Air guns for practice???

[Ghost1]

I use snap caps during my draw practice sessions. I think any practice is better than no practice. When I was active duty we would generally use around 1000 rounds in a full day of live fire ( side arm only), something that for the civilian is only for the wealthy at today's prices for ammo. I am a reloader and that allows me to keep up with live fire practice but I tend to only go through 300-500 rounds in a session. Brass will generally last me 10 reloads from new factory ammo to toss in the recycle bin.

 

[Comyn]

Perhaps the OP equates airsoft with cheap plastic guns and pellet guns with heavier metal guns? If that's the case, there are several full metal air gun replicas, airsoft or otherwise, that use compressed gases to fire and cycle the pistol. I used a 1911 style airsoft pistol that was just 5 ounces lighter than the real thing. Slide locked back after the final shot, and fairly accurate at about 15 feet.

Regardless, I can't imagine a bb of any material being a replacement for shot placement and target practice. But I will give it plenty of props for training muscle memory and (if you find the same model) weapon familiarity. To this day, I know my way around a 1911, a Sig229, and a Beretta 92; weapons I've shot plenty, but have only owned airsoft counterparts to.

Plus, if you have the air gun in the same model as your real pistol, you can practice drawing from the same holster!

 

[Silvercliff_46]

Just to bring you up to date on this, I purchased the S&W replica pellet (lead pellets) pistol. The weight of the pellet gun is within 3 grams of the actual S&W .22 cal pistol. I am as accurate with the pellet gun at 10 YARDS as I am with the .22 cal. (96% which isn't to shabby). The only difference beside the bang, is trigger pull. I have the option of shooting it either single or double action (with the co2 pellet pistol). Single action trigger pull is identical. Double action on the Pellet pistol is heavy. It is a perfect fit in my holster, and I can practice draw and fire (albeit one shot at regular trigger pull, not double tap). I don't use it in lieu of regular shooting, but in addition too regular shooting. I have heard that in some circles, dry fire is preferred to actual firing as you do not have to deal with the recoil. I am not sure I advocate that, but I am not an expert. I do know that I prefer seeing something hit the target rather then pretending to see it hit the target. I also feel I need to be sure and manage the recoil of my .45 cals. also.

I have recently purchase two air soft H&K replicas. While they come close to my Glock model 30 they aren't exact replicas. That being said the fit nicely in my holsters. I have spoken to several law enforcement trainers, who recommend using the Air soft guns for training, unless you want to wear bullet proof vests, and have at it. Shooting is shooting, training is training, pellet guns, Air Soft, dry firing, actual firearms, more is better (at least I think so).

Another thing is that 50 rounds of pellets including the co2 costs about $1, compared to $4-$5 for .22 (if you can find it), $25 for .45 cal...., and it's a bunch of fun too.