Hey everyone, I am wondering, on average, how many rounds should a person send down range per week to maintain a good skill level, shooting hand-gun, AR, shotgun, etc?
Thanks

I dry fire practice more than live fire and works well for me

Your question has no accurate answer... people develop and maintain skills at varying degrees.

Some people suck no matter how hard they try whereas some people can go extended periods of time will little or no skills deterioration.

That's why I asked "on average". It's silly to think that some people just suck.their practice sucks. It's also silly to think that some people can naturally shot expert just on any given day cause that's how awesome they were born. Either you practice and get out what you put in or you don't. But, why ask questions with that kind of relative answer lurking behind every skeptic who really doesn't know what to say? lol

Don't get offended because you're ignorant to the fact some folks need little to no work to stay proficient whereas some struggle to keep up... some rarely make progress despite heavy round counts and solid instruction. Just like any other sport or physical task... shooting is no different... there ARE folks for whom proficiency comes easily w/o much effort and some just constantly struggle no matter how much they shoot. It varies greatly. You bet your ass I've seen "natural born shooters" and I've seen people who no matter what will always suck.

Case in point... I just spent several days with a young man who works in the Armed Security industry. He was applying for a School Guardian position which our Sheriff's Office has to provide the training and certification. Despite spending a couple days myself and lots of rounds on him, as well as he sought private instruction on the side (weekends), he still failed and showed NO improvement in the three plus weeks that were invested in him. This involved DAILY skills development on the range and multiple instructors. I honestly felt for the guy... but he just could not shoot... period.

Skeptic who doesn't know what to say? LOL. I think having many years in the private training industry, coupled with 20+ years of LE/SWAT/Firearms training development and instruction under my belt has given me a front row seat from which to base my comments on.

My point is people vary in skills development and maintenance... you will have to find YOURS... so I repeat, your question has no real answer.

Good to go sir, I re-read my reply and it came off a bit....ignorant. I know what you said is true, and you certainly have more front row than I do. Didn't mean to come of as I did. Friends?

All is good...

so now i have a question about muzzle suppressors..there are so many bu t why? if their purpose is the same? how does one chose?

Here's what I try to do when getting ready for the season:

5 days a week dry fire - 30 mins
1 day a week live fire of 300 rounds or a match.

I would like to live fire more but my time is limited.

2-3 lower round count range sessions a week would be better than one high round count session.

Insofar as fundamental marksmanship maintenance, shooting a minimal amount of ammo (50 rds) at distance (35 yds handgun / 50 yds AR15) on a weekly basis will force you to take the time to apply the fundamentals properly. Distance shooting will quickly confirm whether or not any errors have crept into your shooting skill.

I like and have adopted for teaching (with proper instructor credit/acknowledgement) Pat McNamara's BRM and Pistol drills using B-8 Target centers. This is great for assessment and skills development tracking.

Rifle- 5 rounds standing, 5 rounds kneeling, 5 rounds sitting, 5 rounds prone all shot at 50 yards, no time. Each position has its own target, so each target/position is worth 50 points, 200 points max. Mac's recommended goal is 185. My personal high is 196 with my average being 191. Have not yet managed to get a 200.

Pistol- 5 rounds both hands, 5 rounds strong hand only, 5 rounds support hand only, no time shot at 15 yards. Each shot string gets its own target. Max points of 150 with 135 being the goal.

A proper trigger press and follow through are 95% of the ballgame.

At one time I stressed follow through... until I trained with Clay Martin from Off the Reservation. Clay demonstrated follow through is worthless... try it, you might be surprised. Aim at a target, as soon as you sense the shot, snap your pistol off the target... you will see follow through is not important for performance. Getting back on the sights and back on the target after the shot is the important thing. Therefore, I no longer waste time coaching people on follow through per se. Even slow-mo footage demonstrates the bullet has left the barrel and is well on the way for follow through to have any effect.

As with rifle and pistol, I stress the basic point of "simply align the sights properly, place them on the target, hold that relationship as still as you can while you work the trigger". I'd say proper sight alignment/picture and trigger manipulation in 95% of the ballgame.

Another good tip I got from Mac, but he was not the first to expose me to it in training, is a "call your shot" drill. Using any target with a specific aiming point, fire one round. Make a mental snap-shot of that round and annotate on a separate target (I use a reduced size copy) where you perceived that shot to have gone. Do 10 shots, then compare your notes with the target. You train yourself to "see" your sight/target relationship as the shot breaks... takes practice bit it a damn good drill.

Now, as to the OP's question, some can do that w/o much practice whereas others just can't get it... and then you have varying degrees of performance between the two.

Good info- what is a "match"?

