Training With Just 50 Rounds

[Flea]

I'm newish to USPSA and only have access to an indoor range. I'm getting low on 9mm ammo so when I shoot, it's 50 rounds per session.

 

What would you suggest as the best training session bang for the ammo buck? I typically start my session shooting at a 3" circle at 5 yards, then 7 or 10 yards. Slow fire. 10 rounds at each distance. I may then shoot the rest of the mags from say high ready one shot at a time.

 

Thanks

[RangerTrace]

One of the main reasons for live fire practice is to work on your recoil management.  If you are only shooting slow fire, I think you are going to miss out on some of the benefit of live fire practice.  Not to mention, those ranges are close enough, that you should be able to fairly quickly put your rounds on target.  I'd say use 1/4 of the rounds for freestyle speed shooting at the distance of your choice, 1/4 of the rounds for strong hand only, 1/4 of the rounds for weak hand only, and 1/4 for freestyle group shooting at a minimum of 10 yards, but farther if the range is capable of it.  Thats just a quick though off the top of my head.  But I had surgery yesterday and may not be thinking very clearly either.

[UpYoursPal]

Very rarely will you have to shoot single shots in USPSA.  It's even more rare that you'll shot single, well-aimed shots.  With that in mind, shoot doubles at varying yards.  Try them at 5, 10, and 15 yards.  Really pay attention to how long it takes the sights to settle back in the 'A' zone at those distances, and use that to learn when to break the second shot.  At 5 yards you probably can just hammer away at it quickly, but at 10 and 15 yards you may need to let the sights settle a bit more before firing again.  Or, if your grip control is very good you might not.

[Silver_Surfer]

When shooting a match treat each stage as if it was a Virginia count cof.  Make each shot count.

[Russty]

"There..Are..Four..Lights" one of the very best Next Gen episodes.

 

[SGT_Schultz]

@Flea There's a million drills out there just for this sport, but as we all know with ammo being in limited supply I had to think about how to come up with a minimal set of drills that worked as many skills with the least amount of time and ammo as possible.

 

For where I am skills-wise the following drills will help me the most:

• Draw, pair freestyle at 10 yards
• Draw, pair freestyle at 20 yards
• Draw, pair SHO at 10 yards
• Draw, pair WHO at 10 yards
• Distance change up: Draw, pair freestyle 7 yds, pair freestyle 20 yds (run near to far and far to near)
• Position/entry exit

I came up with a scoring and tracking sheet that uses hit factor and % A's for every drill.  I set it up so that a box of 100 rounds would let me run all drills in the sheet once.  Feel free to modify to suit your situation.  And hit me up on PM if you have any questions.

 

BTW, this requires the use of USPSA targets.  Even if you're in a place where you can't draw from the holster you can still run the first four of these drills from low ready or from a table start (like that little tray in front of you at indoor ranges).

Copy Std USPSA drill tracking.xlsx

[Flea]

4 hours ago, SGT_Schultz said:

@Flea There's a million drills out there just for this sport, but as we all know with ammo being in limited supply I had to think about how to come up with a minimal set of drills that worked as many skills with the least amount of time and ammo as possible.

 

For where I am skills-wise the following drills will help me the most:

• Draw, pair freestyle at 10 yards
• Draw, pair freestyle at 20 yards
• Draw, pair SHO at 10 yards
• Draw, pair WHO at 10 yards
• Distance change up: Draw, pair freestyle 7 yds, pair freestyle 20 yds (run near to far and far to near)
• Position/entry exit

I came up with a scoring and tracking sheet that uses hit factor and % A's for every drill.  I set it up so that a box of 100 rounds would let me run all drills in the sheet once.  Feel free to modify to suit your situation.  And hit me up on PM if you have any questions.

 

BTW, this requires the use of USPSA targets.  Even if you're in a place where you can't draw from the holster you can still run the first four of these drills from low ready or from a table start (like that little tray in front of you at indoor ranges).

