I love going to the range and putting really small groups on paper. Shooting bullseyes makes me believe that I’m a pretty decent shot, which we all want to be.

Bullseye shooting is a good way to practice. In fact, busting the 10-ring provides trigger time for the fundamentals of handgun shooting and can make you a better shooter. It also helps you learn the accuracy and makes you keenly aware of the ins and outs of your carry gun.

However, putting minute-of-angle groups on paper does little to improve self-defense shooting. In fact, during a self-defense scenario, the gun is going to be holstered under a carry garment.  Self-defense situations happen fast, so you have to be able to react equally as fast, and this will only come by putting rounds downrange. This is why you should always practice drawing and firing from retention, in addition to any accuracy shooting.

One of the easiest ways to get the best of both worlds is to practice anyway you want for 40 rounds—accuracy, plinking, exc.—leaving the last 10 for “draw shooting.” If you run 100 rounds, save 20 for self-defense practice, and so on. Of course, this doesn’t mean you can't use the entire box on self-defense training, I’m just recommending that every time you go shooting, you use at least 10 rounds for drawing from retention training.

My standard 10-round self-defense routine is four singles from retention followed by three double taps. What’s your standard routine?