Rim fire practice

[Novie]

Will shooting a rimfire (22) help with training on target transitions?  The cost of ammo would let me practice almost five times as much.  I realize that I would still need to shoot my production gun each week.  Any thoughts?

[Sparky]

I believe that Rimfire practice is a great way to practice.  The Outdoor Club I belong to has several bays with Steel Plate Racks

and they are easily adjusted where a 22 round will knock them down.  I know that dry fire practice is great, but if you can make

it to the range and practice with 22's as part of your regular practice, it will help with sight picture and trigger control and transitions.

I even include a couple of USPSA targets in addition to the plate racks, so you get to practice double taps on paper.  Have fun with it.......

[Rnlinebacker]

Will shooting a rimfire (22) help with training on target transitions?  The cost of ammo would let me practice almost five times as much.  I realize that I would still need to shoot my production gun each week.  Any thoughts?

DRY fire is where you should be improving your transitions with time based runs. Live fire should be confirming that indeed you're improving. Save the money and if you can only live fire once weekly that's fine. Live fire practice doesn't have to be an enormous expenditure of rounds. 200-250 rounds makes every round count more. 2-3 drills max but utilize that timer to track performance improvement time wise

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[IVC]

The transition with a rimfire is the same as the transition with your primary gun and the same as the transition in the dry fire (not counting potential problems with handling a different gun). 

 

If you don't have a problem with understanding your sight picture, the speed at which you can do it in dry fire is exactly the same as the speed with which you can do it in live fire. It's the follow up shots that are quite different between live and dry fire as those are affected by the recoil, and your live fire is teaching you to see the sights during recoil - this won't be realistic with rimfire. 

 

There might be a benefit with rimfire to speed up the learning process by eliminating recoil and confirming your transitions are correct, but I'm not aware of any recommended or successful training regiment that has measured or shown the benefit of using rimfire for more advanced training. Personally, I have seen the benefit of rimfire as a substitute for centerfire only when working with less experienced shooters on the trigger control itself. Once they figure out trigger control, they have to move on to the target platform for further improvement. Just my 2c. 

[hankdiesel]

Any kind of live fire shooting is good practice, as long as you're using proper fundamentals. Shoot .22 speed steel,cheap and good transition practice!

[hrhawk]

The biggest benifit I find using rimfire v dryfire is the added accountability.  Dry fire will get you there fast if your honest.  Holes in paper make it hard to lie and call it good. 

[Demus319]

One thing great about rim fire practice is that if you are struggling with weak hand strong hand it great use  to work on mechanics and get some confidence. Plus it does not hurt the pocket book as much. 

[GOF]

Be careful about dry firing a rimfire without a snap cap or fired cartridge in the chamber. You don't want a rimfire firing pin slamming into the steel on the chamber mouth. It tends to screw the firing pin up. For rimfire fun, try Steel Challenge. It's a hoot, and ya get a lot of transitions!

[tdp88]

I would rather shoot less with my actual competition gun and dry fire more than to shoot twice as much with the 22. I don't think it's bad practice but it's not good practice. 

[Hoops]

From my own experience.  I am a current steel match shooter and before physical issues, I shot IDPA and USPSA.  Live fire practice worked best for me and my performance was ok.  Won several IDPA matches and was a solid B Limited shooter USPSA at age 65.   Our range set up a steel bay and I decided to practice there.  

 

The “A’s” or down zero only element of hitting 8” and 10” round steel plates with speed with wide transitions was an eye opener for me.  Frankly I had to really work on my skills and i was already a pretty decent shooter.   Double taps on the steel provided instant feedback on shot pattern, sight and trigger control.  I found that my steel practice transferred very well to the paper stages of IDPA and USPSA.  My scores improved.  

 

22’s.  I was a skeptic.  A kids gun.....beginner’s gun.  Low ready.....etc, etc.  Then  I decided to work with a Ruger  Mark III 22/45.  My first match was an outlaw match with several targets per stage requiring mag changes.  With only 10 rounds per mag I learned quickly to count and plan my strategy for reloads without going to bolt-lock.  It was a super challenge requiring a lot of focus.  BTW......most of our 22 Outlaw matches shoot 8 to 10 plates per stage that are 4”, 6” and 10” plates at center fire distances.  No running but some serious gun handling. (Centerfire steel matches are similar with larger plates and there is the official Steel Challenge matches).

 

I am now a firm believer that learning to shoot steel with speed (3.85 second runs on a 10 target array) will teach very good skills that transfers to other types of matches......and this includes 22lr pistols and carbines.  PCC’s and steel is also excellent.

 

At least that is how it worked for me for what it’s worth.

 

Thanks

[Hoops]

I should have noted that usually 2 of the 5 or 6 steel stages have on average around 28 required shots per stage hence the reloads, etc.  Some have more.

[Chris iliff]

I set up an open 2011 .22 that basically was as close to my competition Open gun as I could get. 
 

I stayed with it for one summer and learned a lot. 
 

First,  .22’s are easier to shoot. I needed to make the training harder. Farther targets/smaller targets. 
 

Second, I thought it shot so flat that the dot did not duplicate my competition Open gun. The regular sights on a .22 didn’t rise and fall the same either. 
 

So, after much experimenting and $$$$, for me, dry firing all skills and practice scenarios, then working down my  times as close as I could get with my competition gun, worked better. 
 

I sold the .22 open gun. YMMV

[pjb45]

I knew several GMs that used rimfire in their practice.  After talking with them I purchased a Tactical Solutions (BJ Norris won with this upper) upper that fit both my SV Wide body and Single Stack. 

 

When I transition to SV Open (for a while), I had a rail and C-more added.  So three guns fitted for TS upper.  It greatly improved my Open shooting which for me was a huge transition from Limited. 

 

I practiced a lot of weak/strong hand shooting.  What a &%!&%@* difference it made.  I burned through a lot of .22 bricks.  One year I was 11th on the Schmidt standards at Western States Single Stack Championship--I am a B shooter.  That was very good!

 

 I learned a lot about visual patience and sight pictures with my .22.  

Reloads really took off.  Yes dry firing reload practice is paramount.  However. nothing beats 2 shots, reload ,2 shots, reload, 2 shots.  My single reloads were strong because I traveled for work and could practice dry fire reloads.  But being able to do it in live fire just added to my  competence.

 

Then I got a TS upper for my AR.  Liked it so much after a couple of years I went to JP.

 

In AZ we have 3 or 4 .22 matches a month.  

[IVC]

On 11/14/2019 at 8:04 PM, Hoops said:

I am now a firm believer that learning to shoot steel with speed (3.85 second runs on a 10 target array) will teach very good skills that transfers to other types of matches......and this includes 22lr pistols and carbines.  PCC’s and steel is also excellent.

No question that rifmire is a great training for transitions (and possibly several other elements of shooting). The question is whether it is better than dry fire with the primary gun - transitions are about precise gun movement and as such are very well suited for dry fire with the primary gun.

 

Rimfire indeed adds "accountability" which is a crutch for "calling shots." It might be a good tool to learn to call the shots better, but one must learn to call them with the primary gun anyways, so might as well work with it directly in live fire. 

[tomv]

I built a 2011 lower with a  Nelson custom that exactly matched my Steelcat SC Open guns. Even added 6 oz to the plastic 2011 .22 mags to match loaded 10 round 9mm mags. Same grip same sight etc... Actually couldn't tell if I was drawing and sighting the 9mm or 22 until it went boom. Very effective practice indoors during our long CT winter.