Dry firing wisdom sought

I've tried most of the dry fire methods over the years. All of them work, at least a little. All have shortcomings, all of them.

What I have found to be my personal best is a dry fire training cartridge that fites a laser when I pull the trigger.

More realistic on the draw/first shot practice which is what you will do in a real SD situation.

It also helps train away trigger flinch, trigger push/pull. In my own opinion, it is the best dry fire method. It allows you to adapt it to just about every senario.

The only drawback I have discovered is that you have ro re-cock the hammer/striker before every shot. Other than that its great.

Multiple units required for revolver practice. But I think so highly of this training tool that I bought 7 for my 686+.

Multiple calibers available. Seem pretty durable. 10K+ strikes on the .45acp module I bought. Still going strong.

And yes, my groups have tightened up considerably on the live fire range. Draw is much smoother and that first round gets on target quick. Working these in my revolvers have made shooting multiple rounds faster as well.

All around great training aid.

These are the ones that I use.

This site won't allow me to post a link. Just search Amazon. Global laser cartridge.
 
Last edited:
The fundamentals of pistol marksmanship need to be learned first, then practiced. There are plenty of good instructional articles and videos available and only good practice makes perfect. I have been a pistol coach in gun clubs for many years and I suspect that the OP's groups are not caused by trigger pull problems alone. In the clubs we shot at 25 meters exclusively and within a few sessions, all shooters could find each shot on the target. I corrected stance, head position, grip and grips strength applied, breathing, and most importantly follow through. I made videos of shooters and it helped them to analyze their shooting and correct their mistakes.

My greatest reward was when one of my students won a championship.
 
Bowling pin shoot:
this is my self-made bowling pin practice target. i'm not sure of the dimensions of a bowling pin but i know they are bigger than my little rectangles. so, i hit them sometimes and sometimes i don't.

and for your added enjoyment, at no extra cost, a picture of Steve Cropper!

oh, and the little circles at the bottom are meant to be the bottom of the pins, as if knocked over on the table, you see.
 

Attachments

  • 20230908_141304.jpg
    20230908_141304.jpg
    87.9 KB · Views: 6
Last edited:
Bowling pin shoots are not about ultimate precision but good enough precision and mostly about speed. I still have a trophy from our team winning the Thunder at Redbrush bowling pin shoot a long time ago. It was the second time I ever had shot a bowling pin match but I had a very bad falling plate addiction for years already:).
Redbrush Rifle Range is in the Evansville, IN area, just a little north of you and a very, very nice range.
 
I've dry fired for years [many]. It all began with in 1973 with my Ruger Super Single Six. From there to M28 Smith. I still do it with about every handgun I own. My favorite target is a penny taped to the white refrigerator. With me it is watch the front sight. Pay attention to it. Practice picking it up with your vision quickly as you point the gun. Learn what your front sight looks like centered in the rear sight. Make sure all stays on the penny as the hammer drops. It's a lot of fun.
DSC02321.jpg
 
I'm shocked to see THR making it more complicated than it has to be. :D

Forget the coins, the lasers, and everything else.

Find a plain backdrop, like a wall. Take your usual stance and grip - unless they are ridiculously silly, they're not very important for our purposes. Hold the gun up and form a perfect sight picture, with a hard focus on the front sight. (That is the reason for the blank wall. It's a huge mistake to focus on the target instead of the gun, and judging by your groups, that's probably your chief issue.)

Now, while holding the sight picture and staring hard at the front sight, begin applying pressure to the trigger. At some point it will break. If you are perfect, the sight picture won't change in the slightest. That is the goal. If you can do it with a loaded gun, your groups will shrink considerably - it can be helpful to turn your targets backwards, or just shoot at a blank piece of paper. You may be startled at how small your groups are when you do that.
 
.38 Special said:
I'm shocked to see THR making it more complicated than it has to be. :D

Forget the coins, the lasers, and everything else.

Find a plain backdrop, like a wall. Take your usual stance and grip - unless they are ridiculously silly, they're not very important for our purposes. Hold the gun up and form a perfect sight picture, with a hard focus on the front sight. (That is the reason for the blank wall. It's a huge mistake to focus on the target instead of the gun, and judging by your groups, that's probably your chief issue.)

Now, while holding the sight picture and staring hard at the front sight, begin applying pressure to the trigger. At some point it will break. If you are perfect, the sight picture won't change in the slightest. That is the goal. If you can do it with a loaded gun, your groups will shrink considerably - it can be helpful to turn your targets backwards, or just shoot at a blank piece of paper. You may be startled at how small your groups are when you do that.
Click to expand...
We think alike, see post 20.

Kevin
 
Oh, and just a few additional tidbits for the OP...

1) You can ignore most of the accuracy claims you see online - even at such a grand place as THR. We're all lying. Having said that, a big ragged hole at seven yards is not asking too much, slowfire. When you've mastered sights and trigger - which really is not at all difficult - such groups will come.

And

2) Recoil - even relatively mild recoil - increases the difficulty factor tenfold at least. If you don't already have one, I would beg, borrow, or steal a decent 22lr. It doesn't have to be fancy; something like a used Ruger auto will still become your best teacher.
 