Copy Std USPSA drill tracking.xlsx 50.26 kB · 2 downloads

 

Thanks much

[SGT_Schultz]

@Flea  Another drill that has tremendous value for a beginner is Ben Stoger's Doubles drill.

[mikeg1005]

If all you have is 50rds to practice don't waste your time standing and shooting groups... or standing and drawing.  All of that stuff can be incorporated into a drill... Then work on the fundamentals in dryfire (which you should probably do fairly often for 15-30mins to account for the last of live fire). 

 

I'd work on entry/exit drills with 2 targets and 2 plates.  Put the plates at 15yds (or w/e distance is hard) and the paper at 7yds (whatever distance you can comfortable shoot into/out of).   With 50rds its a 6 shot drill, you can do it 9 times.  

 

(easy exit, easy entry) Draw on steel/leave on paper then enter on paper/finish on steel. 

(hard exit, hard entry) Draw on paper, leave on steel, enter on steel, finish on the paper. 

(easy exit, hard entry) Draw on steel, leave on paper, then enter on steel, finish on paper.

Hard exit, easy entry) Draw on paper, leave on steel, enter on paper, finish on steel.

 

Throw in reloads between positions.  

 

Entry/exit is the most common thing you do in a match and the most difficult to practice in dryfire (as you can lie to yourself on how stable your gun is if you're not actually shooting).  Plus you're drawing and reloading under an actual match scenario which is more realistic than standing and drawing at target.  

 

I wouldn't practice SHO/WHO if you have limited ammo, while this is a VERY important skill to have it comes up very rarely and would not be a priority if you have such a limited round count.   

Edited December 15, 2020 by mikeg1005

[Flea]

3 hours ago, mikeg1005 said:

If all you have is 50rds to practice don't waste your time standing and shooting groups... or standing and drawing.  All of that stuff can be incorporated into a drill... Then work on the fundamentals in dryfire (which you should probably do fairly often for 15-30mins to account for the last of live fire). 

 

I'd work on entry/exit drills with 2 targets and 2 plates.  Put the plates at 15yds (or w/e distance is hard) and the paper at 7yds (whatever distance you can comfortable shoot into/out of).   With 50rds its a 6 shot drill, you can do it 9 times.  

 

(easy exit, easy entry) Draw on steel/leave on paper then enter on paper/finish on steel. 

(hard exit, hard entry) Draw on paper, leave on steel, enter on steel, finish on the paper. 

(easy exit, hard entry) Draw on steel, leave on paper, then enter on steel, finish on paper.

Hard exit, easy entry) Draw on paper, leave on steel, enter on paper, finish on steel.

 

Throw in reloads between positions.  

 

Entry/exit is the most common thing you do in a match and the most difficult to practice in dryfire (as you can lie to yourself on how stable your gun is if you're not actually shooting).  Plus you're drawing and reloading under an actual match scenario which is more realistic than standing and drawing at target.  

 

I wouldn't practice SHO/WHO if you have limited ammo, while this is a VERY important skill to have it comes up very rarely and would not be a priority if you have such a limited round count.   

I'm only at an indoor range so movement stuff is a no bueno.

[SGT_Schultz]

5 hours ago, mikeg1005 said:

If all you have is 50rds to practice don't waste your time standing and shooting groups... or standing and drawing.  All of that stuff can be incorporated into a drill... Then work on the fundamentals in dryfire (which you should probably do fairly often for 15-30mins to account for the last of live fire). 

 

I'd work on entry/exit drills with 2 targets and 2 plates.  Put the plates at 15yds (or w/e distance is hard) and the paper at 7yds (whatever distance you can comfortable shoot into/out of).   With 50rds its a 6 shot drill, you can do it 9 times.  

 

(easy exit, easy entry) Draw on steel/leave on paper then enter on paper/finish on steel. 

(hard exit, hard entry) Draw on paper, leave on steel, enter on steel, finish on the paper. 

(easy exit, hard entry) Draw on steel, leave on paper, then enter on steel, finish on paper.

