I shoot a lot – probably too much at times. This shooting includes various disciplines, from smallbore rifle shooting to service pistol and carbine training to hunting – mostly unicorns and kittens.
My first exposure to high volume training was under the guidance of a USMC SNCO who had just come from SOTG. For those who were lost at USMC, this means that my platoon leader was an experienced sergeant – not a commissioned officer – who had recently been an instructor at the Marine Corps’ Special Operations Training Group, which is both cooler and not nearly as cool as it sounds. We shot a lot, to the point that I would run and hide whenever the subject of “going to the range” was brought up. I don’t know exactly how much we shot, but I think the first day was over 1000 rounds through the M4, and some pistol as well.
Since that time, I have had many, many days (and nights) during which I have fired more than 1000 rounds. I have noticed that on days when I shoot more than 500 rounds – give or take – my performance starts to decline, both in terms of speed and accuracy, and I see little point to continuing to dump rounds into the dirt if I’m not accomplishing anything. Other days, it’s 20-60 shots of slow fire rifle, and I’m done (for the last year or so, the bulk of my range trips have been work related – once that work is done, I have little appetite to stick around and “play”).
There can be real value in high volume carbine/pistol/shotgun shooting over a short period of time, but too often it is done with the objective of a certain round count in mind, not the attainment of any particular goal or mastery of any particular skill. This goes for both shooting as an individual and shooting in organized classes.
I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that the few times when I have taken very big steps forward as a shooter, none have resulted from hurriedly loading magazines, running to the line, shooting a lot, then running back to load mags again. They’ve all come as a result of good instruction/observation/feedback, either watching myself on high speed video, or with a good instructor, with a certain – limited – amount of shooting after the “epiphany” to drive the point home.
On a slightly related note, the concept of the “DumpEx” – when military personnel go cyclic to get rid of excess ammunition after training – is incredibly stupid. They then deploy with (and, as a result, entrust their lives to) those same weapons that they abused. It would be the equivalent of a race car driver lapping the track after a race at redline in first gear, just so he wouldn’t have to account for any extra gasoline after the race.
I guess what I’m getting at is that you should think long and hard about how your skills have progressed on high round count days in the past before you decide to shoot 1000-1500 rounds of 5.56 or 9mm in a day. Is this the best way to spend your money and time? Is the accelerated wear on your weapon(s) from maintaining high component temperatures worth it?
In many situations, I would say that the answer is no.
As with a previous article on training, I sent this to Mike Pannone for his thoughts. Here is what he had to say:
I love to shoot and it is a rare day I dont feel like going to the range so for me the overtraining obsession was a problem. Ive seen that for years and still do, sometimes by well-known units, departments and civilian trainers and it comes from a lack of understanding of performance management and sports psychology. I over trained on the range in the Corps and the Army at times until I took the time to properly educated myself via inquiry. While in JSOC I was fortunate to train under and shoot with some of the best soldiers I have known and the biggest names in action shooting. When given the opportunity I asked each of them how much do you shoot each session and the two most influential sport shooters on me, Rob Leatham and Mike Voigt, said about the same thing. To paraphrase it was until my performance peaks. When I pressed further with an extremely competent unit member who was also a very accomplished IPSC and 3-gunner, he said it was all about setting training objectives prior and then it sunk in. In the military we did that in everything else but shooting at an individual level I didnt.
For instance, when I go to the range on a bulls-eye pistol day I will decide on a course of fire or training regimen, allocate a certain number of rounds and a desired training objective and stick to it. I will record my times and scores most of the time to track performance. If I am shooting the 25 yard B8 target for slow fire score I will allocate 50 rounds to the session. My goal is a perfect score of 100 and if I shoot that in 10 rounds then I clear my gun, bag it and go home. Conversely if I dont shoot it in all 50 rounds and 5 strings, I again clear it, bag it and go home. Ive found that my scores have gone up, my ammunition consumption has gone down tremendously, I feel more confident in my on demand skills and I have a lot more time in my day to do other things. If I am doing training on paper, I tape targets religiously which does two things: shows me where my shots went (obvious) and slows down my training pace (more subtle benefit). On days I shoot steel I will only load a certain number of magazines beforehand to keep me from shooting too much too fast and getting sloppy and worst of all reinforcing sloppy. I will also repaint often for the same reasons I tape paper targets.
Consistently go to the range with a plan, shoot to the training objective or plan and then call it a day. Once you make that a habit youll get better and spend less time and money.
A much-needed post.
I know what you’re talking about. It doesn’t apply as much to civilians, who are generally wearing comfortable clothes, but fatigue sets in pretty fast at the Army ranges where people are going around in IOTVs and ACHs; I typically try to shoot as little as possible for qual-get zeroed in 9 rounds or less, and no more than one or two trips up to the qual range. At home I keep my shooting short because ammo is expensive and I typically take an M1 to the range. Its usually about 100 rounds a month, albeit usually all at once; the M1 in my experience is pretty forgiving to only occasional shooting and my level of accuracy is fine.
