Should I practice with a .22 pistol to improve technique?

[calmolly]

I have very recently started shooting (about a month). After taking a class and lots of research I settled on a Glock 22 which I love shooting and want to do GSSF to begin competing. I am having to learn it all from the ground up and it is obviously expensive to shoot 100 rounds a day of .40 cal ammo. I have been doing dry fire practice and ordered one of the books on the drills.

My question is whether I should invest in an inexpensive .22 cal pistol like the Ruger Neos to be able to improve my basic skills without breaking the bank? Will this actually help me with the basics like tracking the sight, position etc that will improve my skills on the .40 cal? Or is it better to just keep at it with the Glock?

I have no desire to reload my own ammo yet as I would be too worried about getting it wrong. Maybe in the future...

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

[Cy Soto]

Yes, shooting a .22LR pistol will help you practice your fundamentals and do so at an affordable price. Both the Ruger Mk III or Browning Buckmark are great platforms but, if you want to consider another alternative, you can just as easily purchase a .22LR conversion kit for your G22 and practice with the grip angle and same trigger system as your primary pistol. Advantage Arms makes a very popular Glock conversion kit as does Tactical Solutions.

[mwc]

It makes sense to stay with one shooting platform. Shooting a Ruger will not help you master a Glock.

I have found that learning the glock trigger takes longer for most than say a single action 1911 for example and that is where the glock .22 conversion is worth its weight in gold. You can use it to learn how shoot a glock accurately, like obtaining a proper grip, sight alignment, sight picture, and trigger control. You can then save your .40 ammo to learn the timing of the gun and recoil control.

I have the Advantage Arms conversion and it has been a valuable tool in teaching newcommers and my sons to shoot. It has been very reliable as long as you use the recommended ammo.

Edited September 22, 2011 by mwc

[Graham Smith]

Like the others have said, the big problem with a .22 pistol is that it doesn't feel like your Glock. And even if there were a Glock clone, the trigger would likely be different than yours.

I tried the AA conversion and it was OK, but there were two problems with it that lead me to selling it.

1. There are parts in both the lower and the upper that comprise the trigger system. Replacing the upper with a conversion results in a trigger that does not feel the same as the original.

2. My biggest shooting issue is with followup shots and a .22 won't help with that because there is far less recoil.

Edited September 22, 2011 by Graham Smith

[Steve Anderson]

Any shooting is better than no shooting, and more shooting is better than less shooting.

Having said that, here are a few recommendations:

Make the targets much harder than you would for center fire. Double the distance. This will help the alleviate the reduced recoil problem and build a lot of confidence.

Shoot your centerfire first in any practice session that uses both guns. Your centerfire will feel like a cannon after 200 rds with the double deuce.

Try to get your .22 sight picture (type and size of sights) to be as close as possible to your centerfire. It's already going to feel different, so let's try to keep it from looking too different.

Good luck!

[jar]

Guys, notice that he's only been shooting at all for a month. Practicing the fundamentals with any 22 will help out a ton. I agree 100% that once he's trying to fine tune his competition game the 22 won't have as much direct transfer, but he's not there yet.

I'd recommend getting a Ruger Mk3 and shooting the hell out of it for a while. Eventually consider the conversion and you can always turn the Ruger into a bullseye gun. That's what I did when I started and I think it worked out well.

[Hi-Power Jack]

Spend the money on reloading equipment - listen

to the experts here, and go slowly - don't reload

.40 major right away - start out with .40 minor.

The .22 just isn't a .40:)

Good luck

Jack

[Paul-the new guy]

I just got a .22 conversion for my Glock from Advantage. So far it runs like a top with the correct ammo. It is going to be a great help in getting the basic mechanics down. I will be using it a lot to work on things like draw to first shot, transitions from target to target and just building my trigger time in general. I have noticed way faster splits because of the reduced recoil and I am still using my Glock 35 to make sure I don't mess up my timing too badly

[ddpenn]

I have a CZ cadet which I shoot CCI minimags through and the flip is really not much different than 9mm minor loads the recoil is definitely less but it seems to flip almost the same. As mentioned above shooting scaled down targets will make it simulate your regular gun even more.

[Cy Soto]

I have a CZ cadet which I shoot CCI minimags through ...

That kinda defeats the purpose of practicing with .22LR ammo. CCI Mini-Mags are a great round but they are about the same price as what you would pay to reload 9mm. For such a minuscule price difference, I would stick with shooting 9mm.

[Bob DuBois]

I would suggest a Ruger Mark 3 or Browning Buck Mark and trigger time will help you learn to shoot.

