Livefire after training with an Airsoft

[Flyin40]

Made it the range for some live fire. I shot my Marvel 22 and my Open 40. After shooting airsoft for several weeks I found that the airsoft helped out alot. Of course the recoil is different but the it didn't take 3 or 4 shots and it was fine.

Its really a good training tool.

Flyin

[ATMester]

Helped out a lot? Would you mind telling helped with what?

I am wondering if airsoft is a good investment - practice tool - or I should just stick to dry-fire...

Never tried an airsoft...but I believe that I can practice everything BUT one thing by dry-firing. Recoil control...and airsoft won't help me with that either.

Edited July 24, 2009 by Duane Thomas

[Flyin40]

You can't practice recoil control like you said. Something I never knew was that an airsoft gun is pretty accurate for my purposes. I put a no shoot on a 1/3 scale target so it just left a head shot. After shooting some I realized the gun hit pretty much exactly where I was aiming at the time I pulled the trigger. This was at about 15 ft(thats about all the space I have). Something in dryfire you can work on is transitions but you don't get to see where anything hits because its dryfire. Though the recoil isn't the same you can see exactly where you sights were and see "if" you really called the shot. This is lacking in dryfire and adds some fun to practicing at home.

Also I have never practiced the draw to really get a accurate fast first shot down. This cost me about .30-.50 per draw. You can learn this during dryfire but you still have to put some rounds downrange to confirm this. I live 50 mins from the range and have limited time. I worked on other things that I felt was more important in the overall scheme of things. Now with an airsoft I have spent some time refining my index and working on the draw. At a local match last weekend I had a turn and draw of 1.54 on a small popper which was extremely slow. At the range today I just worked on hands at side draws and was hitting .73-.78 draws consistently and this was after airsoft practice. I would guess my normal match draw was 1.25. Airsoft gave me the chance to actually shoot and really work on the draw and see where I was hitting.

Also for transitions during dryfire you can really work on snapping the gun over to the next target. I worked on this last yr alot and it served me well. With airsoft you can still do that but you can see where you actually

hit. If you have the time and funds spend it with dryfire/livefire, if not airsoft is a very good alternative.

Limited time and and a decision not to put money towards shooting this yr lead me to airsoft. Another decision I made after finding out airsoft was a viable alternative was to really work on focus type Brian describes in his book. I never have had the time to really work an understand the types of focus he talks about. The focus he talks about is extremely important to being an accurate shooter. Airsoft allows me to work on this as much I want too. Right now I'm really working on Type 2 focus where I focus on the target spot, bringing into a crisp sharp focus, allowing the gun enough time to get where I'm looking at.

The airsoft just allows you to see if your really being honest. In dryfire its easy to cheat, no visual patience or follow through because your trying to get to the next target(speed focus vs just seeing). Airsoft will tell exactly where you were aiming when you pulled the trigger.

Airsoft might not be for some but its perfect for the skills I need to develop

Flyin

Edited July 24, 2009 by Duane Thomas

[ATMester]

Good info. Thank you for explaining it.