Here comes an old timers 2 cents.....
Let?s talk practice and shooting in general before we get into optics. It?s my strong opinion that an individual should train themselves in basic marksmanship with a rimfire or a pellet gun before they take to the field with a hunting class centerfire. Additionally I believe that skills should be developed with traditional iron sights. A shooter should be able to shoot a tight group with iron sights at 10 to 25 yards with an air gun or a rimfire. If you cannot do this you are probably not ready for optics.
Sight alignment, a steady hold, trigger control and follow through.
In fact these skills can be honed by dry firing. After almost 50 years as a shooter I still dry fire on a blank wall with iron sights to keep sharp.
Ok let?s assume you have this down and you can shoot a ragged hole offhand at 15 yards with your favorite pea shooter. Now start stretching it out a bit. Try 25 yards then 50 yards. First from a solid rest then from a field position or shooting sticks. You should be whacking soda cans or clay birds most of the time at these distances with a good 22. Again if you can?t do that - shooting a big gun with optics will be more work than fun.

Ok I will get off my soap box and back to the topic.

How much practice - when I was younger and developing my skills I would shoot air guns and dry fire almost every day. I would shoot at the range an average of 4 to 6 times a month plus I would shoot maybe 2 IHMSA matches a month. I know this sounds like a lot to some but you asked. There were a few years when I was deeply immersed in competitive IHMSA that I did much more. This was all iron sights out to 200 meters with CF and 100 yards with rimfire. I do shoot less now but if you want to get good there are no shortcut to practice, practice, practice.

Now you ask why is this old gray beard harping about shooting with open sights on a topic about optics. Well simply put, everyone I know that shoots well with open sights shoots well with a dot or a scope.
If you have never owned a scope I would suggest starting with a dot sight. As far as scopes go, I suggest starting with a quality 2x. Once you are comfy with that you can work up in xpower.

Here are my preferred big game, hunting situation gun / optic limits. These are for me at the present time. Each of us are different based on skill, hunting terrain and equipment.

Iron sights - 50 yards. May stretch to 80 or more but it?s likely I have a scope if I am expecting a shot beyond 50.

Scopes - 2x on a 44 mag out to 100 maybe 135 yards.
2x6 On a Contender or my 460 X frame out to 200. Farther on varmints.

I will say that irons and a red dot are easier to hold and shoot quickly offhand. Even after 35 years of hunting with a scope.

I shoot red dots but have not hunted with them. As my eyesight goes with age I will likely replace the irons with dot sights.

Sorry that was such a long trip for such a short answer. But if your objective is to master shooting a handgun with optics this is the recipe that worked for me.