Cheap IPSC training

P

Pocketsx

Member
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
Just wanted to get some opinions on practicing with a .22 or even an airsoft gun. Since there is really no recoil, is it worth the investment? I would think you should be able to work on accuracy and trigger control with one, or am I wrong?

Also does anyone use a laser for dry fire training? To help see what your doing during while your pulling the trigger?

Thanks
 
You should bed able diagnose what your doing with your hands by shooting a circle and observing where your holes land. Start close and work your way back as you hone in on the issues. There are templates out there that help with that too.

Practising with a 22 or Air gun is going to give you bad recoil management in my opinion. Work with something large, learn to tame it, then move down a caliber....like 45ACP to 9mm or similar.
 
I have used .22's for training.

When I shot Classic I used a GSG1911 and for Revolver divisions I have a S&W Model17.

I like them to work on pure accuracy, trigger control and transitions. I have found then to be an excellent training tool -especially in the offseason- but I always practice with full power ammo and my actual match guns prior to a competition.

John
 
Pocketsx said:
...
Also does anyone use a laser for dry fire training? To help see what your doing during while your pulling the trigger?
Click to expand...

To see what you are doing while pulling trigger all your need to see is a clear and properly aligned sight picture on your gun in the center of the target at each trigger pull. It does take some concentration and some attention.

It's better to practice that with the same gun you'll be shooting. Then you can confirm your dryfire practice with real rounds.

Though I would not recommend to practice anything without getting a proper instruction first or else you can easily learn bunch of bad habits that hard to unlearn...
 
Nothing wrong with using a .22 for cheap practice. You can run almost any drill with a .22 and as long as your timer registers the shot you are good. Obviously reloads will be an issue since most .22 magazines and mag wells are quite a bit different and it may not work in your holster (start with it in your hands and run your drills, I do this even with my regular guns just to change things up during practice). Focus on your sight picture and trigger control, its not a bad idea to run something different from your main platform as it helps keep you from forming habits around sight picture and trigger control and makes you pay attention
You WILL form bad habits around recoil control unless you maintain some practice with your conpetition gun. What I would recommend is take both guns to the range and set up your practice drill. Run it a few times with the .22 then run it the same way for a few runs with your match gun. This will allow you to save some money and avoid some of the pitfalls of just running the .22
 
IIRC Shadow has a .22LR conversion kit. Not the same recoil and probably wouldn't do mag change drills with it, but it's a cheap way to train while going BANG and using the gun you would use in competition.
 
You could use airsoft handgun but it won't be cheaper then .22 LR. My airsoft Glock 17 costed around $400 with 3 mags. I use it to practice mags change and fast shooting at my backyard. The difference between airsoft Glock and real one is that airsoft mags are much better built since they are metal and not polymer :)
 
I have .22LR and 9mm slides for my Sig. The .22LR is good for practicing mag changes, unholster/shoot, trigger pull is the same of course, holster and mag pouches are the same. Generally helps build up muscle memory. I use the crappy bulk .22s so I tend to get some tap/rack/bang practice in too on FTF. When using the .22 I always finish the session with some 9mm.

Ultimately whatever helps you get more practice time in is good for you.
 
I think it's a good idea. I recently picked up a 1911 bb pistol to use for practicing transitions and draw stroke when shooting somewhere other than the range. The function is exactly the same. It's all metal and is co2 blowback so there is some recoil. And the magazine is the same size. It's not as good as getting out and shooting my actual .45. But it's better than not practicing at all, in my books.
 
If you can get your hands on a Kadet conversion it will serve you well as the mags will work in your holders and your holster might require some adjustment but the big benefit is that with some pointers to get started off right and putting a bunch of 22 ammo thru it will also help smooth out your trigger pull a bit more.
And they are also very accurate.
 
Dryfire, Airsoft, BB guns, 22's are all excellent IPSC training. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. The only thing you may not be able to practice with them is recoil control and reloads but you can do everything else. It usually is much cheaper and you can do it at home. A huge part of IPSC is movements and transitions which will improve your time a lot more than improving your splits (recoil control). You still need to do some practice with your competition firearm but you will be way ahead of the game if you use one of the other methods as well.
 
Pocketsx said:
Would it matter that the action and trigger pull will differ from my ipsc gun?
Click to expand...

Generally speaking no it doesn't matter - but is dependant on what you are practicing and what .22 you are using.

My GSG is set up with the same magwell and oversized mag release as the STI Trogans I run in Classic (and ESP for IDPA) so I can do a lot with it.

My S&W M17 on the other hand is more limited as even with speedloaders there is no way to effectively practice reloads so my options there are limited.

All in all ....... trigger time is all good no matter what thegun is - just so long as you spend lots of time on your Shadow prior to an actual match.

John
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom