To add my thoughts, I would first echo John’s points. I have taken courses with around 500 other people at this point. These generally weren’t new shooters and all of them were people that spend a moderate amount of their time and money shooting for the specific purpose of getting better. The number of people I’ve seen personally that can shoot offhand some of the groups I see claimed online can fit on one hand. That’s not to say it can’t be done, obviously there are millions of shooters out there and some of those people, like Jerry Miculek mentioned above, are capable of feats I will never be able to duplicate. At the same time I see people that have spent years shooting struggle to maintain good groups at speed, so self depreciating humor aside I wouldn’t be too hard on yourself. Shooting handguns is not, in my opinion, easy.
I think a fair question though is what is your goal out of this? If your goal is to shoot 1/4” at 50 yd understand that in doing so you will need to get to a skill level that is beyond the vast majority of shooters. I know you were engaging in some good natured hyperbole, but honestly, the goal matters. When developing a skill you generally reach a point of diminishing returns. The people like Charlie Perez, mentioned above, compete at a level where they win and lose a competition by tenths of a second on a transition here or a reload there. Getting to that level isn’t impossible, but it’s frankly a long journey. Getting to a point of not sucking is understandable, but then what is considered sucking is going to vary on the person asked and their own goals. You mention as your purpose with firearms being owning and shooting firearms both from an enjoyment standpoint (enjoyment of history and mechanics) and developing a defensive ability. I’d argue neither of those goals require 1/4” at 50 yd with a pistol, or even a rifle.
Be honest with the level of time and money you’re willing to commit. If your goal is general improvement I would look up some good drills and engage in both dry fire and live fire. These are some drills hosted on a website from the late Todd Green,
https://pistol-training.com/drills/. It’s not an exhaustive list but it’s a good start. Invest in a shot timer as a means to monitor your progress (there are phone apps you can try, I have seen them work with varying degrees of success). Have a variety of drills that emphasize certain skills and rotate through them. Don’t be afraid to work on the skills you find most difficult. Many shooters get good at one thing and then practice that a ton. An observation I have had in courses is many times an instructor asks what skills the students are focused on. Most people I see answer this give the skill they consider to be important, less so the skill with which they are deficient. Remember that diminishing returns is a reality and again determine where best to invest time and money.
Some comments above were made about the need or nature of training. I spent a few years shooting mostly with a buddy at my local range. I got to a point where I was likely one of the better pistol shots we had. At that point I started taking courses and being among a larger population showed me how far I had to go. I am better now than I was then, not just because I shot more but because frankly I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I do think a fair amount can be learned by duplication from say videos or reading materials, but having someone provide feedback to you personally who has the skill to see what you are doing wrong was invaluable for me.
A point was made that Jerry Miculek doesn’t take classes. There are many shades of grey between not sucking and being Jerry Miculek. People in all sorts of sports, shooting and otherwise, train and receive additional instruction, even people that are naturally gifted. Professions that involve shooting, military and law enforcement as an example, often involve coursework, and even at higher levels. Now as was said above maybe I’m just saying that because I personally have invested in classes so the confirmation bias in my case is too strong. That’s certainly possible, though the targets and the timers generally don’t care about my subjective opinion. By the same token I have met people that yearly spend thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars on firearms and ammunition, but won’t take a class as they don’t want the mental image they have of themselves to be tainted. Being humbled isn’t always enjoyable, but for me it’s generally when I have learned the most. Whether you end up competing or taking classes you will find people that are better and people that are worse than you. While being the best is great, it should be second to improving yourself (even if you are the best). Don’t be afraid of failure along the way.
I’d add that training courses and competitive shooting don’t have to be all or nothing. If you’re already investing a substantial amount of money in shooting, consider a competitive event or a course. If you don’t find it useful you don’t have to take another. The cost of one event or course relative to my expenditures in shooting from my time on this forum is honestly not that prohibitive.
Mark mentioned individual coaching versus group classes. Generally speaking I agree that one on one coaching is more beneficial to you as a shooter. However, most of the courses I have taken have been group courses and I have learned quite a bit in each. That said I was also someone who generally did well in a classroom setting, and I applied my same techniques of being a student in an academic classroom to shooting courses. That included asking questions relevant to the material, including demos of skills, and I taking notes for practice or reference later. If you take a group course you have to be your own advocate to an extent. You don’t want to be so question focused that you miss the material or take away from learning time for others, but I can honestly say in all the courses I’ve taken it is very rare to find an instructor that won’t answer a question. Chances are if you had a question someone else did too, and most instructors want to do a good job (good instructors generally want an involved class).
You’ll get lots of advice. Think it over, but remember at the end of the day it’s your time and money. You decide how best to use it. Take care.
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