Excellent sir, thank you

Sir this is gold. Thank you, I'll put this to use..One question on dry fire: Whats the best way to know your doing it correctly with no evidence "down Range"?

I might spur some disagreement here with others but that's ok...

When it comes to dry fire, you have a great question... how do you know you're doing it right? Well, you can have someone watch you or you can record yourself in slow motion.

BUT... this brings up an important point ANY good instructor has witnessed... you give a shooter a pistol or rifle that's empty and they will do 100 perfect trigger presses... load the firearm and they go all to shit despite minutes earlier doing it right. Why? Live ammo.

Other than for draw stroke/holster work, safety manipulation, and sight work, the rest of the dry fire process is "almost" worthless IMO because many folks can't 1) perceive the disruption of the sights when they pull the trigger (see my recommendation on a "call your shot" drill) or 2) they are not honest with themselves.

Instructors have experienced standing next to a student telling them "sights, trigger, sights, trigger, smooth press, sights, trigger, smooth press" over and over until the gun goes off... usually a good shot is the result, but on their own, the shooter goes to shit. I've done it countless times and it's usually good for a laugh on the range. The instructor simply provides the mental message and the shooter applies it... but the shooter has to learn to do that on their own.

Best to do the following live fire in conjunction with dry fire: get some dummy rounds and mix them in with your magazine of live rounds. Load several random mags so you have no idea... or have a friend do it.

Now, draw and fire ONE TIME and see what happens. You can record yourself or have someone record you... play it back for the truth. I guarantee you that you will initially dip the pistol or rifle on a dummy round... and THAT is what you need to learn to stop... each trigger press is as if the firearm is empty. Train yourself to manipulate the trigger w/o any other physical inputs to the firearm... it really is that simple.

Thank you, again, gold. Nothing wrong with a little disagreement; keeps us sharp on manners. I can try and forgive the fact that you are from Florida...lmbo.

Dry fire will ingrain gun manipulation:  Draws, reloads, transition between targets etc.  The goal is to make it subconscious so one can concentrate on calling shots and everything else is automatic.  You can and should call shots when dry firing (where was the front site when the trigger was pulled.)

The best way to know if you are dry firing correctly is live fire.

A match is a USPSA match.

For what kind of shooting?

My take-away was to not to have that intentional "pause" or conscious delay while letting the firearm "do what it's going to do"... hope that makes sense.

I think we're both on the same page as far as that goes... I may very well have read too much into your comment, my mistake.

100% agree on the trigger reset...

For every 100 reps on the trigger, 70 should be dry fire, the other 30 should be live (70% dry to 30% live). That was a figure kicked around not too long ago.

YMMV. This is not a hard & fast rule. Having said that... usually the more one dry-fires, the better their live fire accuracy tends to be.

A previous poster stated (correctly) that everyone is different. He recounted how he spent a LOT of one-on-one time with a student and it was still a no-go.

Conversely, I spent 5 hours with a student that was described as "all thumbs" with the carbine and he could not qualify (inspite of the best efforts of two other instructors).

We got him proficient enough to qualify on his patrol rifle in less than a day.

It all depends on the student.

Develop good habits and maintain them at the pace you require.

I’ve been shooting ARs for 35 years.

Over the past 10 years I’ve settled into a habit of shooting 180-270 rounds a week or around 10,000-11,000 rounds a year.  This level isn’t needed to maintain my skill set.  I shoot this amount because I enjoy it.

My handgun shooting varies.  I usually shoot a minimum of 200 rounds a month through whatever carry gun I’m using at the time.  Occasionally I’ll get in a handgun mood and will shoot 500+ a week.

I have very little use for shotguns.  I own a couple, but rarely use them .  I shot a few shells earlier this summer. First time I fired a shotgun since before 2013 or 2014.

This thread isn’t about ammo, but since it’s about ammo quantity I wanted to provide the following observations...

The price difference between steel case Barnaul (branded Wolf by the importer) and various brass case M193 is about $100 (this varies but $100 is low ... I usually see $130 and I buy ammo 10k+ at a time because of my shooting habits).  At $180 a case I don’t feel financial pressure to moderate my shooting while $300-330 cases of brass would likely reduce my volume.

I’ve shot a very wide variety of brass M193 side by side with Wolf 223 and the typical 100yd accuracy delta is not sufficient to warrant the extra money for training / paper / steel gong shooting.

I’ve fired tens of thousands of rounds of Wolf (Barnaul ... will not buy Tula) and have never once had a round not fire.

I have had some stuck cases in one particular Colt 6520. This sample of one AR was problematic and was sold.  I also had several stuck cases in Sig 556 rifles, but they were junk range toys of which I sold quickly.

