Dry fire, doing it and doing it right

[Cameramonkey]

What level of shooter are you? Has this system helped? It looks interesting.

Im classified as a Marksman in IDPA, and I typically place about 55-60% down the roster overall (if there were 100 shooters I would place 55-60th). Not the best, but not the worst...

I found it helped. I havent broken it out in a while. If I think about it and there are facilities at Proteq (like a clubhouse... it requires an indoor, not overly lit space), I might bring it along to play with this sunday if anybody wants to see how it works. They just released a major upgrade and I havent had a chance to see how it works now.

 

[cedartop]

Im classified as a Marksman in IDPA, and I typically place about 55-60% down the roster overall (if there were 100 shooters I would place 55-60th). Not the best, but not the worst...

I found it helped. I havent broken it out in a while. If I think about it and there are facilities at Proteq (like a clubhouse... it requires an indoor, not overly lit space), I might bring it along to play with this sunday if anybody wants to see how it works. They just released a major upgrade and I havent had a chance to see how it works now.

Thanks.

 

[chezuki]

Drive fire needs to be about visual information and feedback.

Drive fire is a whole different skill!

[video=youtube_share;cemoeXvFYnA]http://youtu.be/cemoeXvFYnA[/video]

 

[Doublehelix]

I was reading somewhere that you should use snap caps when dry firing so you don't damage your gun. Is that true? How many of you use snap caps while dry firing?

 

[pudly]

Snap caps are required if the manufacturer indicates that the gun is not safe for dry fire. Even if dry fire is okay, they can be used but are optional.

 

[chezuki]

Snap caps are for simulating malfunctions during live fire. Any modern quality firearm should be able to be dry fired.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Snap caps are for simulating malfunctions during live fire. Any modern quality firearm should be able to be dry fired.

With exceptions for some rim fire weapons.

 

[pudly]

There are exceptions even with some center fires such as the Keltec PF9.

 

[foszoe]

I have yet to see the Beretta manual that says dry fire is ok.

 

[chezuki]

There are exceptions even with some center fires such as the Keltec PF9.

Read again.

Snap caps are for simulating malfunctions during live fire. Any modern quality firearm should be able to be dry fired.

 

[GIJEW]

Toying with the idea of buying a SIRT pistol and just dry firing the snot out of it while sitting there watching TV. I do it at times with my off-duty guns but with a dedicated dry-fire gun, it will get a lot of use and I'm not even talking about using the laser inside.

That sounds like fun BUT the SIRT laser is a little intense and will reflect off the screen--and maybe into someone's eyes. Do you have a lot of squirrels in your back yard?

 

[Yup!]

When I was first introduced to dry fire I was told to balance a nickel on the front sight, then dry fire. The nickel should not fall.

 

[cedartop]

When I was first introduced to dry fire I was told to balance a nickel on the front sight, then dry fire. The nickel should not fall.

There are a lot of things you can do with dry fire/practice. That is a good one.

 

[rhino]

When I was first introduced to dry fire I was told to balance a nickel on the front sight, then dry fire. The nickel should not fall.

That is, of course, just one very small aspect of dry practice.

Most of what you can gain from dry practice has little to do with actually dry firing the gun. It's more about learning to draw and present consistent, acquire adequate visual information as quickly as possible, and train your brain to look first, then drive the gun into your line of sight.

 

[T-DOGG]

I have been wanting to do this for weeks after reading about it. I finally found some time tonight. I must say that it was rewarding and more than I initially thought it would be. I never practiced dry fire because I thought it was boring and well kind of silly, WRONG! My mindset has been shifting towards practical training and utilizing drills that work, this is an awesome start. Thank you for posting this.

 

[Hammertime]

I'm going to give this a try after work!

 

[JadedGrunt]

Surprising how many don't do this. My training is about 80/20 dry/live.

 

[Woody968]

Great post I will try this soon.

As far as triggers are concerned are you better off dry firing with what you normally carry so that pull is most familiar or does it really matter? Or is there any benefit to using one that has a long stiff pull making it harder to control all the way through?

 

[pudly]

Definitely practice with what you expect to shoot. For most of us, that means our EDC. If you are into gun sports, then you will also want to dry fire practice those guns. The point is to develop good trigger control for your firearm, and different models can have very different trigger actions/weights. Some models, do have much heavier triggers and if that is what you have, you will obviously develop that strength practicing with it.

 

[Woody968]

Yea even with the few that I own the triggers vary quite a bit. I have also read about using a grip strengthening device (forget actual name) regularly to increase stability. I assume that is pretty solid advice?