Spend some time dry firing and practice reloads with the Glock. Work the Glock into your practice session even if you can't afford to shoot more than a few mags of ammo. At this stage your learning to hit the target and learning safe gun handling skills. Watch the better shooters and ask them for tips on proper grip, stance and equipment purchases.

Most will try and help if your serious about shooting.

[ddpenn]

CCI minimags are a bit less than half the price of my 9mm reloads. I only have access to an indoor range which requires jacketed 9mm rounds so cost wise it works out saving a bit.

Edited September 22, 2011 by ddpenn

[raz-0]

If what you need to practice are things that are not different between the .22 and the normal gun, then yes. If they are different, then possibly not. .22 doesn't ask for much in the way of good habits regarding recoil control, and form my experience, what you can get away with at speed with a .22 is not the same as what you can get away with at speed with anything centerfire. Early on when I got my first handguns, I shot lots of .22 to try to learn not to flinch or blink. It worked pretty well for that. I then used it to try and learn to shoot much more accurately. I got better with a .22, I actually got worse with my 9mm and .45, mainly because most of my problems were not related to getting a good sight picture. I also developed some bad habits that were seriously aggravated by more recoil. Eventually what I found it useful for was to get me in the right mental groove before practicing with center fire guns so that I got maximal benefit form that practice. Kind of like warm up stretching.

Some examples of where I think the .22 practice works and breaks down.

Learnign to take FTF, FTE, and other malfunctions in stride without exhibiting lots of stress repsponses to them .22 works great. The ammo is extra marginal in most handguns, and you will get to experience them and work failure remediation into something that is no big deal.

Learning trigger control on slow fire shots? Decent.

Shooting on the move kind of works. .22 works fine practicing shooting between disruptions in your sight picture form walking, and learning to walk more smoothly. It doesn't work so well for the whole "isolate your upper body and move it like a turret" thing because, at least in my experience, refining that involves doing so while maintaining decent recoil control. My regular gun gives me feedback on that, my .22 not so much.

Transition to weak hand doesn't work at all. Anything I can get better with in this regard with a .22 I can get better with by dry fire. With .22 I can reinforce technique that either doesn't work, or is actually detrimental more than dry-fire does.

Engaging multiple targets through a port smoothly kind of works. I can practice in dry-fire, but I have to pay attention to my sight picture with a degree of attention that does not match what is optimal when actually shooting. With a .22, I can use the same level of focus I would in an actual match, and go back and evaluate what actually happened. It's not the same as live fire with the right caliber, but it is much closer.

These days with pistols, I want .22 versions of my competition guns because I want to shoot rimfire shoots with similar gear, not for the practice potential. Although if I could get that sorted out, it would be interesting to see if the warm up stretching analogy translates to the new kind of things I practice.

What I am REALLY digging .22 for is rifle practice. There's a lot more going on with building your shooting positions and weak side/strong side transitions, that I find a lot of use for my .22 upper. That may also be because I know a lot more about what I know and don't know these days, and I'm a less experienced rifle shooter than I am a pistol shooter.

Btu that's if you ahve some shooting experience. If you are starting at zero, a .22 is a nice cheap platform to get the very basics down pat on.

[Seeker]

I'm currently a D USPSA shooter and Marksman in IDPA and I have found that my Kimber .22 conversion for my 1911 has been a great way to refine target transition and trigger control. Most of the areas that I need to improve are not related to recoil control and I can work on the fundamentals at a considerable reduction in price and body fatigue. I do start all practice sessions with 100 rounds of 45 for bill drills, timing drills and the plate rack. Possibly as I move up the ranks the .22 will be less useful, however I do know several M's that have a .22 open gun for specific practice sessions. YMMV

[calmolly]

Thanks everyone, your input is great! Spent some more time on target acquisistion today dry firing and then went to the range...better...but I think my main problem is recoil control. I seem to be trying to control the recoil before firing if that makes sense. Most of my mikes (see I'm learning the lingo lol) were low and left.

I am also struggling to get my position right and comfortable, with the correct amount of pressure on my support hand, elbows the right amount of bend etc.

With this said I have discovered a few things...A conversion kit for my Glock is proving difficult to find in stock anywhere. AA is only selling thru dealers right now and the ones I called can't get any right now, particularly as mine is a Gen 4. So this avenue is going to have to wait, but I am def going to get one.

I think I am also going to invest in a .22 pistol, probably the ruger mark III. because as jar said "He needs to learn to shoot". He's right except I'm a SHE. LOL

Another point he made was dealing with FTF, FTE etc...I started shooting with a Gen 1 GSG5 .22 rifle...need I say more? I spent more time clearing jams and the like than shooting it! (It is currently on its way back to ATI.)

As for relaoading? Well see. Spent another $30 in ammo today.

Molly