I've always read about dry firing but have never implemented anything into my "routine" (mostly lack thereof). But found this interested and was curious as to if anyone else practices dry firing? If so, how do you practice and what are some drills you run?



eta: I know it says airsoft, but the guy they highlight is from Japan (I believe) and that's his only way of training. a.k.a dry firing

Bender has some really good information to offer about dry firing. His suggestion on having a separate area that you only dry fire in was probably the best advice I've used. I no longer load magazines in my living room.

Ben Stoegers "Dry Fire Reloaded" is a really good general guide to dry fire.

If you carry a pistol to protect yourself, you should absolutely be dry firing. It makes a remarkable difference in your ability to shoot a pistol well. You can work on almost everything you need to work on with a pistol except for recoil control with dry fire. Cheaper and more effective than punching random holes in paper at the range without a plan too.

As BCStalk mentioned, my number one rule about dry fire (and cleaning guns):

Guns are dry fired and cleaned in their own area. Separate from where you load magazines, holster your carry gun, reload, whatever else you do with guns.

For me, I load magazines, put on my EDC gun, etc in the bedroom. I dry fire or clean guns in the living room. There is never any ammo brought into the living room. When I dry fire, I'm dry firing at targets mounted to either my fireplace or on an exterior wall that has a lot of brick between me and the rest of the world. Even though there shouldn't be any live ammo around, don't pull the trigger without a decent backstop. Don't dry fire out your window or at your tv.

Just one more mental/physical separation to prevent a ND.

Snap caps are also good. Some guns can have issues if dry fired without one.

I've been playing with the MantisX motion detector and App. Attaches to rail of gun and can be used for both dry fire and live fire. Pretty neat technology and has really helped me with grip and trigger pull. If you order one be sure to get the newer X3, smaller and improved attachment. Can also be attached to bottom of mag (with adapter) if you don't have a rail.
I've only used it on semi handguns but is suppose to work on long guns.

As demonstrated in the video (I only watched his 1st round of shooting), dry firing is essential for learning the basic techniques/form. I believe it should be done regularly to keep your muscle memory sound. His malfunction drill was impressive since he's never actually handed a real firearm. Airsoft has taught him well.

USMC boot camp had a week of snapping-in/dry firing prior to shooting the KD course when I went through ~30 years ago. I assume they still do something similar now. Good trigger pull, breathing, sight alignment, sight picture, stance/form, weapon system platform, all items to run through when dry firing. As a ~20 year LEO, it's part of my routine in getting ready for duty.

A couple of things I learned the hard way:

1) break down things like the draw. Don't just practice the draw 10 times. You're much better off breaking it down into micro parts.

Practice going from loose hands just to the point where you establish a good grip. Don't even actually draw it from the holster. Just repeat from loose hands to hand on grip. Then start with your hand on the grip already, and practice a smooth draw and establishing a sight picture. Don't pull the trigger, just concentrate on a smooth, efficient draw. You're working on your draw, not your trigger pull. Work on actual dry fire with other drills.

When I switched from just drawing repeatedly to breaking it into small parts like that, it helped me notice little errors and inefficiencies in each part of the draw that I hadn't noticed when I was just working on getting a sight picture as fast as possible from the holster in one movement. Micro drills are very helpful to finding and eliminating small problems you don't notice otherwise.

2) It's easy to fall into the "I'm going to pull the trigger as slow as possible to get a perfect sight picture and not have the sights move at all" and repeat endlessly cycle. But that isn't helping you improve your trigger pull that much, because you're not going to be shooting that slowly at the range. Push your speed until you're messing up. Acknowledge the errors, and work to eliminate them...then push your speed again. You should be looking for failure points when dry firing. If you're doing everything 100% perfectly, you're not improving anything. Go faster, mess up, fix it. That's how you're going to actually improve with dry fire.

