.22 Long Rifle Variants for Training
Barret KendrickDescription
When ammunition is expensive and difficult to secure, some shooters are reluctant to shoot what they’ve got and deplete their stockpile. That means little or no handgun training and practice, and we all know that’s not good. Manufacturers have taken note of this, and now several .22 Long Rifle variants of popular handguns are available.
With .22LR versions of a Smith & Wesson M&P and a Glock 19, PDN Contributor Barret Kendrick of Bearco Training discusses shooting these variants instead of the originals. What skills can you work on that are the same and what can’t you work on because they are too different? Barret encourages defensive-minded shooters to consider the .22LR option before the next ammunition crunch.
At different times in the shooting industry. And we know that ammunition can be very difficult to secure and the price goes up to a certain point where people just aren't comfortable letting go of it, which means they don't want to get out on the range to shoot or to train or to practice with their firearms. Well, over the past couple of years, the manufacturers have really been paying attention to this and we have a lot more of 22 long rifle variants of the parcel defense size handguns. So out here in front of me, I've got one from Smith and West MP, where we have the nine millimeter variant on one side and on the other, we have the 22 long rifle variant. You know, I'm wearing a Glock 19 size 22 long rifle from them as well. And while it's not 1 to 1 with shooting when it comes to noise and recoil, there are a lot of things that we can get out to the range and practice with and train with that way, we don't have to give up all of that time because we know that shooting is a perishable skill. Now, one of the things that we can work with is just presentation from the holster. We could get out to the range and get our gear normally set up in the way that we would with our holsters, our carry gear because the holster is going to still fit this 22 long rifle variant of the gun so I could get out and I could work on things like presentation from the holster at the gun range, even though it's not 1 to 1 with recoil and I can work with it. We can come out, I can work on reloads as well. I can do that as I work through there. I can problem solve with the gun. I can work through those reloads. I can work through things like presentation from the holster. You know what we can't really work on is going to be the recoil management because that is where we begin to lose. It is going to be that 1 to 1 ratio with the recoil of the firearm. So while we can get out, we can work tactics, we can work around barriers, we can work around that cover concealment and practice out on the range presentation from the holster or even things like reloads. We need to make sure what we're putting our time in is actually adding to the benefit of what we're trying to do and that's keep up the skills of defensive shooting.
I personally train atleast three times a month and 2/3 of that time is using .22LR. Cheap, abundant and small storage CF.