My student, Bradley, recently asked me how many rounds should I bring to the range for practice?

Can you guess what my answer was?

If you guessed that my answer was “It depends,” you’d be wrong…

My answer was “50”.

“You’re joking!” Bradley replied.

“Why do you think that?” I asked.

“What can you possibly do with 50 rounds? It’s barely enough to warm up.” He continued.

“Warm up? I asked. “Why do you need to warm up?”

“Well, I need to get the nerves out and rhythm going before I can get some good hits.” Bradley said.

“I see,” I continued…

“Let me ask you a question, Bradley.

If you were violently attacked right now and had to use your firearm in self-defense, how much time and how many rounds would you need to warm up?” I asked.

“Well, that’s different.” Bradley started…

“How is it different?” I asked.

“The range is just for practice. It’s not real life.” He said.

“And where do you train for real life?” I asked.

It looked like a lightbulb moment for Bradley.

“Oh! I see where you’re going with this…” He said with a smile on his face.

“You’ll fight the way you train, Bradley. That means that you plan your range session carefully ahead of time, and every bullet has to be fired as if your life or the life of someone you love depends on it. Do you understand that?” I asked.

“I do. But how are 50 rounds in one session enough to accomplish that?” He asked.

“Well, here is how…

1. Your warm-up should be a few minutes of dryfire daily. That’s when you work on your fundamentals and skills.

2. Keeping your range sessions brief keeps you focused more evenly and your results more consistent throughout your session.

3. 50 rounds of well-planned deliberate practice will accomplish much more than spraying hundreds of rounds downrange just looking for bullseyes.

For example: If I want to work on breath control and a smooth trigger pull, I promise you that staying focused for 50 rounds and properly executing just these two things will take a lot out of you.

Or, if you work on emergency reloads, you can perform up to 50 reloads with one box. That will take some effort, too.

Does that make sense, Bradley?”

“Yes! Absolutely! Quality vs Quantity.” he replied. “I never thought about it that way.”

“Excatly!” I said. “Now, it doesn’t mean you can’t shoot more and play around some, but do your good work first when your energy and focus are at their best.”

So, if you’ve read this far, I challenge you to pick one skill you want to work on in your next range session and do 50 repetitions with only 50 rounds. Then please let me know in the comments section how you feel, what you accomplished, and what you learned. I would really love to know.

Train Hard, Often, and SAFELY.

Watch the video here