Practice and Training

While I will admit I have not performed any research on this, I think it is fairly safe to assume that all top athletes practice their skills and do it often. Watching some of the interviews of the olympians in the 2012 olympics, the one thing that that did seem to come through, they practice hard and they practice often. Some of them seemed to utilize all of the spare time perfecting their skills. As shooters, we too need to train and practice but the question arises, how often?

There is no hard and fast answer to this because of all the variables involved. Most shooters are adults, we have jobs, we have families, we have responsibilities, all of which occupy our time. Some of us are fortunate in that there is a range within a short drive of home making it more practical to visit frequently, whereas some shooters spend an hour or more driving to the range.

The costs of practice and training can also add up very quickly. Ammo isn't cheap! Practicing sustained fire eats up a lot of ammo pretty fast, even if you reload your own ammo, it is still expensive. Even 22 ammo can be perceived as expensive when you are shooting hundreds of rounds at a time. Then there is the cost of gas, if you drive to the range you can spend a lot on transportation if the range isn't within a few miles. Finally, range fees can add up very quickly. In north eastern IL, range fees are about $20.00 for indoor ranges.

In talking with other shooters at recent matches the one thing I did notice is that a lot of shooters are saying they do not practice as much as they would like to. One fellow had not shot since the league ended about 6 months ago and just started practicing again, a few weeks before the league starts up. Another shooter doesn't practice at all, he just shows up at the matches and shoots.

I practice as often as I can. My main days for practice are Saturday and Sunday morning and I seldom miss those days. I practice for about 2 hours and usually go through about 200 rounds of ammo (22 & 45). There are several of us shooters that also meet at the club on Tuesday nights and I shoot for about an hour or two then, again, going through about 200 rounds of ammo.