When dry firing does anyone have a moment of panic that the gun is still loaded--

[Saakee]

--even though they've made SURE the gun was empty multiple times? Lately i've been practicing dry firing my rifle--which I usually store with a disabled firing pin as well--because I still blink pretty consistently when pulling a trigger and I still have a moment of panic I'm about to destroy my monitor.

 

[Skribs]

Yep! Not really panic, but I know what you mean. Luckily, there's the other safety rules for a reason - you still point it in a safe direction and so on.

 

[tcj]

Nope...but I still dry fire the first "round" into the safest direction/location that I have...the wood floor which is over a crawl space.

 

[Certaindeaf]

I check it about eight times making sure no ammo or magazines (I don't have any mag safe guns) are in the room and then proceed.

 

[beatledog7]

I have no fear of dry firing because I have a rational mind and a verification process that cannot fail to work.

Pick up gun with muzzle pointed in safe direction and finger indexed along trigger guard. Though sometimes when I'm not preparing to sight in and fire, I'll put all four fingers around the grip, which means I can't pull the trigger because I don't have a free finger. Visually check for rounds: (Do I need to stick my hand into a flame to know it's hot or into an empty coffee cup to verify what my eyes are telling me? No, so if my eyes tell me the chamber's empty, it is. If it were too dark in there to tell, I'd use a finger. But why would I be doing this in the dark anyway?). Action open. Nothing in the chamber(s). No magazine. Repeat for habit reinforcement. Repeat again for my daughter. Once more for Mom.

If I'm working with mag changes, verify all of them are empty. Repeat as above. No loaded mags or loose rounds in the vicinity. Aim in safe direction. Dry fire as desired.

Now that I've done all this, if I don't put any rounds into this gun I'm holding, and I don't put it down or hand it to anyone, it's unloaded until the cows come home. I can dry fire it a gajillion times, and as long as I'm holding it there is no way on Earth a round can find its way into the chamber. I still keep pointed it in a safe direction because that's good practice, but even if I didn't it can't fire until it gets loaded, which again, it can't do while I have it in my hand unless I'm the one loading it. And I'd have to do that with intent and forethought because there are no rounds about me.

If I release the gun to a resting place (the holster I'm wearing doesn't count) or to another person, it's loaded again, and the whole process starts over.

 

[guyfromohio]

No. I'm almost compulsive about checking the mag/cylinder/chamber before every set of dry fires.

 

[Dr.Rob]

You should be using a snap cap. Follow the 4 rules even if you KNOW it's not loaded.

 

[rcmodel]

Wait?

You dry-fire using your monitor as a target??

What exactly does that do for you?

Pick a small spot or a target paster on the wall, or something small enough to make you concentrate on the front sight.

Something as large as a monitor is not helping at all.

rc

 

[MErl]

reduced picture of a target on the monitor? small bouncing dot?

Agreed that a monitor by itself is too large but it could be displaying something.

 

[Saakee]

it is displaying various targets in pdf format I shrink via photoshop and it's quite literally the safest place to aim due to its angle when i'm practicing in the home, behind it is just a window and dirt--well mud right now.

 

[JohnM]

After you've cleared it and it's empty, as long as it's in your control it's empty.
Why would you think it magically reloaded itself.
When you're finished and it's handed off to someone else, put back on the rack; whatever, then it's loaded again. Just good practice to consider it so.

 

[W.E.G.]

When I can't trust myself to know whether I just confirmed that a gun is unloaded, just lock me up in the dementia ward.

 

[Byrd666]

Not at all. Being in a habit, good or bad, of keeping all my weapons loaded, I know that when I, and ONLY I unload them, they are free of an accidental discharge during dry fire practice.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

Having seen too many "empty" firearms go off and noting that I make a point to always point any dry-fired firearm in the safest possible direction first, I'd be a liar to say there isn't a flash of barely perceptible anxiety each and every time.

I can't stand it when I have to do it as the only alternative to leaving a charged system under pressure not to mention the several firearms that I have which are notorious for sustaining damage in the practice.

 

[khegglie]

Best range officer and NRA instructor I ever knew blew a hole in his ceiling after he checked the chamber and dry firing.

 

[icanthitabarn]

Not on target but there is a website with targets that flash and other tests and practice. I bet I could maybe find it.

 

[fatcat4620]

Oh yeah, thats why I check it 500 times.

 

[Certaindeaf]

^hitabarn
It'd be funny to meld "the scary maze" to something like that.

 

[paintballdude902]

i always check a few times

 

[Cosmoline]

Try the feeling of panic when it goes "BOOOOOM" As in many such cases, it was the routine that did me in. I had routines of unloading, checking, dry firing then reloading. Everything was fine until the routines got interrupted by a phone call, time passed and I returned to what I could have sworn was a revolver I had unloaded, checked, dry fired and set down. But what I didn't remember was when I automatically and probably without even looking or thinking tossed live rounds back in the chambers. Nobody got hurt thankfully other than my eardrums. It was a clash of routines. The routine of unloading for dry firing vs. the routine of loading chambers by route.

I don't dry fire to practice anymore. And if I did I'd only do it in shooting in range conditions anyway, following all safety rules as if it were loaded. Walls are not bulletproof in the least. Thankfully the ground is. But life is too short to roll the dice.

 

[bushmaster1313]

the little finger on your hand is so you can check if the chamber is loaded

 

[Steve CT]

After double checking the chamber, my practice is that ammunition is never even in the same room when I am doing anything with a firearm (cleaning, dry fire, maintenance, repairs, etc.).

Exceptions are: carry or on the range

But still, check twice. As a young and new shooter I had an "unexpected discharge"with a gun that I was sure was unloaded. Fortunately it was still pointed downrange and no one was at risk, but I had dropped the mag and not checked the chamber. Scared me plenty, and I've never forgotten.

 

[s9601694]

no, never.. Do i point the weapon in a safe direction when i dry fire? ALWAYS

 

[12131]

Whenever I have "that moment", I double check again to make sure it's not loaded.

 

[LeonCarr]

If there is any doubt in your mind, check the chamber...period.

I dry fire at the top drawer of a four drawer file cabinet with an orange targ-dot stuck on the outside of the drawer, and the top drawer is filled with about four feet of DFW area phone books and old gun magazines that should stop anything short of a .460 Weatherby.


Just my .02,
LeonCarr