Video: How to Be More Effective With Your Shooting Practice

Transcript for Train With Fewer Rounds

Krystal sends a target out and then fires five shots.

Krystal Dunn, Federal^® Ambassador and Professional Shooter: Hey, guys! Today, we're going to talk to you about effective practice—how to be more effective with your practice time. We're going to introduce some tools to use in practice, and we're also going to be talking about mixing in things like dry fire with live fire, low-round count drills, and how to really get the most out of every time you go to the range.

One thing that you should always be doing is trying to learn from every shot you take. I've had a couple of different pro shooters and mentors tell me this over time. And you really should, every time you fire a shot, you should be learning something.

So, some of my favorite tools is going to be a shot timer. If you don't have one of these, you can get them anywhere—Amazon, your favorite gun store. This is a great, really effective tool.

You can use this to time your actual shots, you can use this to be your start signal for a beep, and you can also use this for par time work. So, we're going to get a little bit more into timer, but this is a great tool to have.

Another thing you're going to want is a range journal. One thing you should be focusing on is measurable metrics.

Krystal practices her stance and fires several shots at a target.

When I go to the range, I'm doing consistent drills and measuring my performance every time. Keeping a journal really helps you to know if you're actually getting better, once again making your practice that much more effective.

A couple of tips for you when you're out at the range—any drill that you're going to do, you should start by dry firing it first. Again, don't just waste your ammo. You want to be making sure that you're testing your skills in live fire but practicing them in dry fire. This is really where you're going to see if those two things are connecting and if you're building good habits or bad habits.

You always want to make sure that when you are dry firing or live firing, that you have a comfortable stance.

You want to be thinking more of an athletic stance. You want your toes to go out in a fashion such that the targets are in between that angle that you create with your toes. You should always be looking to your next target with your eyes. Allow the gun and your core and hips to follow.

You see a lot of people doing these awkward things or trying to make these shots this way. You really want to make sure that your body mechanics are always making sense and allowing you to control the gun effectively.

You also want to make sure that you're holding the gun with your hands. This is the part that is supposed to hold the gun.

You're not holding it with your shoulders; you're not doing anything funny with your neck.

You want to make sure that you're relaxed and comfortable. You're holding that gun as tight as you can with your hands and allowing your elbows to be slightly out and your shoulders to act as shock absorbers.

Simple things such as constantly checking your body mechanics, tweaking your practice methods, and ensuring that you're getting the most out of every shot will make sure that you are getting the most out of your practice as well.