Training

Tam linked this site about how much gawdawful money folks waste on training every year.

Kidding!  I value training. I have not regretted a dollar I have spent.

For shooting training it's once every other month for live fire, on average.  Let's call it just quarterly.  $65.  Times for  $260 bucks.  That doesn't count ammo expended or range rental fees or gas to get 40 miles.

Simulator training is every week I can get there.  I try to go every week, but... let's call twice a month.  $25 per.  $600 a year.  Plus gas.

I practice at the range faithfully at least 40 times a year, and that is ammo plus $175 range membership and a coupla bucks worth of paper targets.  No extra gas.

That's just to get me to shoot better.  (I'm not even going to add up what I have spent on Gunsmith training and materials and tooling.  Hooboy.  That's a lotta dough devoted to that column, and I don't want to think about it...)

And, let's face it, I am light on shooting training.  I want to do more.  I want to get better.  So I'd need to do more and more varied training evolutions.  So, for a semi devoted but lightly trained dude, I am spending a grand a year on training.  Enough for an H9 every year.  But if I had to choose between a neat new gun and this training I'd pick the training.

You know something?  It is FUN.  I am lucky in getting a gunsmith that trained with the Army Marksmanship Unit Team in order to learn their top tier ins and outs (he'd never shoot as well as them, but he had to speak their language and KNOW it to work on their guns) and in turn trained others (non competitors) while on the AMU.  So he is decent at shooting, at gunsmithing, AND training.  Like I said, I lucked out.  I learn something every session.  I improve something every session. 

I am not unmindful of having but a single training vector.  I will certainly address that when I can.

Also.  Training can be a bit humbling.  Thinking I am getting good, like objectively good...  when I down 6 pepper poppers from low ready in 2 seconds flat?  And some dude comes in and does it 1.5 without even really trying.  Yeah.  Max Michel doesn't have to worry about me winning his prize money.  Ever.   Maybe if he had a really bad flu...