By Duane Daiker
From Concealed Carry Magazine, May/June 2008
Those of us who chose to lawfully carry a firearm have an obligation to practice gun handling and marksmanship on a regular basis. Skills deteriorate and muscle memory fades without regular practice. Unfortunately, in the last year or so, ammunition costs have been skyrocketing. Depending on what you purchase, ammo costs can be double what they were a year or two ago. While ammo costs may stabilize, costs are unlikely to go down to the price levels we saw a few years ago.
If you are like me, these dramatic price increases can impact your shooting habits by reducing the number of rounds you are launching downrange. However, just because you are putting fewer rounds through your carry gun doesn't mean you can't engage in effective practice sessions. This article will explore some of the ways to practice necessary skills without breaking your budget.
Dry Practice
A lot of what you need to practice can be done without even engaging in live fire. Nearly every aspect of shooting technique can be practiced without firing live ammo. The majority of firearms appropriate for concealed carry can be safely dry fired. When in doubt, check your firearm's manual or check with the manufacturer. Engaging in dry fire practice can be very useful to practice sight alignment, trigger press, and more. The main thing missing from dry fire practice is the recoil impulse; also the associated need to recover sight alignment for follow-up shots and the feedback of knowing where the bullet would have been delivered. Of course, dry fire practice is somewhat easier with guns with a true double-action mechanism that allows successive "shots," as opposed to pistols like a Glock that must be partially cycled to tension the striker, or a 1911 that must be recocked. If you intend to use your carry gun for dry fire practice, you MUST be exceptionally careful. Keep in mind that dry fire practice is an intentional violation of at least three of the Four Rules of Firearms Safety. (Rule #1: All Guns are always loaded. Rule #2: Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy. Rule #3: Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target. Rule #4: Always be sure of your target (and what is behind it).)
When engaging in dry fire practice, you must follow a routine. Always set aside a specific time and place for practice:
(1) Remove all live ammo from the practice area.
(2) Check, double-check, and triple-check to ensure the gun is unloaded. If possible, have another person verify the gun is clear.
(3) NEVER violate Rule 4--always point the gun in a safe direction, even when you are sure it is unloaded. This way, even a series of mental mistakes won't have tragic consequences. More than a few televisions have been mortally wounded by negligent shooters who thought they were snapping the hammer on an empty chamber.
(4) When you are finished, make a mental note that the practice session is over, reload and holster the gun, and leave the practice area.
If you don't want to use your carry gun for dry fire practice, there are other alternatives. Gun handling involves much more than just pulling the trigger. Skills like a proper drawstroke, acquiring a firing grip, flashlight techniques, and handgun retention can all be practiced without necessarily needing to work the trigger, and can be practiced with complete safety using a non-firing training dummy. Ring's Manufacturing makes the most impressive line of firearms simulators on the market. These simulators are referred to as "Blue Guns" because they are crafted from steel reinforced polyurethane in "law enforcement blue" -- a color widely recognized as a safety color. The detail on the Blue Guns is amazing--right down to the texture on the grips and the engraved lettering on the slide. As a result, the Blue Guns feel like the real thing and fit holsters just like their real counterparts. Flashlights and lasers can even be attached to the Blue Gun's equipment rail. Ring's gun list is quite large and chances are good that you can get a Blue Gun to replicate your current carry gun. To check for availability, or to order a Blue Gun, contact Ring's Manufacturing via the web at www.blueguns.com, or call (321) 951-0407.
Using a firearms simulator like a Blue Gun has the distinct advantage of making dry practice entirely safe. Just be sure to put your firearms and live ammo away when the Blue Gun comes out for practice. Regardless of how you choose to implement your dry fire practice, be safe and use your head. With adequate precautions, dry fire practice can be a valuable addition to your practice regimen that is virtually cost free. Even if you purchase a Blue Gun, the investment is less than the cost of 50 rounds of premium ammo, and it should last forever.
Live Fire Alternatives
No matter how valuable dry practice may be, a certain amount of live fire is necessary both for the actual practice and for the reassurance that your practice is working and bullets are hitting where you want them to hit. Of course, practicing with the premium defensive loads you use in your carry gun can be very expensive. Most high quality defensive loads are about $20 for a 20 round box in a major caliber. An obvious alternative is to shoot a less expensive round for practice. While 9mm ammo is generally cheaper than just about any other serious pistol caliber, even the costs of 9mm ammo have been increasing significantly. In order to obtain significant cost savings, you have to step down to a rimfire cartridge like .22 Long Rifle. Although .22 LR ammo has increased in price too, it will always be far less expensive than centerfire pistol ammo.
Numerous varieties of .22 LR ammo are readily available, and even the most expensive brands will currently top out at about $5 per 50 round box, and some brands are significantly cheaper. If you are going to use .22 LR for practice, you have a few alternatives. Perhaps the easiest is to purchase a dedicated .22 caliber handgun for practice. Obviously the more the practice gun resembles your carry gun in form and function, the better. This can be easy if your carry gun is a revolver or a 1911 because many similar models are available in .22 caliber. However, even if your carry gun is significantly different from your practice gun, the basics of combat marksmanship--sight alignment and trigger press--are the same for any gun. The other gun handling skills can be practiced dry with your carry gun, as discussed above. Pictured with this article is my Smith & Wesson Model 22A, a very accurate and dependable .22 LR target pistol. The S&W 22A is available in a variety of configurations, and can be had at street prices as low as $250 new. For more information on the Model 22A, visit www.smith-wesson.com or call (800) 331-0852, or simply contact your local firearms dealer.
