Other Training Tips
The basis for all marksmanship training is sight alignment and trigger control. Both must be mastered before realistic self-defense training can begin. One of the best drills for learning and sustaining these skills is dry-fire. Some shooters look at dry-fire as pointless. It’s not. The best shooters in the world do it regularly. It’s a very good way to develop hand/eye coordination and kinesthetics or proprioception—the unconscious perception of movement and spatial orientation arising from stimuli within the body itself.

Any time you dry-fire, remove all the ammunition from where you are practicing, double and triple check that your handgun is unloaded and be sure that you are working—pointing your handgun—on a safe direction. Using a snap cap is a good idea, regardless of whether your handgun maker recommends one.

Basic dry-fire is nothing more than pointing the unloaded handgun at a target and squeezing the trigger while you keep the sights aligned on the target. You want to execute the trigger pull without disturbing the sights. Handgun-mounted lasers can help tremendously and there are even training lasers designed just for this purpose. If you flinch or snatch the trigger it will show up as a wiggle or jerk of the red dot on the target.

You can also dry-fire all of the drills explained here. However, unlike revolvers that let you experience a real trigger pull over and over, you will have to cycle the slide or cock the hammer of some semi-automatics when dry-firing. This is not an issue for individual shots, but it is not compatible with multi-shot drills. Don’t worry; just go through the motions of the failure drill, the 45 and the modified El Prez. You may not experience a true trigger pull for each shot, but you will still be establishing a foundation that commits to memory the presentation and manipulation of the handgun, movement, and sight alignment.

Becoming proficient with a defensive handgun is no different than becoming a good golfer or typist; proper practice is the key. Iain Harrison told me that he believes a .22 Long Rifle pistol is a great training tool, and he often takes a brick of ammunition to the range. This makes perfect sense; .22 Long Rifle ammunition is very affordable when compared to center-fire defensive handgun ammunition. The handguns also have minimal recoil and muzzle blast, both of which are detrimental to establishing the basics of marksmanship.

I believe one of the best training tools you can acquire is a .22 Long Rifle conversion kit for a semi-automatic handgun or a .22 Long Rifle revolver that is an understudy to the revolver you carry for personal protection. This lets you train at a fraction of the cost, but with a handgun that emulates the one you carry. I’ve run thousands of rounds through a Kimber .22 Long Rifle conversion kit for an M1911 and routinely used it as a practice tool and as a trainer for new shooters. As you progress through your training you need to incorporate shooting with one hand—both left and right. Start this process with the rimfire handgun or conversion kit.

How often should you practice? I’ve said before that, financially, we are all somewhere between a single box of ammo and a bodyguard. Not only are our pocketbooks a constraint, but we also have to operate within time limitations. The correct answer with regard to how much you should practice is simple: as much as possible. Some need more practice than others to develop skills and sustain them. You’ll have to find a balance based on how proficient you want to become and what your pocket book and your watch will allow.