Having previously written about dry fire, it was a gem to come across this blog entry about “live but reduced fire” practice. That is, practicing with a reduced load, such as a .22 or Airsoft. (h/t to Tam)

We’re all living in a time where it’s hard to find ammo, and when we find it we tend to want to save it because 1. it cost us a lot to get the ammo, 2. we don’t know when we’ll find more and if we do if we’ll be able to afford it!  So shooting a .22 is very appealing right now. Heck, it plays a small part in my decision to do Steel Challenge style shooting as my first formal competition.

What got me about Michael Bane’s blog post tho was the undertone that what helps your skills isn’t going to the range and throwing a lot of lead downrange. What helps your skills is all the work you do off the range, such as dry fire. Dry fire is going to take you furthest in building your shooting skills. What dry fire lacks is the boom and the recoil. This is where Michael’s suggestion of “subcaliber practice” becomes useful, because even shooting a .22 you get some noise and recoil, which can help you build a stronger foundation and reduce the effects of greater noise and recoil for “standard caliber practice.”

A very interesting read, no doubt.

Makes me want to go buy a few (hundred) more bricks of .22. 🙂