I can’t afford to not premeditate training and use less than 1000 rounds. I have found that an amazing amount of development can be achieved with very few rounds, however.
Having never been in the military, I am always a little bit envious of the soldiers I her about getting to shoot thousands of rounds on Uncle Sam’s dime…but of course that is a big part of the military’s job. I am glad they get plenty of practice so that when the time comes and the bullets are flying in their direction they are hopefully a little more accurate than the bad guy.
I normally will shoot 100-200 rounds in a sitting. I always try to learn something from it, but I also try to enjoy myself as well. I have the luxury of living in a sitting where I can step out my back door and fire a gun whenever I feel like it.
I have found intentional dry-fire practice at home significantly more valuable than burning through ammo in a range setting.
Lol@ “unicorns and kittens.”
Great points, and great article.
I don’t consider myself a very good marksman. Having said that, I have seen a lot worse. My biggest improvement has come from getting help from a professional firearm’s instructor. A good one is worth the money. He’s has even helped me correct problems I was having just from explaining to him what the difficulty was without ever firing a shot. Another bit of advise he gave was on dry firing, “you should do at least a couple hundred rounds of dry fire for every 50 rounds of live fire”.
A follow up on Mike Pannone’s comment above on loading a certain number on magazines when shooting steel. Buy more magazines it will say you money. I try to load up my magazines before I head to the range. For example for my G17 I have 10 mags that I load with a total of 150 rounds. This does a couple of things, it saves time at the range (especially important if you are paying by the hour) and limits me to a certain number of rounds. Also, I try to have a course of fire set out, ie slow fire, rapid fire, distances, etc.
Cost of ammo and fatigue is more of a factor with centerfire ammo than rimfire. I often take a 22lr along with me to get in some addtional cheap shooting time.
When I can get away from the Family, I go to an air conditioned indoor range and play with my toys. I use the experience as a stress reliever and an opportunity to goof off. My time limit is determined by how much ammo I bring for each gun. When I’m out I’m done.
So that ends up at about 90 minutes. I’m a recreational plinker and not doing drills.
When I get my 12 year old daughter out at the range shooting her .22, she will last about an hour until she gets bored or hungry. I can tell when she’s getting discouraged when she wants to shoot my scoped rifle instead of her iron sights.
Then it’s off to lunch and ice cream.
I was wondering if you had any suggestions about who to go to for some decent AR and handgun training. I admit I started off not too long ago with shooting and it started with Magpul; which is of course code for Costa and Haley.
Through reading your blog I have gathered that you have some distaste for these guys; the guys who happened to be on my short list for classes to take. I was wondering if you can give me any insight as to why I should look elsewhere and opinions on a more appropriate place to gain instruction.
I realize I’m asking you to answer a potentially loaded question in the delicate ecosphere of the internet firearms community; but that’s why I didn’t post this on facebook, so I apologize for it being off topic to your article.
Thank you.
Well…there’s Mike Pannone 😉 I, uh, kinda think highly of him.
John Farnam is a solid guy too, I spent a while discussing training with him, he has been doing it for longer than I’ve been alive, and he’s doing it right…I think there is a lot to be learned from Larry Vickers as well..
Thanks for your time.
@Drew “I have found intentional dry-fire practice at home significantly more valuable than burning through ammo in a range setting.”
Same here, I go through about 50 to at most 100 rounds(if I bring along some oddities, my Webley or baby browning for example) at the indoor range. I do however spend much more time at home drawing from concealment and dry firing. Since I can’t draw and fire from a holster at any range near me, any more time spent on a “square” range is just wasting money. If I can’t make effective hits with 50 rounds I’m not going to do any better by 200.
As to the ridiculous round count of some training groups, I go to learn drills and then practice them myself at home(dry fire) and on the family range(live fire). Teach me the drills, teach me the reasons behind them and teach me how to improve my use of them. Tiring myself out to the point of reduction in accuracy is pointless. I’m not going into combat, I’m not taking on a squad of insurgents, I’m at WORST defending myself from 2-3 miscreants. If there are any more than that, I need to reassess my tactics(grab the AR and find a good high ground with lots of cover). I actually look for courses now with lower round counts and longer class room times.
Andrew,
Do you mind if I repost this to a site I just started running for some local guys I shoot with? (With proper attribution, of course.) This article was partially the inspiration for it.
I love the site and it you have always run excellent, quality content. I always looks forward to seeing updates. Thank you.
I’m usually limited to hour long sessions at indoor ranges. The outdoor range doesn’t limit my time, but they get all uptight about “rapid fire.” I couldn’t afford to burn through a 1000 rounds of centerfire ammo in a day even if I had the time to do it.