Posted: 10/12/2010 3:51:37 PM EDT
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What is a good average round count for a productive day at the range? Clearly 10 is not enough, and 1,000 might be excessive. How many rounds do an average training course shoot? Is there a number that trainers have been using?
I shot about 300 the other day and I had a lot of time to work on my trigger and sights. Today I shot about 100 rounds and my accuracy was much higher. 100 seemed like a good number. |
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For me, a productive day at the range can vary. I might do a little confirmation of zero and/or a little KD firing from prone, just for group size. For that, 100 rounds is plenty. Or I may do some drills/run-and-gun, which can easily eat up 200 rounds or more. If I buy a new gun, I might take it out for a couple hours and put 300, 400, or even 500 rounds through it.
So, it just all depends. 
I do find that if I shoot steadily for more than a couple hours I start getting tired and my accuracy decreases. |
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Quality over quantity. It's hard to focus on doing everything right for hundreds of rounds. When you start to lose focus you start doing little things wrong and you're, in effect, training yourself to do it the wrong way.
It's different in a class. Even though you may be firing hundreds of rounds a day - you're there to learn from the instructor. They're going to be watching you and making corrections. The training occurs on your own time when you practice what you learned. That's just my opinion from a training standpoint. There's nothing wrong with going to the range and just plinking away for a while every now and then. My advice is to figure out beforehand what you want to work on and what drills you want to shoot. Plan out your 100 (or whatever you decide) rounds and make then count. |
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As previously stated, quality over quantity.
If you get some training, you'll find that you shoot less ammo during your range sessions. This is because you will know exactly what you need to practice on. Thus, you will shoot less ammo during a given outing to the range. |
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Several Instructors that I have spoken with on this topic say that 300-400 is the magic number.
In training with Blackwater, Magpul, and LAV this has been generally my experience. So a day at the range should come at the cost of around 300-400 rounds total, Primary and Secondary weapon system round counts combined. There are varying sides of the pendulum here for example, at a Magpul Course, you may crack 400 rounds by a fair margin in one day of training. In a Vickers class, 300 will probably be about the max for one day. It just varies. Make sure that every round has training value attached to it and it is a great investment of time, sweat, and treasure either way.
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Depends on how long I'm at the range and what we're doing that day. Usually 200-400 rounds of .223 if we're shooting carbines. If I'm testing reloads through my bench gun 60-120. If I'm out with my handguns, I'll usually take 400 rounds. When I'm at a weekend carbine cores, it is easy to to shoot 900-1,500 rounds. All depends what kind of range day it is.
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| At home I don't really have range days, but range hours - I try to go twice a week and generally shoot about 120 rounds of pistol. I'm a security contractor overseas, so I shoot rifle more over here; free ammo and a range with no rules... I try to get out once a week and do 240 - 300 rounds of drills and what not. |
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the last three courses i took were as follows.
Tactical Response Fighting Pistol 750rds in 2 days Advanced fighting pistol about 850rds in 2 days CFS with Rob Pincus about 1250rds in 2 days. when i practice on my own at the range, i normally go for 250rds per trip (now that i am not reloading) i used to go for about 400-500rds every 2 weeks. now i am on 250rds per 2 weeks or so. |
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How many rounds you can get something out of in a day's practice is entirely dependent upon your skill as a shooter and what you are trying to accomplish. If, for instance, you are attempting to work on your ability to manage the recoil of the pistol and fire the next shot as rapidly as possible with acceptable accuracy, odds are that 100 rounds will be insufficient. If you are attempting to shoot the X ring out of a bullseye at 25 yards, 100 rounds of that may sufficiently stress you to the point where anything after that is just wasting time and ammo.
I've had tremendously productive days at the range where I fired almost a thousand rounds and tremendously productive days where I never fired more than 150 shots. It all depends on what type of training you're doing. A good idea is to identify skills that you want to work on, identify some drills that help with that, and then practice them. Every time I go to the range I try to do at least 25 shots from the draw (from concealment) on 2" circles with a goal of 1.5 seconds. I try to do 10 or so on an 8" circle as well just to push speed. I also try and do at least 25 rounds of high-accuracy bullseye, all done at 15-25 yards. I do it with 5 shot groups offhand. In between all of that I mix in drills and targets based on what I want to improve. |
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Quoted:
I find after about 70-80 rounds of handgun in a short period of time, my accuracy particuarly with handguns gets worse. same i dont shoot alot of handgun rounds anymore in one session. ill usually just throw a handgun mag in there with my long gun shooting once in awhile |
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I am a huge believer in dry-fire exercises, they are cheap, easy to repeat, and I find I actually make much greater progress in a shorter time period. I think this is because without the gun going bang, I am much more critical of myself and everything I do that leads up to gun firing.
Generally speaking when I go to the range I have a specific plan of exercises and goals for the day, so I usually shoot 200-400 rounds. The times I have shot more was when I was in the military and wasn't paying for the rounds ; and the few times I was unprepared for the goals I had set myself that day.
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