Over the last four years I’ve fired a SIGNIFICANT quantity of Wolf 223 (bought 30k in 2016 and had to order another 25k this summer because I was down to the last two cases).  The ammo has been ran through multiple BCM, Colt, Daniel Defense, LMT and PSA ARs without a SINGLE ammo related malfunction.  I am not saying I haven’t had any malfunctions.  I am saying the malfunctions I’ve experienced were not ammo related.

I bring this up because I see a lot of online people use the worn out “89 octane gas in a corvette” derisive comment to discourage steel case usage.  I’d rather shoot more and worry about parts replacement later than shoot less and brag about shooting brass case.  Besides, if 10,000rds of steel case some how manages to deadline your rifle ... use the $1000-1300 savings (steel vs brass) to buy a new rifle (and a case of steel 223).

Forgot to mention I also shoot 308 monthly.  However, the volume isn’t nearly as high as 223.

I typically shoot ten to fifteen 20rd mags through a 308 (200-300rds) a month.  I recently divested myself of my FN SCAR collection which included the 7.62 version.  I bought a LMT MWS and pair of Colt 901 as replacements.  I’m enjoying the newness of shooting 308 large frame ARs after about a six year hiatus.  As a result I’m expecting to increase my 308 volume.

If I continue shooting 308 at my current level the 2400-3600 annual round count will increase to about 5,000.  Wolf 308 is around $300 a case plus shipping so the additional 2k (+\-) will require an increase in my “hobby line item” within my budget.  I’m willing to make the adjustment (can’t take it with me to the next life).

Someone may ask about firearms maintenance and repair /replacement ...

I own:

3 Colt AR15
2 BCM
3 DD  (will probably sell my MK12 as I’ve only fired 400rds of over priced OTM brass case ammo thru it and don’t really enjoy “LR type” shooting).
2 LMT AR15
2 Colt AR10
1 LMT AR10

Plus ...  Lots of PSA ARs and parts.

My routine is....

I shoot as many rounds as I want through my PSA guns.  I take one “good AR” (BCM, Colt, DD, LMT) with me every other week and only shoot a single 30rd mag through it.  This keeps the wear off my “good guns” .  This isn’t to say that PSA doesn’t make a serviceable firearm because they do.  All of the issues I’ve had with a PSA gun was observed / diagnosed / fixed before I fired a single round.

I have enough PSA parts to last (even considering the volume of my shooting ).  I think of the PSA guns the same way I think of Wolf ammo.  PSA allows me to shoot more and to do so economically.

For the sake of economy I only buy PSA’s cheap nitride level uppers.  I much prefer chrome lined, but that’s what my “good ARs” provide .

I gave up white glove cleaning 20 years ago.  My post-range trip cleaning regimen is simple:

A) wipe down BCG (pull bolt if too much Russian ammo crude) and then add copious amount of MOBILE 1;
B) wipe out inside of upper with paper towel and add Mobile 1;
C) occasionally wipe off CH;
D) run patch (coated with LSA) through bore.

When the gun gets super filthy, I’ll add a bore brush and chamber brush to the routine.  However, I never do this more often than every 1500rds.

In fact, I’m going to start experimenting with only conducting my “regimen” every other trip.  If the guns remain reliable ... I’ll consider extending it further.

I start checking bolts for hairline fractures after 5k. C158 HPT / MPI bolts last much much longer than 5k (especially with low impulse Wolf 223),but I decided to check PSA bolts starting at 5k due to the price point.

Forgot ...

I am currently using the following six PSA set ups in heavy rotation:

10.5” FSB Pistol with LaRue R-BUIS and Vortex SparcAR
10.5” Free Float Pistol with f/r MBUS and SparcAR
16” M4 with A3 carry handle
16” FSB Mid-Length with LaRue R-BUIS and SparcAR
16” Free Float Mid-Length with f/r MBUS and Vortex Spitfire 3x
20” AR-15A3 with A3 carry handle

Not to be an ass but you’re incorrect. Part of it is as simple as people are born with different levels of coordination. Once gun handling basics are learned, those with better hand eye coordination will often do better than people with not as good coordination.

A simple real world example is when you attend a class from a competent instructor and there are a decent sized group of people there. I understand there are a lot of variables but at the end of the class(weekend up to five day) and everyone has done the same training (especially if it’s a noob class where all are rookies with little to no experience) people will leave with different levels of competency.

I don't think there's an average number of rounds for something like that.  I don't know that I've ever seen a study on it.

Dry-firing approximately 5-10 ten minutes a day will normally up your game.  I've personally observed this in my own shooting.

Set up a target in your practice room.  And go for smooth presses.  Try putting a quarter or dime on your front site and keep it from falling as you press the trigger.

Worked for me.