Is shooting shooting?

[Lanzo]

My friends and I were coming back from a match last weekend and we started a debate. Is shooting shooting? What I mean by that is if I have a G21SF, slap a 22 conversion slide on top of my frame, and shoot 1000 rnds of .22 would that improve my ability to shoot .45 in competition.

Same frame and trigger assembly means the grip stays the same and same trigger control is practiced for both calibers. Right now I just shoot the plain sights so both sight sets are the same. The arguments i've heard for this is even though I would be able to shoot easier and faster due to the smaller round, I am still practicing all the fundamentals (stance, moving, grip, seeing the sights, etc) and am able to move and shoot. I could warm up with a couple hundred rounds of .22 and finish off the session with a 100 .45. It would cost me less and I could shoot more.

So....is shooting shooting? Everyone in our group could pick out pro's and con's so I figured I would open it up to the forum and see what everyone else had to say!

[Anon]

Millions of "rounds" of dry-fire ammo says "shooting is shooting".

EDITED TO ADD:

Most of the time spent "shooting" a stage is spent doing something other than shooting (drawing, moving, transitions.... even pulling the trigger happens before you are firing). You can get better at all of these things without anything ever travelling down the barrel.

With your .22 conversion, the only thing that will be different is how you handle recoil. This is also probably true of just dry-firing.

Though I haven't done it myself, I've read here on the forum that you might be better off shooting just one caliber per session.

Edited September 9, 2008 by Anon

[Steve J]

Just like dry firing will only take you so far, then you'll have to practice live fire in order to really improve.

Rimfire will only take you so far, then you'll have to practice at full power in order to really improve.

[Jake Di Vita]

Below the GM level, the most important thing is improving gross motor skills - which dry fire and rimfire are fantastic for. At GM, the key is improving your fine motor skills (such as recoil management, etc...)

While you are improving there is absolutely no substitute for reps. Unless you are independently wealthy, the reps required to hit GM is just not possible with match ammo - without taking a fairly long time to get there.

[benos]

The answer is a little of both. All time spent behind a trigger is good. But the increased recoil of the 45 will tend to undermine the subtle sight alignment / trigger pull skills you'll more quickly learn with the .22. So if you're goal is to master the 45, shoot it as much as you can.

be

[Matt Griffin]

Shooting is shooting. Pull the trigger with aligned sights, keep them aligned, and don't do anything else. You've just performed the most perfect shot with any firearm possible.

Everything else takes a little work, however.

H.

[Flexmoney]

What is specific about 45 that is different from other aspects? What is the same?

[Jake Di Vita]

All shooting is different, but the goal is always the same. Why do we shoot? To hit the target. So since the end goal is always the same, chances are the means of getting there (in any discipline) has a good amount of transferability.

[chp5]

All shooting is different, but the goal is always the same. Why do we shoot? To hit the target. So since the end goal is always the same, chances are the means of getting there (in any discipline) has a good amount of transferability.

Agreed and I think .22 is good for working on new techniques. Once you can do it well with a .22, then do it with your centerfire pistol. If ammo/cost is not an issue, then skip the .22 practice - but that's not realistic for many people.

Stated another way, if you can't do it with a .22, then you can't do it with your competition pistol.