I'm a huge advocate for dry firing when ammo is short or hard to come by.

Something as simple as drawing and aiming at a post-it note on your wall will help you improve without needing to use live ammunition. I dry fire at least 30-45 minutes a night.

 

I'm a huge advocate for dry firing when ammo is short or hard to come by.

Something as simple as drawing and aiming at a post-it note on your wall will help you improve without needing to use live ammunition. I dry fire at least 30-45 minutes a night.

Amen brother! I hate to admit it, but the first couple years I never did it and just went to the range to shoot. After just the first day of doing this I saw noticeable improvement in all aspects of drawing my handgun. It's invaluable to do this!

 

Interesting you posted this. I just got done doing draws and dry fire. Since my health dipped, last year, I’ve been too fat to get my duty belt on (former LEO). I decided to see if I could squeeze into it. Gladly, I got it on, not pretty, but it was on.

It’s amazing how smooth my draw is, out of my multi-retention duty holster. I didn’t even have to work at it, today. Just think it and the G22 was out and in my hand. Of course, this comes from years of practice on the same system (I’ve had this setup since 2013).

Before most shifts, I didn’t walk out the door until I had three smooth draws, in a row. If things were slow, I would pull over and draw to the ditch. We had offices shared with one other Deputy. My office mate and I usually worked different shifts. No one cared if we went to the office and practiced draws or dry fire.

ETA: Make sure you remove live ammunition, before practicing.

 

Thank you for your service! I go back many decades when there were height requirements and .357mag carry. IMO, trigger reset is as important as trigger pull, it's a hand in glove part of shooting, sport or critical situations. Also in my opinion, it's easier to go from revolver training to pistol training in becoming proficient.

A very simple way to learn trigger pull and reset w/o live fire, is dry firing a revolver with a quarter on the top strap. It only takes a few minutes of balancing the quarter on the top rib to learn trigger pull and reset.

Like you, when I pull a 27-2/5" it's a going home type of feeling and I can still push fast split times shooting mag ammunition...and while moving.

This carries over to Glocks, but I feel more confident and better shooting Styers, again it goes back to trigger pull and reset...cold. In personal defense, it's first shot placement cold, no warming up. Bare hands at ~25F has a very different feeling than 75F practicing.

Mindset, skillset, toolset, in that order.

Thank you for sharing.

 

Yes, make sure you remove ammo and turn on the laser. That will teach you trigger control!

 

I have taken to working my draw from a boxing stance with hands up to replicate going to the gun when I can make distance in a fight. Get good there and you will be lightening fast when starting with hands around the navel.

 

 

I got a G-Sight ELMS Laser and I really like it. It makes dry firing much more fun and gives you instant feedback on techniques.

 

Check with the maker of your firearm to confirm dry-fire is approved for the make/model handgun you're using, and whether the maker recommends the use of snap caps, especially if you intend to indulge in what the gun maker may consider to be excessive dry-fire.

Dry-fire cycles still subject parts of a firearm to wear and tear. One gun company for which I'm an armorer finally started listing amounts of dry-fire cycles in their scheduled parts replacement recommendations (meaning live-fire numbers and dry-fire cycle numbers).

Obviously, maximum attention to safety rules is still required when handling an EMPTY firearm (and EMPTY magazine) for dry-fire and practicing drawing and presentation.

 

There have been some Glocks that cracked the breech face by too much dry firing

 

When guys think that their Glocks are indestructible, and dry fire 600 x a night thinking it is good and useful.

 

I just attended a class were I was getting hooked up on my level III when drawing from the holster. Slow draws I was fine. The more I sped up, I would have this problem. So, like the comments above, practice all the fundamentals.

 

Dry firing is like masturbating to porn, and simulated driving games----something critical is missing. You are only practicing 1/2 or less of the "drill".

Yes you can dry fire all you want, but when your live ammo goes BANG, and your gun kicks, lo and behold, your trigger control, your mind, grip, and sight picture go to crap. So it can be incomplete and almost useless when in the real thing.

 

....So it can be incomplete and almost useless when in the real thing.

Incomplete - yes. Useless - no. Dry firing is great for eliminating flinching or "anticipating" the "boom". It really works well for that especially for less experienced shooters. Just another way to enhance skills. Just another tool in the toolbox.

 

I dry fire all the time , mostly when driving ,at stop lights. I pick out a imaginary terrorist point and click, get funny looks but so far have not had the cops stop me:horsey:

 

Because I haven't invested in snap caps yet.

