How To Improve Pistol Skills with Rimfire Handgun Training

Handguns are difficult to shoot. Even the best shooters in the world miss. The rest of us probably miss more than we care to recall. One of the reasons we aren’t as proficient as we’d like is that we can’t afford to shoot as often as we should. Practicing with an unloaded handgun, known as dry-fire, is an option, but since it’s rather mundane, it’s easy to lose interest. Plus, the gun doesn’t fire, so there’s no recoil to contend with. This deprives the shooter of the opportunity to practice managing recoil, which is critical to skillful handgun shooting.

Even more problematic is the fact that with dry-fire, there is no target feedback. This can make it difficult to distinguish a good repetition from a bad one, especially for a beginner who doesn’t have a sense of what a quality repetition feels like. If you’re not careful, you could unwittingly develop bad shooting habits. A more enjoyable and arguably more beneficial alternative to dry-fire training is rimfire training. Not only are rimfire handguns fun to shoot, but they are also considerably cheaper to shoot than centerfire handguns, which means you can afford to shoot more often. Rimfire handguns are an excellent choice for first-time shooters, those striving to master the fundamentals of marksmanship, and for those committed to maintaining shooting proficiency.

First-Time Pistol Shooters

Rimfire handguns are simple to operate and require less strength to manipulate than centerfire handguns. For instance, loading the last round or even the last couple of rounds into a 9mm magazine can be difficult, especially for those with diminished hand strength. When simply loading the magazine is a challenge, the idea of shooting becomes less fun and more intimidating. Unlike nearly all centerfire pistol magazines, rimfire magazines typically feature a follower that aids in loading. By pressing the follower’s button with your thumb and sliding it downward, you can relieve spring tension on the magazine. This allows you to virtually drop rounds into the magazine rather than forcing them in. But it’s not just their well-designed magazines that makes rimfire handguns easier to run.

The slide on a rimfire pistol is much easier to pull back than the slide on a centerfire pistol. Not only is less force required, but many dedicated rimfire pistols are designed so that the back of the slide flares out. This provides excellent purchase for your thumb and index finger to rack the slide, which is required to load the pistol, clear a malfunction, and lock the slide to the rear to confirm the pistol is unloaded. But the most significant advantage of rimfire over centerfire is the reduced noise and recoil, both of which can wreak havoc on an already apprehensive new shooter. With a rimfire handgun, muzzle blast and recoil are surprisingly tame, making it perfectly suited to the new shooter. After the first few presses of the trigger, the shooter realizes there’s nothing to be afraid of as long as safety protocols are adhered to. This builds confidence. The process becomes fun, and rather than being focused on the gun firing, the shooter can concentrate on accuracy.

Mastering Handgun Fundamentals

There are seven widely regarded fundamentals of marksmanship. They are stance, grip, sight alignment, sight picture, trigger control, breath control, and follow through. While they won’t necessarily be of equal importance in any given situation, it’s imperative to understand and apply these fundamentals to your shooting. While many of the fundamentals can be practiced with centerfire handguns, grip, trigger control, and follow through really lend themselves to rimfire practice thanks to the relative lack of recoil. Grip is far more important than most realize. A proper grip mitigates muzzle flip and makes it easier to aim since the muzzle returns to the same spot from one shot to the next.

A proper grip entails the web of your hand placed high along the backstrap of your handgun, with the gun aligned with your forearm. The former places your hand close to the bore axis, and the latter puts your bone structure behind the gun, both of which mitigate recoil. Your other hand fills the void along the other side of the grip, with both thumbs oriented toward the target. The idea is to exert inward pressure around the entire grip for maximum recoil control. Trigger control is a multifaceted concept. If any component is lacking, you’re likely to miss your target regardless of how well you executed the remaining fundamentals. Trigger control starts with a consistent placement of the finger onto the trigger, which is a component of a proper shooting grip. When you press the trigger rearward, you should do so smoothly, ensuring your finger directs the trigger straight back.

If you’re a right-handed shooter who indexes the trigger too close to the tip of your finger, the tendency is to push the gun slightly left while pressing the trigger. Conversely, if your trigger finger indexes the trigger closer to the first knuckle, you’ll likely pull the gun to the right during the trigger press. Neither outcome is acceptable. Not only does the trigger need to come straight back, but it also needs to do so with a smooth stroke for optimal accuracy. Jerk the trigger, and you can miss the target even at close range. But properly pressing the trigger to break the shot is only half the battle. Resetting the trigger is also important, because it can help you deliver fast and accurate follow-up shots.

If you lose contact with the trigger after the shot breaks, there will be a lag as your finger reconnects with the trigger. Not only will this slow you down, but it will also make it harder to deliver an effective follow-up shot because you must take up the slack on the trigger. There’s a better way. After pressing the trigger rearward to fire the handgun, release the trigger only to the degree that the sear resets. This is usually signified by a “click” that can be heard under the right circumstances but can more reliably be felt. When you release the trigger only to the point of reset, you afford yourself a shorter, more predictable trigger press, enhancing your accuracy. As it relates to shooting, follow through means ensuring you can fire another accurate shot. Resetting the trigger is certainly part of the equation. However, as with trigger control, there’s more to follow through than meets the eye.

Follow through also refers to picking up your sights for the next shot. The better your grip and trigger control, the easier it is to align your sights when the gun settles from recoil. In fact, if your grip and trigger press are solid, the muzzle of your handgun will return to the same spot. This allows you to use the sights as they were intended: to confirm you are on target.

Maintaining Pistol Proficiency

For the reasons mentioned, even accomplished shooters can benefit from training with a rimfire. Not only is shooting a rimfire handgun a fun and less expensive alternative to shooting a centerfire handgun, but it can allow you to isolate certain fundamentals like grip, trigger control, and follow through. Since recoil is negligible, you can reinforce good habits that are transferable to shooting centerfire handguns.

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