If your carry gun is a 1911, or a Glock, or one of a few other popular semi-autos, you may be able to purchase a .22 caliber conversion kit. A conversion kit replaces the top end of your semi auto (slide, barrel, and guide rod) and the magazine, thereby converting your carry gun into a .22 caliber practice gun. The beauty of this, of course, is that the trigger pull is identical to your carry gun, and you can utilize your actual carry holster, mag pouches, and other gear.
In preparation for this article, I spent some time with Kimber's .22 caliber Rimfire Target Conversion Kit for the 1911. The Kimber kit replaces the top end on any mil-spec 1911 and comes equipped with excellent adjustable target sights. Ammo is fed from ten round magazines that resemble skeletonized 1911 mags. My sample kit fit perfectly on a Kimber 1911 frame, but wouldn't fit a Taurus PT-1911 frame. The kit was somewhat ammo sensitive, as Kimber had warned, but I found several varieties of high velocity .22 LR ammo that the gun would eat flawlessly, including Winchester Thunderbolt .22 LR. This kit was amazingly accurate, and makes for great fun plinking when you are done with the serious practice session. The Rimfire Target Conversion Kit costs $314 plus shipping direct from Kimber. One nice thing about conversion kits is that they do not qualify as "firearms" under federal law, so the kits can be shipped direct to you via regular mail with no transfer fees or the like. The Kimber kits are available in silver or black, and Kimber recommends that you buy a conversion kit the opposite color of the slide on your carry gun, so you never mistake the two; Good advice if ask me. For more info on the Kimber Rimfire Target Conversion Kit, or to purchase one, visit www.kimberamerica.com, or call (800) 880-2418.
One word of caution: Practice all you want with your .22, but don't forget to put in some trigger time with your actual carry ammo to maintain familiarity with how it feels and how to shoots. In fact, I would suggest that you end every practice session with at least one magazine full of your actual carry ammo. Shoot a magazine of your oldest carry ammo, and refill the magazine with fresh carry ammo before hitting the street. This serves multiple purposes of testing your actual carry ammo and magazine, staying familiar with the performance of your carry ammo, and keeping your carry ammo fresh.
Lower Cost Practice Ammunition
To the extent you want to use your actual carry gun for practice, you may wish to use some lower cost ammunition. Rather than shoot 100 rounds of premium defensive ammo, it makes sense to shoot 100 rounds of lower cost ammo and just a few premium loads. This assumes, of course, that you have already shot enough premium defensive loads through your carry gun to ensure it functions properly with that load. If nothing else, you can certainly practice with lower cost full metal jacket loads that will have similar ballistics to your jacketed hollow point carry loads. Often lower cost "target" ammo costs the same for 50 rounds as premium defensive ammo costs for 20 rounds. A common source for value ammo all across the country is Winchester's generic looking "white box" target ammo sold at Wal-Mart and other retailers around the country. You should also watch for ammo sales at on-line sources. If you buy 500 or 1,000 rounds on sale, the savings can be significant, even after taking shipping into account. For increased savings, you can also purchase commercially remanufactured or reloaded ammo in bulk. Many companies offer remanufactured ammunition by mail, or you can save the shipping and buy at a local gun show or a local reloading facility. Be very careful using reloaded ammunition! Only buy from established and reputable sources. Never buy from some guy loading ammo out of his garage. Reloaded ammunition can be dangerous if not loaded properly. A double charge of powder in a round could ruin your firearm, ruin your day, and maybe ruin a part of your body. An under-charged round, or "squib load" as they are called, can cause a bullet to stop in the barrel of the gun. This creates a serious problem if the next round is fired without first clearing the barrel of the obstruction. Also note that the use of reloaded ammunition can void you firearm's warranty. Certainly any problem caused by improperly loaded ammunition will not be covered by the factory warranty.
One other alternative is to reload your own practice ammunition. Reloading and the economics of reloading are far beyond the scope of this article. However, you can achieve significant savings by loading your own ammunition since you are investing your own time rather than paying for someone else's time. However, there is an initial cost to obtain the equipment and a steep learning curve. If you want to start reloading, seek the assistance of an experienced and competent reloader for training, follow all the safety rules, and only load to established specifications. Reloading can be very rewarding, not just because of the cost savings, but because of the ability to really tweak your loads to your gun and your particular shooting needs. However, developing reloading competence is not something that you can take lightly, and does not happen overnight.
Whatever You Do, Practice!
As you can see, there are many alternatives to cost-effective practice, even as ammunition prices continue to rise. Don't let the high cost of ammo make you complacent with your training. A lot of meaningful practice can be undertaken without any monetary costs. And, with well thought out purchases, live-fire practice can be made to fit just about any budget. However, always follow the Four Rules of Firearms Safety, and maintain familiarity with your actual carry load. Your practice sessions have to be a significant investment of your time, but they don't have to be a significant investment of your money!
*****
Duane A. Daiker is a Contributing Editor for CCM, but is otherwise a regular guy--not much different from you. Duane has been a life-long shooter and goes about his life as an armed, responsible, and somewhat opinionated citizen. Duane can be reached at Daiker@RealWorldCarryGear.com. Additional RWCG columns can be viewed at www.RealWorldCarryGear.com.
Four Rules of Firearms Safety
Developed by Colonel Jeff Cooper
RULE I: ALL GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED.
RULE II: NEVER LET THE MUZZLE COVER ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO DESTROY .
RULE III: KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON THE TARGET.
RULE IV: BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET (AND WHAT IS BEHIND IT).
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