Range practice is, of course, essential to improve your accuracy. BUT, accuracy is only part of the skill set you’ll need for competitive PP. When I used to shoot rimfire my pistol had a full anatomical grip with palm rest and fitted my hand like a glove. A good deal of time was spent before shooting actually started in establishing the “perfect grip”, so that on raising the pistol from the bench to start shooting the sights were perfectly aligned.
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PP is very different. Your pistol will have military style grips and you’ll have to either draw it from a holster or retrieve it from a box/drawer or similar before you start shooting. So, practice, practice, practice drawing the pistol from your holster and bringing it up on aim in one fluid movement. Remember too that you’ll have to disengage the safety catch when you come on target. You can do this at home, without firing a shot. Check out the Glevum club web site for a very good photo sequence on “the draw”.
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Another thing you can usefully practice at home is magazine changes. It’s much harder than you think to accomplish whilst walking around, never mind running up range. Don’t “cheat” when practising by having a spare magazine in your hand - do it for real, with spare magazine(s) on your belt as they would be in competition. Again, have a look at the photo sequence on the Glevum site.
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In a PP competition you may have to shoot with your weak hand at times. It’s not easy, so practice this too. Finally, remember that whereas precision style target shooting is carried out using one hand only, standing and from a fixed firing point, in PP you can use a two handed grip and may be shooting in from a variety of positions - standing, kneeling, squatting or prone.
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Having said all that, now a piece of “contrary” advice. DON’T PRACTICE TOO MUCH ON YOUR OWN BEFORE YOU ATTEND A BASIC COURSE. Why? Because you’ll end up, inevitably, developing bad habits and “unlearning” them and replacing with the correct procedures is a LOT harder than learning correctly in the first place. Take it from one who knows, first hand!
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The basic course, as well as covering the vital issue of safety, will give you an invaluable grounding in a whole range of shooting “techniques” and a sound basis on which to build your practice routines.
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One final reminder. If you’re practicing actual shooting at home (I use the garage) always apply the same safety procedures as you would see at a club or range. Above all, use a proper backstop and ALWAYS wear safety glasses.
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