Best Alternative for Practice?

Snap Caps and dry fire.

Principles are principle.

As long as what you choose addresses your goals, it'll work.

Dry-firing with protective snap caps as noted above for trigger discipline and then .22 or quality AirSoft/pellet (that will deliver correct accuracy) for basic marksmanship.

There are a great many Airsofts that are all but identical to their *real gun* counterparts.

I personally haven't owned a BB gun or - high enough quality BBs - to justify much in the way of marksmanship though others her may well have.

Todd.

Dry Fire isnt just practicing the basics. It covers the gambit.

I've been dry firing with Azoom snap caps for the centerfire guns and #4 plastic wall anchors for the .22 LR guns. My double action capable guns sure are getting more dry fire time than my single action only guns.

I'll still launch some .22s or pellets or BBs though as that's pretty easy to do without going to a range.

Above is good info.

I would add a laser system if that works for you (best for hammer fired guns) or a nice air rifle/pistol.

My practice pistol is a &W M&P 22.

I bought a 22lr conversion for my glock & built a 22lr upper for my m4. No more casting mess, primer shortages, etc. Best bucks you can spend on a plinker. By far.

this sounds like a reason to pick up a Ruger Standard ... I got one a while back, and so far so good.

Hows all that "cheap" 22 working out for everybody?

Yeah, even 22s dry up.

AK103K said:

Hows all that "cheap" 22 working out for everybody?

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Fine for me. If one bought it for pennies a round it is still a cheap option. I can go a long time before I need more. Now, if one had to beg to buy it now that is a different story.

I picked up eight 100 round boxes of CCI Mini Mags at Cabelas yesterday. Each box was $8.49. Kind of pricey.

Laser targets are nice for my 1911's

I have always done a lot of rimfire shooting. So that or an air gun would be my preference. If you're practicing mag changes, you can always do that with unloaded mags, or loaded with only one or two rounds. I'd rather watch grass grow than spend a whole lot of time in dryfire practice.

AK103K said:

Hows all that "cheap" 22 working out for everybody?

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Pretty good. I certainly don't have 56,000rds of anything else.

BBs are cheap. Air soft BBs even cheaper. CO2 cartridge can be a pain to find. Pump or PCP are the ways to go.

CraigC said:

Pretty good. I certainly don't have 56,000rds of anything else.

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Thats great if you have it. All these boys looking to shoot "cheap 22's" who think they are going to find some, are going to be in for a BIG shock.


I bought a couple of cases of CCI Blazer's just before all this silliness started. $174 a case at Target Sports. Finally finished up the last of the cases of the $95 Winchester Super X Id bought back in the late 90's.

They sent me an email three months or so back saying they had it back in stock for $440 a case. I wasn't going to buy any, but I went there to see what else they might have, which was nothing. There were already sold out of the Blazers at $440 a case too. Apparently, people weren't batting an eye at $440 either.

Ive seen 50 round boxes of 22 mag at a local shop for $45 a box. It wasn't flying off the shelves, but the stack was well picked over too. The same place is getting $50 for a 50 round box of 38's and 9mm too.


I been shooting a fair amount of 22 lately too, but Ive never seen it as a replacement for the centerfire rounds, and haven't seen that its any more a benefit than dry fire.

And as Ive said before, dry fire is much more than what most seem to picture. Its not just standing there and "squeezing them off" at a little target on the wall. Its everything you might do with a live gun, just minus the bang and recoil. I dry fire multiple guns every day, and have for decades now.

Most of that anymore is from a holster, from concealment, and in front of the TV. Think you're quick and good? Just try and actually get a hammer drop on all those annoying people on there as they pop up and pop off as you scoot across the room.

I love .22 pistols and shoot them 3x as often as I shoot centerfire, even when 9mm is cheap. If you want to match your current guns you can find LCR's in .22lr, as well as the Ruger LCP 22 which is probably somewhat similar to the EC9.

Personally, I'd go with a target style gun like the Ruger Mark series, Browning Buckmark, or S&W Victory. They're so fun, and your skills will still translate to your carry guns.

A revolver like the S&W 17/617 is a good option too, but they're pricey.

You can also get the Kadet kit for your CZ, which is supposed to be a very nice conversion kit. I'd like to have one someday for my 75b.

AK103K said:

...but Ive never seen it as a replacement for the centerfire rounds, and haven't seen that its any more a benefit than dry fire.

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On that I would have to strongly disagree. Rimfire practice is 99% of shooting. Dryfire is far from it but I guess those that believe in it are going to defend it.

The only difference is what you see on paper.

I simply refuse to acquire ammunition and or reloading components at the super inflated pricing being asked/specified. I started shooting in Explorer Scouting, then on to the USMC and afterwards to this day which would be 60 plus years. With that said, I don't believe I need to fire (X) amount of ammunition weekly to maintain basic skill levels. In addition I have a stockpile of components and commercial ammunition. My reference stockpile may not be ( probably isn't as significant as others may have) but I'll get by.

If you want to stay on top of things, you really do need to shoot regularly. At least if you're shooting using "you" and not a bench as a base.

One reason dry firing "the way you shoot" is important. Helps keep your muscle tone and hand/eye up.

I use a laser training cartridge in my dry fire routine. It gives me instant feedback on shot placement. I have several drills that I practice and found it to be an asset.

Dry fire is good practice, but I think new shooters should approach it carefully because a new shooter wouldn't know what he/she's doing wrong (which means, for new shooters, dry fire can actually reinforce bad habits if not careful).

For new shooters, if your pistol has a more or less flat slide top, you can try balancing a quarter on the slide top while pulling the trigger. This will help you practice the good habit of not slapping the trigger. You can also practice jam clearance with a snap cap; for example, simulate a non-firing round without doing anything , a mag not seated properly by not inserting the mag all the way, or an eject failure by pulling the slide half way. The possibilities are endless. Here, you'd rack the slide and tap the mag to resolve. You can also simulate holster draws and mag changes from slide lock. You can simulate double tap if you have a SA/DA or light DOA action (with SA/DA, you put the gun into SA and fire once, then just pretend to fire again with a light trigger touch since you won't be able to get SA). If you don't have snap caps, then some of the practice isn't as practical (I wouldn't recommend using live ammo. Remember, safety always comes first and snap caps are very cheap. Of course, point the gun in a safe direction always.)

I don't think shooting airsoft or 22lr is as good practice as dry fire if your aim is to practice for center fire. Also, I read a post about using laser sight above; I don't think that's good unless you will always shoot with laser sights because normally you want to train looking on the front sight.

There are probably other ideas for new shooters that I've forgotten as I'm jumping back into the shooting sports after many years off.