The last thing I mentioned in the last post is “Just be sure you practice the correct things.” So this is really just a continuation of the same thought.
One thing I tell my violin students is that if they practice enough, then when they get up in front of their friends and family in a recital, and their knees are shaking so bad they can hardly hold up their instruments, they will still get it right. The object of practice is to repeat an action often enough that it becomes a habit, and you no longer have to think about it.
As I have observed in my violin students, if you practice something wrong, then it becomes more than twice as hard to get it right, and you will have to consciously fight slipping into the wrong motions for a long time.
Practicing the wrong things, or the right things in the wrong way, in reference to gunfighting, can get you killed. Especially when beginning, you should seek out the supervision of an experienced instructor. One who will ride your tail about keeping your muzzle downrange and your finger out of the trigger guard (until your sights are on the target you intend to shoot), until you have that firmly established as habit.
Then you want to practice (with a cleared handgun) your drawing from concealment until it is automatic for whatever concealment holster you have chosen. And you want to practice dry-firing until the last little bit of flinching has been completely eliminated. Then practice live-firing until you can immediately identify and correct any of the common problems you are likely to encounter with your handgun.
The half-life of marksmanship skills (the point at which half of your skill has evaporated) is about 3 or 4 months. So you should make it a point to practice live-firing at least once a month, dry-firing at least once a week, and drawing from concealment every day.