Hard exit, easy entry) Draw on paper, leave on steel, enter on paper, finish on steel.

 

Throw in reloads between positions.  

 

Entry/exit is the most common thing you do in a match and the most difficult to practice in dryfire (as you can lie to yourself on how stable your gun is if you're not actually shooting).  Plus you're drawing and reloading under an actual match scenario which is more realistic than standing and drawing at target.  

 

I wouldn't practice SHO/WHO if you have limited ammo, while this is a VERY important skill to have it comes up very rarely and would not be a priority if you have such a limited round count.   

 

That's a great idea for someone who is a B or high C.  I'll definitely adopt something similar.

 

For someone newer like Flea he needs live fire confirmation of the basics he's drilling in dry fire first.

Edited December 15, 2020 by SGT_Schultz

[mikeg1005]

21 hours ago, SGT_Schultz said:

 

That's a great idea for someone who is a B or high C.  I'll definitely adopt something similar.

 

For someone newer like Flea he needs live fire confirmation of the basics he's drilling in dry fire first.

 

I'm assuming he knows how to shoot a pistol.. if fundamental pistol skills don't exist (like shooting groups) then that's a whole different story.

 

You can be a 2% D class shooter and improving your entry/exit will still be the best match improvement item that exists. 

 

 

[Joe4d]

On 12/15/2020 at 2:46 PM, Flea said:

I'm only at an indoor range so movement stuff is a no bueno.

Yeh I was getting that impression from some of these drills. Most of these suggestions wont fly at the typical indoor range. Draws, doubles or bill drills , movement tend to not fly.

You can adjust this based on what you are allowed.

Start from low ready VS draw, I

If you arnt  allowed double taps, look at target papers with 2 targets on them, From low ready fire one at each from left side of bay, then move to right and 2 then reverse,, So will sound like 4 timed controlled shots.

Getting in and out will have to be stuff you do at home with dry fire.

Edited December 16, 2020 by Joe4d

[Balakay]

On 12/11/2020 at 3:25 PM, Flea said:

I'm newish to USPSA and only have access to an indoor range. I'm getting low on 9mm ammo so when I shoot, it's 50 rounds per session.

 

What would you suggest as the best training session bang for the ammo buck? I typically start my session shooting at a 3" circle at 5 yards, then 7 or 10 yards. Slow fire. 10 rounds at each distance. I may then shoot the rest of the mags from say high ready one shot at a time.

 

Thanks

what is your monthly ammo budget--live fire and matches? 

[Flea]

22 hours ago, Balakay said:

what is your monthly ammo budget--live fire and matches? 

Well......I don't reload and only have 500 rounds of factory 9mm left and I'm not going to pay the current prices to get more. I will have to dry fire a lot, a real lot.

[Balakay]

1 hour ago, Flea said:

Well......I don't reload and only have 500 rounds of factory 9mm left and I'm not going to pay the current prices to get more. I will have to dry fire a lot, a real lot.

If I was new to USPSA and had only 500 rounds left,  I would consider taking a 1 day class with a reputable instructor and then dry firing until you have ammo.  IMHO, this will help your long term progress more than 10 range trips with 1 box of ammo. 

[Flea]

3 hours ago, Balakay said:

If I was new to USPSA and had only 500 rounds left,  I would consider taking a 1 day class with a reputable instructor and then dry firing until you have ammo.  IMHO, this will help your long term progress more than 10 range trips with 1 box of ammo. 

Can't say I disagree.

[CHA-LEE]

If your goal is to maximize your USPSA Practical Shooting Skills then the gun doesn't have to go "BOOM" for 90% of the skills that you will use in matches. Efficient Movement, Precise Transitions, Aggressive Gun Handling, Trigger Manipulation at realistic shooting speeds are just some examples of skills that you can train without needing to fire even one round in live fire. All of that stuff can be trained in a Dry Fire scenario. 

 

There is no sense in reinvent the wheel by trying to figure all of this stuff out yourself. Save yourself a tremendous amount of wasted time, money and ammo by seeking training from an effective Practical Shooting Trainer.