BenderRodriguez said:

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2) It's easy to fall into the "I'm going to pull the trigger as slow as possible to get a perfect sight picture and not have the sights move at all" and repeat endlessly cycle. But that isn't helping you improve your trigger pull that much, because you're not going to be shooting that slowly at the range. Push your speed until you're messing up. Acknowledge the errors, and work to eliminate them...then push your speed again. You should be looking for failure points when dry firing. If you're doing everything 100% perfectly, you're not improving anything. Go faster, mess up, fix it. That's how you're going to actually improve with dry fire.

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I just skimmed so I apologize if you mentioned it Bender but for this part, I'd recommend investing in a timer. The Pact Club timer is relatively inexpensive, the CED offering is good and the Pocket pro (I think that's what it's called?) is good are worthwhile investments even if you're not going to competitions, being able to set a par time for from draw to first shot will help you push yourself.

Also helps if you can find a range that will allow you to draw from concealment once you get to a point where you don't ND/AD on the draw, then you can put it all together.

Lucath and his other IG self-aggrandizing butt buddies annoy the hell out of me. But damn they can shoot.

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I just skimmed so I apologize if you mentioned it Bender but for this part, I'd recommend investing in a timer. The Pact Club timer is relatively inexpensive, the CED offering is good and the Pocket pro (I think that's what it's called?) is good are worthwhile investments even if you're not going to competitions, being able to set a par time for from draw to first shot will help you push yourself.

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If you will be shooting any 22's, the Pocket Pro works better on quiet guns.

Was considering the iTarget Pro for dry firing. Uses a laser round and your iPhone. Has anyone used that system?


https://www.itargetpro.com/

Bender - still need to get a timer. What was that blue timer we used when I shot with you outside of Bryan?

dr_boogs said:

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Bender - still need to get a timer. What was that blue timer we used when I shot with you outside of Bryan?

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Not Bender, but is it a blue box?

https://benstoegerproshop.com/competition-electronics-pocket-pro-2-shot-timer/

Pocket Pro 2. BSPS ships from Austin iirc.

dubi said:

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Quote:

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I just skimmed so I apologize if you mentioned it Bender but for this part, I'd recommend investing in a timer. The Pact Club timer is relatively inexpensive, the CED offering is good and the Pocket pro (I think that's what it's called?) is good are worthwhile investments even if you're not going to competitions, being able to set a par time for from draw to first shot will help you push yourself.

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If you will be shooting any 22's, the Pocket Pro works better on quiet guns.

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Its basically a must for PCC's... turn that sensitivity up and it works very well.

jabberwalkie09 said:

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dr_boogs said:

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Bender - still need to get a timer. What was that blue timer we used when I shot with you outside of Bryan?

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Not Bender, but is it a blue box?

https://benstoegerproshop.com/competition-electronics-pocket-pro-2-shot-timer/

Pocket Pro 2. BSPS ships from Austin iirc.

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^^^^
If you are in TX it will cost more to buy it from Ben Stoeger.

Pocket Pro II from Ebay. No tax/No shipping.

dr_boogs said:

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Bender - still need to get a timer. What was that blue timer we used when I shot with you outside of Bryan?

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That was the pocket pro 2.

The Pact3 is also good and slightly less bulky.

But my favorite these days is the CED 7000. Our club uses them for competitions (so do most places I've shot at).

The CED 7000 has a lot of really great features other timers at that price range don't have, including the pocket pro 2.

My favorite feature of the 7000 is instead of a single par time like the Pocket Pro 2 has, you can set sequential par times. So if you're working on speeding up your draw, reloads, whatever, you can set the initial par time as 2.5 seconds. Then another par time of 2.4 seconds, or 2.45 seconds, or 2.1 seconds.

Once they're set, all you have to do is restart the timer, and the new par time will be used. It's not a must have, but it's a nice feature. And its about the same price as the others I mentioned.

Thank you sir!

Sarge 91 said:

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Was considering the iTarget Pro for dry firing. Uses a laser round and your iPhone. Has anyone used that system?


https://www.itargetpro.com/

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A little late but I just got it for the b-day for a 5.56 round and 9 mm round. Works as advertised and I'm looking forward to putting in good time on it (have 3 kids of my own so little time for the range). Also, it can be finicky due the lighting (I.e. saying you are firing when you aren't), but there are settings to update it to get it just right.