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

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No.
I have also been accused of being a bit OCD.
I probably check too many times to be sure it is clear and safe. LOL
And... no matter what, it is pointed in a safe direction.
 
No.

When I pick up a gun, if it has a detachable magazine, I drop the magazine. Then I open the action and look in the chamber. I check the chamber by both sight and feel. I don't dry fire until I know the gun is empty.
 
Not if you never point a gun a anything you don't intend to destroy.
 
No. A clear gun is clear. A round won't magically appear in the chamber.

Besides, if you are in fact following the rules, you're keeping the gun in a safe direction, and you're knowing what's behind your target. As long as you stick to those, you can fire live rounds all you like, and no one will get hurt (well... your hearing may suffer).
 
beatledog7 said:
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.
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*chanting* BEATLEDOG! BEATLEDOG! BEATLEDOG!

That's what the gun culture should be like. Rational minds, rational behavior. Be the master, not a servant to the gun.
 
Yes, my heart flutters a bit while I'm pulling the trigger. Even after checking a rechecking the chamber.

Same thing happens with a walk through a metal detector or see a cop car with lights on. Not that I'm doing anything wrong just a lil shot of adrenaline. :)
 
Bovice said:
*chanting* BEATLEDOG! BEATLEDOG! BEATLEDOG!

That's what the gun culture should be like. Rational minds, rational behavior. Be the master, not a servant to the gun.
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That's what I always tell myself when I stick my arm down the garbage disposal hole.
 
When dry firing does anyone have a moment of panic that the gun is still loaded
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It might be time to take up golf it's less stressful. If pulling the trigger and NOT KNOWING that the gun is empty is a very bad pratice. This looks like a troll question or you do not pratice safe handling of your firearms.

Jim
 
jim243 said:
It might be time to take up golf it's less stressful. If pulling the trigger and NOT KNOWING that the gun is empty is a very bad pratice. This looks like a troll question or you do not pratice safe handling of your firearms.

Jim
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If you were to have read his first post you would have seen that he's said that he's made sure that the weapon is unloaded. what were you saying about.. nevermind
 
Panic? No, but I often check twice.

I had an ND once where an AK47 that I'd just checked went off 3" in front of my face. Quite the eye opener.

Didn't even hear it go off. Just felt like some invisible dude hauled back and punched me in the nose.

That was when I was 21. It's been 14 years and I haven't had another incident. Won't ever again. Every action with a firearm is deterministic and has my full concentration. If my brain isn't focused only on what I'm doing (cleaning them, reloading, shooting, whatever), I stop, and come back to the task when I don't have any distractions. If someone starts talking to me while I'm doing something involving firearms (wife, kids, friends), I stop doing what I'm doing and focus on them. When I'm done focusing on them and I can focus on the task, I go back to the task.

Don't mix pleasures. When you're dealing with firearms, ONLY deal with firearms. The rest of the world can wait.
 
Saakee said:
--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.
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For me, generally no--if I just verified that the pistol is unloaded (except for a snap cap) and it never left my hand, then it's unloaded. That said, I've found over time that the practice of checking multiple times, which is done in order to ingrain and maintain safe habits in case I ever screw up due to a lack of attention (I'd like to think that this couldn't ever happen, but I'm only human), has given me an occasional twinge of doubt over whether something I thought I just checked is true. Perhaps all this repeated checking has triggered a latent OCD trait (you may want to read up on that if you haven't), or perhaps this doubt is an indication that my safe-handling habits have allowed my conscious attention, in certain instances, to lapse. :uhoh: Just in case it's the latter, when in doubt I'll simply check again to make sure that my growing comfort with firearms didn't make me careless--that's safer than having indomitable confidence in my infallibility. ;)

Trent said:
Don't mix pleasures. When you're dealing with firearms, ONLY deal with firearms. The rest of the world can wait.
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That's good advice, and it means that one has to be extra careful and attentive when shooting with others. As an example, probably everybody is familiar with the incident of a DEA agent committing a negligent discharge while showing off his guns to students (and boasting about his qualifications--sweet irony :)) by now. I'm sure he's unloaded his Glock safely many times, and he was talking about guns when the ND happened, but his full attention was obviously on other things.

Warp said:
However, dry firing with your own gun means that you are using your own trigger, grip angle, and sights
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While I agree that it's more ideal to train with one's actual defensive firearm(s) for the reasons stated, there are fundamental trigger-handling skills that one can develop, especially when just starting out, with any gun or realistic substitute (not saying that you don't know this, just pointing the fact out). For example, those who have particular difficulty moving their trigger fingers independently of the others, which results in "milking" the trigger and shooting low, can get all the extra practice they need in this respect while saving wear & tear on their real guns (attach a cheap Airsoft laser, if you don't have a real one, to get the most effective visual feedback).
 
For those of you who have spent years with Garands, Enfield #4s, FR8s etc, is there any serious extra wear on any component after dry-firing about one hundred times per rifle (No snap cap)?
 
mcdonl said:
This is one of those threads where half the members get to tell us how incredibly awesome they are :rolleyes:
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Haha yeah. That's how it goes sometimes.

Anyone who hasn't ever had an ND is just another smug guy who hasn't had an ND *yet*.

If you think otherwise, you're gonna have an ND someday. Complacency. Mental blank. One split second lapse in judgement. Hands going on autopilot.

Many reasons.. one outcome.
 
Dry firing for me is an important component of my pistol practice. As many recommend, I use a multi-layered approach to ensuring that I don't somehow inadvertently wind up with a live round in the chamber when I don't expect it. Additionally, I apply the four rules of gun safety. And yet, I still experience that occasional moment of doubt. I think it's a good thing.

-Stan-
 
I check to make sure it is unloaded. If I am going to dry fire, I check again. I also will keep the gun pointed somewhere moderately safe when I first dry fire a gun. I seldom dry fire handguns and rifles.

I think my Ruger GP-100 is the only revolver I have ever dry fired a lot to try to smooth the trigger up a bit. Other than that, I bet I haven't dry fired any of my guns intentionally more than a couple times each. Most have never been dry fired by me.
 
No, not really.

I have very specific practices around dryfiring. I dont bring a loaded gun into that room, period. However if I do not commence dryfiring drills immediately (set the gun down, go do something else) I always check the gun again.

And I always aim at least the first shot in a safe direction. Altho pretty much everything there is.

I dry fire my mounted shooting revolvers all the time and I NEVER use live ammo in them, only black powder blanks...and I still never deviate from this ritual.
 
I never ever dry fire a gun, as I am sure is true with the rest of you, until I check the chamber, barrel, and magazine when I pick it up. No panic attack - knowing precludes that.

What I do worry about, and people really have not seemed to come to a consensus with either way, is what dry firing can do to the firing pin.
 
I do not like dry-firing of ANY firearm as I find there tends to be a residual "bumper-car" effect. You know, when you get finished playing bumper cars at the fair and you climb in to your vehicle...

That said, I am also OCD with respect to clearing my firearms and have in fact dry-fired my GP100 to smooth out the trigger as 22-rimfire did; it seems that Ruger revolvers almost REQUIRE it at first.

ALWAYS point the muzzle in a safe direction!
 
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