If you’re like many shooters, you probably didn’t practice as much during the holidays as usual. While there is nothing wrong with taking a break, it’s important to remember that shooting is a very perishable skill and taking a few weeks or a month off will have a real impact on your skill.
Coming back to the range after such a break can be humbling for some. What you used to accomplish in two seconds is now taking three. Where you used to get all your hits now you’re missing a few.
Nobody gets good at shooting without at least a little ego involvement. Being worse than you were a month ago can be frustrating.
Avoid the temptation to force it. Rather than trying to dive in head first and regain all your glorious skill through sheer determination and sweat, take an intelligent approach. Start slow. Shoot some groups at 25yd. Get back into the habit of focusing on your sight and pressing the trigger in a smooth and consistent manner. Remember, if you cannot do it slowly then you cannot do it fast. Accuracy is the foundation of everything else.
You also want to avoid that most common of shooter faults, practicing only what you’re good at. This is especially tempting when coming back from a break. Again, it’s that whole ego thing. But experienced shooters can develop bad habits just as easily as new shooters. If you’ve lost some of your edge on accuracy or speed or technique, the only way to get it back is to slow down and work on it.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
Yes, I didn’t practice over the holidays. Nothing I could do about that, the gun range was closed Dec 24th to Jan 3rd.
I actually shot more over the holidays because I was home and not traveling. But I’m going to book mark this post because I’m sure I’ll need it over the next couple months when work and family allow me to get back to the range.
Thanks Todd, nice one, looking forward to go this week or next, I will go for the 25 yards first, for me 22.86 meters.
And in your opinion, what were the best new things (guns, ammo…) you saw and liked at the Shot Show?,…for us the foreigners, who didnt make it there. Thanks again. Feliz 2009
Too cold to go shooting here in Fargo, ND … high of -2F today (but not much wind). It’s been like this since Thanksgiving. Brr.
Nothing like the sting of a .40 when your hands are frozen.
No breaks here – I did several practice sessions and a few matches in the last 3 weeks. But, good tips Todd. I would add dry fire in the mix as a way to keep the momentum during times when we can’t live fire practice, as much. I can go a month without shooting the gun, but I can’t go long without handling the gun or the perishable aspect increases significantly for me.
Bryan — Good advice as always. If there is one place where I personally need to devote more effort, it’s dry fire. If only one of the USPSA GMs who frequent this site would volunteer to write up a good dry fire guide … hmmm …
I’ve been on break since…forever. No more — I’m tired of being such a horribly inconsistent shooter. It got hammered home by a particularly piss-poor performance at the USPSA match last weekend.
I’ve been making the effort to dry fire for a short session each day (that dry fire guide would be nice!). I just got a timer to help make the most of my range time. And I recently joined a local range so hopefully I can get live fire time more frequently too (especially once we get some more daylight in the evenings). I’m even keeping a lot to chart my progress. We’ll see how it pays off…
I’ve been on a break for a few weeks as well. Ironically I work at a gun range. We were so unbelievably busy I didn’t have time to shoot. Ridiculous when you think about it. 🙂 Tomorrow will be no better, but I’ll get on it Monday before work! Man it sucks to watch people shoot all day and not get to have any fun yourself. While it helps a bit to teach fundamentals throughout the day, actually doing it is far more important.
All:
Really enjoyed the site and drills over the holidays like dot torture. Quick question: why not reverse the order on the aim fast, hit fast eval? It would be: 4 center, slide lock load, 2 to the index card – seems a more “practical” order…keep it up!
Regards,
CBE, RM
CBE — Good question and one we hear quite often. Take a look at the F.A.S.T. FAQ, specifically question #5, for a detailed answer.
Shamefull score of 279 on that target in the background of the picture. lol. At least it was put to use to simulate a barricade. I am still lurking around here and love the site and info on it. Keep up the good work Todd.