Well, as a hunter who's taken well over 150 whitetails,, and countless other animals over the 50 plus years of hunting,, and using archery, muzzleloaders, rifles, handguns, & shotguns,, I STILL approach each & every hunt with the knowledge that I can still miss, an animal can move at the last moment, be presented with an awkward angle, or many other things that can make a "sure" shot into a very bad hit. This is why I practice a lot. So I do worry about making a clean kill instead of feeling like I "know" I won't miss. There are NO guarantees in hunting, and by doing a lot of practicing I reduce the possibilities of my making a mistake.
In the last 2 times I planned an elk hunt with a handgun. I shot (2) SA revolvers almost daily for several months. I'd shoot (3) cylinders full in each gun daily. I started in late April,, and practiced daily until the day I'd leave for the hunt. I started shooting steel plates at 25 yds. After 3 days of shooting at 25 without a single miss,, I'd move the distance by 5 yds. If I missed a single target,, I'd start the count over. By November, I was easily hitting all my steel at 100 yds all the time. (100 yds is my longest bay so I couldn't practice any longer distances.) Now if you calculate the amount of shooting,, in rounded numbers,, that's 6 months, of 36 rounds a day. That comes out to 6480 rounds fired in round numbers. And that was just for the POSSIBILITY of me getting a chance at getting an elk in my sights. That didn't include all the USPSA competition or other shooting I did. A LOT more than 50-100 rounds a month.
Oh,, and all that ammo,, I cast, powder coated, sized, and handloaded it all.
Self defense against 2 legged or 4 legged attacks.
You may THINK you can react very quickly,,, buy my sharing the story about my friend, & my mother was to make a point about how a person who does practice a lot vs someone who didn't and the outcome. Jeff was able to react WITHOUT thinking quicker than the way my mother who tried to act AND think. Jeff lived & was successful in his reaction due to his skills. My mother was injured, beaten, and robbed because she was NOT practiced & prepared.
Age & speed.
I have several USPSA competitors who are in their 70's,, as well as a couple who are in their 80's. They do it just to keep in practice & keep their motor memory skills sharper. They know they are no longer young & as fast as they used to be. But many of them would surprise you at their abilities.
We as humans like to think we will "know what to do" or that we "can handle anything" if a bad situation suddenly happens. Back in 1998,, as a person who handgun hunted a lot, did a lot of shooting, etc,, if you had asked me then if I could handle myself,, I KNOW I would have said,, WITH A LOT OF CONFIDENCE that I could have. Yet,, I tried USPSA. I found out how good I WAS NOT!!!!!! I got an awakening about how much MORE I needed to expand my ideas about SD & practice. And now,, after almost 27 years of shooting USPSA regularly,, I STILL feel like I need more practice & could do a lot better.
I disagree that "practice makes perfect." I do say that "Practice makes us closer to perfect,, but we'll never be 100% perfect."
You have stated "I still ain't gonna put any lead in my guns. Dead set against it." That's fine for you. I find it a bit confusing as to why,, because lead has been used for centuries,, and is still the least expensive option for a lot of practice. And if your reasoning is that you don't feel it's good enough for hunting or SD purposes,, I can point to a good friend who went to Africa a few years ago, handgun hunted some big game including a Cape Buffalo,, and took them all with his hand cast, water quenched, powder coated bullets. All the game dropped with there, with one shot, except the Cape. It went down to one knee & it's nose,, and he quickly followed with a second shot. It stayed down. The PH required him to put an "insurance shot" into the brain as they approached it.
If your reasoning is that you experienced "leading" in the barrel,, then your ammo was not properly loaded for lead bullets. Proper sizing, knowing bore diameter, throats, hardness or softness of the alloy, are a few things a person needs to understand about shooting lead. I know,, I had the same problems in my 20's,, before I studied & learned of MY mistakes. And nowadays,, with powder coating,, which is a big game changer,, it's actually a lot easier.
So I ask,, just why are you so dead set against lead bullets in any form?
