Practice Ratios .22 & .45

[SantaBarbaraKimber]

I am a new IDPA shooter and will be shooting IPSC in the future. I am buying a .22 Conversion for my 1911. My question is this: What percentage of .45 caliber rounds (against the rimfire) would I need to shoot, at a MINIMUM, to be able to climb the competence ladder as rapidly as possible? Rimfire is SO much cheaper, but I obviously want to shoot enough .45 to shoot my best in matches. I plan on shooting a LOT of rounds monthly, if this affects your answer. Your thoughts?

Many Thanks.

Edited February 23, 2011 by SantaBarbaraKimber

[All-Gator]

A good question...but, probably, no real answer. My approach is as follows.

I use my CZ Kadet to begin practice with practicing trigger control and sight picture/alignment on long shots (25 to 35 yards...head shots.) No multiple shots...just slow fire. Then I practice drawing and firing the first shot...I still don't have the hang of the first shot double-action requirement. (I'm just starting Production and IDPA after years and years of shooting USPSA Open.) Then I go to transitions...again one shot on each target. The idea is that practicing double taps, etc., with no recoil isn't that beneficial. I do this until I begin to loose focus...maybe 100 to 150 rounds.

I then use the CZ85 to practice double taps, recoil management, movement, and whatever: Typically 30 to 50 rounds. BTW, I always include strong hand/weak hand for a few rounds.

Over the years, I've run into two basic live-fire practice philosophies: One...shoot till you are ankle deep in brass; and, two, shoot far fewer rounds, but make every shot a quality/focused one. Obviously, I prefer the latter. However, which ever fits you, it is more important to practice your gun handling skills (drawing, reloading, etc.) by dry firing. Dry fire, dry fire, dry fire...it's the cheapist and best way to Grand Master.

A-G

[caz41]

There is not a magic number of each, it will vary from person to person. What will make a huge difference is how well you adapt to the recoil of the .45 after shooting the .22 conversion.

[Bsbllrooster]

I will agree with what others have said. .22 is great for trigger control and sight focus but not so good for learning timing and recoil control. I guess it just depends on what you need work on. Obviously if you struggle with recoil control and timing then shooting a bunch of .22 isn't going to help a whole lot.

[Erik S.]

This is my personal opinion only, but if you must shoot the .22 and .45 in the same range session, shoot the .22 last and don't go back to the .45. I believe it will be counter productive since even good shooters have trouble re-adjusting to the .45 recoil.

Best scenario (especially if you live relatively close to a range), shoot only one per range session.

Hopefully you'll get some more responses from the others about what worked for them.

Welcome to the forums!!

[calishootr]

quality, not quantity is the best(in my humble opine)method to practice, i am a convert of sorts, i usedto believe that you had to be knee deep in brass to get anything out of a practice session, now, i am a FIRM believer in that you should go to the range with a plan to practice specific things to build your particular skill set, not just burning rounds to hear the gun go 'bang' and that away from the range your biggest friend is the dry-fire...learn lots of things while not spending a nickle on ammo...

[Team Amish 1]

This is my personal opinion only, but if you must shoot the .22 and .45 in the same range session, shoot the .22 last and don't go back to the .45. I believe it will be counter productive since even good shooters have trouble re-adjusting to the .45 recoil.

Best scenario (especially if you live relatively close to a range), shoot only one per range session.

That sounds like great advice and I'll try that next time and keep .22 sessions and centerfire sessions separate.

I have always done mixed sessions, usually 500 to 700 rounds of .22's to approx. 100 rounds of centerfire.

.22's are for drills with lots of repetition, e.g. target acquisition drills, groups. Centerfire are for standard drills, e.g. draws, a few transitions, Bill drill, etc..

[Chris iliff]

I shoot 9mm and practice with .22. Through the week I rarely shoot the 9. Mostly .22.

If I have a "big" match I'll switch out the week before and go with the 9 exclusively.

The .22 shines for movement drills where you'll spend some real time and ammo learning to be efficient.

[Dillon b]

i used to use .22s to practice with a lot, i would shoot 3-500 .22s and then switch to .45. When i would switch back to a .45 it would take quite a few rounds to get used to the recoil. It will show you any error you had in your shooting with .22s. I prefer to not shoot large quantities of .22s because for me it let me become sloppy, and it didnt show it until i switched back to my .45. I prefer now to dryfire more and to focus on a specific goal or weakness at the range, and work on that.

[digby7]

i made the mistake of shooting some 1.5k .22 rounds, 2k of 9mm and then trying to go back to .45, not good. now i just shoot 9mm and .22 and I dont shoot anywhere near as much .22 without mixing in some 9mm

[snake32]

the solution is to practice with the same ammo that you shoot in a match. same ammo. 45 acp is very cheap to load. range brass= free 1lb clays $20.00= 1400 rnds box of 500 200gr lswc= $37.50 cci lpp = $24.00 per k. thats less than $74.00 per k. spend alot of time dry fireing and run drills with live fire. you can fire 5k rnds per day and it not do you any good if you are just shooting.

Edited April 14, 2011 by snake32