Pick Your Pistol, Prepare, & Practice
“CARRY ROTATION is a good indication that the person is just playing at personal defense.” – Sheriff Jim Wilson, Facebook, January 4, 2019.
A few years back I was leading a Church Security Team through a defensive shooting course. The 1-day course called for about 300 rounds of live fire shooting and included topics such accelerated shooting, movement, use of cover and concealment and more . Usually in a class like this, the first 50 rounds is used to gauge the skill level of the team, correct any bad habits and work on the fundamentals like proper grip and trigger control. The team was making great strides and their shooting was really beginning to improve when a couple of team members wanted to switch to their other carry guns towards the end of the class. My question to them was “Why do you want to do that?”
They had just spent the last 6 hours and roughly $100 in ammunition learning the gun that was in their hand. How the gun recoils, watching the sights lift and settle back on target, the weight of the trigger pull and how it resets between shots. All day long they had been putting in the work to build a neural pathway in their brain that would begin to lead to automaticity and a solid foundation for defensive shooting. As soon as they switched guns, they would have to “unlearn” the previous gun and start over with the new gun. For a fascinating example click HERE to watch the Backwards Brain Bicycle video.
Now, I am not saying you can’t buy a new pistol or enjoy shooting a variety of handguns, but I do suggest you pick one pistol or platform as your primary carry or home defensive gun. For example, my everyday carry is a Glock 48 and my home defense gun is a Glock 45. They both have the same iron sights and/or optical sights. While they don’t shoot exactly the same, they are more alike than they are different. It would be much harder to maintain a high level skill if I rotated between a striker fired gun, a 1911 and revolver on a regular basis. If I stayed with a polymer striker fired gun, but switched manufactures often, the degradation probably wouldn’t be as bad, but it would still be an adjustment getting used to a grip angle, trigger weight, etc. While it is possible to become very proficient with multiple guns, it takes a good bit of resources (time, money, ammunition) and some natural talent to reach and maintain a particular level of skill.
However, if you are serious about becoming a better shooter with limited time and money, pick a pistol, prepare by taking a good training class, and then practice what you learned in that class with the same pistol.
Additional related reading
Tips to Improve Your Defensive Shooting
Automaticity
