Ok to train with various pistols ? Will it make me better overall ?

[Daslinger]

I have a number of different 9mm handguns. Most with a dot.

Am I hurting myself a lot by training with different platforms ?

Sig, Canik, Glock…..etc. Rather then say concentrating on my Sig. I’m trying to get better in general and especially for USPSA.

 

I was thinking that I don’t want to burn out my favorite Grayguns Sig by training with it too much.

Only have one Grayguns competition gun.

 

Thanks for any input.

[RangerTrace]

I think it depends on where you are at in your scale of capability and experience.  Obviously the Pros/top GMs can shoot anything pretty well.  I prefer to stay with the same platform for example, if I carry a P320 at work, I train with and shoot P320s at matches.  Same with 2011s, etc.  And since I finally committed to the dot, everything I carry wears an optic.

[Johnny_Chimpo]

6 hours ago, Daslinger said:

I was thinking that I don’t want to burn out my favorite Grayguns Sig by training with it too much.

 

Que?

[dapribek]

Having shot USPSA since ‘98, I observed that shooters who changed guns often didn’t do as well as those who concentrated on one platform. So what I did was use one gun for an entire year. Not sure if it hurt me or not. BTW, you won’t burn out your Sig. 

[Nathanb]

There is a learning curve to each gun. Grip angle trigger. Magwell magazines all differ.  I wonder how I would be doing if I stuck to a Glock after all these years instead of bouncing around. 

[GOF]

The grip angle is inportant to the draw and presentation. Using handguns with differing grip angles can slow your progress.

[konkapot]

Agreed to all of the above, BUT...switching divisions from time to time can keep things fresh.

 

Particularly shooting SStk or Production I found my skills got stale very quickly. Switching every month? Nope. Switching for an entire season? Not neccessarily a bad thing.  

 

If you are concerned about burning up your favorite gun you'd probably best be served by....buying a second one. Couple ways to approach that; some will have a match gun and a practice gun, some will have A Gun and then a Backup Gun. 

[Daslinger]

Thanks for all the replies. 
 

All my draws are with my Grayguns Sig. My local indoor range where I shoot a lot does not allow holster draws.

I pocket carry a P365XL with a Romeo Zero…..,I don’t chamber a round. I know that’s not ideal. But I figure a negligent discharge is more probable than ever having to use my carry gun in self defense.

 

I guess I’m trying to reinforce my reasoning that’s it’s ok not to concentrate totally on one platform.

Of course my results might suffer a little for not always training with my competition gun.

[Farmer]

I don’t compete, just shoot. But if you would choose two different guns, one for comp and one for practice I would personally use two with the same grip angle. I would use the practice gun for say most of the week but switch to my comp gun a day or so before to get used to it. Generally when just dinking around it usually takes me around two mags worth to feel comfortable with the switch. 

[shred]

Last year I picked up an Open gun after not shooting one seriously for several years.  I have a G in Open although I'm a bit older and slower now.  After a couple months of practice I felt like I was back up to speed, but a guy did some complicated stats on club match scores and that showed I was still slowly (re)gaining skill months later.  I thought that was interesting.

 

[MuayThaiJJ]

I bounce around, prob more than I should. When I get really good at one toy, I tend to get bored and start a new project. I don't think it hurts, I think it rounds you out.

[konkapot]

"I think it rounds you out."  Good stuff absolutely agree. 

 

One thing that has hurt me is my forays into non-popular divisions. I'm paddling around in the shallow pools of Production, Sstck, and L10 feeling pretty good. Good stage breakdown, good hard skills, etc. I'm roughly comparing myself to the various hicap divisions to the extent that's possible. 

 

BUT while I was swimming in the kiddie pool, the overall talent in Open/CO/L was greatly increasing. @shred I've noticed that when I get back into a high talent division that I might feel like "I'm all caught up now" it turns out I'm nowhere near. For me, it is starting to become age related. 

[Johnny_Chimpo]

8 hours ago, Daslinger said:

I pocket carry a P365XL with a Romeo Zero…..,I don’t chamber a round. I know that’s not ideal. But I figure a negligent discharge is more probable than ever having to use my carry gun in self defense

 

You need to evaluate your training and mindset if you're so concerned about an ND that you carry with an empty chamber.

 

I sure as hell hope you're carrying that thing in a pocket holster.......