 

I worry about the same round getting stripped out of the magazine and loaded into the chamber, even though I know the possibility is minuscule.

 

Get yourself one of those pink rhino laser dry fire trainers on Amazon and a free app for your phone. Then you get the benefit of dry fire and can work on being on target.

 

Because it's a poor substitute for live fire. The only time I dry fire any gun is when I disassemble my Glocks.

 

Every firearms instructor I know says different.

 

Dry firing is a very good thing and should be part of everyone’s training regiment

if people say it shouldn’t be don’t listen to them they don’t know what they are talking about

I had two new shooters do a basic pistol course a few weeks ago

told them both to go home and dry fire

took them both to the range the other day to see how they progressed

the guy that did the work shot great

the other guy not so much

 

I’ve only been a handgun owner for six months and I have to say dry firing exercises have helped me a ton. I’ve used snap caps with my 9mm and just getting used to loading, racking the slide and clearing the occasional jam as a n00b made me feel much more comfortable when I finally went to the range to practice with live ammo. I’ve continued to do it and it’s paid off in quicker sighting.

 

Few thoughts. People often misunderstand what ‘dry fire’ is. Yes trigger manipulation has its place, and it could be damaging if done in excess on pre-Gen 5 Glocks. But there is so much more to dryfire. The draw, transitions, reloads, and other manipulations can be perfected without ever pulling the trigger. It’s the bread and butter of all top level USPSA and Steel shooters. Ben Stoeger has some excellent books on the subject. If you’re talking practical shooting, this is where the majority of your gains will be made. No need for fancy laser cartridges or digital dart boards. Your eyes, sights, and focused attention are all you need.

As an anecdote from my experience, I joined GSSF and was hooked after the first march. First year I shot around 20,000 live rounds in practice. I barely squeaked my way into bottom feeder level master. Second year I should maybe 2 or 3,000 live rounds. All with a very specific purpose in exercises I was trying to improve on, and to diagnose any problems arising from poor dry practice habits. I easily dumped as much time into dry practice in that second year as I did live practice in the first year. Lo and behold, my scores improved exponentially.

How many good handgun shooters dedicate time to dry practice? Literally all of them.

 

Dry firing is like masturbating to porn, and simulated driving games----something critical is missing. You are only practicing 1/2 or less of the "drill".

Yes you can dry fire all you want, but when your live ammo goes BANG, and your gun kicks, lo and behold, your trigger control, your mind, grip, and sight picture go to crap. So it can be incomplete and almost useless when in the real thing.

I think all the top competitors use dry fire to practice. Who am I to say they are wasting their time?

 

The picture someone posted of the breech face that'd given way from excessive dry-firing kind of put me off of it.

 

Dryfire does not help in recoil mitigation. But, to be fair, it is very helpful in training the draw, trigger press, sight alignment, reloads, and clearances/manipulations!

 

I fully agree, it is a great way to train all aspects of shooting - except the BANG and recoil management.

I have a SureStrike laser ammo, and use it with dryfireonline.com. Makes dry fire more fun.

And I always warm up before I go to the range. Ammo and range time is expensive.

But I guess most gun owners are just not serious about firearms, have other interests and/or lack the discipline, motivation and persistence that training requires. So they stuck on the beginner level, and the gun goes into the drawer.

 

Few thoughts. People often misunderstand what ‘dry fire’ is....

Bingo. So many people think “Dry Fire” is trigger press practice.

All the best pistol shooters in the world I know of use it, and most don’t even care if the trigger resets or not, it’s mainly about draw, transitions, and reloads.

 

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u8QDnnQS6Y

 

Just throwing this out there. What would you folks considered excessive dry firing on a gen 5 glock? I've never really thought about it.

 

I know I'm not answering your question here but just find the wall of your trigger and stop there. It's not necessary to pull the trigger endlessly, although fun (highly doubt pulling the trigger as much as you would at the range would do any real damage). But, there's no real gain in skills by doing that. I wish they would have come up with a better term for dry firing since it encompasses everything but actually firing the weapon with a live round.

 

Like other's have pointed out, those who want to say dry firing is overrated are clearly missing the point here and I can guarantee they are not nearly as proficient with how they handle their weapons. Like I stated in the video, I rarely pull the trigger all the way so the risk of damage doesn't even cross my mind. I'm mainly honing in my confidence and comfortability with my weapons, my ability to draw and acquire my sight picture quickly, and reload smooth and quick. Luckily there has been more people agreeing that dry fire is critical in our training :dancing: