Does practicing with a 22 pistol improve defensive carry of bigger caliber pistol?

I have a 22lr 1911 that I use to practice.
My EDC is a CCO 1911

S&W .22 Compact comes to mind. But there are so many. I like all of these!

You are bot going to get significant recoil from ant 22LR pistol or revolver to condition response to any Shield caliber. So best to focus on a good handgun that has a reputation for accuracy. That is important because you want 22 drills to help establish accuracy. A crappy 22 will not fill that bill. I used a M&P 22 Compact for a few years. It was reliable and reasonably accurate. It is a blowback not a locked breech so it has a tiny bit more noticeable recoil but not enough to make a meaningful difference. But I do think the blowback’s fixed barrel give more consistent accuracy.

I think a good .22 is the best teacher a handgunner can have. I bring one to nearly every range trip to reinforce the fundamentals, and have been doing so for decades now.

I think the fellow who is using one primarily to benefit his combat shooting should find one which mimics his carry gun as closely as possible, and in fact believe that the availability of a matching .22 should have some influence on the purchase of a concealed weapon.

Beyond that, I actually would not recommend choosing a small and light .22 unless it matches your centerfire, as the goal of mastering and maintaining the fundamentals is not best pursued with a more difficult gun. If a "matched set" is not practical, then I would simply get myself a Ruger, at least assuming that the carry piece is also a semi-auto. (S&W still make very good .22 revolvers, which are ideal trainers for those of us still carrying wheelguns.)

Although many say it doesn't,,,
I firmly believe that it does.

The only reason I can hit a 4" chest shot with my Model 36 snubbie in .38 Special,,,
Is because of the many hundreds of rounds of cheap .22 through my Model 34 snubbie in .22 LR.

Pretty much the same for my Bersa Thunder 380,,,
My Bersa Thunder 22 allowed me the cheap practice to become proficient.

The naysayers will say that the recoil difference will negate the practice,,,
I say they are simply incorrect in their summation.

Making a mountain out of a molehill,,,
So to speak.

Trigger time is Trigger time,,,
In the event anyone needs to use their centerfire,,,
I doubt very much whether the difference in recoil will factor in at all.

But if you think it might,,,
Shoot 5 magazines .22 and one of centerfire as a routine.

All I can "factually" say is,,,
It worked for me.

Aarond

.

I am in the camp that practicing with 22LR is very beneficial other than learning recoil control. Excellent for learning trigger control and accuracy.

We shoot 22LR every range trip. Wife did not like shooting nor was good at it for 9MM but after shooting our Browning Buckmark in a short time she became proficient with trigger control and accuracy and greatly booster her confidence shooting 9MM starting with metal 9MM (SIG P226 and CZ SP01) and then working her way to lighter 9MM pistols and can now shoot Shield and P365XL well and at a decent speed.

Browning Buckmark, Ruger Mark series, and S&W Victory are great 22 LR pistols especially if you put a premium on accuracy. Poly frame combat style 22LR pistols are fun too while decently accurate and you might look into the M&P 22 Comact which is very close to the Shield in size and the Glock 44 is a great 22LR pistol too.

Here are mine. Last range trip I was able to shoot ten round 3 inch groups at 75 feet with my Buckmark rapid fire with cheap ammo. Only change to it has been replacing front sight with Browning fiber optic one that I got on Ebay for $23. BTW while I am in good shape on 22LR ammo I still can get more Federal/Winchester/Remington bulk packs at local Walmart in 5-6 cent range per round usually. Other Walmarts in the area never seem to have any though.

I try to warm up/cool down every range trip with a .22 LR, be it semi auto or revolver (sometimes both ).

Fundamentals are the same as the guys have said; grip, sight picture, trigger control, breathing, follow through. Good practice reinforces good habits, and being able to shoot 500 for the cost of 50 (or fewer) centerfires rounds helps me.



Yes recoil may be reduced or even absent, so that one aspect is one that we can’t create with a .22. But if the others above are good, the ability to control recoil naturally follows.



I’ll even go with .22 WMR when practicing with revolvers. No real recoil but the report is pretty stout.



Find a good match for your regular centerfires and I’ll just about guarantee that if you focus on the fundamentals you’ll see an improvement with your centerfires .

Stay safe.

My Glock 44 definitely got me to shoot my G19 better, have never shot 19s well until the Gen5 came along. The 44 helps with accuracy, but in terms of recoil..the 44 isn't helpful at all.

I have a VP9 and a TX22 as well, their grips feel very similar, but again..the difference in recoil is apples and oranges. Best to practice with the defensive gun first, then switch to the .22.

I would go as far as to say that a very good - maybe the best - way to learn to deal with recoil is with a .22. Back when I was "into" recoil from the hottest revolver cartridges, I often had to return to the .22 to undo the damage (read: flinch) induced by the big boys. Granted, the .22 isn't very good at teaching you how to control the gun during fast strings, but that is about its only failure as far as I am concerned.

Well, that and that handloading the things is a task-and-a-half!

foob said:

Does practicing with a 22 pistol improve defensive carry of bigger caliber pistol?

Ammo price difference is so big. Can mean a lot more practice.

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I believe it can.

I got GSG 1911 22LR to go with my Sig 1911 (BTW, GSG 1911 is same as Sig 1911 22LR). I do a lot of point shooting and same GSG 1911 platform of grip shape/angle helped with point shooting Sig 1911.

Well, not the same trigger.

So I ordered Advantage Arms 22LR conversion slide kit for my Glock 22 so I can point shoot practice using the same trigger.

Fundamentals. I agree:

Riomouse911 said:

Fundamentals are the same as the guys have said; grip, sight picture, trigger control, breathing, follow through. Good practice reinforces good habits

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I think practicing with any type of firearm is better than no practice at all. Even dry fire practice with your carry gun is important.

Fundamentals are fundamentals.
A nice .22lr pistol can help. How much will vary, much as each of us varies from the other.

I find that using a rifle first, before pistol shooting improves the pistol shooting, too

I’ve got both models of the TX-22 and they are fantastic shooters and give lots of opportunity to work on your techniques without breaking the bank. And I think most importantly .22lr is so much fun to shoot (you’ll be hitting the bullseye at 25yds like an assassin!) that it keeps you wanting more and makes your range trips a blast even when you might not have had a great session. I get people coming up to me asking what I’m shooting because the TX-22 is so stupid accurate.

SimonRL said:

I’ve got both models of the TX-22 and they are fantastic shooters and give lots of opportunity to work on your techniques without breaking the bank. And I think most importantly .22lr is so much fun to shoot (you’ll be hitting the bullseye at 25yds like an assassin!) that it keeps you wanting more and makes your range trips a blast even when you might not have had a great session. I get people coming up to me asking what I’m shooting because the TX-22 is so stupid accurate.

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But it's a Taurus, so you must be mistaken. I'll bet it breaks in 40 to 50 thousand rounds. That's why I bought two.

Why not? Practice is primarily training your brain to react properly to a situation.

22RF duplicates of centerfire guns can be a good training aid but it is not a substitute for shooting the full sized cartridge.

When I was shooting Service Rifle competition, I built a 22RF duplicate of my AR-15 match rifle. It was helpful in some aspects of the competition shooting but I needed to practice with the centerfire version as well.

I also have 22RF versions of S&W K-frame revolvers, S&W M&P semi-autos, and a M1911. Practicing with them does help with making operating the type of firearm second nature. Also, trigger time is trigger time. But, in the long run, you have to shoot the centerfire versions at times as the recoil and gun handling is different with the centerfire cartridges.

Regardless, shooting 22RF is good practice. It is just not a 100% replacement for shooting the centerfire guns.

Terry G said:

S&W .22 Compact comes to mind.

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+1. If you carry a Shield, I would definitely look at these:
https://www.smith-wesson.com/product/mp-22

All training is good. The more realistic, the better.

I used to be a very poor shot with a handgun. The thing is, I didn't know it. I was a good rifle shot so I assumed I was also a good handgun shot so I blamed all my issues on the guns. At the time I had a Glock 23, LCP, and USP 45 and none of them could group worth a darn. I eventually sold the USP to a buddy who'd wanted it since I bought it, when he picked it up he brought his ex special forces marine brother who asked to shoot it in my side yard. I watched him set up a tiny water bottle and repeatedly hit it from 25 yards, and I suddenly knew the problem with accuracy wasn't the gun because I would have wasted the entire magazine and not hit that bottle once from that distance.

So I took some of the money from that sale and bought a Browning Buckmark and didn't shoot any other handguns for 6 months. First my groups became half their size. Then they got 50% smaller again. I went from struggling to get all shots in a mag on paper at 10 yards to regularly busting a 3" gong at 20 yards. And a funny thing happened when I picked up a center fire handgun again: my groups from larger bore guns were also about 1/4 of the size they used to be. Now about 90% of my shooting is with .22's. I am a firm believer that a target style .22 is better than a regular plinking .22. Something like an M&P compact or SR22 just has OK accuracy IMO, and having something like a Buckmark, S&W Victory, or Ruger MK series lets you know for sure if the issue is you or the gun because they are all tack drivers.

cfullgraf said:

it is not a substitute for shooting the full sized cartridge.

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While fundamentals are reinforced via lighter recoil practice . . .
RECOIL management is a major factor in actual gunfights.

Train as you fight
Fight as you train
should not be taken lightly

"... oh I'll manage when need be....."