Beretta Blog

If you want to become a better shooter, you must measure your both your current skill level and your progress. You can measure and track accuracy results, and depending on your personal goals, that may be enough. For recreational shooting and some types of competition, time may not matter. However, if you want to improve your defensive shooting capabilities or perhaps move up the action pistol sports ladder, being able to shoot accurately under time pressure becomes important.  

A simple shot timer is a great addition to your range kit. Here’s what you need to know about how they work. 

Not too long ago, iron sights were the king of sighting systems for pistols and rifles. Rightfully so, as the fundamental designs of iron sights have remained largely unchanged for 300 years. Iron sights are thus a very mature technology that had been proven to be reliable and rugged. But slowly things began to change.

It’s 8:20 on a summer’s evening as I type this, and twilight is starting to settle in over the small town in Florida where I live. My wife and I will go for a walk after I’m finished with this article. I’ll have a concealed carry pistol with me as I usually do, along with a mobile phone, some other stuff, and a powerful handheld “tactical” flashlight. I consider a small, powerful light to be an absolutely essential part of my everyday carry, and I’ve come to see the benefits of having a light on my firearm as well. Both are useful, and both have their roles for self-defense.

The sport of practical shooting requires you to make fast, accurate shots under the pressure of a shot clock, giving your body a taste of what it might be like to deal with the stress of a real-world encounter.

There are plenty of things that are obvious additions to a range bag. You’ll need eye and ear protection. If you like to bring guests, then pack extra safety glasses and hearing muffs, so everyone has a set. Targets, a stapler, and spare staples are also a given. Is that all you need? Not if you want to guarantee an interruption-free outing.

Some decades ago, conversations over newfangled inventions for guns went something like this...

“Hold on there son; you want me to put a thing made of GLASS on top of my trusty rifle? Are you kidding me?”

The discussion was about the idea of adding a scope to a rifle to perform the task of accurately getting sights on target. For hundreds of years, shooters had relied on a solution of simplicity and extreme durability: iron sights. Adding a potentially fragile, and more importantly, unproven invention had to be just asking for trouble, right?

If you’ve been around the gun-related internet for any amount of time, you’ve seen how much fun it is to shoot action pistol matches like IDPA or USPSA. Action pistol (also known as practical pistol) is a ridiculously fun sport, but getting started can be intimidating for both men and women because you’re going to shoot an unfamiliar course of fire in front of your friends and others. Admittedly, the potential for embarrassing yourself is pretty high.

Ask me how I know this.

If you’re one of many new gun owners who has bought their first gun these past few years, now is a great time to think about different ways to enjoy going to the range. Along with thousands of other people, I’ve found that practical pistol is a great way to have fun with a handgun and learn how to use it safely under the stress of competition.

Walk down the firing line of any public pistol range, and you'll see people having a grand ol' time throwing rounds downrange towards their target. Most of the targets will have a great many holes scattered about them with no visible rhyme or reason and no evidence of any marksmanship skills at all.

But yet, if you ask those people if they can shoot, to a person, they'll say "Yes," even though their targets are saying things to the contrary. So what is "being able to shoot," and how do you get better at it?

I live in a rural section of south Florida. I constantly see signs by the freeway exit ramps that advertise concealed carry permit classes for ridiculously low prices. On one hand, I understand how money (or the lack thereof) can affect buying decisions, but when you're choosing a firearms instructor, you are choosing someone to teach you how to potentially save your life and the lives of those close to you.