, and not taking time to precisely aim. My thoughts are if I’m involved in a defensive scenario, I’m less likely to have both hands free and lots of time to line up my shot, so I prefer to practice this way. I’m sure others can speak up to why they practice the way they do.
I’m right handed, but left-eye dominant. Therefore, I also have practiced shooting with just my left hand, and can shoot with about the same level of accuracy. I figure if one hand is injured, etc., it doesn’t hurt to be able to use the other one instead. I do have arthritis, and as I age, I’m losing strength, so by switching between the two hands during practice, neither hand gets too worn out. Once I decided I needed to have someone who knows their stuff teach me, I decided to take Bill & Dee Regina’s Ladies Defensive Pistol class. Since Bill was my CC instructor, I already had formed a favorable opinion of him. I have no experience with any other
instructors, so I can’t offer an opinion on them. I really enjoyed the Regina’s class – no one was made to feel like an idiot, even if they didn’t know what they were doing, as long as it wasn’t unsafe. Thankfully, I’ve never witnessed any obviously unsafe behavior in any of their classes, so how they handle that, I wouldn’t know. They took us through several exercises which I thought were helpful to get more comfortable with shooting. Shooting around cover, shooting while moving, etc. Since then, I’ve taken the Basic Combat Pistol Training class and a Basic Fighting / Tactical Shotgun class. (Figured I needed to learn how to use a shotgun, as that is the closest firearm when I sleep.) I’ve done some informal practice on a couple of ranges in our area, where they have reactive targets. We’ve also tried to have a variety of targets at our place to make it a little more fun to practice. However you get more practice and training, do it! The more you practice with drawing and shooting your pistol, the better prepared you will be if you ever have to use it. |
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Post by tkarter on Apr 5, 2013 21:14:54 GMT -5
Great post once again.
I would like to add dry fire practice serves to help with that accuracy too. Since I don't dry fire a pistol I use snap caps for some quick brush up on sights and just general point shooting.
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Post by rramom on Apr 6, 2013 9:26:49 GMT -5
I haven't done any dry fire practicing, since I can shoot real ammo at our place. However, if the scarcity of ammo continues, I may have to start.
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Post by tkarter on Apr 6, 2013 10:10:48 GMT -5
Dry fire is useful for maintaing trigger control. not much else.
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Post by dirtdiver on Apr 6, 2013 17:07:44 GMT -5
Excellent post RRAMom! Dry fire is useful for maintaing trigger control. not much else. Sent using Proboards mobile I keep developing some bad habits, so I have to dry fire to get rid of those bad habits. Perhaps if I was better about dry fire practice, I wouldn't end up with the bad habits....but idk! At first I was shooting low left and with dry fire practice - and some dummy round drills, I realized I was anticipating the recoil. Fixed that, for the most part, over time. But then later ended up shooting a little high. Pretty much center of the target, just high. Dry fire helped with that too. Now to see what bad habit I develop next!! Like tk posted, dry fire has helped me develop good trigger control.....but when I start shooting multiple rounds and try to do them fast.....like double taps.....the bad habits come back for that follow-up shot. The first shot seems to be on target, but the 2nd shot frequently flies usually low left. I guess I need more practice, practice, practice.... |
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Post by dirtdiver on Apr 6, 2013 17:09:34 GMT -5
Oh....and I decided to get a .22 handgun. Hopefully with that, I can get more consistent follow-up shots.
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Post by tkarter on Apr 6, 2013 19:00:48 GMT -5
For what it is worth shooting a .22 helps your general aiming ability but with the center fire pistols the trigger control becomes the most important part of shooting well. That matters not male nor female. Usually women seem to from my perspective be more consistent in their carrying out a good shot. By using extreme control over the trigger. I do not want to sound like I am telling women how to shoot. I just know where when I miss the failure happens and it is in the trigger press. They make targets that are supposed to troubleshoot what is going wrong in the shot. They are half right with those. Not talking about how anyone shoots per se. I am just trying to say there are ways to practice without the recoil and it will work some what. Dry fire will not fix a flinch. IMHO. Mom gets to burn ammo and probably can out shoot me. So it boils down to in a fight if she can out mean me. If you know what I mean? Oh and for the record. I will never be in a fight with mom. She already owns me.  |
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Post by rramom on Apr 6, 2013 20:53:26 GMT -5
Mom gets to burn ammo and probably can out shoot me. So it boils down to in a fight if she can out mean me. If you know what I mean? Oh and for the record. I will never be in a fight with mom. She already owns me. I'm smart enough to try to stay out of fights, but if I have to fight, I'll fight as dirty as I need to win. As the saying goes, if you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck. One of the things about growing up as the baby in a family with 4 older siblings - 3 of them brothers, I was always the smallest, but that didn't mean they'd go easy on me. I learned to use my head, not let anger get the better of me. Once you are blinded by rage, you can't use the brains God gave you for strategy. I think probably the thing I've learned the most about fighting, is to pick your battles. Not everything is worth fighting for, only a few things are really worth drawing that line in the sand. But if it is that important, don't let your opponent force you to do something that violates that principle. Helps if you know your opponent, and what is the worse that he or she can do to you. Know if your opponent is apt to be armed, if they are all bark and no bite, or what sort of bite might you expect, if you tick them off. Once you've figured that out, then you can decide your strategy. Let the chips fall where they may or find a compromise that both can live with. Using your brain will prevent a lot of problems. |
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Post by tkarter on Apr 6, 2013 20:58:01 GMT -5
No truer words have ever been spoken Mom.
I being the oldest child in my family tried to protect my brother and two sisters.
I never had a problem starting a fight I knew I was going to win. I got hurt in those fights but I prevailed.
Now I am called grandpa.
You ladies know more about survival than I ever will. If you think about it a bit.
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Post by dirtdiver on Apr 12, 2013 12:14:14 GMT -5
... Dry fire will not fix a flinch. IMHO. ... If you would have said that to me a year or so ago, I would have totally agreed. But the biggest thing that has helped me and my flinch is dry fire practice. I was competing in a bullseye league last summer and kept catching myself flinching. I had great shot groups (so good trigger press), week after week, but the groups were always a little low-left. The only thing I changed before the next shooting session (the 2nd half of that season) was to make sure I got some dry fire practice in - and definitely did some dry fire practice the night before or day of the match. The 2nd half of the season, I still had great shot groups, but the shot groups were now consistently around the bullseye! I ended up improving my scores significantly and got 1st place in my division! So now I believe in dry fire practice to help get rid of a bad flinch! |
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Post by tkarter on Apr 12, 2013 18:07:24 GMT -5
I reckon with dry fire practice one could learn a better grip that didn't change as the shot goes off.
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