Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Training Classes Do Not Make For A Better Shooter

According to Tim Herron of Team Sig Sauer there is a lot of misinformation from Armchair Experts. He breaks down five things he advises to be a better shooter.



Dryfire. It’s real. And it works. It also costs NOTHING but an investment of your time and the benefits are endless.
Training Classes do not make a better shooter. Practicing what you learn from those classes is what makes you a better shooter. Training classes merely gives you new ideas to practice on.
Gear is never the answer. You can improve with what you have.
Focus your practice on purposeful things. Things that really apply. Literal tons of repetitions both in dryfire and live fire and immense amount of PURPOSEFUL rounds down range.
Finally, stop with the delusions of self grandeur. Want to start truly improving? Quit BS’ing each other on the Internet and get your rear end to work. You don’t learn this stuff by osmosis. And you certainly don’t get better at any of this by repeating the baseless BS you read or heard some supposed “hardcore operator or competitor” say out of context to someone else 3rd person.
Tim has some good points and some of them seem obvious. However I do argue against the “gear is never the answer”. If gear is not the answer then why do people not compete with Hipoints? To a certain degree gear matters. There is a reason people don’t use Uncle Mike’s holsters for serious shooting. Also gear can help with some shortcomings one may have. For example, red dots on handguns is easier and quicker for people with poor eyesight.

All true.

I would take that to mean gear is not a substitute for the other things. A beginner is going to play a Martin as badly as they'd play a cheap guitar.

Not an argument in favor of cheap stuff, it rarely doesn't pay to get the best one can afford whether shooting gear, guitars or golf clubs, just don't expect some magical increase in skill from it. Rather, expect it to keep pace with you as your skill grows into it.

It's like golf, some sticks are better than others but no club is going to turn a hack into scratch player. And in fact, the ones who be benefit most are the great players who want the ability to carve a shot a little better.

Unless you're one of the idiots who doesn't know that dropping the mag doesn't unload the chamber.

yes and no. Were it not for training classes, the uninitiated would have nothing to practice. Everything starts somewhere. I can't think of an instance, where training classes made for a less qualified shooter.

If everything Tim Herron said was 'true', then we would have little reason to buy SIG pistols in the first place. Grand Dad's Tripple Lock Smith would suffice.

First three shots a 44 year old woman ever shot in her life: (Remington M700 LongRange 30-06, 178 AMAX @ 100 yards.)

I was expecting to see a five to ten inch group but was quite surprised when we got to the target. So maybe NO practice ever is the answer?

I was enlightened and embarrassed the other day when I drew my P226 40 cal and fired one round quickly in double action mode at 25 yards, I pulled the shot to 8 o'clock and damn near missed the box.

Admit it, you just didn't like the part that said "quit BSing each other on the internet."

Lasers, too and I prefer Holosights. I've seen Holosights take a first time lady shooter with a nice Smith 6" barreled 22 revolver, who could barely hit the paper with irons start shooting groups with a Holosighted Ruger Mark II .22 nearly immediately. Of course, had I given her back her iron sighted Smith she would have done no, or little better with it, most likely. But, with enough practice with the Holosighted gun her muscle memory and improvinging trigger control would be as useful with the Smith as with a Holosighted Ruger. And she's not the only one I've found this with.

Aiming is thought by novices to be the critical and most important aspect of shooting. We all know, it is one important aspect but hold, grip tension, posture, trigger control, follow through and consistency is also critical and every one as important in getting the shot where you want it. When they understand that where the red dot is, is where the shot will go, all of the above aspects seem to sort themselves out when what they once considered all important, aiming, is conquered. Of course, there is a need for critique on things such as trigger control, grip tension, etc, but when they can start hitting paper and grouping they become less frustrated and understand they can do this too.

Flame on.

There might be better tools available today that do more things for the average person, but Bill Hickok or the like would still win the majority of fights (vast majority) with his 1851 Navy revolvers.

You should use the best you can afford, but nothing replaces skill and practice.

All true,but if a new shooter never gets to a class,they tend to fumble around lot because they never learn the basics.

When I was conducting NRA Basic Pistol courses, I had a lot of guys come in that professed they knew how to shoot, but only wanted the class so they could get their CCW permit. Many benefited from the class, but their were quite a few that had closed minds and never progressed. It was the new shooters that made the best graduates.

It is BS articles like this that make people think they don't need any instructions

If I have to go to school/class, or ask someone a question, it means I don't know chit about the subject at hand, I never had a problem keeping my mouth shut and ears open.

Once again, I'll go to golf for an example. There is a saying that you should never get lessons unless you intend to practice a lot. If you get lessons and don't practice, all you've gained is a bunch of new swing thoughts to mess you up. You have to take those lessons and practice them so that they become ingrained and you have muscle memory. Then, the lessons may do you some good if you had a good teacher.

Same with those classes and the same with what he is saying. Take the class and then practice what you are taught at the class.

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE.


Now to practice what I preach.....

Hickock according to legend, shot every day and kept his loads fresh. He also had the proper mindset for gunfighting. A lot of don't, will "think" first.

Good on you for walking her through the proper way to shoot!

Her two biggest assets in making that group are, in order, no bad habits or attitudes to break, and you for teaching her correctly. I'm also guessing you properly made a fuss over her.

Congratulations to the young lady for the group.

Ed

Reminds me of a story about an army captain who was an expert on some field. He was teaching a class on the subject to a group of senior officers, colonels and generals. He stood up in front of the class and looked the brass on the uniforms of his audience and said "Gentlemen, there are at least 20 men in this army who know more about this subject than I do. However, I see none of them here today so lets get down to business."

BWAHAHA, da truth hurts sometime!

Amen! If you're not learning, you're dying.

Ed