It is known to competitive precision shooters that too small of an aiming point will decrease accuracy and not increase it but precision shooting is more of a sport than preparation for a defensive situation. When shooting at a target of known size and distance the aiming point should be around two rings below the black part. Since everybody has some wobble the minimum arc of movement has to be carefully observed and without an aiming point, that is hard to do.

I have read this - and a few other instructions - dozens and dozens of times and it helps to reinforce good shooting habits.

 
Dryfire is a multifaceted thing. It can be blank wall simple, or drawing and firing at speed from a holster, and different things in between. All depends on what you want and need from it.

Your "dryfire mind" can also work well while youre shooting, especially if you start sliding into a flinch or anticipating recoil, ect. Just go into dryfire mode in your head, with no expectation of a bang or recoil at the end and focus on your "dryfire". Helps you focus on what you should be when other things might be distracting.
 
As an aside, the trouble with aiming points (as far as I am concerned) is that A) they encourage folks to look at the target instead of the sights, which is fatal to good shooting, and B) they encourage "drive-by shooting"; waiting until the sights wander over the aiming point and then snatching at the trigger.

I am a strong proponent of dry firing AND live firing at a blank target. I have found that when people take the lessons learned from dry fire and apply them without any change to live fire, the light bulb often goes on, whereas people who just can't bring themselves to believe in the principles will put up a bullseye at the range and immediately revert back to their old, bad habits.

Seriously, I'd encourage anyone who hasn't already tried it: put up a big blank target, like a backwards B-29, at seven to ten yards. Take a perfect sight picture, with the blurry target somewhere in the middle. Focus so that every molecule of the front blade is sharp, and keep it aligned in the rear notch while adding pressure to the trigger until it surprises you by going off. Do it the same way ten times in a row - preferably with a gun without significant recoil - and don't even think about the group.

The huge majority of people who try it for the first time, at least in my experience, are shocked to discover the groups end up being among the best they've ever produced.
 
Last edited:
Dry firing. Ask yourself why.
There's plenty of techniques that should be practiced. First, ask yourself what would be accomplished by dry firing exercises? If you think that you have exhausted aiming drills without firing, or racking a slide and then aiming without firing, holding the handgun steady in front of you without firing, the point is- there are many exercises that we should be accomplished (if you break all this down) that don't involve pulling the trigger at all, or every time.

Are you interested in a handgun for self defense? What about self defense outside the home? Outside the home would be concealed? If so, perhaps exercises for concealed draw only without dry firing/ without pulling the trigger would be a great exercise. Is that draw time close to 1.0 second or as long as 1.5 seconds. Hint: if I've developed speed and confidence without firing, now I can add firing to the exercise without missing other critical steps (or performing in a substandard/ haphazard manner) that happen before firing in self defense scenarios.

This is concerning safe draw (practice) in a rapid manner. Firing is only part of the equation. Followup shots are a study in itself. Nobody says you have to take any followup shot in a self defense scenario. Don't double tap (or more) every time. Let many different scenarios become part of training- also break down into steps, and continue with many successive or repeats/ repetition of the very same exercise.
 
Last edited:
What I do the most, just for maintaining fundamentals is the classic snap cap and right next to the wall, focusing on grip and front sight and working the trigger smoothly. I like to do these in sets (basic, push out, one handed) between sets when I work out. Makes it more challenging to keep a smooth press with tired body and arms and elevated heart rate.

For other things, like working on drawing and the like, I use ITarget Pro. Gives some feedback, is a little more interesting. Also really useful when swapping sights to get a basic bore sight before the range.
 
.38 Special has given good counsel. Good dry-fire practice teaches you to focus on the sights, and how to release the shot without disturbing the sights. Watch the sights when the shot breaks...if they move, that shot would have gone wild.

And practice at longer ranges. 25 yards has essential shooting vitamins. 50 yards has even more of them. Not least of which is that it gets you past the "It's so far," mindset.
 
Mike OTDP said:
.38 Special has given good counsel. Good dry-fire practice teaches you to focus on the sights, and how to release the shot without disturbing the sights. Watch the sights when the shot breaks...if they move, that shot would have gone wild.

And practice at longer ranges. 25 yards has essential shooting vitamins. 50 yards has even more of them. Not least of which is that it gets you past the "It's so far," mindset.
Click to expand...
The trouble is that people don't always do what I tell them. Crazy upside-down world.
 
Mike OTDP said:
And practice at longer ranges. 25 yards has essential shooting vitamins. 50 yards has even more of them. Not least of which is that it gets you past the "It's so far," mindset.
Click to expand...
So true. I eluded to the importance of mindset in my earlier post.

.38 Special said:
The trouble is that people don't always do what I tell them.
Click to expand...
I did ;)

Yesterday's outing: S&W M41, standing, unsupported...4 successive sub-2" 25-yards 5-round groups. Dry fire...it's what's good for you :thumbup:
1694439391555.png
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

P
  • Locked
what not to dry-fire
2 3
Replies
53
Views
7K
shootist2121
S
H
  • Locked
Dry-fire practice?
Replies
13
Views
807
Sunray
S
D
  • Locked
Dry Firing Rim Fire
Replies
13
Views
1K
Jim K
J
mikemyers
  • Locked
Dry Firing
2
Replies
27
Views
2K
murf
murf
Y
  • Locked
An end-all, be-all dry-firing advice/info thread?
Replies
8
Views
1K
rocinante
R
Back
Top