[Daslinger]

4 hours ago, Johnny_Chimpo said:

 

You need to evaluate your training and mindset if you're so concerned about an ND that you carry with an empty chamber.

 

I sure as hell hope you're carrying that thing in a pocket holster.......

Yes. A simple soft flexible pocket holster.

[IVC]

A lot of skill is transferrable between divisions, especially the important things such as stage planning (assuming you don't change capacity much) movement, entry into positions, leaving positions, transitions, calling shots, etc. However, you will lose speed and consistency on classifiers, that's for sure. 

 

Are you at the stage where every small detail hurts your ranking, where you're pretty close to the top guys? Or are you at the stage where you're still working on the low hanging fruit associated with movement, low stance, shooting on the move, array engagement, etc.? If you switch guns, you can work on latter, but not on the former. My 2c. 

[csailer]

Very tough to bounce around all the time.  You can get pretty close to tour normal shooting ability with about 400 rounds on a single day, but it's tough to wake up the next day with the same tuning.  It takes months of repeated practice on the same platform to be consistently good behind the gun.  Otherwise you're still thinking about how you shoot the gun and not fully tuned.  If you consistently train multiple guns and keep the skills with multiple guns at a decent tuned level it becomes easier, but not easy.  Optics to optics is better, optics to irons is the hardest.  There is value in learning different platforms and making each gun "work" - sights track up and down, and return.  oh....and make the bullets go where you want.  CS

[Scotty_JR]

I think it would be easier to develop with one platform in the beginning. Then, it should take you less time to get in tune with a new platform after your fundamentals are solid. 

 

If you're trying to get better, keeping everything gun handling related consistent, will be most rewarding. Your draw index will change from pistol to pistol. The way the mag indexes in your hand with width or height. Where the magwell is. It's all little stuff but you build confidence and consistency that way. 

[Checkpoint]

I think bouncing around pistols of similar archetypes is not going to be too detrimental.

 

I impulse-purchased a CZ P07 (DA/SA) and dry fired the crap out of that pistol for years, but when I started to switch over to a Glock 19 for daily-driving and competition, my DA pull suffered whenever I went back to it. (The P07 is not known for having the greatest DA experience).

[Daslinger]

On 2/9/2023 at 6:15 PM, IVC said:

A lot of skill is transferrable between divisions, especially the important things such as stage planning (assuming you don't change capacity much) movement, entry into positions, leaving positions, transitions, calling shots, etc. However, you will lose speed and consistency on classifiers, that's for sure. 

 

Are you at the stage where every small detail hurts your ranking, where you're pretty close to the top guys? Or are you at the stage where you're still working on the low hanging fruit associated with movement, low stance, shooting on the move, array engagement, etc.? If you switch guns, you can work on latter, but not on the former. My 2c. 

I got a LOT of low hanging fruit.

Just made “C” class !

[delta6]

6 hours ago, Daslinger said:

I got a LOT of low hanging fruit.

Just made “C” class !

Congratulations....

[Lock-n-load]

I just stay with one platform (Cz steel full size ) and set up each as close as possible then it really doesn’t matter which one I choose.

[Nobody909]

I would say it is pretty hard to learn the basic fundaments while continually switching platforms. Once you a very solid grasp on the fundament I've found it easier to switch platforms. 

 

My recommendation, pick one and get good with it and then play around and see which one you like the best once you have knowledge one platform.

[Npoulson]

This is a multi faceted question 

what do you intend to do with the sport

just for fun hang with buddies

make gm or whatever your goal may be

if you are wanting to be serious, and as a previous comment, most gm can shoot anything well but they use the same firearm each and every time

switching optic and sight heights magwells mags different dots and sights grip angle trigger 

tough to get better like that imho

[GunBugBit]

Every time you switch guns, once you re-acclimate to the current one, you should be shooting it as well as you ever did.  It might take a few days of dry fire and a couple of matches to be in your best form with that gun again, but I think many shooters find it pretty easy to do this.

[beltfedgoodness]

20 hours ago, GunBugBit said:

Every time you switch guns, once you re-acclimate to the current one, you should be shooting it as well as you ever did.  It might take a few days of dry fire and a couple of matches to be in your best form with that gun again, but I think many shooters find it pretty easy to do this.

This has been my experience, I have a wide variety of different handguns and I’ve noticed it usually takes me 1-2 practice sessions to get back into the groove.