[ARac40]

Reading books on uspsa from subject mater experts will help tremendously too. Gain the knowledge beforehand and understanding the concepts before putting finger to trigger will definitely help to sharpen the learning curve and save you some ammo!

[SweetToof]

JJ Racazza has a practice technique where he combines live fire and dry fire within a single run.

 

For example 4 targets including steel, partials, open paper. If he had been having trouble on transitioning from steel to paper, he would draw and "shoot" the drill, but would only actually pull the trigger on the 1 target he wanted to work on. It takes a higher level of skill to make sure you are staying honest with the targets that aren't actually getting shot. This way you can put your focus on 1 target in particular, but you are still approaching it like you would in a match where you have 1 problem target in an array of other targets. He said I think that he shot something like 8k rounds in a year and still performed at a very high level using very low round count sessions.

[Andy9]

On 1/18/2021 at 1:21 PM, SweetToof said:

JJ Racazza has a practice technique where he combines live fire and dry fire within a single run.

 

For example 4 targets including steel, partials, open paper. If he had been having trouble on transitioning from steel to paper, he would draw and "shoot" the drill, but would only actually pull the trigger on the 1 target he wanted to work on. It takes a higher level of skill to make sure you are staying honest with the targets that aren't actually getting shot. This way you can put your focus on 1 target in particular, but you are still approaching it like you would in a match where you have 1 problem target in an array of other targets. He said I think that he shot something like 8k rounds in a year and still performed at a very high level using very low round count sessions.

WOW, Just 8 k per year. That's amazing for how amazing JJ is.

 

A lot of great advise here!!

Maximize practice and conserve live rounds. my next order from the BS pro-shop will include more dry-fire targets. 

 

[bimmer1980]

I believe, the first thing you should learn is a good solid grip (incl. wrists, elbow, shoulders, stance.) 

 

With 50 rounds you could do 50 reps of the 50/50 drill. Thats 100 Trigger presses. (lets say 40 which are 80 trigger presses and do 10 shots shooting doubles in the end, to see how you did)

 

Load a round into the chamber, then get the mag out and put it on the table or back in the pouch. Start low ready. Build your grip, stance etc. from low ready. Shoot a fast pair and watch what the sights are doing in recoil and what they do on the 2nd shot, wich is dry. Your brain will still be stressed from the first shot and you will make the same mistakes like in live fire.

 

-Did you see the sights move, or did you blink? (fix the blink)

-How did they track in recoil? Predictable or strange? (work on your grip until they move predictable)

-Where did they land? (work on not pushing, change grip pressures, wrist lock etc. until they land where they started to lift)

-What did the sights do on the 2nd shot, which was the dry press? You can see everything you do wrong on this trigger press. Did they shake? Did they dip? (Work on not to flinch, milk, trigger press etc.) They should not move to be perfect.

-Film yourself to see if you get pushed back (stance) or to see the gun moving in your hand (grip) or to see a hard push in the shoulders (locked ellbows) or to see the gun lift pretty high (wrists & grip) etc.

 

Follow the guideline that your grip and wrists should be solid, but everything else pretty relaxed.

 

Remember all you learned about your grip, wrists, stance, shoulder and ellbow tension and implement these things in dryfire.

[SweetToof]

The most recent Hit Factor Podcast is an interview with Carry Optics GM Jay Beal. He finished 5th in nationals in 2021 and shot a total of 2800 rounds in practice. Pretty unique approach to training and very interesting if you are concerned with low round count training, as we all likely are this year.

[jubi351]

Yeah, that guy takes visualization and memorization to a whole new level.

[bimmer1980]

On 1/21/2021 at 2:22 PM, SweetToof said:

The most recent Hit Factor Podcast is an interview with Carry Optics GM Jay Beal. He finished 5th in nationals in 2021 and shot a total of 2800 rounds in practice. Pretty unique approach to training and very interesting if you are concerned with low round count training, as we all likely are this year.

wasn´t it 28.000 ?